The 12 Days of Points-mas
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‘Twas the week before Christmas, and… I don’t know about you, but I’m over the visions of sugar plums. I prefer visions of lie-flat business class seats dancing in my head.
This creature is not only stirring but a little stir-crazy and ready to plan my next travel adventure.
(As for the mouse? I have two cats. You can read between the lines.)
As we move through our eggnog-induced comas at this most wonderful time of the year, my gift to you this holiday season is 12 ways to up your points and miles knowledge—the 12 Days of Points-mas, if you will!
1 app to travel for less
If you want to travel more for less, then the Going app is the one you need. We’ll send you deals to the places where partridges live and where pear trees grow.
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2X miles on every purchase
What if we traded two turtle doves for two miles on every purchase? With this card, you’ll never have to track bonus categories because you will earn 2X miles on everything, all the time.
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3X points on travel, internet, phone services, and more
Have a small business or even a side hustle? With this card, you earn 3X points on the first $150k spent annually in several common business spending categories.
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4X points on restaurants and US supermarkets
If food is a big part of your budget, then this card lets you earn 4X points at restaurants worldwide (up to $50,000 annually) and 4X points at US supermarkets (up to $25,000 annually).
Who needs four calling birds when you can earn 4X points for the bird you’ll serve on your holiday table?
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5X points on flights
Five golden rings? How about five points for every dollar you spend on flights?
With this card, every flight you purchase is five times more rewarding. This might be the most rewarding card to pair with a Going membership.
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6 cards with rental car insurance
Did you know that if you use the right travel credit card to pay for your next rental car, you can get primary coverage for collision damage insurance on your rental? This hidden card perk can help save you hundreds on your next rental car.
And, if you’re in the market for a card offering this benefit, check out this airline card—it’s even running a limited-time offer, which means you can earn more bonus miles!
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Jumpstart your 2025 travel plans. Unlock exclusive deals on international flights, deals bookable with points and miles, customizable flight alerts, and more with Premium or Elite memberships.
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7 cards to get you access to airport lounges
Want to get into an airport lounge before your next flight? You can relax in style with any of these seven cards before your next flight.
And if you’re looking for a card that gets you lounge access that’s not too expensive to hold, this card would be my pick.
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8 shopping portals to earn more points and miles
Whether you have more gifts to give or just other shopping to do, here are eight shopping portals to help you earn more points and miles.
You can even “stack” rewards by also using a rewards-earning credit card for your shopping portal purchases. This card is a favorite of mine because it earns 1.5X on every dollar.
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9+ airline transfer partners to get to Europe with points and miles
If you want to visit Europe in 2025, you have lots of options. I counted at least 9 airlines you could transfer your credit card points to get to Europe. Which airline you’ll want to transfer to depends on where you want to go—our guide gives you some clues.
Flying Blue is one airline transfer partner worth a look. It uses a region-based chart to price its point flights. This means you could fly from the US to Athens, Paris, Rome, or anywhere in Europe for the same amount of points. You just may have a connection in Paris or Amsterdam.
And, if you need some extra points to get there, this card’s 60k bonus point welcome offer is a great place to start. That could get you as much as two roundtrip economy tickets!
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10 ways to earn points and miles without an annual fee
Want to earn more points and miles but don’t want Scrooge to take a pesky annual fee? These 10 cards come with no annual fee. My pick would be this one because it lets you earn one of the most valuable points currencies around.
Just watch out for the Ghost of Christmas Future: Several of the cards on this list waive the annual fee in the first year of holding the card but charge you a modest annual fee in following years.
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11 airline transfer partners with one card
The best part of points is redeeming them—and transferring your points to partners is the way you’ll redeem points for the most value.
This card gets you access to 11 of the very best airline partners available. Just one word of warning: Once you transfer your points to an airline, there’s no returning them to credit card points. “No returns, no exchanges,” as they say.
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12+ cards covering checked baggage fees
In 2024, nearly every airline raised the cost of checking a bag to fly. But by holding the right co-branded airline card, you can save on paying that pesky fee. Before applying, think about what airline you fly the most often, since the free checked bag perk applies only to that airline.
If you fly the most on-time US airline, then this is my pick. It even offers an introductory $0 annual fee for the first year. In the following years, the annual fee is $150, but your savings on checked baggage fees can make it worth it.
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With expert:
Kurt Adams
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Kurt is a writer with too many credit cards in his wallet. Before becoming a credit card points pro, he wrote personal finance and small business content. A graduate of Princeton, he lives in New York City.
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A disclaimer about card names:
Due to the quirks of credit card compliance, we are sometimes not allowed to use the actual names of cards or certain banks in emails. This means we have to resort to using more generic language when talking about some credit cards.
We know this can be confusing or frustrating, but we encourage you to click through to our site, where we can name and talk more candidly about the cards and their benefits. While we are bound by the rules of credit card compliance, our mission will always be to put our readers first and help you travel better for less.
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