Travel Hacking Sequence to Max Welcome Points Benefits
I am looking to do some travel hacking for a trip to Thailand in Jan 2028 with myself, my son, and husband. My goal is to fly business class and only need to book with points. My partner and I already have Chase Sapphire Preferred, and we have had it for…
I am looking to do some travel hacking for a trip to Thailand in Jan 2028 with myself, my son, and husband. My goal is to fly business class and only need to book with points. My partner and I already have Chase Sapphire Preferred, and we have had it for YEARS. I need help figuring out the next card to go with and the order after that, including which card to hold WHILE we are in Thailand. I know we can take turns opening a card in our name. I also want to keep in mind the season when some cards give bonus welcome points, such as the recent Chase Sapphire Preferred promoting 100k points vs the normal 75k for welcome points. I plan to fly Singapore Airlines as all the cards I'm looking at have it as a transfer partner. I'd also like to get a card that gives credit for TSA PreCheck as we don't have that yet. I'm not too worried about meeting spending requirements to earn the reward points. I need help figuring out the best path to point redemption, most likely using Capital One, Chase, and AMEX. Current cards: Chase Sapphire Preferred, $34k limit, May 2015 Chase Sapphire Preferred, Auth User, $14k, May 2015 Prime Visa, $10.5k, unsure Citi Costco, $10k limit, June 2026 FICO Score: 750-800 Oldest account age: +7 years Chase 5/24 status: 1/24 Income: combined $200k Average monthly spend and categories: dining $250 groceries: $1000 gas: $150 travel: $150 other: pets: $100, kid stuff: $300, house stuff: $300, family activities: $300 Open to Business Cards: Maybe? I don't have a business. What's the purpose of your next card? TRAVEL! Do you have any cards you've been looking at? Capital One X Venture, Capital One Venture, Chase Sapphire Reserve, AMEX Gold Are you OK with category spending or do you want a general spending card? Doesn't matter.
Collected discussion
lol @ “travel hacking”. Silliest term ever
This is very useful information! Thank you. I am in the US and will definitely need to look into TSA Precheck. I also didn't realize AMEX platinum required Gold status first. Why are you not a fan of the reserve?
I didn't know about Sapphire adding TSA Precheck. I need to follow up on that! I have not priced out mileage, but that is a excellent recommendation so I know how many points I need for booking! Are you recommending that order of cards; venture x, then gold, then chase ink? With chase ink, I don't have a business. How would that work. I would plan to transfer my credit to Singapore Airlines. Is that what you asked?
Yes. It is. I'm using the term interchangeably.
Is there another term for it? That's all I've seen!
If you want to be snooty call it "Travel Rewards Optimization". Travel hacking works for me LOL
Platinum doesn’t require you to get the gold card first. They just have a rule that if you get the platinum first, you won’t get a sign on bonus for the gold. Both reserve and platinum have a bunch of credits where you can potentially “recoup” the annual fee. The platinum credits just fit more with my natural spend. That’s just my situation though, you’d have to look at the credits for each to see what’s a better fit for you
yea start with venture X; and actually do chase ink second; amex gold last. save amex for last; venture X first. capital one; chase; amex; and citi all can xfer to singapore. so look at whoever has the best sign up bonuses and plan accordingly.
For accumulating points, on top of the bonus, with Amex Gold you’d be hitting 60,000pts/year just based on your grocery and dining spend (4x). THEN you can apply for the platinum and earn that bonus (must do gold first). Amex platinum would be duplicative with Chase Reserve, assuming your main reason for having them is the lounge access. I personally find it easier to naturally recoup the annual fee with the Amex platinum credits; not a fan of the reserve. I’d also recommend reviewing your current suite of benefits across your cards to make sure you’re not missing anything. You said you don’t have TSA precheck yet but it’s an existing benefit of the Sapphire Preferred card, unless you’re non-US and it’s different
I'm still trying to figure out if the partner is the same person as the husband
I just call it award travel 🤷♂️ I always feel like “hacking” implies cheating/doing something you’re not supposed to, or breaking rules to win the game but this is simply understanding the rules better than everyone else. That said, I just did a trip to Thailand pretty much entirely on points, certs, and credits. No time at the moment but happy to share what I did later if that’s helpful to you.
-didn't sapphire rework add tsaprecheck/global entry? -have you priced out how many miles you need? -citi cards also xfer to singapore airlines. -chase the highest subs but venture x most likely first. -amex will probably be your easiest way to get massive points. i would imagine something like venture x, amex gold and a chase ink would be enough points. would you actually use the travel credit on venture x? or the credits on chase reserve or amex gold or plat?
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