Tuning Miles & Points strategy amid Coronavirus slowdown

March 11, 2020

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Miles & Points Strategy
Miles & Points Expiration
Free Night Certificates
Credit Card Applications
American Express
Chase
Citi
The Pundit’s Mantra

Disclosure: I receive NO compensation from credit card affiliate partnerships. Support the blog by applying for a card through my personal referral links

We often talk about the ideal miles & points strategy. However, global markets have gone into a tailspin amid Coronavirus fears. While planning a long term miles & points strategy, we often talk about playing the long game. However, in this case, given the grounding of flights and a drastic reduction in capacity, how do we tune our miles and points strategy?

Miles & Points Strategy

In an ideal scenario, most miles & points aficionados rack up a lot miles not just through credit cards, but through flights and hotel stays. Given that flights and hotel stays are bound to slow down for a while, applying for credit cards seems to be the best other option when you’re not traveling.

If you have travel plans or already have booked flights and hotel stays, then you can utilize some of these resources in order to make changes:

Coronavirus: Precautions you must take before your next flight

Coronavirus Impact: Which countries should you avoid traveling to?

Complete List of Airline Restrictions & Fee Waivers amid Coronavirus Outbreak

How to plan travel in the wake of the Coronavirus Outbreak

Miles & Points Expiration

Unless you have a co-branded credit card, there’s always a chance or your miles & points expiring due to inactivity. I use AwardWallet in order to keep a track of my loyalty program accounts. As people travel less and accounts show less activity, AwardWallet becomes a vital resource in ensuring that accounts are kept active.

Free Night Certificates

Many credit cards like the World of Hyatt Card by Chase and the Hilton Aspire Card offer free night certificates. These certificates usually credit to your account in a few weeks after you renew your card and pay the annual fee. If you have a free night certificate that’s about to expire, you should call the hotel and ask them for an extension. While there’s no guarantee, you can also request points in lieu of a certificate that’s expiring soon. Given the current scenario, there’s a good chance that the hotel chain may honor your request.

Credit Card Applications

Do you have a dream trip in mind? In that case, you can start working towards that goal with your credit card applications. Most credit cards give you a 3 month window in order to meet the minimum spend. In such a case, you’ll have enough miles and points by the time things turn back to normal and you can book your next trip.

So which cards should you apply for? Just yesterday, I wrote about Delta’s limited time offers where you can earn up to 100,000 bonus Delta SkyMiles. Here are a few more credit card offers you could consider. I usually recommend going for flexible points currencies so that you have multiple options and you don’t get locked into a single airline or hotel chain.

The Pundit’s Mantra

Many of these offers are fantastic! However, you may be able to find better offers through other methods, as listed below. The Points Pundit has no credit card affiliate links, so you can support the blog by simply using a refer a friend link.

Also Read: How to look for higher Amex sign-up bonuses in Incognito Mode

Also Read: How to get the highest possible credit card sign-up bonus each time you apply

Also Read: Should you apply for limited time credit card offers?

As we wait and watch things unfold, this is a good time to do some miles & points housekeeping. It’s a good time to take a look at your loyalty program accounts and check expiration dates for certificates. While the situation is not ideal, there are a few tasks that you can keep doing in order to earn miles and points while sitting at home. Once things get back to normal, we can all look forward to that next big miles & points trip!

How are you tuning your miles & points strategy during this slowdown? Let us know in the comments section.

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This card is a personal favorite of The Points Pundit. A Welcome bonus of 80,000 Ultimate Rewards points! with the Ink Business Preferred Card by Chase (Chase’s 5/24 rule applies to this card)

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