Whenever I talk about traveling, I seem to have an unlimited point. Spoiler Alert: I don’t. Instead, I make sure to use the right strategy to earn as many points and miles as possible.
No secrets or hackers. I just used the correct credit card in my wallet carefully and followed my golden rules to help me maintain my advanced travel lifestyle.
Whether it’s the redemption point for the flight and hotel, or the access to the lounge, this is what I do to help make the trip more comfortable.
Use the premium credit card king in time
Considered as one of the final travel credit cards, American Express Platinum Card® It is synonymous with luxury travel due to its privileges (such as lounge access) and the charm sent from metal credit cards.
Air tickets
In Amex Platinum’s benefit list, the card is able to spend 5 points on tickets directly with airlines or through American ExpressTravel® (up to $500,000 per year for purchases per year and then 1 point per dollar after that) most help me the most when planning my trip.
Apart from booking trips through the issuer’s respective travel websites (such as ChaseTravel℠ or Capital One Travel), the flight’s revenue rate is the highest on any credit card.
If my ticket costs $1,500 or above, I will always charge it to the Amex Platinum. This way, I earn at least 7,500 membership reward points per transaction and build my points balance throughout the year.
I decided to $1,500 because I tried to earn 100,000 Amex points per year. As a family of three, I will net about 22,500 points when we use my Amex Platinum when we have a ticket of at least $1,500 per person. Travel at least four times a year, and only air tickets reach at least 90,000 points per year.
Amex’s 5 points per dollar helped me build my own balance of points, fast enough to make redemptions at least once a year.
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Recently, this means transferring 100,000 Amex points to Air Canada, booking an uninterrupted one-way Polaris commercial pass from United Airlines at Sydney Airport (SYD) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
For reference, the cash fare for the same ticket averages $5,100, so my redemption equals about 5.1 cents per point. Based on TPG’s July 2025 valuation, AMEX’s AMEX calculates 2 cents per point, while Aeroplan 1.4 cents per point.
Related: Is Amex Platinum worth a point and Miles Newbie? I booked a trip to find out
Lounge entry
However, the advanced travel experience with Amex Platinum is not limited to flying. It starts with Amex’s global lounge collection network, which includes its impressive centurion lounge.
Amex’s Centurion Lounges has 26 lounges worldwide, offering everything from elevated food and beverage options to showers and private rooms. Some even have children’s playrooms.
Travel days can be busy, so I love being able to relax in the lounge and enjoy free food and drinks to keep my kids burning some energy in the playroom. This is a great way to get an advanced travel experience, especially if you are not flying in a premium cabin.
What else to consider
Remember, this card is not for everyone. To make it worth it, you need to maximize its privileges or use it regularly for air ticket purchases. Otherwise, even if you use their coupon book-style points, it will be hard to ignore the $695 annual fee (see rates and fees).
Related: How to choose an airport lounge to access credit card
Auxiliaries for maximizing my travel and dining purchases
The next card in my wallet can help me maintain an advanced travel lifestyle Chase SapphireReserve® (See rates and fees).
This card has been in my wallet for nearly a decade, all thanks to the widely defined travel and dining categories. Although all other travel revenue rates have changed due to the card’s recent refresh, I still keep the card.
Chase also has his own set of sapphire lounges that allow me to access additional lounges around the globe.
All other trips
and Amex Platinum It is the main card for my higher-priced tickets and I always charge sapphire reserves whenever I buy flights that cost less than $1,500.
According to TPG’s July 2025 valuation, this helped me get the ultimate chasing reward at a rate of 3 points per dollar, with a reward value of 2.05 cents per dollar.
After October 26, when the sapphire reserve changes come online for me, I will start making $4 on air tickets. Even if I will stop earning 3 points per dollar on other travel purchases, I still charge it for my sapphire reserves to earn the final reward points.
Related: That’s Why I Want to Keep Amex Platinum After Sapphire Reserve Changes
Hotels and dining
I have been insisting on owning a shared hotel credit card for years, as hotel loyalty programs can make huge changes to their rewards tables, which often leads to an increase in the number of points required for free nights.
For all my hotel fees, using my sapphire reserves is a safer option for me as I quickly earned 4 points per dollar due to the recent changes in the card, slightly higher than my previous income rate.
Chase also widely defines catering purchases as in restaurants, food carts, coffee shops, etc.
So instead of worrying about which purchase eligibility and whether there are annual spending limits to track – like this American Express® Gold Cardit earns 4 points per dollar in restaurants worldwide until the annual purchase of 1 point per year for the remaining year is $50,000), and there are some exclusions for restaurant purchases – I can use my Sapphire reserve to earn 3 points per dollar without thinking twice.
I can do differently
If I want to maximize my points ability, I should open my Capital One Venture Rewards credit card.
With it, I will make 2 miles from all other purchases. This is especially useful since other travel purchases purchased on the sapphire reserve are only 1 point per dollar. By doing so, I expanded the diversity of transferable points.
I estimate this could give me an additional 20,000 to 30,000 a mile of capital that I could transfer to partner airlines that overlap with Amex and Chase.
Rely on other cards to buy gasoline and grocery stores
Driving in California is a fact of life and can be expensive. Gasoline hovers around $4.50 per gallon, so it’s expensive to fill two cars a few times a month.
To earn rewards and relieve stings, I use mine Citi Layer Premier® Card (See rates and fees). With it, I spent 3 per dollar on gasoline thank you for your reward points, and I can earn most points without a cap.
Another easy way for me to get a travel reward is to put all my grocery purchases on the Citi level, as these grocery stores also make 3 points per dollar.
And now, Citi has just announced American Airlines as a transfer partner, so I can expand my point of thanks further.
All enter 2 player mode
In my personal experience, having your own spouse and having your own travel credit card is a game-changer.
She earned her own transferable points through Chase and Amex and Alimelines Aadvantage Miles, whose Citi®/Aadvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®.
This gives us more points and miles and I can even combine her chase points with mine as Chase allows to share points with your family members.
Information for Citi/Aadvantage Platinum Select has been collected independently by Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Related: Should my partner get his own card or be added as an authorized user?
Bottom line
The cost of redemption of premium travel for airline tickets or hotels is high, but due to careful strategies for which cards are being developed, I use these specific cards every year, as well as the ones my wife holds, which is the way I have been using for nearly a decade.
Without these spending rules, I would not be able to maintain my advanced travel habits.
Everyone’s costs and travel goals are different, so it’s important that you do what best suits your lifestyle and travel wishes.
It makes sense for me to pay over $1,200 for those three cards, as I can easily compensate for the cost by ensuring most of my points and miles are spent on premium cabin redemption for the ticket, which would otherwise cost me over $40,000 a year.
Related: Best Quality Credit Cards: Side by side comparison
For rates and fees for Amex Platinum, click here.
