Maximize Your Miles: Master the Two-Card Strategy Every Smart Traveler Uses

by Gary Leff

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It’s never a good idea to spend money on a credit card an earn just one point per dollar. Would you buy an airline mile for two cents? (I hope not.) That’s what you’re doing, though, since you could easily be earning 2% cash back instead.

That means in most cases you need at least a two-card strategy for your spending. Each of the major banks issuing points transfer currencies has more than one card, including one that earns more than one point per dollar on all of your spend. And all of them let you combine your points to transfer to airline and hotel partners.

  • Perhaps you have the The Platinum Card® from American Express. The only spending I put on this card is airfare since it earns an amazing 5 points per dollar spent, up to $500,000 of flights per calendar year.

    I don’t put the rest of my spend on this card at only 1 point per dollar, though. Fortunately those who want to stay in the Membership Rewards ecosystem have The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express which earns 2X points on everyday business purchases such as office supplies or client dinners. 2X applies to the first $50,000 in purchases per year, 1 point per dollar thereafter. Terms and limitations apply. It’s a no annual fee card, too (see rates and fees).

    And the points transfer to:

    • Star Alliance: Air Canada, ANA, Avianca, Singapore Airlines
    • oneworld: British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, Qantas, Qatar
    • SkyTeam: Aeromexico, Air France KLM, Delta, Virgin Atlantic
    • Non-alliance: Aer Lingus, Emirates, Etihad, Hawaiian, JetBlue
    • Hotels: Choice, Hilton, Marriott

  • Maybe you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve®. Those cards are great for travel and dining spend but really not for the rest of your spending since they’d earn just one point per dollar. Chase loves that spend since it doesn’t have to invest as much rewarding you for it, but that’s not what you’re after.

    You can apply for a no annual fee Chase Freedom Unlimited® which earns 3x on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and unlimited 1.5x cash back on all other purchases. Then, combine those points into your Sapphire Preferred or Reserve account in order to redeem them for travel through the Chase portal or transfer to a variety of airlines or hotel programs:

    • Star Alliance: Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, United
    • oneworld: British Airways, Iberia
    • SkyTeam: Air France KLM, Virgin Atlantic
    • Non-alliance: Aer Lingus, Emirates, JetBlue, Southwest
    • Hotels: Hyatt, IHG, Marriott

  • With Capital One, both their Venture and Venture X cards earn 2 points per dollar on all spend, and those points transfer to:

    • Star Alliance: Air Canada, Avianca, EVA Air, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Turkish Airlines
    • oneworld: British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Qantas
    • SkyTeam: Aeromexico, Air France KL, Virgin Atlantic
    • Non-alliance: Emirates, Etihad Hotels: Accor, Choice, Wyndham

  • Citi Strata PremierSM Card earns 10 points per $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on CitiTravel.com; 3 points per $1 on Air Travel and Other Hotel Purchases, at Restaurants, Supermarkets, Gas and EV Charging Stations; 1 Point per $1 spent on all other purchases.

    Meanwhile, the Citi Double Cash Card has no annual fee and earns 2 points per dollar on all spending. Combine those points with your Strata Premier card, then transfer to:

    • Star Alliance: Avianca, EVA Air, Singapore, Thai, Turkish Airlines
    • oneworld: Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways
    • SkyTeam: Aeromexico, Air France KLM, Virgin Atlantic
    • Non-alliance: Emirates, Etihad, JetBlue
    • Hotels: Accor, Choice, Leading Hotels of the World, Wyndham

Always consider getting the card that best bonuses the spend you do the most, with a currency that’s most valuable to you – and pair it with a card with the strongest earning in the same ecosystem for your unbonused spend. That will avoid leaving too many points on the table, and avoid ‘overpaying’ for points, essentially buying points at at least two cents apiece when you’re earning just one point per dollar spent on your card.

For rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express, click here.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

More articles by Gary Leff »

Editorial note: any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Comments made in response to this post are not provided or commissioned nor have they been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any bank. It is not the responsibility of advertisers Citibank, Chase, American Express, Barclays, Capital One or any other advertiser to ensure that questions are answered, either. Terms and limitations apply to all offers.

Comments

  1. Interesting after saying AE gold card, undervalued wasn’t even included. Nor was the AE Everyday preferred.

  2. If I book through the chase travel portal, do I get the same travel protections as when I buy airfare with my Chase Sapphire Reserve?
    If I book Hyatt hotels through the chase travel portal, do I get my globalist benefits?

  3. You forgot about the Chase freedom card. It can earn 5% (or 5x points) on rotating categories every quarter

  5. Note that an unpublished benefit of Capital One cards is that you can transfer rewards from cashback cards to points cards (but not in reverse) at 1 cent to 1 point.

    You can therefore have a Capital One two-card strategy, earning 4x/3x on dining/steaming/entertainment and 3x on groceries with Savor/Savor One and 2x on everything else with Venture/Venture X.

  6. Well that was a whole lot of nothing but card advertising from a clickbait headline. You never actually explained how to double up the cards, just mentioned that banks offer multiple cards. You don’t even explain what you’re talking about with this concept at all.

    How can you spend on something and have it get value on multiple cards when you’re only using one to pay for it with?

    The only tip you managed to give was the obvious cautionary of not trading points for greater cash back opportunities, but again that’s not a double card situation or anything like it, it’s just normal spending.

  8. Thanks for the cliff note version of how the ecosystem works. Once one understands the ecosystem it’s hard to leave points on the table! You have to be open to using more than one card and remembering the benefits of each. Some people use stick notes on their cards other have their own written notes they look back to. After a while you remember how to use them on auto mode because one uses them frequently. What Gary has indicated in the article is not a full version of how to use the ecosystem. That would take a lot more space to write about it. That is something any reader that wants to know more about can easily find in his articles and others. Go read the archives. It was a good reminder if you want to maximize points take the time to learn about the ecosystem. It took me a few articles to grasp the ecosystem then I tried it out and finally got it!

  9. My recent experience with Chase Credit card approval.

    I am a long time Chase Sapphire and Freedom Unlimted card holder. I applied for Chase Freedom Flex two weeks back and it has not been approved as yet. I have called Customer service twice including the lending division and they refuse to commit to a timeline beyond 4 weeks. They claim that they need to verify a few things. One guy did mention that it is sitting in the system and has not been allocated to anyone.

    It is interesting that I earn a high salary with a credit score of 840 and usually get instant approval whenever I have applied for other cards. I am not in breach of Chase’s 5/24 rule as this is the first card I have applied for in 4 years.

    The lack of any consideration by Chase customer service is makeing me reconsider my existing relationship with them.

  10. I am under the impression that I am getting 3 miles per dollar at grocery stores with Aeroplan. I guess I haven’t checked. Is that correct?

  11. Since you list the Amex Biz Blue+ don’t forget about the Cap1 Spark Miles card which also earns 2 points/$1 spend. Unfortunately it has a $95 AF but then so do many others.

    With Amex, Citi and Chase offering better cards for everyday spend, how does Chase stay in the game? 1.5 really doesn’t cut it.

  12. I finally gave up trying to remember and wrote the relevant bonus categories on the card with a permanent marker. Half the people who notice say, “OK Boomer”, the other half, “good idea!”… I do not care about other’s judgement anymore.

  13. Citi Ecosystem in order of importance:

    1. Premier ($95). 3x on travel, dining, gas & supermarkets. You need this card to access the full range of Thank You transfer partners.

    2. Doublecash. No annual fee. Use this and get 2% on general spending (vs 1% on Premier, outside the 3% categories.

    3. Custom Cash. No annual fee. 5% in top category, otherwise 1%. Use it to add an extra category to the Premier cats…and use it only for that.

    4. Rewards+. No annual fee and low rewards rates. Won’t help you rack up. Citi points but will give you a 10% rebate every time you ‘spend’ points.

  14. @bers some of the Citi AA cards offer 2x on gas and certain categories. The major downside with some of the Citi AA cards is that they limit it to “Bonus” miles. For example on gas, some of the Citi platinum cards earn 2x but it’s 1x EQ and 1X bonus so it doesn’t all count to loyalty points or status (which is why I buy gas with other cards, AA/Citi)

    I think the BILT card may also have some bonus spend areas that can be transferred to AA.

  15. You still have left out the Chase Freedom card with it’s 5% rotating categories. Not sure why.

  16. That’s a nice compilation with good analysis. I realize that you can’t go down every nook and cranny but I think there’s one glaring exception to your rule: AA. I burn through a lot of American miles and unfortunately I don’t know a way to earn more than one mile per dollar on general purpose spend. I get a lot of value from AAdvantage EXP status so I’m disinclined to give it up but most of my earnings come from credit card spending since I don’t buy a lot of tickets. I don’t think there’s any practical way to get more than one AA mile per dollar but if there is I’d love to hear it.

  17. It would be nice if the cardholder had a way to know how a vendor was coded in order to use the card where it has the most effect. It is always trial and error to know whether a vendor is a grocer or restauranteur that garners the spend bonus. I keep a spreadsheet of vendors I know, but it would be helpful for the card company to allow users to search the vendor type up front. For instance, the AX Gold earns 4x at most coffee shops, which are classified as restaurants, but some are specialty shops, earning 1x. Any business inside a hotel is a crapshoot. If anyone has any hacks to help I’m all ears…

  19. Excellent “Cliff Notes” on the different options. I’ve been using Citi Double Cash for several years and it is my primary day-to-day card for the 2% all the time rebate. (Of course, all this is with the unstated proviso that you pay the balance in full each month – otherwise we all know what happens!) I’ve scored some great mileage options in the past year just by opening different cards – Capital One gave me 90,000 miles which was enough for round-trip on Quantas LAX-Sydney! I used to just use the No Annual Fee cards, but for $96 a year, I’m OK to pay that fee – nothing more!

  20. Spark (Capital One) is great for earning miles. Until you try using them. No problem tranferring a small amount (5 digit range) to your favorite airline. Trying to transfer a larger amount simply does not work. They deduct the miles from your account, but do not post it at your airline frequent flyer account. When you call they keep telling you that it is “in progress”, but the miles never materialize. Beware.

  21. Don’t forget to shop through your airline portals that sometimes offer bonus miles in categories where your card gets multiples. Double dip!

  22. Gary’s article summarized a strategy using a fee card and the most comprehensive non fee card in each ecosphere, not every card scenario. Some people want a more simplistic approach to credit card earning and the scenarios he outlined ensure that no purchase earns only 1x – that was the point of the article (IMO). I have a lot of cards so I can mix and match what is best for each purchase (unless I am earning a SUB). While the article is not applicable to me, it was nice to see what to do if I don’t want to hold so many cars in the future or lose the mental capacity/patience to do what I am doing today.

    Someone mentioned Bilt transfers to AA; however that ends in two weeks. I hate being in an AA hub location and not having great options to earn points with them but I will pursue earning/transferring with their partners instead – might be a better value to boot.

  23. Christian: For AA, there’s not much except three things: First, the Exec Card (which we all hold for Admirals Club membership) gets 4x miles on AA spending; second, the Exec card currently (for June, July & August) gets 2x miles for general spending if you spend over $1,000 per month (plus an extra 1,000 miles in August (sign-up required)); and third, as was mentioned somewhere above, there’s a no-fee card that gets 2x in certain categories (I forget which ones since I don’t have the card). That’s it after the death of Bilt transfers.

  24. All airfare to AMEX Platinum for 5x Also good for the various annoying coupon-clipping credits.

    Dining, rental cars and hotels other than Hyatt to Chase Sapphire Rserve for 3x.

    Business hotels to Chase Ink Preferred for 3x.

    Other business expenses to AMEX Blue Business for 2x.

    Everything else to Capital One VentureX for 2x or to Hyatt VISA, for 1 x and EQNs, depending on how many Hyatt EQNs we wish to earn that year.

    All other cards are held for their benefits (DL AMEXs for BOGOs and MQDs, Citi AA Executive for AA/AS lounge access, Chase IHG for free night certs and 4th night free on award bookings, Chase BA for award tax refunds, Barclay M&M to keep miles from expiring, Barclay Silver Aviator for bonus LP, Citi AA business for bonus LP, several BofA Alaska for BOGO$99, BofA AF to keep miles from expiring, BofA Spirit for free award bookings, Chase Hyatt Business for 15% business discount).

  25. There should be a credit card that gives a ton of rewards but PUNISHES you for leakage into any other way of paying. No debit. No checks. No other card. The Issuer can tell. And they are watching

  26. @Gary, @boilers —> This is exactly why I think the AMEX Platinum is overrated. Sure you get 5x on air travel, but with only 1x on everything else. I earn far more points in total using the AMEX Gold card. I have the Citi Prestige card (which, as everyone points out, is closed to new applicants) which gives me 5x on air travel whether purchased direct or thru Citi (just as the AMEX Plat.), and the Chase Sapphire Preferred with also gives me 5x (but only if I buy the ticket through the Chase Travel Portal).

    /\/\/\/\/\

    @Gene —> Point-counterpoint:
    — All airfare on Citi Prestige (5x); exception is Citi AAdvantage Exec (4x).
    — All dining on AMEX Gold (4x)
    — Hotels — if thru portal, Citi Strata (10x), unless I need the nights for status
    — Rental cars — if thru portal, Citi Prestige (10x), though Chase Sapphire does provide primary coverage (so it depends upon where I’m renting).
    — Non-bonus spend on Citi Double Cash (2x & zero AF), *unless* I’m outside of US (they charge FTF’s).

  28. I also have to remember to use different shopping portals. Including one that give points for hotel stays on top of the points you get with the card and with the hotel group.

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