Meghan Coyle
Appearances
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Introducing Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways, a NerdWallet Podcast
Hi there, I'm Megan Coyle. And I'm Sally French. Welcome to Smart Travel, where we help you make your travel budget work smarter because who doesn't love more trips for less money?
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Introducing Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways, a NerdWallet Podcast
We're your financially savvy friends who love to travel. Plus, we'll dive into topics like loyalty programs, seasonal booking strategies, and even whether travel insurance is really worth it or just another way to burn your budget.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Introducing Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways, a NerdWallet Podcast
Spoiler, it involves a lot of chocolate covered raisins.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Introducing Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways, a NerdWallet Podcast
Your passport will thank you and so will your wallet.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Ben, I'm glad we brought you on the show to bring us these great redemptions. Air Canada really is a transfer partner of a bunch of the major programs, Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles, and then also a program that I know Megan is a huge fan of, but we're not going to go too much in depth today on, is Built Rewards.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Wow, so exclusive.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
So where did that salt and pepper shakers come in?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Wow, I had no idea salt and pepper shakers were the thing. I learned something today.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
That is a good reminder about the fees. I'm up next. So I have a similar flight one with American Express. I would transfer to Flying Blue. That's the loyalty program of Air France, KLM. They are another common airline partner. They have flights to or from Europe for less than 20,000 miles when you can book it as part of a Flying Blue monthly plan. promo.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Okay, so I'm glad we talked last episode all about transfer partners because there was actually a ton of news about transfer partners last week.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Again, this could be a great trip for you to book for you and a friend to fly around trip to Europe for that 100,000 points.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Yes, yes. But you know, I'm an economy girl. I don't need these first class flights with the salt and pepper shakers.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Oh, I'm so jealous.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Okay, we'll have to try it out. And for American Express cardholders, I do want to shout out Delta here. It can be super expensive to book Delta flights on Delta SkyMiles, but there are some good deals if you can find them, especially internationally or even throughout the US.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
So I did see LA to Seattle for just 10,000 round-trip SkyMiles on their SkyMiles deals page or 30,000 round-trip to Detroit. We can link to our article on Delta SkyMiles SkyMiles maximization in the episode notes.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Ben, always here with the good tips. All right, Ben, I like you, but I will say you stole my last one. I wanted to do an Air Canada transfer partner, but instead for Amex, I'll go with transfers to Hawaiian Airlines. So in September 2024, Hawaiian Airlines joined Alaska Airlines. So Hawaiian miles can transfer to the Alaska Airlines mileage plan program.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
That means there are now so many sweet spots. Short haul flights on American Airlines for 4,500 miles. Flights to and from Hawaii for 10,000 miles. Those are, of course, as I said, economy class early, but you could also do business class on Japan Airlines for 75,000 miles.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
And also we should add those ducks and salt and pepper shakers, depending on the airline.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
So yes, easy answer. If you both open up a card in your individual names, you could both receive the sign-up bonus. You just have to make sure you both meet the minimum spending requirements on these cards.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
I love when couples play two-player mode. All right, time for hot takeoff time. I think since we have a guest, let's ask Ben for his hot takeoff.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Ooh, here to hate on Southwest. Tell us more.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Especially now that they charge for the bags and all that.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Yeah, really not that much cheaper. I will say the only benefit is if you have that companion pass, at least you can kind of half the price that way. But even still, I actually don't really think Southwest is always that much cheaper.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Womp, this seems to be the trend lately.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
That's the best when you get the whole row. As I said, do not fly first class, but if you can just lay down on all three seats, that's better.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
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Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
And of course our brief disclaimer, we are not financial or investment advisors. This info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Okay, maybe worth thinking about doing now. In other news, did you see JetBlue added the ability to redeem JetBlue points for Japan Airlines?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
I still need to go to Japan, one of the top places that I have not been to.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Okay, good deal. Moving over to our sea-loving listeners.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Yes, this is great news for cruise fans who have Chase cards. Previously, you had to call a number to find cruises available through something called Voyages by Chase. Now, people like me who are afraid of picking up the phone, you can just go to Chase's Travel Portal, see what cruise itineraries are available.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Unfortunately, though, you still have to call their number to actually complete the booking, but this makes it easier to browse and compare prices. When you book one of those cruises as a Chase card member, if it's a Voyages by Chase cruise, you get benefits. It'll be things like specialty dining or free onboard Starbucks. Starbucks, count me in.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Megan, we will make sure your next cruise has a Starbucks onboard so you can get your chai latte.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
I will throw in one more thing. Even if you don't have enough Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book a cruise, you can also pay for your cruise on a Chase card to earn points.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
I have to say, every time I read about his airline redemptions, I'm like, can you please show me your ways, Ben? That's why I asked him to come on the show. Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Megan Coyle. And I'm Sally French.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
You know, Megan, I'm thinking this is a sign. Next week, we should definitely just talk about cruises for the entire episode.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Hint, hint, wink, wink. Let's do it.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Yes. So I also wrote about a deal for families going on vacation at Disney World in 2026. Here's a good deal. If you buy a Disney dining plan to go along with your family's stay at a Disney Resort Collection hotel... Kids in your party ages 3 to 9 will all get the dining plan for free.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
The Disney Dining Plan is a prepaid meal program at Walt Disney World where you pay up front and then you get a set amount of meal credits that you can redeem throughout your trip. Now, whether or not it's a good deal is actually kind of up for debate. The Disney Quick Service Dining Plan costs about $60 per adult per day. That covers two quick service restaurants plus a snack.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
You also get a refillable drink credit. There's another more expensive tier. That's the standard Disney dining plan. That one includes one table service meal in lieu of one of those quick service restaurants. That one costs about $100 per adult per day.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Right. And while Disney food is expensive, it's usually not that expensive. You just end up getting so much food. A lot of people say they can't even eat it all. So what they find is that a lot of people don't actually see huge savings.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Yes. So there are some deals where it's like free dining plan, but you cannot combine it with other discounts. So I would say just do the other discounts for most people. But unlike past deals, this deal is actually good because it is stackable with other discounts. So now you're getting that kids eat free. You can also combine this with other discounts like the hotel room rate.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
You know, Megan, I think there are a lot of people who are saving their points for some dream trip that they might never actually take.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
It sounds like a high number, but... Actually, 100,000 points is not that wild if you've earned a big signup bonus or you haven't used your points in a year or two.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
We've asked our colleague, Benjamin Din, to join us to talk about what to do with six figures worth of credit card points. But first, the news.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
I like that we're adding a United flyer in the mix. You probably know Megan is an American Airlines elite. I am a recovering Southwest loyalist.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Right. So Ben, what are your priorities when it comes to redeeming 100,000 points?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
You know, it's so funny you say that, especially because you've done so many flights. I expected you to say flights. But honestly, I use points on hotels pretty much for the same reasons that you do. I will say Amex, which Megan assigned me, is not the best with hotel transfers. Hilton and Marriott are only met as hotel transfer partners with Amex. So this is a fun challenge.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Yes, we will talk about a few credit card companies that are NerdWallet partners in this episode, but that does not influence how we discuss them. The benefits, terms, and fees mentioned were accurate at the time of this posting, but things can change. Some offers may have expired by the time you're listening, so for the latest details, follow the links in the episode description. I do.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
I am going to throw a fun Amex hotel zinger in my list.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Oh, yes, Ben. I know we brought you on the show for a good reason. They are one of our favorite transfer partners. And Ben, I hope you heard my wedding episode where I said I was booking my wedding hotel on Hyatt Points. That's even rather than using my actual hotel room block.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
That would be way more fitting for our show and fitting Megan to have an icebreaker because we have a guest on our show today. And I am guessing he has some good answers to that icebreaker question.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
And I'll also pile on to the Hyatt love. One of my best hotel redemptions to date was booking the Ondas Maui at Waialea back when it was just a Category 4. It opened in 2013, which was close to when I went. I think they priced it so low just because no one knew about it. True hidden gem property. I will say the word has gotten out. Now it is a Category 8. I still love it. Oh my gosh. I know.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
I still love it. I loved it way more as a Category 4.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
And I think the listeners know it, too. Yeah.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Amazing. And 15,000 points means you could stay there for six nights based on our 100K criteria.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Choice is also a transfer partner of American Express. I I could have used that one on my list. So tell me, where could you get the best value for choice points?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
My turn. Amex time. So I said I didn't want to talk about hotel transfer partners, but this actually isn't a transfer redemption, just a great hotel redemption. So I'm going to share it anyway. If you have an Amex Platinum, you need to look into the Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
These are usually really high-end hotels, but when you book one of these participating hotels through Amex Travel, you get a bunch of other perks. Things like early check-in, late checkout, room upgrades, complimentary breakfast for two. Usually they throw in a $100 resort credit. So if you're counting all those perks, you can get great value for your points.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
That cash and points split is really nice. I find a lot of these hotels are so expensive that even the $200 credit you get with that card barely puts a dent in it. But if you can use points, that does help out a lot. I will say one of my favorite redemptions with the fine hotels and resorts collection is over at some of the Universal Studios hotels. You
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
And I actually wrote an article on NerdWallet about this. We will link to it in the show description. But there are a bunch of Universal-owned hotels that participate. And when you book at a Universal-owned hotel, you get benefits like early admission to the parks. Some of them even give you a free front of the line pass as part of your stay.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
Plus, the new Universal Epic Universe Park is opening next month. So I definitely think I will be spending some of my points there myself.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
I am, and I'm especially salty that they're adding back an expiration date to Southwest flight credits.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades
You have to.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
You have to ask the people that you know and give them that sort of direction so you get the better recommendations.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
Even like the time of year that matters as to like what's open. Maybe a hike won't be open or maybe there's a really cool festival, but your dates just don't line up with it. So give them the dates, give them the budget. I think those are all really good tips.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
And then you also want to try to ask people in your life that you know also care about the things you want on vacation. So for example, I know Sally loves her steps. And so when I'm asking Sally for recommendations, I'm like, hey, I'm willing to walk. What... What I do if I want to see at least four neighborhoods in one day in San Francisco. Exactly.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
To build on that idea, ask your hotel concierge for a tip. I love that idea of like asking them for a local rec, something they would actually really do.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
And then you go to that place and then you ask someone there, like let's say they sent you to a restaurant. Then you ask your waiter there and you're like, okay, where would you go get dessert after this? And have them tell you. Then you go to the dessert place and you say, hey, you know, tomorrow morning I have some time before X. Where should I go for this?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
And then use it as like a little game to get to your next destination.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
All right, I have another question that I feel like is going to be a hot take. How do you feel about using ChatGPT or any other AI to plan your itinerary?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
Yeah, I agree. It's not always right in terms of like times and hours, that kind of thing. But it is a really good starting point. I tell ChatGBT, hey, I love going to bookstores, especially when I'm traveling. So I'll tell ChatGBT, I'm like, hey, I want to see a bunch of different neighborhoods and let me know what good bookstores I need to hit in the city.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
And it'll give you a list, which is awesome. The other thing I found about ChatGBT, one, I like that it'll, if you ask it to plan a three-day itinerary, it'll split it up into morning, afternoon, evening types of activities.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
So I really like that because it's helpful for figuring out, you know, like the vibe of a place and whether it's better to go there during the day or something you can save for later. I also like that you can ask it, where are places that most tourists miss? Let's talk about some of our favorite free and cheap activities. I love a walking tour. Have you ever done one of those?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
Yeah, I just did one in Berlin two years ago, and I learned so much about the history. And then I really didn't need to do any more planning for the rest of the trip because my tour guide gave us her map of recommendations at the end of the tour.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
That reminds me actually of a cruise that I did last year and we did something similar walking around the town to save money on the transportation because you pay for the shore excursion through the cruise. Sometimes they'll charge you like a hundred bucks per person just to take you into town and it's a mile walk or something like that.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
Speaking of cruises, let's just talk about how to save on some of those things you can do on a cruise. I know you just went on a few.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
There are often alternatives if you're willing to try the public transportation if walking isn't an option or even book your own private transportation if the public transportation doesn't work either. You know, there's a lot of options. So I would just say explore them and see where the savings are.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
And you might be surprised. Let's segue to food because that's the most important travel activity, obviously. First tip, do not eat near the tourist attractions.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
Google Maps is your friend. I will do all this research ahead of time. I'll be like, oh, there's an interesting restaurant here. And you don't really need to put it into your itinerary. So the good thing about having this map ahead of time is you have all these places saved and they're just options that you've already vetted.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
And then when you're in the location, you just open your map and you go, oh, there's one just a few blocks away. And that really takes a lot of the stress out of it. All right, let's move on to listener question time. We have another voice memo. Let's play it.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
Cody, this is a fantastic question. Thank you for submitting it. First things first, I actually maintain a whole page on NerdWallet right now where we list the best travel credit cards. We'll drop that link in the episode description.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
But what I would recommend for Cody is getting a no annual fee cashback card to go along with his Chase Sapphire Preferred. So one option is the Chase Freedom Unlimited. It has a $0 annual fee. And it actually does come with a small signup bonus.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
And I just want to point out that the wording of the welcome offer is cashback. So it'll say something like, earn $250 cashback when you spend this much on purchases in the first few months. That's just an example. But you have to check the website to see the current offer. That $250 cashback language, it is actually given to you as Chase Ultimate Rewards points.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
So $250 cashback would be 25,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points. And you don't have to redeem them for cashback for that amount. You could actually transfer those points to your Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
This episode was produced by Hilary Georgie, Claire Soce helped with fact-checking, and a big thank you to Nick Karisamy for editing our audio.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
This week and every week, we hope you're inspired to keep your passport full and your wallet even fuller. Thanks, everyone. We'll see you next time.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
Okay, question for you, Sally. Have you ever found yourself at a tourist trap that you regret paying for?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
What? No way. You've never been to one of those $5 museums and you're like, this museum has two things in it? Okay.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
Okay. Well, just me then, apparently.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
Yeah. Don't end up at a random bamboo theme park in China that has a really sketch roller coaster that you do your own breaking. But you know what? I kind of want to find those like off the beaten path type of places to visit. And some of them turn out kind of meh. But with that bamboo theme park, I actually had an amazing meal there looking at all these mountains. Honestly, a lot of bamboo.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
Bamboo everything. But it was so sweet. It was like this little family restaurant there. So even if the attraction we went to wasn't the best, the meal there and the experience was something I'll always remember.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
Yeah, and we don't want you to be the person that's standing in the middle of some random tourist square, angry, googling food near me, and ending up in the world's saddest tourist trap. You don't make good decisions when you're hangry, so we don't want that to happen to you. Exactly.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
And part of that research is figuring out when they actually release the tickets so you can get them from the attraction itself and not having to buy it through a third party. I already made a mistake for my Italy trip, and my sister and I want to see the real David statue by Michelangelo. And I only thought about this maybe two weeks ago, and then...
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
I went to look up how to see the real statue and the tickets are already sold out the entire week. There are no time slots. There are still ways to get in. You can buy a skip the line ticket through a tour group. Those are expensive though. It was double the price. Yes, exactly. That's the price you pay when you did not look up this information beforehand.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
So if there are any of those big ticket items, look up not only how much it costs, but when the tickets are released. And maybe if there are certain days that are cheaper, that might make it easier for you to go.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
Again, make sure you do the math and see would you actually save money by doing these big packages?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
You're not interested in those last three attractions, then you're already paying part of the price. So you have to consider that. But if that is your way to get in, I mean, do it.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
That's true. Another thing I want to point out is if it's a museum that you're trying to get into, some of these museums do have free admission days, sometimes every month. The cadence kind of varies. But for the Louvre, for example, in Paris... After 6 p.m. on the first Friday of every month, everyone gets in for free.
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How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
So there's only a few hours left in the museum operating hours, but that's one way to get in if you haven't been able to.
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How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
I am so spoiled because I grew up outside of Washington, D.C., and the Smithsonian Museums were free to visit. You didn't need any reservations. That's changed now for a lot of the museums and the zoo, but there are some cities that actually just let everyone in for free, which is
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How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
Yeah. I mean, we would just go for the afternoon. Like you don't have to see everything in the museum. Takes the pressure off.
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They know everything about what's going on in the city. My other tip actually is to find local publications or even social media accounts that do roundups of free or cheap events at your destination. So for LA, like where I live, that you can search what to do in LA this weekend. And I found tons of free stuff through some of these newsletters or on TikTok.
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How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
And there's like local festivals that are free. There are activations for brands. And so I do this trick both while I'm at home just to be a tourist in my own city, but also while I'm traveling.
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How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
I've also figured out that you can earn some credit card points if you do end up paying for some of these attractions or tour groups or whatever it is. I booked the skip the line tickets to see the David statue. And I booked that through Get Your Guide. It's a company that aggregates a lot of these types of deals and tours.
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How to Plan an Itinerary That Saves Money, Avoids Crowds, and Unlocks Hidden Gems
And I also earned miles on it because it was part of the American Airlines tour. online shopping portal where they're offering like a mile per dollar that I spent on that. So even though I paid for it, I did get some miles that I'll use on a future flight, hopefully.
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We just mentioned some of those lesser known places can be really fun. Usually cost a little bit less. What are your favorite examples in San Francisco, Sally?
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In all walks of trying to find what to do on your trip, you need to be more specific about what you want to do. Even if it's just that you want to see a breadth of different things, you want to do the food, you want to do the museums, you want to do the outdoor stuff. If you want to do all of that, you have to let Either your Google search, include that there.
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Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
And you're kind of seeing the same thing with mid-tier cards as well. The United Quest card is increasing its annual fee by $100 to $350. But it also added some perks, like a $200 United Travel credit. This is instead of the previous $125 United Flight credit. And this is annually, so... Each year you get that kind of discount on a United flight.
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There is also a new 10,000 mile award flight discount. That's every year and 1,000 card bonus PQP each qualification year starting in 2026. PQPs are what you need to earn elite status. Oh, and one fun one I'll add is up to $150 in credits on JSX purchases annually. JSX is a semi-private flight service where you can fly in these small private jets that can usually hold up to 30 people.
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Yeah, there's so many myths like that that just need to be busted. I think I know the person who would be perfect to bust some flight bookie myths.
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And we're going to talk about JSX later, in fact. Oh, and let's finish out these United card updates. I'll make it quick. The annual fee on the United Club card is also increasing from $525 to $695. Oh, yikes. That's a lot. Yeah, it's sad. The lounge membership fee is going up, too.
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So it's slightly cheaper to pay the annual fee on the United Club card if you can get approved for it, even with this higher annual fee. But still, that's a lot of money to spend on a single airline card.
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Sally, that was awesome. Lots of great advice in there that you wouldn't necessarily expect.
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Mine is don't sleep on stopovers. I think when we think about airfare, we often think about it as just a round trip to one destination and we want to get the lowest price for that. But if you have time, you should think about booking a multi-city itinerary because sometimes it won't cost any extra and it's like you got two destinations for the price of one.
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And some airlines or countries actually help you do this. Like I'm thinking Iceland Air, which lets you stay in Iceland for up to seven days before you continue your journey and fly somewhere else, usually in Europe.
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Turkish Airlines has another great option where they'll even put you up in a hotel for free for two or three nights, depending on if you flew economy or business class when you stay in Istanbul.
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So let's translate that for people. Let's say you want to go to both London and Paris on your European vacation. So you might fly from Chicago to London. And then from London, you'd fly to Paris and then Paris back to Chicago. So with the excursionist perk, the first leg, the one to London, and the last leg, the one from Paris to Chicago, those would be award redemption.
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So you would spend as many miles as those flights cost. But the middle segment in between Paris and London actually won't cost any miles. It's zero miles. It's free.
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Yeah, we've got some info on the excursionist perk on the NerdWallet website that we will link to in the show notes. Hope you all can take advantage and add another country or destination to an upcoming trip.
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Yeah, there are a lot of new benefits, but some of them you have to earn, so they're not automatic. I will point out some of the ones that do seem worthwhile. Up to $150 in credits on rideshare purchases annually if you use Uber or Lyft a lot. Up to $200 in credits on JSX purchases annually and $1,500 card bonus PQP each qualification year starting in 2026.
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And besides giving us your feedback, come back for more by following the show on your favorite podcast app, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeartRadio.
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This episode was produced by Hilary Georgie and Tess Viglin. Claire Sose helped with fact-checking. And a big thank you to NerdWallet's editors for all their help.
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Thanks for listening. We hope you're inspired to keep your wallet even fuller. See you next episode.
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Now, this is starting to sound exhausting with all these different credits and you have to spend a certain amount to get them. Some of them are only given to you in certain increments. So it's a lot of work to start keeping track of all of these things. Of course, we would be here forever if we talked about every new benefit on these cards.
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So we'll put a link in our show notes to the NerdWallet article about all the changes to the United Cards.
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In fact, they replaced Lyft with Uber.
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Once the Delta and Uber partnership officially kicks off, SkyMiles members will be able to earn miles for eligible rides and deliveries across the U.S. once they link their Uber and SkyMiles accounts.
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You can earn one mile per dollar spent on UberX rides to and from airports and one mile per dollar spent on restaurant and grocery orders of $40 or more via Uber Eats, which is the company's food delivery arm.
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Moving right along, booking partner airlines with Air Canada points may cost you more now. The Air Canada Aeroplan loyalty program just switched to dynamic pricing yesterday for a few of their airline partners. Previously, they had this nice little award chart. You remember that? And it made it so predictable to know how many points you would need for an award flight. that's such a bummer.
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Oh, I love the people who swear the cheapest airfares come out on Tuesdays. It's not a Trader Joe's restock, people.
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Womp womp. I feel like we should have a sound effect for devaluations.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
Now let's go back to JSX, that semi-private jet service we mentioned earlier. Why don't we tell people a little more about what it is?
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And we're the travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip. And today is a special episode because we brought on another travel expert to help you find the deals. Stay tuned for an interview with Scott Keyes, the founder of Going, which is a flight deal service. But first, some news.
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That sounds so awesome, like this private jet experience, walking out on the tarmac. But how much is it?
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Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
And with some of those credits on the United cards, like the $150 credit, I mean, that $250 credit became a $100 flight to Vegas one way, which isn't too terrible.
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Should we go to the Monterey Aquarium, Sally?
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Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
Sally, I've been so excited ever since you told me you landed this guest because I've been following him for a long time. Yes, our guest today is Scott Keyes, the founder of the Flight Deals Alert Service, going. I've been on Scott's email list for years, back when it was called Scott's Cheap Flight. Same. I think the best deal I got was that $317 round trip flight from California to Beijing.
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Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
Oh my gosh, it was so cheap. It was crazy. And even more recently, I booked a deal to Edinburgh, Scotland, and it was $500 round trip from Washington, D.C. And the dates were perfect because it lined up with my childhood friend's wedding in Scotland. And Scotland's not the most common destination. Like most people fly to London and then either take another short flight or a train.
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But I'm always really impressed with the variety of destinations that Scott and his team are able to find deals for. Really cool spots.
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Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
And that's the reason Scott started the company in the first place, because he found a killer flight deal back in 2013. I think it was between New York and Milan.
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So after that trip, he built this company dedicated to sharing fare alerts, and some of them are just really good deals, like sales or something, and some are mistake fares, like when an airline accidentally forgets to add a digit, and the $1,500 airfare might be listed for $500.
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Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
Today, Going has a staff of about 50 people and has served an estimated 2 million travelers. And over that time, Scott has amassed tons of great insights on how they find these deals and how you can find amazing airfare deals too. All right, without further ado, Sally, take it away to your interview with Scott. All right.
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Chase just announced a slew of new benefits to the United Airlines co-branded cards. The United Gateway card, which is the $0 annual fee card, now has two free checked bags each year. To be clear, you only get those after you spend $10,000 in a calendar year with your United Gateway card.
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And some more bad news. The United Explorer card is going up in price. It will now have a $0 intro fee for the first year, then $150. That's up from the previous annual fee, which also had a $0 intro fee, and then $95 per year.
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Of course. And sometimes I can avoid those expenses if I'm staying with family or I'm in a walkable city maybe where you don't need a rental car. But yes, I'll roughly go through and budget the same way I do for flights and hotels.
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Yeah, and we have some awesome data too about rental cars, which can help you budget for that. We did a big rental car analysis last summer, and we found out that rental cars tend to cost about 13% more when booked three months in advance versus just seven days in advance. I remember pulling that data.
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Yeah, it's good to know that there are some last minute deals you can get and rental cars just happens to be one of them. Let's talk points and miles because this is the part you've been waiting for, Sally.
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Totally. And we've seen a few cases of this already happening this year. Marriott raised award prices of some high-end properties at the end of January. If you were just waiting to book one of those Marriotts on points, it's suddenly going to cost thousands of points more per night than you thought.
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Totally. And, you know, like let's use my Australia trip this year. This is another one of those weddings I'm going to. So many weddings. Yes. There are a few flight options between Los Angeles where I live and Sydney where the wedding is. And so at the beginning of this year, I'm starting to already figure out like how am I going to collect enough points to be able to pay for this?
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maybe an award flight to Australia. And I'm going to keep my options open. You know, maybe I'll fly into Brisbane, which is another city in Australia. It's closer to the wedding, but has less direct flights from here. So maybe I'll do that. Maybe I'll do a little side quest and visit New Zealand, which is like one of my favorite places in the world. I studied abroad there.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
So taking the time early in the okay, where am I going to go? How am I going to collect the points to be able to do these flights? That's a big part of travel planning.
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Yeah, it's awesome. So then once you've figured out like maybe the routes you want, that's when I would start to do a little bit of research on which airlines have the best award rates going there. Like you just mentioned Europe. There are certain airlines that come to mind that I know the rates to Europe are really cheap.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Well, then I'm glad our main segment today is all about budgeting, at least.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
And so once I figure out which airlines have some of the best award rates to that region, then I ask myself, can I book it with miles I already have? And this is also interesting.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
And another thing to think about if you're thinking about credit cards, are there any credit card sign-up bonuses that might be able to cover the price of this award flight? So
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Once I know what kind of miles or credit card points I might need, then I can watch throughout the year to see if one of those cards that earns that type of reward has a limited time signup offer that's even better than the usual offer.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
They also gave you some data on the top 10 destinations where people are going for spring break. Where are they going, Sally?
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Yeah, it's like a multi-month strategy, but it really can save you so much money. And if it sounds like a lot of work to you, I got you. I wrote this article on NerdWallet that lists all of the credit card limited time offers available right now. And this stuff changes constantly. So I'm always adding these new deals and making sure everything on that page is up to date.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
We'll link to it in the show notes.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
And we haven't even talked about those actual benefits on the travel card that also might help you save money on the trip.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
So do you usually find a place to use the free night and then make a trip out of it? Or do you have some trips in mind and then you try to find out where you can redeem that free night?
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Oh, yeah. I saw your pictures from that. It looks so gorgeous. Yeah. You know, I'm really not a fancy hotel person.
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Super nice. And free nights are a really good example of using your credit card perks to help keep the cost down of your trips. Don't you also have the Southwest Companion Pass?
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Lots of great Florida representation on there and a little SoCal. Love it.
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Yes, and you'll get to take your companion for that price on every flight you take for at least a year because the pass is good for the year you earn it and the entire next calendar year. So again, you only just have to pay the taxes and fees for the companion when they come with you on a flight.
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Yes, of course, always. I love when our little bubbles just like end up in the same place. Like this is why I love travel.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
And I believe you also have a semi-related hot take. You know, I've been thinking, what do you think of naming this segment Hot Takeoff? I love it. Yes. Okay. Share your hot take of the week.
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Oh my God, that is steaming hot. Just tell me why. I'm not going to be convinced, but go ahead.
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Yeah, and guys, she's not just carry-on only. She's like backpack only, like only something that goes under the seat in front of hers. Yes.
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Yeah. okay I feel that I feel that I'm also pretty short okay and then there's another reason why you like the middle seat right okay so this is that the middle seat is genuinely better than the window because there's only one person you have to bother to get up and use the bathroom okay but That's still one person and it's honestly probably me because I need the aisle.
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I hate bothering even one person. Okay. Yes.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Oh gosh, you are literally that person. Okay, I cannot say you've convinced me. Let's just wrap this thing up. Okay, okay.
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And since you've already set aside money for travel, you can put any extra into your next trip. And listeners, do you have any questions? Send them to us. Email us at travel at nerdwallet.com or, you know, for extra credit, email us a voice memo. You might even hear your voice on the show.
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And if you're not already doing it, you can follow the show on your favorite podcast app, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeart Radio to automatically download new episodes.
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And here's our brief disclaimer. We are not financial or investment advisors. This info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances.
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That's not surprising to me at all. Ever since the pandemic ended, cruises have been super, super popular.
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Awesome. You'll have to report back. Speaking of checking out new things in travel, last week I went to the new Capital One Lounge opening at the Las Vegas airport. That's right. You also flew to Las Vegas. How was it? It was so great. Vegas is such a popular destination for both vacationers and business travelers.
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So it was really smart to put a lounge there where people can sort of recharge after a week or weekend of revelry or work. That's also tiring. And Capital One Venture X cardholders get unlimited access for themselves and two guests to these Capital One lounges.
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So it's also much easier to bring companions or your family or your work friends with you there than it is at the nearby American Express Lounge at the Las Vegas Air Board.
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Yeah, I'm a little scared, to be honest. The good news is that the Capital One Lounge is pretty big. There's room for about 135 guests. So it's a tad smaller than the Amex one at the Las Vegas airport. But honestly, a lot to like in there. I think the food at Capital One Lounge is the best among the credit card issuer lounges. They serve all these like small plates.
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It's sort of like tapas style and it's all you can eat. So you can try a little bit of everything. I had caviar deviled eggs, salmon, avocado toast, short ribs, strawberry pop tarts. Honestly, I had so much I can't even list it all.
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Yeah. So this one has that too. They have this like big grab and go section at the front of the lounge and you've got a refrigerator full of sandwiches, bowls, salads. There's pastries out on the counter, drinks. You can make your own snack mix. So they know people are going to take food for their flight and they make it super convenient.
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And while you're at it, our colleague Benjamin Dinh also covered another lounge opening last week. He went to the new Chase Sapphire Lounge in Philadelphia. I edited that story and the pictures will also convince you that it's worth a visit. The only caveat being that it's a little far for American Airlines flyers flying into Philly.
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And we did it the budget-friendly way. We met up in the free zone at a Disney hotel. Do you want to tell people how much you spent on our little meetup? Yes, that's right.
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I know. So I might have to make the trek over there because this Chase Lounge has so many amenities. Like they have this room where you can get free facials. There's a kid's playroom, an arcade, and this one even has a beer garden. So if you're looking for entertainment, this Chase Lounge can keep you entertained for a few hours.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Not to mention you can figure out which cards will get you in there. That's important.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
We'll have more details about that on the NerdWallet website, as well as which cards get you more rewards on Uber rides.
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Okay, so Sally, it's the beginning of the year-ish, so I feel like we have almost the whole year ahead to plan trips and figure out how to pay for it.
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And you'll find out it can be as low maintenance or high maintenance as you want it to be.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Well, definitely not with travel. And honestly, it's not a bad thing to be high maintenance with your money management. If it helps you keep track, do it.
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It's kind of like having that piggy bank as a kid where you put coins in a jar to save for a certain toy, except the adult version is just a separate account at your bank.
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Sort of. So I really prioritize travel in my life. So for me, it's a non-negotiable. I've always gone home for the holidays, usually both Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, you know, as much as you can try to find a deal for those, the holidays are an expensive time to fly and I've got to save for it. You know, that's actually why I avoid traveling during the holidays.
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Yeah, like my family has been doing this turkey trot, which is this race on Thanksgiving Day, for 20 years. So I can't miss it. I need to be there. Actually, you know, I do love a good turkey trot.
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Yeah, so whenever I fly home for the holidays, in my mind, I set a budget for that. So it's about $500 round trip going from the West Coast to the East Coast back for Thanksgiving and Christmas. So I'm paying about a thousand bucks for holiday flights every year. Oh man, a thousand dollars. So are you paying cash or are you seeing points at all for this?
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Yes, it was so fun. If you are planning any travel this year and you're putting together a travel budget, we've got tips for you. Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Sally French. And I'm Megan Coyle. And we are the Travel Nerds, ready to help you plan your next big trip. Today, we're talking about how we budget for trips.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Sometimes, but first, let's stick with the cash. So I like to use the beginning of the year to plan out my trips for the whole year ahead. Since holidays are non-negotiable, right there, I know I need to budget roughly $1,000 for that travel. And if I find a great points deal, I'll book it on points, but I always want to make sure I have the cash just in case I'm not able to find anything.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
For sure. And airfares don't go up every year, but this year they did. So it is not unreasonable to expect a bump next year too. And the thing about my budget is I set this budget for holiday travel. And that means like sometimes I have to make accommodations to come in under budget.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Like maybe I'll take a red eye or do a flight with a layover this year if that ends up being cheaper and keeps me within my budget.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
So right now I'm thinking about the travel for all those weddings I have to go to this year. And I'm going to kind of estimate a rough budget for those as well.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Oh my gosh, yeah.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
So I basically just go on Google Flights or any kind of travel aggregator and start looking at what the average prices are. There's some really great tools on Google Flights, for example, where they have this little graph that's like this price is within the normal or it went up recently in the past few days. So it can give you a really good idea of what the average airfare is.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
And then also we've talked about this before, but setting a price alert. So I will set that price alert really early in the year and be able to watch it come through my emails and say, okay, I've seen the prices for the past few months and this is the price I'm comfortable setting for the budget.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Yeah, and you can see all the data behind that on NerdWallet's website. We'll put it in the show notes, but listeners, you can find the article about the best days to book a flight and when to fly.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Okay, so I have a side hustle and it involves podcasting, funny enough. So any income that I make from that, I put that into a separate bank account.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Oh yeah, we've been on the side hustle life for years. And I don't recommend getting a side hustle just to fund your wanderlust, but it's been a great way for me to budget for travel separately. the money from those gigs for me goes straight into this high-yield savings account. So that account also earns a bit of interest.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
And I just save all that money and feel very comfortable spending it on travel when I want to.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
And just a heads up, in this episode, we'll talk about a few credit card companies that are nerd wallet partners, but that doesn't influence how we discuss them. All right, let's dive in.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Well, a lot of people don't realize that most employers that use direct deposit allow you to direct your income into different bank accounts if you want. So you can go to your payroll team and you can say something like, I want 90% of my income to go into this account and 10% to go into this other account, which could be for travel or any kinds of fun things you're saving for.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Yeah, it's super simple.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Yeah, and if you don't have like an online system, just ask your HR team. They can definitely get this done for you.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Either way, just automate it so you don't have to think about it. For example, if you have a travel credit card, you could set up autopay so that you could pay off that credit card directly from your travel account. It just makes it so much easier to budget correctly when you're not moving money around all the time.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Exactly. These travel rewards are only valuable if you can pay off your credit card every month. But again, we'll talk about it more in another episode.
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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
I think I'm pretty close. I am actually terrified of overspending. So I remember in college, like I had worked in high school and I'd worked two jobs all the way through college, but it was so expensive to pay for all those textbooks and the food and the flights home. It was just like scary to see all of your savings dwindle.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
So because of that experience, I definitely overestimate for how much I'll need.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Totally. And if you end up having to pay for something unexpected, like something goes wrong and you have to book a different shuttle or something like that, your travel budget will have room for that if you have extra.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Sally, let's play a game. Tell me if you think the following statement is a truth or myth.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
For Amex, I'm hot on transferring to Hawaiian Airlines right now. Aloha. It sounds random, but Hawaiian Airlines transfers one-to-one. This is kind of a special case. If you have Hawaiian Airlines miles, you can transfer them to Alaska Airlines. Alaska acquired Hawaiian last year, and Alaska has some great low-cost redemptions, especially for international award flights on One World Partners.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
They're super flexible points. And if I were going to pick an airline to book other airline alliances like the Sky Team Alliance, which has Delta Airlines, I would actually choose Flying Blue, which is the frequent flyer program for Air France and KLM.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
That program also had some devaluations earlier this year, but I booked my flights to Geneva, Switzerland to go skiing in the Alps in February this year. And it was just 22,000 points from LA to Geneva. Very nice. Was that part of a Flying Blue promo? Yes, sort of.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
So KLM and Air France, their Flying Blue program has these monthly promotions where they have discounted award flights between certain cities around the world and the hubs in France and the Netherlands. So I booked during this month where their flights from LA were in the promo, but actually the lowest cost flights were 15,000 points. But you know, I wanted to get the better itinerary.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
So I splurged and I spent 22,000 points to get there. Amazing. What fair class. Just economy, you know, but it works.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
So your city might be this month or next month if Air France or KLM flies there. Another great way to save on points when you're transferring is to book during a transfer bonus. So these are usually like a month long or six weeks. And I'll just use March as an example. Last month, there was a 50% transfer bonus to Marriott from Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
The Marriott transfer ratio is typically one to one. So with the bonus, if you transferred 100,000 Chase points, you get 150,000 Marriott points in your Marriott account.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
We also have guides to the best and worst transfer partners of each of the major banks in the show notes too. So we have a lot of resources for you.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
So Sally, do you have any strategies for finding out what the best transfers are?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
That's a lot of points. But this transfer bonus is only running through April 30th, 2025. So if you're listening to this episode after that date, check NerdWallet's list of current transfer bonuses for others. We'll link to that in the episode description. That's often where I start when I'm looking to use points for a trip.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Yeah, it was really helpful when we were looking at valuations of all these airline programs. So that was a really good one. The other award search tools I like are points.yeah, Seats.aero, Points.me, and Roam. These all work pretty much like a flight search tool, except that they'll show you the flight prices also in points.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
And some of them will tell you which airlines are transfer partners of which banks. These are really helpful if you're trying to book something on points and you have these flexible currencies. And then you mentioned all the work you did on your own valuations. I think we should shamelessly plug ourselves, right, Megan? Yes, totally.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
If you haven't heard it enough, we have that list of how much each airline and hotel program's points are worth. We also have articles on the best ways to fly to name your destination. You know, I know I've written tons of articles like that at NerdWallet. Let other people do the work for you when you're trying to figure out how do I fly to Europe on points? Because
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
people who look at this every day, we see the prices more often and we can help point you to the places that maybe people don't always know about.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
And for people in the know, the best ways to redeem your points to fly to a certain place is called a sweet spot. I just love that. Like I always think of ice cream or something.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
All right. And one last tip before we move on is some of these awards search deal aggregators send out deal alert emails or notifications. So you talked to the founder of Going. That's right, Scott. Yeah. I think Going does that, right? Yes. Those emails give me lots of ideas. Even if I don't book them, I remember seeing in an email what airline points they mentioned.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
So I sort of banked that knowledge for my next trip.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
But it's kind of fun to find the flight deals once you get good at it. It is fun. It's like uncovering a magical treasure. Okay.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Let's do it. All right. So one of my friends is a new smart travel listener. And she asked me recently what she should do with her first credit card. It's an Alaska Airlines card because she's from Seattle. Okay. And she used to fly Alaska Airlines a lot. But now she lives in Atlanta and it's not as useful.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
She doesn't want to lose that credit history because it's the longest card she has had open, but she doesn't want to pay the annual fee anymore. Does she have any options here?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
But unlike some airline cards, Alaska Airline actually doesn't have a no annual fee card. Boo. So that throws a wrench in what I was about to say. Yeah. Well, don't worry. I called the issuer, Bank of America, to find out. And even though they don't list it on their website, they do have cards that you can product switch to. Right. Really? So here's what they said in an email.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Sounds like your friend should do that. So don't cancel the card outright. Just call.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
And then you're like, okay, maybe I will do that. Yeah. That's great advice, Sally. And also, if you didn't get the retention offer that you wanted or maybe the product switch that you want isn't available, I would recommend calling back again because sometimes they're able to offer you other options as you're standing with the bank changes, as more time passes and new promos come around.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
And over in city land, cardholders with city thank you points can transfer to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club with a 30% bonus. And they have a bit longer to do that. That one ends May 17th, 2025.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
So if you don't get it the first time, try again. Always call. So now it's time for our favorite part of the show. Hot takeoffs are hot takes about travel.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Oh my gosh. I love it. What a callback. I feel like you're trolling, but honestly, you can kind of do that. Right? Some cards actually do let you use your points on dining. So for example, some Chase cards let you use your points on Chase dining to order takeout or even book these fancy culinary experiences like one-on-ones with a famous chef.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Yeah, the Amex Gold is one of those. That card has a $325 annual fee, and it offers up to $50 in statement credits twice a year after you pay with the American Express Gold card to dine at U.S. Resi restaurants.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
MX Gold also earns four membership rewards points at restaurants worldwide on up to $50,000 per calendar year and four points at U.S. supermarkets on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases. I dare you to try and memorize those.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Wait, Dunkin', that's not fancy at all. No. You mean how coolata and munchkins aren't fancy? No, that's your real hot take. See, I was just leading up to it. Okay, tell us about an amazing transfer you made for a dream vacation. Email us at travel at nerdwallet.com or leave us a voice memo. We might play it on the next show.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
And also come back for more by following the show on your favorite podcast app, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeartRadio. Yes, do follow so you never miss an episode. This episode was produced by Hillary Georgie and Tess Biglin. Claire Soce helped with fact-checking. And a big thank you to NerdWallet's editors for all their help.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
This info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Thanks for listening. We hope you're inspired to keep your passport full and your wallet even fuller. See you next episode.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
That means you have two weeks, two weeks, people, to get your real ID if you don't have one already.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
This is your reminder to schedule your appointment at the DMV. So once the requirement goes into effect, if you don't have a Real ID, Compliance, State ID, or Driver's License, you might have to bring another approved type of ID to board a domestic flight.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Hopefully you would remember if you spent hours at the DMV getting it. So all right. Another piece of news I heard last week that I'm really excited about. American Airlines is introducing free Wi-Fi on most of its planes starting in January 2026. Yay. Thank goodness because I'm paying like $25 to $35 each flight to use the internet on my American flights. And that is really starting to add up.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
And just a reminder, it's free to join the American Airlines A Advantage program. So once this Wi-Fi service launches, it won't cost you anything to join and then connect to the internet.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
That's why listeners have us. We're here to give you the shortcuts on which transfer partners are worth booking with to save you some points.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
And United is joining the party as well. It previously announced that it's equipping its planes with Starlink Wi-Fi, and the planes that use the internet provider will offer free Wi-Fi for United Mileage Plus members. It's kind of rolling out slowly. The first United Express regional jet with Starlink is on track to launch next month.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
And the first bigger jet with Starlink should launch before the end of the year.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
But like Delta, United is also going to make a few cuts. They're going to cut back on flights at off-peak times and on lower demand days. Ah, that's too bad because those low demand days are when you can typically find the best deals. Don't take away my 6 a.m. flight on a Tuesday. Just kidding. Take it. I always regret booking that flight later when I'm waking up at 4 a.m. Same.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
I wish other airlines would jump on this bandwagon too. First, free Wi-Fi. Next, $40 elite status. Here I come.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
If you listened to our episode on best credit cards... Which you totally should. Yeah, I feel like I'm about to drop a spoiler. But if you haven't listened, maybe go back and start there.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
And I'm Sally French, and we're the travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip. Maybe on points? If you've heard that you should transfer your points for travel redemptions, listen up. It can save you thousands of points, but you have to know which transfer partners you have access to and which ones offer the best rates.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Today, we're unpacking point transfers.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Well...
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
And it's not as scary as it sounds. It really is very simple. But the tricky part is making sure that transferring points will actually be a better deal for you. And that's why we exist. So let's go over some basics before we get too deep here. Most credit card points are worth about one cent per point as a baseline value.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
And that's usually the case if you redeem your points for cash back or cover a travel expense in your credit card issuer's travel portal.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Let's start with the good. The Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve have an even higher redemption rate when you redeem your points for travel in the Chase Travel Portal. It's 1.25 cents per point for the Chase Sapphire Preferred and 1.5 cents per point for the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
0.7.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
So that is less than one penny per point. If you want to keep it simple and redeem in the travel portal, that's fine. Just know that you're getting about one cent per point with most of these programs. And as Megan said, that's fine. That's fine.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
These are hotel or airline companies that partner with your credit card issuer, and you can send your points there for hopefully more value. You can find a list of the transfer partners of every major credit card rewards program on the NerdWallet website and the show notes, of course.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
When you move your credit card points to a transfer partner, it's almost like a currency conversion, like how things cost different amounts here than they do in Europe.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Oh yeah, the croissant inflation is terrible. The cool thing is, though, that when you have a credit card with transferable points, there are no fees for converting your points.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Well, it kind of is with the Starbucks rewards program, but I digress. You love your Starbucks.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
And a majority of them are one-to-one ratios for a lot of these big credit card rewards programs. So that's good. Keeps the math simple. And as a rule of thumb, you want to avoid transferring your points to a partner that has less than a one-to-one ratio.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
For example, Capital One just added JetBlue Airways as a transfer partner, but the ratio is 5 to 3. This means if you transfer 5,000 Capital One miles to JetBlue, you'll only receive 3,000 JetBlue TrueBlue points. Yeah, personally, that's not ideal. In practice, that means you end up needing to transfer a lot more credit card points to be able to book your flight with JetBlue points.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
In that case, you might actually save some miles if you just book through the Capital One travel portal.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
And the second reason is maybe you need to top off your account. So we just talked about how that JetBlue transfer ratio isn't super advantageous to cardholders. But if you only need a few, let's say like 3,000 JetBlue points because you already have maybe 15,000 JetBlue points from flying and you're just trying to book something that's 18,000, you just need that 3,000 difference.
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When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Like that could be worth it, maybe.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
I would say that's when I would recommend it. And buying points usually isn't a good option. That's something that you might see when you're checking out and you don't have enough points. But airlines and hotels sell them for more than they're worth. So it's typically better to just transfer a few thousand points from your credit card than it is to buy them from the airline or hotel.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
All right. We've got lots more to say about points transfers. Stay with us. We're back in a moment.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Okay, the best way to use your credit card points is to transfer them to airline or hotel loyalty programs instead of booking travel through your credit card's travel portal.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Yeah, there are so many things that could go wrong if you were to speculatively transfer points. For example, if it's a hotel, like maybe the hotel availability will get booked up and you won't be able to use those points for a stay at the hotel you want. Or maybe you're going on a trip and you transferred all your points to Hilton, but there are no Hilton hotels in that destination.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
One thing we'll talk about later in the episode is that there are these special deals called transfer bonuses that can make transferring to a partner even cheaper.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Remember, points can generally only go one way from credit card to the hotel or airline program. It's really hard to move them around once they're at a hotel or airline because they charge more. The transfer ratios aren't as good. You would lose a lot of value that way.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
It gives you so much flexibility. And one of the great things about these transfers is that most of them happen instantaneously, like within seconds. Yeah. Oh, magical. Yeah. But keep in mind that things do happen and sometimes you do have to wait a little bit for your points to transfer. So if it's a really special deal, I would recommend putting that flight or hotel stay on hold.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
Most airlines and hotels have a way to do this. Usually you just call them or sometimes there's a way to do it online. But make sure you do this if you are afraid that this booking might go away and if you don't see your points in your account within an hour or two.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
All right. I want to talk about which transfer partners are good because when I'm looking to book travel, I don't check every airline or every hotel on the list.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
And at NerdWallet, we have done so much work to figure out what these valuations of these points are. Like we literally manually look up every single cash price and every single redemption rate for a set of flights and hotel stays. And we look at them every year. There's hundreds of data points and we'll link to the full results in the show notes.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
When and How to Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points To Get The Most Value
We actually just updated our international airline valuations as well. So those are really helpful. So let's say some of the best transfer partners.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
Everyone is talking about inflation these days, but I have the wildest inflation example for you.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
Yeah, me too. You know, I always buy the multi pass when I go because I do feel like my time is money. I'm giving up time off of work. I am on this vacation. I already spent a bunch of money on the hotel and the ticket. So I might as well not wait in line. I think that multi-pass sort of fills that sweet spot of not being the $450 Premier Pass, but still allowing me to expedite those lines.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
So for the latest details, follow the links in the episode description.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
Oh, Megan, people do not know about this. We need to tell them. Oh, yes, yes. This is the number one hack that everyone overlooks.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
So rope drop is when you get there before the park opens. It is your prime time to go on everything. So if the park opens at 8, they will open the main entrance gates earlier. And typically, they'll let you go to a certain area. So If you are going to Disneyland in California, typically you can wander around Main Street. If the park opens at 8, then you can be in there at 7.30.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
This is a great opportunity to take some photos. Often the shops are open. You can browse around. But you want to get up to those, quote, ropes. Sometimes it's not a literal rope. It's just an employee standing there. But at that time, when they, quote, drop the ropes, you beeline to the top ride you want to go to.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
The best time to avoid the lines is during the parade, during the fireworks. And then in general, there are a lot of families who will say, we're going to do the first half of the day or the second half of the day. What happens is kind of in that noontime, everyone has overlapped and everyone is there. So either commit to the morning, commit to the evening, but avoid the afternoon time.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
I say do rope drop. Then midday, you're tired, you're hot. Go back to your hotel, lay in the pool or your bed, and then come back in the evening when the lines are shorter and it's cooler.
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I am talking to you right now from Orlando. I am here at a media preview for Epic Universe, which is the first new Orlando theme park in more than 25 years and a highly anticipated one of that. They've got a Super Nintendo World, a new Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and a new
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Exactly right. Now, speaking of hotel, Disney also has a benefit for its hotel guests. Hotel guests get something called early entry. This is a bonus 30 minutes extra in the morning. So if the park opens at 8, that means hotel guests can start getting on the rides at 7.30. And then the rope drop still sort of applies. So you might be in the park at 7 a.m.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
just moseying around ready to beat everyone else who's a hotel guest at the rope drop.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
Great tips to save time when ordering food. Let's talk about saving money when ordering food.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
There are a lot of really good offers coming up the rest of 2025 and even into 2026, including a really good offer in 2026 where all the kids staying in a Disney-owned hotel room get the dining plan free if the adults in the room have paid for it.
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a how to train your dragon land, tune into a future episode of Smart Travel as we're dedicating a full new episode to that. But let it be known that it officially opens tomorrow. That's May 22nd.
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I will give you two. One is Trader Sam's. This is not even in the parks. This is at the Disneyland Hotel. And there is also one at Disney's Pollination Resort in Disney World. Super fun to keep art. And then my second one, I think you're going to agree with me, is Oga's Cantina in Star Wars Land.
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Because there's so many stores everywhere. You're like, I can't not look at the shops because every time you leave a ride, there's a shop.
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So some of my favorite free stuff to do at Disney World that's in Orlando that does not require a ticket is one, joyriding the monorail. Two, joyriding the Skyliner. Three, aimlessly wandering around the hotels. The Disney World hotels are amazing. Especially around Christmas when they've got the gingerbread displays up. So cute. Yes, exactly. My other favorite one is at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
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Grab a glass of South African wine at the Victoria Falls Lounge. They have animals that you can see from the hotel itself. So you don't even need to pay for an Animal Kingdom ticket. You can just watch the animals at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Your very own free safari.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
Good tips. I think it is time now for some hot takeoffs. What do you think, Megan?
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
Okay, Megan, so here's my hot takeoff, and that is that Disney should go back to the ticket book system. So this is a system that they had way back in the day where you paid for a low price to get into the parks, and then what you got in exchange was this ticket book. So at the time when the parks opened, there were A tickets, B tickets, and C tickets.
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The A rides were kind of the ones that no one really cares about. And then the C tickets were the better rides. And then you could just exchange one ticket to go on one ride on each corresponding ride. Now, it did limit how many rides you could go on. Eventually, Disney expanded it out to D and then E tickets. So you've probably heard the term, this is an E ticket attraction.
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You hear that in pop culture now. And they phased out these ticket books in 1982. Now, for what it's worth, I never experienced this firsthand. So I could be wrong, but I think the ticket books sounded really nice because then you don't feel pressure to one, have to pay for all the line tickets to expedite the lines, which is something I recently did when I went to Disney.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
And it also just gives you time to sort of slow down, enjoy the scenery. You get to just wander around, appreciate the parks, smell the churros. So this actually happened to me. I was at Disney World a few months ago, which is when I started thinking about these hot takes. It was super hot out. It was super crowded. And I was like, you know what? I'm just going to go wander around World Showcase.
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Ooh, that would be magic to avoid that. I see you levitating.
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That's in Epcot. It was the most beautiful day. It was so nice. I just enjoyed all the amazing art. architecture, which Disney does such a good job at. They had so much live music. It was peaceful. I didn't stress about trying to get on the rides because I didn't go on any rides. And I feel like having this e-ticket book system would kind of bring back that spirit.
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Okay. That is our show. If you enjoyed this show, please make sure to follow to get more of them. We are on all of your favorite podcast apps, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio. If you subscribe, you will automatically get new episodes. And if you enjoyed this show, please
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And we have to give a brief disclaimer. We are not financial or investment advisors. This info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes. It may not apply to your specific circumstances.
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I know. I'm pretty sad about it, especially the fact that they're bringing back expiration dates on flight credits.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
They love to do that. And it also does mean, at least on the bright side, holding a Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card can be much more valuable now as those cardholders will receive their first checked bag for free.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
Yeah, you know, so I'm low-key cringing saying this, but beginning October 1st, 2025, for flights from the U.S. and Canada, you won't pick a cabin class, no test. You will pick what's called a travel experience.
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I know it's true. Okay, so now with these changes, you'll choose from options including basic, classic, and extra. Extra is the new top tier fully refundable option. It has perks like priority boarding and more miles.
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It does. Just wait for it. The Exeter gives you seven miles per dollar spent, which is more than the usual five. So that's good news. Heads up, though, you cannot book extra with Delta SkyMiles. And if you're flying basic, you're earning zero miles.
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It is pretty tough. You know, and this is part of a trend we're seeing lately where perks are being unbundled. Now, I will say I do not completely hate this trend because the good news is it means lower base airfares. If you're someone who doesn't care about priority boarding or miles, then this can be an opportunity to score a lower airfare.
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Speaking of lower airfares, I do have some more good news for you. So as you notice, I track airfare fluctuation super closely every month. And this month was particularly fascinating. So we just got fresh data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics last week. The report dropped in May, but it refers to April prices. Just keep that in mind.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
But as it turns out, April airfares are down 8% year over year. That is not something we usually hear. No, I know. And it's very shocking. And I am sympathetic to the many readers I talked to out there who say it feels like travel is more expensive than ever.
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You look at these trends like we just talked about with Delta, where they're marketing the chance to, you know, select your own travel experience. And what it really is, is them trying to seduce you with a low fare only to get you to pay more once they have your attention.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
I did. Just last week, Disneyland hosted a big media event. It was all about their 70th anniversary, which kicked off on May 16th. Now, technically, Disneyland's 70th anniversary is on July 17th. But you know, Disney loves to extend the birthday as long as possible.
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To give some context, I will say Disneyland now consists of two parks versus in 1999, there was just one park. But roughly that same pass I had now today with similar blockout dates costs $1,400. Yikes.
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So they have a new nighttime parade, a new daytime parade, a new show on Main Street featuring an actual Walt Disney audio animatronic. And since everyone loves food, there are more than 70 new food items. Did you try any of those foods? Oh, you know, I did, Megan. That is the best part of Disney. I love a good churro. And the color palette for the 70th is all purple.
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So probably the most iconic food I ate was the 70th anniversary churro rolled in ube sugar to give it that purple hue.
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Okay, what else did you have? The other great thing I ate was the cowboy fries. These were at the Golden Horseshoe. This is one of the few restaurants that was there on opening day in 1955. What was not there on opening day was this wild concoction. Fries, nacho cheese, sautéed ground beef, burger sauce, butter, pickles.
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What about animal style fries at In-N-Out? This kind of was giving me that energy, but more protein. It sounds too wet. Too much going on. Okay, so you are making me sound like I am way too obsessive about all the Disney food, all the Disney stuff, which maybe I am. But I need to tell you, Megan, I worked at Disney in high school. Did you know that?
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Yeah, I know. I feel like every single high school kid in Orange County worked at Disneyland at some point in their life. The official term, though, is not employee. It's cast member. And then besides working at Disney itself, my first job out of school was covering the theme parks as a beat reporter for the Orange County Register.
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And now, Megan, you live near Disneyland, so I see you there all the time.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
You are the map. We are the maps. That's what we are today for you listeners. Today, we are going to talk about how to save money at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Now there are many other theme parks around the world and cruises. We are just going to focus on Disneyland and Disney World. That is up next after this.
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As people plan their Disney trip, they want to know when is the best time to go. So that's what we'll start by talking about today. Now, Megan, when do you think it's the best time to go?
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I love that, Tess. Okay, so on the flip side, I think, well, if Disneyland annual passes were only $245 now for the whole year, that would seem like a steal.
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Yes, I think that is sort of the rule of thumb is if kids are out of school, I'm talking summer. Thanksgiving, Christmas, any of those other holidays, that's when it's going to be crowded. So if you can avoid any of those times, that is ideal. Now, it is interesting that you said midweek because yes, you get fewer crowds. You also get lower prices.
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Disney rolled this out somewhat recently is that they do the dynamic pricing. And I know some people love and hate dynamic pricing. But what's nice is that if you are going on a day that's busier, you're going to pay more. And if you're going on a day that's less crowded, like a Tuesday, you will pay less. I think that's nice to reward you for shifting your schedule to a less crowded day.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
Yes, this is really interesting. The cheapest time to go to Disney World on average is actually September. Their ticket prices average $125. Compare that to July where ticket prices average $157. So basically $32 cheaper per person to go in September versus July.
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So Walt Disney World tickets, that's the park in Florida, start now at $119. for an adult for a one-day ticket. So basically, my annual pass is a bargain compared to prices now. Disneyland starts at just over $100 per adult one-day ticket. Again, though, prices are dynamic. So that lower ticket price is going to be on that random Thursday in September.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
It's going to be a lot more if you want to go on the day after Christmas like everybody else.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
I priced this out. And so on July 5th, that's the Saturday after July 4th, if you get a Park Hopper ticket, which that allows you to go to multiple Disney parks with the Lightning Lane, that gets you into the Expedited Q access, that would come out to $303 per adult.
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I'm Sally French.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
Yes, they can add up. So undercover tourist is one of my favorite places to buy Disney tickets. In fact, I often buy my tickets from them myself. So for example, I just looked up undercover tourist prices at the Disneyland Resort. A two-day, one park per day ticket would be $320. That's a $10 savings from $330 at the gate.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
$10, you times this by your whole family, and that's more money in your churro fund.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
And we are the travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip.
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And you know, that four day, one park per day ticket is $100 per day, which I figure how much money I spend on museum tickets and all of that when I'm otherwise going on a vacation that I actually do not think this is a bad deal.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
And I'll throw in one more Disney World ticket offer through September 22nd, 2025. That's a three-day, three-park ticket. And it comes out to starting at $89 per day plus tax. The catch with this is you cannot go to Magic Kingdom. It only works at Disney Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and Disney's Animal Kingdom. But honestly, those are my three favorite parks.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
Well, don't get too excited to dive in. First, our disclaimer. And that's that we'll talk about a few credit card companies that are nerd wallet partners in this episode, but that doesn't influence how we discuss them. The benefits, terms, and fees mentioned were accurate at the time of posting, but things can change. Some offers may have expired by the time you're listening.
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Yes. So I am a Target red card holder. This is Target's branded credit card. There is no annual fee. And you can buy Disney gift cards at Target. Here's where the red card kicks in. This Target credit card gets you 5% off the purchase price of most items at Target stores. And that includes Disney gift cards. So what I do is ahead of a Disney trip, I buy a bunch of Disney gift cards at Target.
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$100 gift card just cost me $95. I can use that to buy tickets. I can also use it to buy anything else that they sell at Disney as long as they accept gift cards. So any of the shops, any of the restaurants, for the most part, this is a great way to save at Disney.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
Tess, we are. Okay. So I first got my Disneyland annual pass in 1999. At the time, the deluxe pass was $129. Slightly more expensive today? Ooh. Slightly? Well, adjusted for inflation, $129 in 1999 would be $245 today. Imagine getting an annual pass to Disneyland for $245 today. Tess, you thought Disneyland was crowded now.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
So I think we need to address the big one, and that is all of these ways you can pay to skip the line. There are a few ways you can do this. There is a Lightning Lane single pass. This gets you expedited entry into one ride. Then there is a multi-pass. This gets you into up to three rides at a time.
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Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks
You select an arrival window, and then once you've used up one of those rides, then you can go select another ride. And then there's something called the Premier Pass. This is very limited. It is new. It is somewhat in testing and it's super expensive. So for context, a single ride pass is about $10 to $30 per ride. That multi-pass is about $20 to $30 per park. The Premier Pass, wait for it.
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I hope you're sitting down. On the low end for a smaller park like Animal Kingdom is about $130. But I've seen it at the Magic Kingdom for about $450. $450. That's more than the ticket. Yes.
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So I think a lot of people are not buying this, but this is something where if you are doing a once in a lifetime trip to Disney, maybe you're coming from an international destination and you're only going to be at Disney World for one day and you want to see it all. Maybe this is worth it because you do not spend any time in line.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Megan, did you know that exactly one month from now, on April 19th, you can visit all the national park sites in the U.S. for free? Oh, yeah.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Yeah, I think it really depends on like the city proximity to the park and then how big the park is. So I had a really good experience when I did that 2020 trip. We stayed in the city of Moab in Utah, which is super cute. It's a pretty short drive to Arches and Canyonlands, which are these amazing parks with red rock landscapes. Highly recommend you visit. We stayed at the Hyatt Place Moab.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
I used points from my World of Hyatt credit card. Great experience.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Yes, I love this trend. I get so many pitches in my inbox each day from companies trying to tell me about their glamping resorts.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
And the benefit of big-name hotel brands being in on the action is that, as us Points and Miles nerds, you can now book them with hotel points.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Well, you know, when I did that Yellowstone trip with my parents, we actually stayed at Under Canvas Yellowstone.
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They were into it as a stretch, so I was into it. My mom kept saying like, it's too cold. It's too cold. And I was like, mom, you are still camping. These are not forest dirty walls.
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But you know, I loved it. They have fire pits, they have s'mores that you can use. And then this was so fun. So we did my parents and then me and my fiance. And we booked what was supposed to be a family tent. So there was a main tent and then these little teepee tents for the kids. So my fiance and I shared the kids teepee tent.
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That's the dream.
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I want to stay in one.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Okay. This is on my bucket list for sure.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Okay, that's interesting because at NerdWallet, we would usually say 100,000 Hilton points are worth about $600. So maybe this is a case where it's better to pay cash for AutoCamp over points.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Yeah, and I should note that points to cash ratio is just one example of one night, especially if you can be flexible with your dates. You might find some dates where points rates are cheap. So just be flexible. Check the Hilton calendar. Now, another note on this is that AutoCamp is a really good way to flex your Hilton Elite status. Megan, I know you have gold status.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Good reminder to book now, lock in lower prices before points rates on most hotels that are affected will go up.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
And at AutoCamp, I know you get one bundle of firewood per stay. two eco-friendly waters, and an upgrade if there is space available. I have diamond status, which is why I really need to stay at AutoCamp because they give you all that plus a free s'mores kit.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
You know, I'm a sucker for anything s'mores. Okay, so you mentioned Joshua Tree, and that is one of the most popular national parks. Let's talk about what people should know about crowds, especially if they're going to one of these popular parks this year.
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So we don't have official parks data for 2024 yet, but we do have 2023 visitor data. There were an estimated 325.5 million national park visits in 2023. That's how many times someone entered a national park, and that figure is up 4% from 2022.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
So speaking of crowds, let's talk about navigating and possibly avoiding them. Probably 0% surprising to anyone, but July is the busiest month on average for national parks. In 2023, July saw more than 42 million visits. Compare that with the slowest month, January, which had just 13.6 million visits.
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Yeah, so Built announced you can now connect your Built and Lyft rideshare accounts, and then you can redeem your Built points to pay for your Lyft rides. It's always nice to have another way to redeem points in case you're not using them for things like travel at hotels and on airlines.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
That sounds kind of dreamy. And of course, seasonality is going to vary across parks. Some parks have their own seasonal variation. I'm talking about something like dry tortugas. Those are most popular during spring break. Something like Joshua Tree peaks between February through April, and then again in November and December.
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And then there are some parks that don't require reservations to get in, but you might need a permit for certain activities. I'm thinking about something like Angels Landing in Zion. Again, check nps.gov before going. They list all the parks and their entry rules.
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And just a tip, make sure you always bring extra water and food if you're hiking. If you are not someone who hikes regularly, you might not be used to how many calories you're burning.
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Okay, this next part of the show, I want you to indulge me. Let's each say one park we want to go to and then one park that we love that we think listeners need to go to. Oh, this is fun. Okay, I think I know mine. Okay, well, I'm going to go first anyway. So my first one is the Grand Canyon.
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Yes, I know. I've actually been to the Grand Canyon like twice. But here is a new experience I want to do at the Grand Canyon. And that is hiking to the bottom, staying overnight at this place. It's called Phantom Ranch. It's a series of cabins. They serve you dinner there. You can spend the night. Some people spend two nights. And then you hike back up to the top.
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My dad actually did this with a bunch of his high school buddies. And I am so jealous. I need to do the planning to do this myself, of course. Planning is the key word here to get in. It's a lottery system, super competitive. So you do need to be flexible with your dates and actually enter and win that lottery.
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Classic. You go on this trip intending to hike into nature and escape the modern world only to get hit with theme park pricing on ice cream.
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Okay, fun. As far as the park that listeners need to go to, I would say don't sleep on Canyonlands. Now, this is in Utah. Most people who go to Utah do go to Arches National Park when they're doing that national park trip. But a lot of people skip Canyonlands because it is slightly farther drive, but it is totally worth it.
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This park stands out because there are easy short hikes for people who aren't really hikers but want to feel like they are. Mesa Arch is a good one. It takes 30 minutes, just over a half mile. Easy. Yeah, easy. I love it. There are fun, harder hikes. Some of these require even some scrambling, so you really feel like you're a big outdoor adventurer. 10 out of 10, recommend.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
All right. Up next, we typically usually would reserve this part for our hot takeoffs, but I wanted to do something different. I want to go for some national parks trivia. What do you think, Megan?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
I have four trivia questions for you. I'm going to quiz you. Okay. So I do want to mention for this trivia block, we are only talking about true national parks. I am not talking about something like national monuments or which NPS does oversee. So let's just note for all the answers, we're tailoring this to true national parks. Okay.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
If the listeners remember, we actually talked about built last episode when we drafted the best travel credit cards. So if you missed it, go back and listen. We can link to our guide to built rewards as well in the episode description.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
So first question, what was the first national park in the United States? Oh, man. Your choices are, I'm going to give you four choices.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, or Great Smoky Mountains?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
You can keep your job. Yellowstone was the first national park. It was established in 1872.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
All right. Number two, which national park got the most visitors in 2023? I'm going to be lazy. I'm going to give you the same exact multiple choices. Again, those are Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, or Great Smoky Mountains. I will note that this straddles Tennessee and North Carolina.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Okay, actually, I was nervous that my giveaway gave it away, but it kind of did. Great Smoky Mountains did have the most visitors in 2023.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Yes, over 13 million. That's actually almost triple what Grand Canyon got.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Yeah. So Grand Canyon was the second most visited. So you get like a half a point. Okay. Followed by Zion and then Yellowstone in spot number four. In case people are interested, Rocky Mountain rounded out the top five. Oh, cool. Okay. I have two more questions for you. Number three, which is the newest national park in the U.S.? I'm going to give you some new options.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, that's in West Virginia. Indiana Dunes National Park in Indiana. Pinnacles National Park in California or White Sands National Park in New Mexico.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Fair enough. It wasn't for the Lyft deal, though. Yeah. Okay, so in aviation news, Spirit Airlines is out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Officially, they filed for bankruptcy protection back in November 2024. Court approved the airline's plan for reorganization in February.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Very good guess. You are correct. Yes. That became the 63rd National Park. It became a national park in 2020. Not sure what your family did there, but the internet tells me it's known for whitewater rafting, rock climbing, and that massive bridge, which you can see on West Virginia's state quarter.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
I love this.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Okay. Last one. Best one. What is the smallest national park? Options. Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas. Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, Virgin Islands National Park, or Bryce Canyon National Park.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Too easy, too easy. Yeah, so it's like basically just the arch in the surrounding area. Some people really argue it should just be a national monument instead, but hey, it's got the title.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Yes, of course. I've been a million times. It's so fun.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
I mean, you just like go to St. Louis and you just like wander around. You can go up. I've only been inside once because you have to get tickets.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
And it's like, it's kind of claustrophobic.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Right, exactly. All right, well, I hope you enjoyed playing my trivia game. And listeners, I want to hear from you. How did you do on the trivia? Tell us about your top national parks trips, anything, how you saved money. Email us at travel at nerdwallet.com or you could even leave a voice memo. This is cool because I'm inclined to play your voice back on the show.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
And our little disclaimer, we are not financial or investment advisors. This info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes. It may not apply to your specific circumstances.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Do we actually know what those enhanced travel experiences will be?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Hey, I don't hate Spirit as much as most people do.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
So Spirit does live on, but maybe not in the form you remember it. Probably better to just not remember those tiny seats anyway. Yeah.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
You know, I was big into the ranger program as a kid, and I definitely collected all the patches.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Today's show topic is all about visiting national parks. We've got the tips on park passes and budget-friendly lodging.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
We did reach out to the National Park Service to kind of understand where they are now and where they're headed. So they gave us an email statement, which was pretty generic. Here's what it said. The National Park Service is hiring seasonal workers to continue enhancing the visitor experience as we embrace new opportunities for optimization and innovation in workforce management.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
So that's the email from them. And maybe at least that's a reason to be optimistic that parks can handle this summer's crowds.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Definitely. So let's note that, of course, things seem like they're changing day by day. Things may have changed by the time we're talking and you're listening to this right now. Again, it is pretty unclear how these changes might impact national parks long-term.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Okay, but let's dive into the fun part now. So Megan, before we get started, I want to know, how many national parks have you been to?
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Ooh, fun. Okay. Well, I would say I'm mostly the same. I do have a friend who's going to all of them. Their goal is to hit every single national park. They did their wedding at Indiana Dunes National Park. Whoa. I know. And what's exciting is we do have National Park Week coming up. That's April 19th through April 27th.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
And it's important to note that all national parks are entirely free on April 19th.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
That's right. So for 2025, there are seven days where National Park Service sites that usually charge an entrance fee will offer free admission to everyone.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Two of these days in 2025 have already passed. One was January 9th. That was the national day of mourning for former President Jimmy Carter. You live to be 100. I know, it's so wild. And you know what's funny is Jimmy Carter's administration actually oversaw a large increase in the number of national parks. He authorized 15 additional parks under his term. Wow, go Jimmy.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Megan Coyle. And I'm Sally French. And we're the travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip. Which, if you listen to today's episode, might be to a national park. But before national parks, it is time for the news.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
We also already passed January 20th. That was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Also, parks are free on that day. There is hope to go entirely free. That's because there are four more free entry days besides April 19th.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Those are June 19th for Juneteenth National Independence Day, August 4th for the anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act, September 27th, that's the National Public Lands Day, and then finally for 2025, we have November 11th, that's Veterans Day.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Now, I will say, even if you cannot visit on a free day, national parks are still super affordable for many travelers.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Now, I will say if you're entering a park on foot or bike, then sometimes you'll owe a per person fee. But I actually really love this option as well. It's typically not as high as a vehicle price. And we do see people enter national parks on bike, on foot. I'm really into this tour company called Backroads.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Most people bike with Backroads and you can do these long multi-day bike tours through the parks. They're super awesome.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
You're definitely not driving a car in Channel Islands. Definitely not. You know, other places like that are Denali. That's a huge national park in Alaska. It is $15 per person. Most of that is not accessible to personal vehicles. To see most of it, you can ride the shuttle. That is included with your admission. Otherwise, you can get around by like hiking or cycling.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
You know, I beat the trend. So this is wild. I was doing a vacation to Hawaii and we were at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The entrance fee is $30 per vehicle. And I was like, And we saw this America the Beautiful Pass advertised. And you know what? We knew we had a wedding in Yosemite later that year. Their entrance fee was going to be $35 per vehicle.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
So we kind of did the math and we said, you know what? Let's just buy the America the Beautiful Pass and maybe it'll incentivize us to hit another national park. Even if we don't spend it, we'll consider this a donation to the National Park Service. Yeah. COVID hit, and we figured the Yosemite wedding would be canceled. But we took that time to do a big Southwest National Parks road trip.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
So we ended up doing what everyone did, doing the outdoor trip. We did Bryce Canyon, Zion, Grand Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands. We got amazing value out of this National Parks pass. We were so glad that we ended up buying it in February when we did that Hawaii National Parks trip.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Oh, absolutely. And then the funniest part is our friend ended up canceling her Yosemite wedding, but three of us were like, let's just go to Yosemite anyway. Oh, that's so sweet. So we still got to go to Yosemite in 2022.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Yeah, so this is a good option. If you don't want to go all out with the America the Beautiful Pass, you don't want to pay the full $80. This is a way to see a certain number of parks for less.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
If you live in a certain park-heavy area and you know you're just going to go to those parks this year, or maybe you're doing just a specific Southwest National Parks trip where you hit those parks in one go, you might want to consider this pass, which is cheaper.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Yeah, and so if I didn't have the full America the Beautiful Pass, I could have at least saved some money on my 2020 trip to the Southeast Utah parks with their park pass. That one covers Arches National Park, Canyonlands, Natural Bridges, National Monument, and Hove and Weep National Monument. That one is $55.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Okay, good deal. You can go to the National Parks website. That's nps.gov to find out more about how you can qualify and purchase those things.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Dude, I totally missed that when I was in fourth grade. But if you are a parent or guardian of a fourth grader, or maybe you yourself are in fourth grade—hello, fourth graders— You can go to everykidoutdoors.gov to get that pass.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
You know, it's funny you say that, Megan. My stepdad was actually so excited to turn 62. He's a huge outdoors guy. So this is the first thing he did when he turned 62. Oh my gosh. I know. It was so cute. Actually, recently we did a big national parks trip with him. We went to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. So thank you, Jake.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
I know you are listening to this for having already turned 62 and making me a freeloader as well. Yeah.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Yes. So the entrance fee is quite affordable, but lodging can be pricey. So I typically break national park lodging into four options. I would say there's lodging inside the park, hotels outside the park, vacation rentals outside the park, and then my latest favorite trend is glamping.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
And you also have to remember that you have to book with Hilton to get this statement credit. So no going through an online travel agency like Expedia. Now, I actually say that's a good thing anyway. We generally recommend booking directly with the hotels so you can earn points and get your elite night qualifying nights.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
A sub camping option. I love it. Okay, so let's start by talking about staying inside the park. So many national parks have lodges or hotels right in the park, especially with those parks like Yellowstone where they're huge. This can be a nice way to keep you in the heart of the action.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Yes, I know. We walked right through the Old Faithful Inn when I did that Yellowstone trip with my parents. It is the most perfect location. I love it because you don't need to worry about timing your trip around the eruption because you're just always there.
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How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
I mean, amazing balcony seating. It's seriously the best.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Yes, some of these top tier hotels really do book up in advance. So that takes us to our next tip is if you cannot find something inside the park or you just want something more budget friendly, staying just outside the park gates can be a really good choice.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Wow. So at this point, it's the wee hours of the morning. So I'm guessing they either offered a full refund again or to rebook you?
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
And as far as the timeline goes on this, the deal is expected to close later this year. So we'll let you know when we start seeing some of these new properties available to book with Hyatt points. Until then, check out some of our favorite all-inclusives to book on points on the NerdWallet website. There's actually a ton of options.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Yeah, that's the great myth of last minute airfare deals. They rarely exist. People booking last minute flights typically do so because they're desperate to get somewhere like they have no other way of getting there. So airlines know they can charge a lot. Exactly.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Some people think the airline will refund you for the full price of alternative flights. And if you got a super nice airline representative, maybe, but it hasn't happened to me.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Now, you did get pretty lucky in your situation because United runs so many flights between that route, but not everyone is so lucky. So what do you do if the next available flight isn't for a few days?
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
So what did you end up doing about food in your overnight hotel stay? Did you end up staying with your cousin?
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
There's a new credit card offer that could get you a Southwest Airlines companion pass fairly easily. Yes, and we do see this offer once a year, and I'm so glad it's back.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Oh, perfect. You are a master at free stuff, but I was still concerned about what kind of food you were going to be eating on this delay.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
I had no idea you could do that. That's amazing. But we should remind people that's not necessarily the norm. While some airlines have made those kinds of commitments to like give you a food voucher if you get delayed, not every single airline has. So there's actually a nice little table on NerdWallet that shows all the major U.S. airlines and worldwide.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
what they pledge in the event of delays, like what kind of compensation or voucher. So the big airlines like United, American, Delta, JetBlue, Alaska offer the most, like the meal vouchers and hotel accommodations for an overnight delay, similar to what you got, Sally. The budget airlines like Frontier and Spirit are less generous. Frontier won't even put you up in a hotel overnight.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Well, here, let's just pull it up right now since I'm already on my computer. Okay. I'm browsing this dashboard right now and Alaska, Hawaiian, JetBlue, and Southwest are actually the only ones who have formally pledged to rebook you and give you a credit or travel voucher for cancellations that result in three hours or more of waiting.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
So that's like, you know, they'll put you on the next flight and give you money for a future flight.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Oh, so good. I guess the takeaway here is that despite what they've publicly pledged, it is worth it to ask and see if they might give you more. Sometimes they might do it without asking, but everyone should ask just in case.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
So for reasons outside the airline's control, like weather delays or cancellations, these commitments don't necessarily apply, unfortunately. Yes.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Okay, so I actually have a tip related to this. I got delayed on a flight last year at Indianapolis when I was flying American. And it was just a short hop to Chicago and then a connecting flight to LA for me. And as soon as they announced the delay, that line began to form at the gate agent's desk. I knew I was going to miss my connecting flight. So I got in line.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
And while I was there, I just went on the airline's app.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
and it's like here are your other flight options since your flight is delayed and right there in the app I booked a different route nice it was much longer and involved two layovers one in Chicago and one in San Francisco but I was going to make it back to my bed that night oh wait I didn't
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
know that was in San Francisco you should have crashed with me trust me I would have called you so fast if I got stuck again but I was so determined to make it back so by the time I waited in line got up to the gate agent I let her know like hey I already booked this other flight in the app but I'm just curious like are there any other options that maybe don't involve two layovers like I don't know what she has access to right and she was like oh my gosh that route didn't even come up for me and she
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
pointed to like these two guys who were also trying to get back to LA on my same delayed flight. And she said that she had to book them a different set of flights. I wouldn't get them back until the next day.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Yes. Okay. So these are some ways that you might have to navigate the rebooking options in the case of a delay or cancellation. But what about traveling smarter, like in a way that might help you avoid this situation altogether?
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Let's dive into how to book flights less likely to be delayed or canceled because no one can predict the future, but there are some ways to reduce your odds of an issue.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
The companion pass is good through February 28th, 2026. And so this offer to get this companion pass with the signup bonus ends on March 31st this year. So you've got about six weeks to decide if this offer might be right for you, but the sooner the better. So you actually have more time to use the companion pass once you earn it.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Okay, I need to go, but it will also probably take me a layover to get there. So back to our tips, what are the options if I can't avoid a layover?
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Of course, we say this and then suddenly something's going to happen in San Diego.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Another good tip to avoid delays and cancellations is to book earlier flights in the day. Flights departing early in the day are less likely to be delayed because that aircraft is usually like already at the airport. You're not waiting for an incoming flight to be able to
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
start boarding your next one so those first like 6 a.m flights those are a really good bet yes by the time the afternoon rolls around weather and air traffic dominoes start to fall so that's where it gets really complicated in fact more than seven percent of flights last year were delayed simply because the inbound aircraft arrived late and again i just left my bureau of transportation statistics tab up so that's what it says so basically remove that risk by booking an earlier flight
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Totally. Another piece of advice I want to mention is to book an airline that has multiple flights out of that connecting airport. It's not always possible. But when I was flying to Europe last year, I was deciding between connecting in Germany or Iceland to go to Rome. And the German airline had flights basically every two to three hours to Rome from the connecting airport.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
And the Icelandic airline, I think, only had like one or two flights per day to Rome. So it was like, if you miss your connection, you will be stuck for another day.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
That's right. Many travel credit cards offer travel insurance as a benefit when you pay for the trip with your card, but you have to check your card's insurance policy to ensure it covers canceled or delayed flights. Many, but not all, do, so you have to read into it.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
And of course, if you're listening to this episode after March 31st, the signup bonus probably changed. So make sure to go to NerdWallet to see the current offer and benefits.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
All great tips. I'm sorry you had two canceled flights, but it kind of sounded like a fun adventure in that way too. Not Iceland, but it's something.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
And you have $45 worth of Starbucks gift cards now, which is like, you know, two Starbucks stars for every dollar you spend at Starbucks. So you're like, Halfway to a free drink in that rewards program.
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Can you tell that I love a loyalty program? Okay, this is my hot take for the week. This is like the part of the show that we do every episode where we share a little spicy opinion at the end. So your spicy opinion is that you love loyalty programs? No, no, no. I mean, I do. But my hot take is that the Starbucks rewards program is an underrated loyalty program for travelers.
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I didn't even know you drank Starbucks. I literally only have it when I'm traveling. And I also don't drink coffee. So I always just order a chai latte. It's like an airport pastime because it feels so good to get a hot drink at the airport before a 6 a.m. flight.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Okay. Well, Starbucks partners with Marriott and Delta Airlines. So you can earn points or miles with either of those programs if you link your accounts. We'll put some instructions in the show notes. It's pretty simple. And you won't get a ton of points or miles through your Starbucks purchases. Like it won't get you
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
a free flight or a free hotel stay, but it is a great way to double dip on earning rewards with your spending. And you know, if you rack up enough Starbucks stars, you might even get a free drink the next time you're at the airport way too early.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
As I say, a well-planned trip is less about avoiding bumps and more about being prepared to handle them. So listeners, do you have any questions? Send them to us. Email us at travel at nerdwallet.com. Or, you know, for extra credit, email us a voice memo. You might even hear your voice on the show.
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If you're not already doing it, you can follow the show on your favorite podcast app, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeart Radio to automatically download new episodes.
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And here's our brief disclaimer. We are not financial or investment advisors. This info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Today, we're diving into what to do if your flight gets delayed or canceled so you can get to your destination faster and maybe even get compensated for the inconvenience, hopefully.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
And the usual way to earn it is actually pretty difficult. You have to fly 100 qualifying one-way flights or earn 135,000 rapid rewards qualifying points each. in a calendar year.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Yeah, you just have to meet the terms of the credit card's intro offer, which I should note includes paying that annual fee.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
So the latter, the more expensive one, has more benefits, but we'll link to NerdWallet's roundup of Southwest cards in the show notes so the listeners can dig deeper if they want to find out which Southwest card is right for them.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
That's right. The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks prices for all sorts of goods and services across the U.S. and puts out new data every month. And I know that, Sally, you've been tracking that and writing about it for years now.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
And remember, the Federal Reserve, which manages the U.S. money supply, usually targets a 2% rate of inflation. So the 4% increase in travel prices is a bit high, but that 2% is more of a long-term goal. So Sally, what did you see when you were looking at it over years and years?
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
So I'm actually like spending less on flights now.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Okay. But inflation is still bad for the egg eaters among us. Looking at you, Sally.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
If you're listening to this episode today, the day it's airing, then this is super timely because the offer just launched yesterday.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
And you can use Virgin Points on a ton of different travel options, including flights on Virgin Atlantic or any of their other airline partners, Virgin Hotels, Virgin Cruises. They've also got like tours and activities. I actually just used some Virgin Points to fly their upper class from London to LA. It was so cool. My favorite part was the Virgin Atlantic Lounge at Heathrow Airport.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
It feels like you're hanging out in the Incredibles living room.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Okay, next trip together. See you in the Mediterranean on a Virgin cruise. We'll start saving up our points. I guess this bonus will help. Last thing in the news, one of my guilty pleasures, as you know, is watching murder mystery television shows. So you know what I was doing on Sunday. What? Tell us. The HBO show White Lotus is back for season three. It's in Thailand this year.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
If you are watching the show also and thinking, wow, it'd be really nice to stay at that hotel that the White Lotus is filmed at. Let me tell you, millions of other people who watch the show might be thinking the same thing. Megan, I'm ashamed to say I've actually never seen this show, but I hear about it so much.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Yes, hop on the bandwagon. The executive vice president and chief commercial officer of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts told the New York Times that demand increased tenfold for the Maui and Sicily properties that were featured in White Lotus season one and two. And so he expects the same thing to happen with the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui for season three. Let's go.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Everyone who likes staying at all-inclusive resorts, there's some good news for you because Hyatt just announced a deal to acquire Playa Hotels and Resorts. This is a brand of luxury all-inclusives with properties in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Unfortunately, no. The Four Seasons doesn't have its own loyalty program, but I did see that White Lotus Hotel on the Amex Travel Portal, and it was 175,000 points for one random night in March. Oof, I am not spending 175,000 points on that. Yeah.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Moral of the story, if you've been wanting to visit this particular property or this destination within Thailand, demand is going to be higher than usual this year. I think if you want to go, you could wait until the crowds sort of die off maybe next year.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Or if you want to save on prices, especially if you want to check out some of these luxury hotels, you might just want to wait until the hype from the show is over.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Coming up, we're talking about what you should do when your travels go awry.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
It's one of the most read topics on NerdWallet, probably because when it happens to you, you need answers fast.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Geez, that's terrible luck that it happened to you on the same trip. After all, cancellations are not actually that common.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
I'm pulling up the Bureau of Transportation Statistics website right now to look up the rate of canceled U.S. flights. Okay, so we're looking at the year from October 23 to October 2024. Okay, it says about 1% of flights were canceled. Now, delays on the other hand.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
I mean, sometimes you don't have a lot of choice, though, like if there aren't a lot of flights to your destination. So you're right. If it's something you absolutely need to get to at a certain time, give yourself plenty of time in case of delays.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Yeah, that's just bad planning. One hour would not have been enough time anyway. Was this person already wearing their wedding outfit on the plane?
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Well, it's about 20% of flights in that period from October 2023 to October 2024. That's the latest they've got. So Yeah, it's not uncommon to deal with a delay or cancellation. And if it does happen to you, it can be a very special type of misery. Like a lot of it seems out of your hands, out of the gate agent's hands, out of the flight attendant's hands.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
But here are some things you can do to avoid the mess or at least make it a little more bearable.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Exactly. We're here to share our knowledge. So take me back to this moment your first flight was canceled. Set the scene. Where were you and where did your mind go immediately?
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Oh, no, that's terrible. Being stuck on the tarmac is worse than being stuck in the terminal. Like you don't know when the next time you'll eat. And that gives me anxiety.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
And the World of Hyatt program is really great for all-inclusives, particularly because they have an award chart and they have some really, really reasonable awards prices for stays at these all-inclusives. So now there's going to be a bunch of more options for all-inclusives in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
I think people don't realize that if your flight gets canceled or significantly delayed and you don't choose to accept the alternative, like them rebooking you on another flight, airlines are actually required to provide a full refund to your original payment method. So like cold hard cash, it's a federal rule.
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Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Right. So that person you mentioned earlier who probably missed that wedding because of a one hour delay is definitely not going to get that compensation.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Anyway, so the federal government defines a significant delay as one where the departure or arrival time is three hours or more than originally scheduled for domestic flights. It's six hours for international flights.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
So if you're traveling and your flight gets canceled, one option is to maybe take the cash refund and find a different way there, maybe on another airline or even booking a rental car and driving there if it's a reasonable driving distance.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
I remember you saying this over Slack when this was happening in real time, and I actually had no idea that was the whole backstory. I can't believe they made you board the plane and get off twice.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Just make sure everyone in your group is actually invited to the wedding because awkward. It's so awkward when you message the whole group of college friends trying to book a vacation rental and you find out only half were invited.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Yeah. Okay. Another awkward situation. What about gifts? Like if you're already spending $2,000 to attend a wedding, are you off the hook with getting a gift?
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Yeah, I agree. You shouldn't go into debt for this. And for what it's worth, I don't think that this is that much of a hot take. Many etiquette experts agree that when it comes to destination weddings, or really any wedding requiring travel, your presence is the present. If you still want to give something, a card or a thoughtful gesture goes a long way.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
So whether you're the one throwing the wedding or just trying to be a good friend with a manageable credit card balance, remember, travel smart, plan ahead, use your points, and don't be afraid to say no if it's not in the budget this year.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
So for real, it's hot takeoff time now. Do you have one this week? Okay, I have a second one.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
I love it. Thank you. And finally, a listener question. This one comes from someone also named Megan. Great name, Megan.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
In fact, that's why Sally's not here. She went to check out this new terminal for herself.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Love this question. And you're absolutely right. Sign-up bonuses are the flashy first date of points and miles. They woo you. They whisk you away on one or two dreamy trips. And then what? You're left wondering if it's all just a fling? Yeah.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
I'm loving this like wedding love analogy.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
First, you should use cards that actually reward you for your lifestyle. So if you spend a lot on groceries or gas or dining, there's a certain points card for that.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
You know I do.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Some dispatches she sent me from the cruise, though. This new terminal is high tech. It's the first cruise terminal in the world to get you through security using all biometrics. You check in online, you drop your bags right from the parking garage, and breeze through security and boarding just by scanning your face at the face scan pods. And you only need to show your passport once.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
What I would say is that if you don't travel enough and you want that long-term relationship, don't sleep on the recurring travel benefits that come as annual perks on some of these premium travel credit cards. I'm talking about things like automatic elite status, statement credits, lounge access, or free night certificates.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Yeah, you do have dozens of cards. I can't keep track.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
So if you break that down per lounge visit, that's like $19 per visit. I mean, you can barely get an airport coffee and a bagel for that price.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Okay, amazing. That card is not for everyone, but can work for you if you're a frequent traveler, which is definitely you, Sally. And with that, I think that's our show.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
This episode was produced by Hilary Georgie and Tess Biglin. Claire Soce helped with fact-checking and a big thank you to Nick Karisamy for editing our audio.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Thanks for listening. We hope you're inspired to keep your passport full and your wallet even fuller. See you next episode.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
It's gorgeous. It's like being in a forest. There's so many real trees. Speaking of trees, I love the trees.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Well, they did a great job. And speaking of air travel, we've got some turbulence ahead.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
I kind of love the idea, though.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
That's according to Delta's earnings report released last week. Consumer and corporate confidence is dipping. In the March quarter, the airline reported $13 billion in adjusted revenue. That's up 3.3% from last year, but that's less growth than the airline previously projected.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Why does she get to have all the fun? I'd like a spinoff called Where's Megan?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Delta says demand for international bookings and tickets in premium cabins are doing all right, but the domestic cabin demand is meh. So what's a smart traveler to do, Megan? Well, if you're planning to fly Delta later this year, book sooner rather than later, especially for fall and holiday travel.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Capacity won't be increasing, so you might want to reserve your seat now before limited availability can push those prices up.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
What is it? And last news item today, well, I saved the best for last.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
So get this, according to NerdWallet's latest travel price index, lots of travel prices are dropping across the board. Airfares are down 5.2%, hotel prices have dropped 3.7%, and rental cars are down nearly 9% year over year.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
And here's another interesting fact. Airfare is actually 12% cheaper than it was 10 years ago. That's not something you usually see in consumer categories.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Flying might still feel pricey, but if you know how to play the game, use points, pack lights, skip seat selection, you can absolutely come out ahead right now. I also recommend frequent flyers look to airline branded credit cards. Some offer benefits like free checked bags if you hold their credit card and that can help keep your prices lower.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Oh, well, it depends if you get married.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Oh, can't knock that plan. Tess, thank you so much for helping us out today. On with the show. Wedding bells are ringing. You, Sally, are the pro here since you're getting married this September. Yes. You're also the most wildly frugal and free food obsessed person I know. So I'm excited to hear how your wedding planning is going and what you have in store for your guests.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Certainly makes me qualified to talk about how to budget and plan travel specifically for weddings. Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Megan Coyle.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
I remember you're supposed to negotiate things like your Wi-Fi bill, but I never thought about doing this for a wedding dress.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
And make sure to refer your partner so you two can get two sign-up bonuses.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Plus a referral bonus.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
And those points could go a long way towards a nice hotel for the honeymoon or those business class flights. Let's do a honeymoon episode after your wedding, Sally, because I know you have this really fun idea for that.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Yes, me. Okay, so let's set the stage with some numbers. According to a new NerdWallet survey conducted by the Harris Poll, nearly 1 in 10 Americans, that's 9%, are attending a wedding this summer that requires at least one night away from home.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Which means you might need to start saving now. NerdWallet study also found that guests estimate they'll spend $1,989. That's almost $2,000 on average just for transportation and lodging. That's not including the dress. That's not including the gift. Oh my goodness. That high? I mean, that's four times my wedding dress budget and like 20 times my Costco sheet cake budget.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
And here's the thing, 87% of Americans say they'd be willing to travel for a wedding, but 46% say travel costs are one of the biggest factors in deciding whether to go.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
The other big reason that people decide to go to weddings is the location. 42% say the wedding destination is a top consideration, which makes total sense. I think that probably goes hand in hand with the travel costs.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Yes, I got so lucky that two different couples that don't know each other decided to do weddings in Tuscany. That's incredible. Ten days apart. So yeah, I'm going to stay there the whole time. It's going to be great. One of them is one of my best friends from college, and she and her fiance knew that her wedding would be mostly like a friend's wedding.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Some of my favorite memories with her and my college friends is traveling together. So this couple chose Italy because we all get to stay together on the same property. Nice. A castle in the countryside. And the cost of her four-day, three-night wedding in Italy was going to cost the same as if she'd had a nicer end wedding in the U.S. Yeah, I've heard that. I thought it was really sweet.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
She even linked to some of our NerdWallet resources on points travel on her wedding website. It's so cute.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Welcome to the front of the microphone test, out from behind that virtual production booth.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
So Sally, for airfare, NerdWallet recommends booking domestic travel one to three months in advance and international travel two to eight months ahead. With weddings, you probably get to save the date months in advance. So use that lead time to set your price alert and book flights. Exactly. For our wedding, we sent out invitations about nine months early for that reason.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Often though, more important than how many months in advance you book is what day of the week you fly. We got some data from travel booking app Hopper showing that Saturdays are the cheapest day to fly of the week.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
The next best thing you can do if you're going to a wedding over the weekend is to extend the trip. So the second cheapest days to fly are Tuesdays and Wednesdays. So if it's the kind of destination that you can make a trip out of it, I'd recommend extending your stay a few days if you can.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Of course, you have to calculate whether your savings on the airfare by flying midweek will be washed out by paying for extra nights of lodging. But if you have free lodging, this might work out.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
And then the single most expensive day to fly is Sunday, usually the day after the wedding.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
You're such a travel planner, and I think this makes you good at planning parties, too.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
All right, let's talk lodging. Sometimes couples offer room blocks at a hotel, meaning they ask the hotel to set aside a group of rooms specifically for wedding guests so guests can book those rooms at a reduced rate. But those don't always guarantee big savings.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Oh, yes. Hyatt is the best ultimate rewards transfer partner, hands down. Nice work.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
I did just bring my mic to Sequoia National Park this weekend to check out the new Auto Camp Sequoia location.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
My boyfriend and I use that to determine whether we should use Marriott points instead of booking a room with the room block at a wedding hotel. Oh, nice. I have to say, we love the convenience of being able to stay at the wedding hotel and just walk upstairs to your room at the end of the night. But if the cost is too high, the points might make more sense.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
For you, Sally, you're not getting married at a hotel and you don't seem too concerned about guests using the hotel room block. So should guests stay at your wedding hotel anyway?
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
And sometimes it's just easier to stay together. Like I just said, I know my role at weddings since these are my friends usually getting married. I got to be out on the dance floor.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
I'm going to be at the hotel bar for the after party. Yes.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
I say stay at the cheaper place down the road if you can. For that Marriott hotel we booked on points, we stayed at a cheaper place a little further away, also on points a few days before the wedding. So it just cost us less points. And I thought that was a great alternative.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
we'll have to do a follow-up episode to the National Parks one. But first, a bit of news. For our cruisers out there, MSC Cruises just cut the ribbon on the world's largest cruise terminal at Port Miami.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Good reminder to comparison shop even when you're going to weddings. And also consider some of those other expenses you might not think of like parking. So if you're driving to and from the wedding and you need to park overnight at your hotel, how much is that going to cost? Can you carpool or should you just share an Airbnb with a bunch of people?
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
I know that you, Sally, have worked on a bunch of data for us around the prices of hotels versus vacation rentals.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Poinsettia has another one. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using that one? So that one doesn't do the filtering by the exact seat.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
And when you say eight-day range, that's eight days from the dates that you searched? It's looking up live availability? Yeah.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Totally. What are the downsides of this one?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
And it's a good start, right? Like you can see the one way certain like open jaw itineraries maybe. So it's a good start for trying to book those more complicated itineraries. Point.me, which is one we already mentioned, is one that you can get for free with certain card issuers. What is the service like if you use it outside of the Build or Amex version of the tool?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
That makes sense. And we've got some of those step-by-step guides on the NerdWallet website as well. I want to give a special shout out to PointsPath, which is a tool a little bit unlike the others. This one is a Chrome extension that shows you how many points you would need to book a flight. And it shows up right in your Google Flights search results right next to the cash price.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
What are your thoughts on that one?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Some limitations of that one, though, it doesn't have a ton of airlines on it yet, especially some of the international ones. I've also found some inconsistencies with the price that it's showing in Google Chrome in the extension and then price when you actually look it up on that airlines reward search.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Yeah, it sounds like a must that it has to be indoors. It's also giving Adventure Dome in Vegas.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
All right, Craig, are there any other tools that you think listeners should know about when they're looking for award flights?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Yeah.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Yep, and it's way more expensive in points if you do find something available. Luckily, there are some search tools that make finding that availability and those lower points prices a lot easier.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
But I could have if they were there. And what is the last tool you recommend?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
We just mentioned a bunch of different award tools people could use and ways to save. What is kind of the order you use when you are trying to book a trip coming up? Which one do you check first? And what's the process you use?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
We've been talking a lot about flights. Is there anything like this for finding hotel award availability?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Before I let you go, Sally's going to kill me for this, but do you have any hot takes on travel?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
No way. I'm also a Bilt stan. Tell me why you think it is beating out some of these other transferable currencies that have been around for ages.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
And Alaska isn't the only good one. There's also Hyatt. There's Virgin. There's actually a pretty robust list of transfer partners. Thank you so much, Craig, for coming on the show. This was super helpful.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
I can't believe you did hot takeoffs without me. We all know Craig is the biggest Built stan, so I decided to save you from the Built love fest.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Yeah, the alerts, like, that's something we can get the robots to do, not something I need to be checking.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
That's true. All right, Sally, I did save the listener question segment for you.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Tell us what Manju said.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Oh, okay. This is a fun one because I think a lot of Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders don't even know that they can get into these Air Canada lounges. That perk went into effect in late 2024 that many of Air Canada's U.S. and international lounge locations are available to Chase Sapphire Reserve card members and their authorized users. This is a great reminder.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
But not a huge difference. $10 or $20 difference. And we're talking seven years from now. We have no idea. No one should go on a 15-hour flight to save $20. I do agree with that. Yeah. I will say you do see some much bigger savings at some international Disney parks like Tokyo Disneyland.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
And then the real hang-up is that they are stingy on guests, like no guests.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
To be clear, you can take a guess. You just have to pay for them.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
So there are a few workarounds. One is that those Air Canada lounges are available to authorized users of the Chase Sapphire Reserve. So you could theoretically make your kids an authorized user on your card, though you'll have to pay $75 for each authorized user. So that might not be worth it if you're only going to visit one of these Maple Leaf lounges once.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
But if you're going to do it a few times a year, that might be worth it.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
But hey, it could help them build credit. And this is something I do with my family is I add them as authorized users so they can get the lounge access.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
True.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Really?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
I love an outdoor deck at an airport lounge. By the way, we should post the link to your SFO Air Canada Lounge review in the episode's description.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
This episode was produced by Hilary Georgie, Claire Sosi helped with fact-checking, and a big thank you to Nick Karisamy for editing our audio.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
We hope you're inspired to keep your passport full and your wallet even fuller. Thanks everyone. We'll see you next time.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
I looked up those May prices and they're just $60 a day in May compared to like $200 for a Disneyland ticket in California. So that would be some real savings.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Oh, yes. I want those little mochis that look like aliens. Yum!
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
This is the first real competitor to the Southwest Companion Pass program. That one similarly lets... Southwest Rapid Rewards members who earn it designate a companion and take them on flights for just the price of taxes and fees, which is around $11 per domestic trip for an entire calendar year or however long your pass is good for. But usually a year.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
That could be a ton of flights that you're getting for basically buy one, get one free.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Frontier is really coming for those Southwest enthusiasts like you, Sally. I know. They are winning me over. Yeah, I was just thinking about that promotion they did last month where they were selling frontier elite status for $40 if you could prove that you were a Southwest member.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
You can try to enter the giveaway by going on their website called MarriottBonvoyRoulette.com. You know, Megan, I have a funny story on that.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
I know. This is research. I want to know what I can do with a million points. You know what I mean?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
I've never won one, so. Okay, and in other Marriott news, I was really excited to see that Marriott announced it plans to acquire the Citizen M brand.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
They look so colorful and fun. I was just looking at one for my Italy trip that I'm about to leave on tomorrow. So they also have a really interesting loyalty program. Have you heard about it, Sally? Oh, no. I stayed in one and I didn't even bother signing up. Yeah, that's because you actually pay to be a member. It's not free.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Sally French. And I'm Megan Coyle.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
It's $120 per year and then you get 15% off on all stays. and 15% off on all on-site food and beverages, plus late checkout until 2 p.m.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Probably their next flight. But for real, everyone, don't hold everyone else up at the airport and make sure you've got a Real ID compliant license or a passport or one of the other alternatives. We've got a list that you can find in today's episode description.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Okay, on with the show. I know some of our listeners have probably been hearing our episodes about transferring points and redeeming them, and they've got to be thinking, geez, this is way too much work.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Yeah. Well, one of the strategies that can make this easier for booking flights is using award search tools. You basically use them like you would use any other travel search tool like Google Flights or Expedia. You put in your dates, where you want to go, and it'll tell you how much those flights cost to book in points instead of in cash. Comparison shopping for award flights. This is the way.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Exactly. I invited another one of NerdWallet's travel experts to cover this. Craig Joseph is a writer on our team, and he uses these tools all the time. In fact, he wrote an article about it for NerdWallet.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
And we're always roping in our fellow nerds to help us out. Today, I invited travel writer Craig Joseph to talk about what award search tools you need to know and which ones are actually worth paying for.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Craig, welcome to Smart Travel.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
I'm so excited to have you join us. You've redeemed literally millions of points for travel. So what would you say your travel style is?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Oh my gosh, me too. I'm always wondering how much everyone else around me paid for their flight. And I'm like, it's my little secret that I didn't pay anything.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Totally. I also love that you took Japan Airlines. That was also my first business class flight on points. So we've got a lot in common there. So how much would you say you think you've saved on travel using points and miles?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Oh, my gosh.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
To be able to save that much, do you have to be an expert? Do you have to spend every waking hour looking up flights, finding availability? How much time do you have to put in to be able to get that kind of return?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
So that's why we're here today. We're going to talk about some of those tools. For people who aren't familiar with them, what do they look like and how do they work?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
But first, we'll talk about a few credit card companies this episode that are nerd wallet partners, and that doesn't influence how we discuss them. The benefits, terms, and fees mentioned were accurate at the time of posting, but things can always change. Some offers may have expired by the time you're listening. For the latest details, follow the links in the episode description.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
That's amazing. A huge time saver. But who are these tools really built for? Is it for a casual points traveler who uses their miles once a year? Or who is best for using these types of tools?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
Now, we should say right up front that some of these tools cost money. Is it worth it to pay to use these tools?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
And there are some that you might already have access to for free. For example, Point.me is available to Amex cardholders. So you can find out which Amex transfer partners have some availability. And Bilt cardholders also have the same thing. You just have to go through the Bilt app to see what the flight options are.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
As a reminder, you can find a list of transfer partners of all the major credit card rewards programs on NerdWallet. We'll put a link in the episode description. And Craig, you wrote an article about some of these tools. What are things people should look for, be aware of as they are looking at these tools and deciding whether they should pay for them?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
We always recommend setting those alerts so that way you don't have to check it yourself every single day. All right. Stay with us. We're back in a moment. All right, so let's go through some of your favorite tools. I think let's start with seats.arrow. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using that one?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
The Benefits of Award Search Tools and When They’re Worth Paying For
It'll be built on Yaz Island, which already has some big attractions, SeaWorld, Ferrari World, and Warner Brothers World. Disney CEO Bob Iger said in an interview that it takes up to two years to design a park and then five years to build. So we're looking at potentially seven years or more for this Disney park to open, and they're not committing to any type of opening date yet.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
I think people don't know how much sports crossover there is with this show. You know, Megan, surprisingly, there is a lot of overlap between travel and NerdWallet's bread and butter, which is credit cards with sports.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Now those travelers get either one or two free checked bags depending on their fare class or status. And I have to say, I rarely check bags, but even I'm bummed about this news because I'm just worried it'll slow down boarding as people try to stuff their roller bags that they otherwise would have just checked, but instead they're stuffing them in the overhead bins.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
There is a list of eligible subscription services on Amex's website. Again, this can be huge savings of up to $240 for a year. As you know, I'm a Baby Yoda fan who needs my Disney Plus.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Yes. And I will say many of the credits are kind of a hassle to use. One that I'm thinking of is like the Saks Fifth Avenue credit. I'm not a Saks shopper.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
That's exactly right. Basically, I just go in at June and December and filter by items under $50. And it's like a pair of socks. I'm like, thank you for this pair of socks. That was $50.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
I was low-key hoping you would pick this one.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
And I love those Capital One lounges. I just went to one in Dallas. And I hate to say it, but I actually thought it was better than the Centurion Lounge. Oh, I agree. Yeah. Okay, cool.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Yeah, I love this, especially if you're traveling with friends. Where would our families be without us?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Okay, so I have one more draft pick, I think. Yeah. Okay, I'm going to go with a hotel credit card then. So I will say right now I'm debating between the Hyatt credit card or the Hilton Aspire credit card. I actually do hold both. But you can only pick one. I guess overall, I'm going to pick the Hyatt credit card simply because I think it's easier to justify the annual fee, which is $95.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
That's versus $550 on the Hilton Aspire card. Okay. I will say what I love about the Hilton Aspire card just to justify the annual fee is one automatic diamond elite status, but even more valuable is that annual free night reward. You can redeem them for one standard accommodation at properties in the Hilton portfolio.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Okay, well, so I was actually talking to a friend this week and she holds this card purely for the free night certificate. She was actually asking me about going to the Conrad Punto de Mita where I had just stayed using my free night certificate. Room rates can easily top $1,000 per night. And she was like, I just want to go.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
So basically, I feel like I'm able to stay here for half the price because you just consider $550 for the annual fee. She considers that alone to be worth it.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Yeah, so with the Hilton card, you can just use it on a standard room reward at pretty much any property in the Hilton portfolio. There are a few exceptions, like some all-inclusives. The problem with theirs is it has to be a standard room night reward and often standard rooms book up and there's only premium room availability. So there is a downfall there.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
I will say with Hyatt, almost just like a bigger of a downfall, you can only use it at category one through four hotels. So if you're staying at a category five or higher, you cannot use it there. But I feel like I'm traveling so much for like weddings, sports meets, things like that, that there's always a category four or lower hotel that I can use right there.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Totally. I'm like, the annual fee is $95, and there's no way anyone's finding a hotel room for less than $95 in this economy. So I almost feel like this benefit alone is enough to justify that credit card.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Interesting.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
And then also the checked bags. So this is good to justify if you are someone who checks bags, though I will say I don't ever check bags. So I'm not totally sure I can justify the annual fee on a card like this.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Well, you know I love myself as companion pass.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Yeah, I know. Delta, Alaska have various offers like that. So check NardWallet or the show notes to find those. Okay, Megan, this was a fun idea. I like the draft style.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
And that's not the only bummer for Southwest. So now Southwest flight credits will expire within one year for all fares, except once again, Basic just gets that low class status. Their flight credits will expire within six months from the ticketing date. Again, this is so rough. Southwest has always stood out to me because its flight credits had no expiration date. So I find this so frustrating.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
This one comes from a coworker. Okay, so she doesn't want to say her name yet because she hasn't told the rest of her coworkers, but she is expecting. So yay, congrats to you. She's pregnant and she wants to take a little baby moon. I love the idea of a baby moon. Same. So here's what she sent me. I'm expecting in June. I've been trying to take a short trip in mid-March.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
I was wondering if you have any fave places to stay in Southern Florida or Scottsdale. I'm mostly trying to get out of the terrible freezing East Coast weather and lay by a pool. So I'm open to places, but I'm curious what you think.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Yeah, I went on the Explore tool on Google Flights to figure out where she should go.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Yeah, so what's cool about the Explore tool is I punched in her home airport on the East Coast, and then I punched in June as the recommended month she wants to go. And from there, it populates deals to all sorts of cities. And what I actually found is there's a $300 round-trip flight to Miami on American Airlines.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Can she cover it? Well, so that's what I asked her. My next follow-up question was, what sorts of points do you already have? Can we get you there for free? She did tell me she has 37,000 chase points, and then she has 126,000 Capital One miles.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Totally. So I was like, great, you have your flight booked, go to Miami. It's a shorter flight anyway for you on the East Coast. Then I started looking at hotels. So I found some really great options. The Hyatt Regency in Miami is 15,000 points. Chase is one of their best transfer partners is World of Hyatt.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
So she could transfer those Chase points to Hyatt, have enough points to cover two nights and then a little bit of points left over.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Okay, well, this is spicy because we've been talking about so many great travel credit cards, but I'm going to say many people only need a cash back credit card.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
No, I mean, Paul is totally agreeing with my hot take here.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
So these cards are just not as sexy to talk about. They do generally lack those big travel perks like the lounge access. They don't have the Disney Plus credits or the trip insurance or whatnot. But what I love about these cards is they are way less effort to justify. Many of them don't have an annual fee at all, or the annual fee is generally quite low. The rewards you get are so easy to use.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
You don't need to stress about these transfer partners. You could use them to pay your rent if you need to.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Of course, yes.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
And of course, I know if you're listening to this show, you are at least interested in a travel credit card. But then again, it is totally okay to not pay the annual fee. Just go for a cashback card if you don't want to be a complete travel maniac like one of us. That said, tell us what your favorite travel credit card is. Email us at travel at nerdwallet.com or leave a voice memo.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
This is cool because I will play your voice back on the show if I like your voice memo. Okay.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
If you do that, it'll automatically download next week's episode and all future episodes to come.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Thanks for listening. We hope you're inspired to keep your passport full and your wallet even fuller. See you next episode.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
And then Southwest had previously said they would end their free-for-all seating style this year as well. That is one thing we don't have details yet on if this will actually go into effect. If so, when?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
So moving right along, we just got news of a summer ticket deal for Disneyland in Anaheim, California, where they're selling a four-day, one park per day ticket for $400.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Yes, I did actually. They once had this thing where for 30,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you could have dinner on the court at the Chase Center. And it was honestly so good. They had this high-end meal, open bar, tons of swag. I got a custom Warriors jersey. Totally amazing.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Usually a four-day ticket would be close to $500, so $400 for this is a nice deal this summer.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
You know, I would tend to agree with you for people who are not Disney fans like ourselves. But one thing to note is that Disneyland's 70th anniversary is this summer. There's all sorts of things going on, different shows, different entertainment. So this might actually be a good year to go.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Also a good option. I'll note that we maintain a webpage dedicated entirely to Disney ticket deals. For example, there's other tickets for members of the U.S. military that are discounted. Over in Florida, there's an offer for complimentary water park tickets for hotel guests. So go ahead, check that out.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Now, I know there isn't a ton of time left, but I want to remind people that if you are thinking of a cruise this year, wave season is almost over. Wave season is a period from January to March when cruises offer some of the best deals because they're trying to fill their ships for the coming year.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Now, I will note, I am eyeing a Virgin Voyages cruise myself. We talked about this a few episodes ago, but I saw this deal on Virgin this month. It's an 80% discount on the second passenger, plus up to $300 in drink credits.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Oh, me too. I have not done Antarctica yet. Now, National Geographic Lindblad has a sale running through April 15th. Now, I will warn everyone, these types of cruises that we're talking about can be super expensive. Like minimum $5,000 is generally what we're looking at. So just keep in mind, even with a discount, it's still a ton of money.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Oh, that's right. Yeah, you could totally earn and redeem points with Hyatt points on your Arctic cruise.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Well, you know, I have actually been to the Arctic Circle myself. It was very cool. What was it like? Well, you know, a lot of people are like, is it beautiful? And it's actually very bleak. It's the tundra, so it kind of looks like this space wasteland. There's no trees, no nothing, but it's beautiful in a bleak way. 10 out of 10 would recommend.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
No surprise there. Now we've got a really fun game coming up where you'll find out what our favorite travel credit cards are. So stay right there. Do not move an inch.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Ooh, got him. Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Megan Coyle. And I'm Sally French.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Oh, easy. It's what's the best travel credit card.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
I don't know anything about you. There is no one best travel credit card for everyone. There are so many factors that go into it, like how often you travel. Are you willing to spend money on an annual fee?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
And that's just half of what goes into it, which is why I typically recommend you read NerdWallet's articles that break down the best travel credit cards. Of course, we will link to that in the show notes.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Fantasy sports draft wallet style.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
And I will say using it doesn't have to mean using it for everyday spending. There are some cards that I use frequently, but they're just like to flash for lounge access. That's totally fine.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Yes, redeem them. Do not spend them to transfer for like a handbag that you buy in the shopping portal. Of course, there are also many ways to actually redeem your points for travel. So you have this class of general travel credit cards that earn transferable points. These are something like Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, City Thank You Points, Capital One Miles.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
These are all various types of credit card points that you can redeem for travel. either directly through the credit cards portal, which is sort of just like this general booking site, or you can transfer those points to specific airline or hotel partners. So each of those rewards programs that I named have various transfer partners with specific hotels or airlines.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
For example, you can transfer Amex points to Delta Airlines.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Yeah, even sometimes Hilton might like have an airline transfer partner, but we generally do not recommend going that route. Of course, it is important to understand if you are earning points in a specific co-branded airline or hotel credit card, then they're kind of stuck there.
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Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Today, we're talking about the thing that NerdWallet's best known for, the best travel credit cards. As such, we'll talk about a few credit card companies that are NerdWallet partners in this episode. Again, that does not influence how we discuss them.
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Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
You don't want to transfer your points earned from Hyatt to a Hyatt airline partner because they're just going to lose a lot of value.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
And I do want to say there are some cash back cards that work well with travel cards in the same family. So right now I'm thinking about cards like the Chase Freedom. These earn points that you can definitely redeem for cash back. And that is totally good for a lot of people because you're not messing around with transfer partners.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Or if you just need the rewards to pay rent, they are there for you. But what's cool about these cards is you can redeem them at a higher value for travel if you have, in this case, Chase Sapphire cards where those points can be transferred and become way more valuable.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Okay, yay. Shout out, Paul. He told me in our last one-on-one that he listens to this podcast at the gym and he finds it so weird to hear us not just at work. So shout out to you, Paul, running on the treadmill.
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Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Am I just giving them a one-name answer?
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Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Okay, spend those points. I like this card, particularly for people who are new to the travel cards game. Honestly, that is someone like my parents. A reason I love this is it has an affordable annual fee, especially relative to these cards with many hundreds of dollars of annual fees.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
And you are still earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points, which are super valuable. You can transfer these to other travel partners like certain airlines and hotels.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
I know a lot of newbies don't want to mess around with transfer partners. They say, I just want to use my points to book directly. And what's great about the Chase Sapphire Preferred is that your points are... are worth more than typically the usual is one cent.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
With the Chase FFR Preferred, your points are worth 1.25 cents when you redeem them for travel in the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal.
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Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
I know it's falling apart. So for starters, the airline announced yesterday that customers will no longer get two free checked bags for all flights booked on or after May 28th, 2025, save for a few exceptions like customers who hold a Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card, A-list elite status, or if they buy business select fares.
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Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Podcast math. Thanks for doing that. And of course, I mentioned those higher annual fee cards. I do want to give a little shout out to the Chase Sapphire Reserve. This one has a $550 annual fee, but you do get a $300 annual travel credit. You get a priority pass lounge membership. You get access to those new airport lounges. And points are worth even more at 1.5 cents per point.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
when you redeem those points for travel in the Chase Travel Portal. Now, I will say I don't love this card for infrequent travelers. I know people like my parents say $550 annual fee for a credit card is bonkers. I'm not going to pay for that. Totally makes sense, especially if your local airport lounge is not good. My parents live in St. Louis, and their Party Pass lounge is honestly terrible.
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Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
So I don't necessarily think you have to pay a high annual fee if you can't use all the benefits on a card like this.
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Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Okay, well, is that your draft pick?
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Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
All that for no annual fee.
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Well, I'm going to go the totally opposite direction. You went for no annual fee. I'm going with the highest annual fee ever. Yeah. That is the platinum card from American Express. Tell us why you went all the way to the other side of the spectrum. Annual fee on this card is $695. So I will say huge caveat, this card is definitely not for everyone.
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Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
But I am picking it because if you can make it work for you, it can be hugely valuable. A lot of that comes down to the statement credit. Something that I feel like a lot of people are able to use are something like the Uber credit card. Card members get $15 in Uber Cash each month to use on orders and rides in the U.S., plus a bonus $20 in December. So that's up to $200 in Uber Cash annually.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
When you use an Amex card for your transaction, that right there takes a huge amount out of the annual fee. Another one I find easy to use is streaming subscriptions. You get $20 of statement credits each month when you use the card for eligible purchases. On subscriptions, those are things like Disney+, the New York Times. A bunch more.
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Look, you know, it happens. Things are changing all the time in travel. The airport probably looks different from the last time you were there. Your credit card might have added benefits.
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Okay.
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Well, that's a happy ending, I would say. So agreed, tight connections are just not worth the stress. And if you miss your connection, it can really mess up your whole trip. So, you know, with the lounge stuff, I think we ended up with six travel mistakes. You know what? The people need to know.
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So if you take away anything from this episode, it's to apply for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry if you fly internationally, use the benefits on your travel cards, set price alerts, pack light, and for the love of travel, leave enough time for your connections.
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Also, this is our first episode, so feel free to leave a review or send us an email with feedback for the show.
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This episode was produced by Tess Viglin and Hilary Georgie. Claire Soce helped with fact checking and a big thank you to NerdWallet's editors for all their help.
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I literally just saw you on my Instagram, so I get it.
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Thanks for listening. We hope you're inspired to keep your passport full and your wallet even fuller. See you next time.
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For me, the highlight is now having friends that I can talk to about saving money and travel. Like Sally, I know you love a good deal. So I can share when I found a super cheap flight or something, or I spent hours looking for availability at a hotel that has like 15 rooms. You get it. You understand how much time I spent on that. So I'm hoping we can do the same thing for listeners.
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We see you, just not literally.
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And some of you might recognize our voices if you tune into our sibling podcast, Smart Money. Yes.
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In fact, Sally, you gave quite the lowdown on the Southwest Companion Pass just a few episodes back. And Sean has graciously let us gush about travel topics on his show for a few years now.
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Yeah, it's easy to make mistakes when you're traveling if you're not thinking about it all the time.
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Exactly. So we'll tell you about strategies to save money on travel and what things are actually worth spending on.
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I think something I've learned in the past few years of covering the travel industry is that the majority of people don't travel enough or don't look at prices enough to know what's normal and like what's a good deal. So I'm excited to make this podcast for everyone to help you go into these decisions a little more informed, especially since travel can be a big expense for so many people.
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Before we get started, maybe we should tell them a little bit more about ourselves. Like Sally, why should people be taking travel advice from you?
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Oh my gosh, that must have felt so good after a long flight.
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I've been traveling a lot since I was a kid. I love the outdoors. So visiting national parks was big for my family. We did a lot of road trips up and down the East Coast. And we would fly to Hawaii once every two years to visit our family. We've got grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins in Hawaii. So I've done a lot of traveling.
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I can't believe we're finally doing this. Welcome to the first episode of Smart Travel. I'm Megan Coyle.
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Then when I moved to Los Angeles to go to college, that's when I really got into travel rewards because that was like at least three cross country trips a year home for me. And I had to figure out how to pay for that on college budget.
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No kidding. I have two separate weddings in Italy, one in Mexico and one in Australia. Two in Italy? This is amazing. Why do these people, do they live there?
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So the ones in Italy and Mexico are, but my friend in Australia actually lives there. Although I guess it's not the city she lives in. So we'll call that one a destination wedding too. And rumor has it you're also having a sort of destination wedding this year.
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I do love wedding travel, but I'm sure your family appreciates how close it is. I sure hope so.
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Absolutely. Come back for that. Okay. In a minute, we'll have the top five travel mistakes people are making. So stay with us. On to the topic for this week's episode. The top five travel mistakes people are still making in 2025.
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Yeah, and I would say even if you travel a couple of times a year, it can be so worth it. TSA PreCheck basically gives you access to a special line at airport security checkpoints where you don't have to take your shoes off or take out your electronics. It goes by so much quicker. And Global Entry is a program that lets you skip the customs lines when you come back to the U.S.
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after an international trip. But that also comes with TSA PreCheck, so Global Entry is like getting two benefits for one.
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And sometimes you don't even need to pay for it exactly. Like many travel credit cards will cover the application fee for you for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry as long as you pay for that application fee using your card. So what happens is you apply, you put that purchase on the credit card that has that benefit, and you'll get reimbursed automatically with a statement credit.
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You can go to NerdWallet for a roundup of cards with this benefit, and we'll put a link to it in the show notes too.
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Definitely. So I suppose before we dive into the main segment, we should talk a little bit about how we got here. I've been an editor on NerdWallet's travel team for six years now. I also freelance doing some audio stuff. I produce podcasts and do some reporting for my local radio station.
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That sounds amazing. I've had global entry for a few years now, and I think it's saved me probably at least 24 hours of standing in line over the past couple of years. That's like an entire day of waiting in line. So definitely consider getting this benefit. Okay, we're going to number two, right?
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All right. So one thing that I see all the time is just a lot of people don't use all of the benefits that they have on their travel credit cards. So that's a mistake you could be making. Credit cards, some of them have monthly benefits or annual benefits, and it's just leaving money on the table if you don't use them. So make sure you enroll in them if that's something you have to do.
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If your card comes with a statement credit for travel, make sure you know whether you have to book that travel a certain way. A lot of times it's like in the credit card issuer's travel portal. So I have one card that has that type of benefit. It gives you a $50 statement credit for hotels booked through the travel portal.
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And that basically cuts the annual fee in half, but I just have to remember to book it that way.
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Right. And it just gives me a lot more confidence. Like I've tracked the price and it's gone down to a price I feel comfortable with, so I can just book it. Plus you can leave the price alert on even after you've booked just in case the price goes down again.
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But it can work for you if you're planning to fly Southwest again and could use the funds. Exactly.
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And I will note the caveat with Southwest, you need to cancel at least 10 minutes prior to the scheduled departure to be able to get any flight credit back. But hopefully people aren't waiting that long.
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Agreed. I think everyone needs to budget for those like just in case items at their destination. The checked bag and overweight fees are exorbitant these days. It's not worth it to bring it just in case.
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Been there before. And last but not least, number five, booking tight connections. People, stop doing this to yourselves. Airlines sell these itineraries with really short layovers and you might be like, oh, wow, look, the travel time is really short and these flights are sometimes less expensive. But the chance of missing your second flight is just way too high.
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And don't even get me started on international flights. If you're connecting through a different country, you might have to go through customs, security. Sometimes they make you pick up your checked bag and then recheck it. And then you have to find your gate.
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If you're flying internationally, give yourself at least three hours for a connection and I'd say if you're connecting somewhere domestically, maybe an hour and a half or two hours is good.
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Okay. But you know, not all lounges are created equal. Like this could be its own mistake in the list is paying to go to a mediocre lounge. Like it's probably fine if you have some sort of complimentary access, but if you're paying for a day pass and all they have is a sad selection of snacks and some couches, like remember that wingtip lounge you went to?
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And I know you're a Coke Zero addict, so you were probably in a really bad place. Very bad place. It was dark. We'll link to your review in the show notes because it's a great read.
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Yes, I just went to the Delta One Lounge at LAX and it had fresh sushi. It was so good. I saw your review.
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Everyone has their own air travel horror stories. Sally, I am still shook by how you had two flights canceled in a row.
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The New Rules of Travel Rewards: Spend More or Lose Out
And these airlines are actually making a ton of money off of their frequent flyer programs. Can you explain how these airline loyalty programs work today?
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And the slowdown isn't hitting everyone equally. The biggest pullback is among lower-income households— But even higher income travelers are cutting back on domestic trips.
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That's a great point. It's like people who don't have these travel rewards credit cards are already losing the game when it comes to things that they buy in their everyday life when they're not traveling.
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Oh, yeah. NerdWallet does this every year.
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We look at like hundreds of flights or hundreds of hotel stays and try to figure out how much those points are worth. And the answer is not that clear. Yeah.
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Yeah, that's why NerdWallet always recommends checking how much your points are worth using some of our calculators and also not buying points unless you know and have done the math that it is a good deal to buy it. Sometimes, occasionally, there might be a promo or something that does make buying points worth it, especially if you only need a few. But definitely all important reminders.
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What are some things that customers can do in this environment to not get super locked into the system and maybe not able to use their points?
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The New Rules of Travel Rewards: Spend More or Lose Out
I really want to dig into that a bit more because there is so much that people might not know about the federal government's role in all of this. And it's not all bad news for consumers, actually. So that's coming up in a moment. Stay with us. The Department of Transportation has actually done some things in the past few years to add a bit more protections for consumers.
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And when it comes to destinations, some of the biggest drops in domestic tourism spending are in places like New York, Nevada, and Texas. Classic vacation spots that just aren't seeing as much out-of-town spending this year. You know, Megan, that's in line with some of the trends we've been seeing.
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And they also launched an investigation last year into airline loyalty programs. What are you most interested to see in the coming year or years, changes that might be coming to the airline industry?
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So there is hope for us travelers that flying doesn't have to be miserable in the future if any of these changes happen. That's really exciting. Ganesh Ditaraman, thank you so much for coming on the show today and talking with us.
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That was Ganesh Sitaraman, the author of Why Flying is Miserable and How to Fix It.
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Whenever you have big expenses coming up, that's a great time to get a new card. I do keep that list of boosted welcome bonuses on NerdWallet, so that's always a good place to start if you're looking for a higher intro bonus.
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That's a great deal. And I think the lounge access could be extremely helpful for a long flight like that. It doesn't say where she's flying from to South Africa, but if you have any layovers, there's a good chance that maybe that airport has a lounge that you might be able to access either a Capital One lounge or... possibly a Priority Pass lounge.
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The Priority Pass lounges abroad can be really great.
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Whew, that's a long flight though. Either way, even with a lounge. If you wanted to explore some other card options, I'd look at a hotel card. There are some great points deals on hotels in South Africa. So if the card you end up choosing comes with a free night reward, for example, that might be a great place to redeem it.
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If you are loving this show, review and rate our show on your favorite podcast app, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeartRadio. It helps others find the show too.
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But what if I told you there are economic forces at play that are making delays and cancellations more prevalent?
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Oof, those tariffs, a weak Canadian dollar compared to the U.S. dollar, and former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging Canadians to choose Canada this summer and change their summer travel plans earlier this year. I just think there's a lot of uncertainty about what's going on in the U.S. right now, and those tourists are choosing to go elsewhere or just stay home.
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And here's our brief disclaimer. We are not financial or investment advisors. This info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances.
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So we'll definitely be following that story all throughout the year. Yes. In other news, Fiji Airways joined the One World Alliance this month. Oh, Fiji, you can't get any further away before you start coming back. A Truman Show classic. So along with joining the One World Alliance, Fiji Airways also made American Airlines' A Advantage program its loyalty program.
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That means if you fly Fiji Airways, you'll be able to earn A Advantage miles, and Elite Status members will be able to flex their perks, such as priority boarding and lounge access when flying Fiji Airways. Well, Megan, I know that's you at the A Advantage Elite Status. Woo! I knew it was good for something.
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I've flown Fiji Airways to Fiji before. Some of the best snorkeling I've ever done was on a remote island there. I also booked a Fiji Airways flight with Alaska Points a long time ago. It was from LA to New Zealand, and it was 20,000 Alaska miles. But there was a layover in Fiji. And yeah, that trip was in the fall of 2020. So it did not happen. Womp womp.
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Well, at least you have American miles now, so maybe you can run it back. Yes. And speaking of airline partnerships, you can now use JetBlue points to book Iceland Air as well.
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Kinda. I'm bringing in an expert to break it down. Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Sally French. And I'm Megan Coyle. And we are the travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip.
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Lots of options if listeners want to go internationally this year and earn points with a U.S.-based airline. And you'll be in good company with all the other American travelers going to Italy and the Caribbean and all the other destinations we talked about in our summer travel episode. And that's it for the latest travel news.
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Megan, we have another interview today. Yes, our guest today is Ganesh Sitaraman. He's a law professor at the University of Vanderbilt, and he has done some fascinating research into the airline industry. In fact, he wrote a book about it called Why Flying is Miserable and How to Fix It. And the good thing is it's pretty hopeful.
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He makes the argument there are some things the government could do to regulate the industry and make improvements for consumers. But in the meantime, there's a few things that flyers can do, especially in how they strategize using airline loyalty programs. Ganesh, thanks for joining us.
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You're a law professor by day. Why is the airline industry so interesting to you?
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And tell me a little bit about your personal flying. Have you had a really bad experience while flying ever?
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Oh yeah, I've been there.
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It's heartbreaking, honestly, to see them close the door and you were right there. In your book, you trace a lot of these issues like cancellation, cities losing service, back to the airline deregulation that happened in 1978. Can you explain what flying was like before airline deregulation and how this law changed everything?
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Today, we brought on professor and author Ganesh Sitaraman to help you understand how the airline experience went from five-course meals and piano bars in the sky to a sad 28 inches of seat pitch and not an inch more.
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This is really a great introduction to how the airline industry works, the big business of airline frequent flyer programs, and if you know all that, you'll have a better understanding of how to work the system. But first, some news out of the travel industry. We just received some interesting data from Bank of America about the latest in travel spending trends.
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I mean, that sounds great.
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I want to get into that pricing aspect. So it seems like one of the main factors in deregulating airlines was to lower prices. But you argue in the book that prices were actually falling before deregulation. And how have they changed since then as well?
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They were deciding where airlines could fly into, like which routes they had. And so they were sort of controlling how much competition there was at each airport. Is that right?
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I remember there was a fascinating anecdote in your book about how Newark Airport started after deregulation because one airline wanted some New York flights. And so they built a new airport to get those routes.
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I immediately thought of Succession when I was reading that part. Like, this would make a really great television show. Are there any characters from that era that really stand out to you?
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And I'm glad you mentioned American Airlines because they actually started a lot of the things that are so relevant today. One of them being super saver fares, these very cheap fares that people could buy last minute. And then also loyalty programs. I believe American Airlines started their first loyalty program. So can you tell us how those features came about?
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The New Rules of Travel Rewards: Spend More or Lose Out
But their analysis suggested that slowdown could be weather-related. Cold snaps hit places like Texas and New York hard this winter, and Easter is really late this year, which might just be delaying some spring break plans.
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Sally, you've spent enough days at sea. I think it's finally time we get the full report on the cruises you just went on.
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And it's like happening kind of soon. The assigned seating is supposed to be available to book starting in the third quarter of 2025. Southwest cardholders and elite members will have the ability to pick a standard or in some cases preferred seat assignment within 48 hours of departure.
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To be fair, that's becoming more common in businesses on land too. Like that's happened to me at a hotel recently.
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And to add on to that, with cruises, you typically pay once and you're done. So that means no awkward Venmo requests from your cousin who owes you for dinner.
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Oh, and also I kind of like the theme cruises. I'm very interested. I've seen cruises for themes like Star Trek, Comic-Con, Hallmark movies, Broadway. Like just anything you want, you can find it on a cruise.
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Truly a cruise for every fandom.
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Those giant staterooms are overrated. Now, it wouldn't be a NerdWallet podcast without talking about credit cards and how those could possibly save you money on cruises or at least help you earn points for other travel.
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I'd recommend Traveler's Book on something like the Chase Sapphire Reserve. It comes with a $300 annual travel credit, which would be automatically applied to your first qualifying travel purchase, which could be a cruise. And after that, it earns three points per dollar on travel spending, including cruises.
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So this is like kind of an extra perk if you have a Southwest card or if you have elite status is now you can kind of get a free upgrade to some of the better seats that you have to pick.
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Now, that card has a $550 annual fee, so it's definitely not for everyone. That one is also best if you're trying to earn a lot of points on your cruise spending, but you might want to redeem those points for other types of travel like flights or hotel stays.
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If you're trying to use your credit card points or benefits to save on cruises, I'd look for offers like those Amex offers that you can add to your card that may apply to your cruise booking.
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It's easy to book a cruise with rewards if you have a card that earns Capital One miles, for example. There is a way to redeem your miles to cover the cost of any travel purchase made within the last 90 days, and it's at a rate of one cent per point, so better than 0.7 cents.
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World points are worth one cent each, and you can redeem them for stateroom upgrades, travel discounts, onboard credits, last-minute cruises, car rentals, hotel stays, cashbacks. So this card is best for Norwegian cruise line fans. If you don't cruise with them, you probably won't have much to use those points on.
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And just to give you an idea of the tiers, to get into that top tier with the 75% bonus, you need to have a minimum of $100,000 with the bank.
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That's incredible to see on a no annual fee card. Bank of America has a bunch of cards that participate in this preferred rewards program, so I'd recommend checking those out.
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So nice. It's always so stressful trying to re-up the status with airlines and hotels.
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Let's tell people, what does cruise elite status actually get you?
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Jeez, 130 cruises is a lot. Were there any people like that on your sailing?
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If you are a Southwest Flyer, it seems like having one of the co-branded credit cards is almost a requirement to make it just a little better. Also, some other changes happening to airlines and airline cards. The United Club access changes went into effect last week. So if you have a United credit card that gets you one-time United Club passes every year, this change affects you.
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Yeah, I think her advice is sound, no matter whether you're traveling solo or with a group. There are a ton of different cruise lines out there, so if you want the best experience, do your research and find one that fits the vacation vibe you're looking for.
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She says, we have the Amex card to get Delta points, but we shop at Costco a lot. What would be a good card for that since they don't take Amex?
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I'm partial to the hot dog and drink for $1.50 personally, but this is a great question. Trying to maximize your savings by buying in bulk and earning travel rewards.
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There's the Citi Costco Anywhere Visa card. It earns 2% back at Costco, which is surprisingly meh since the best co-branded cards offer 3% or more at the actual brand.
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Otherwise, there are some great cash back cards. We'll post a link in the show description to NerdWallet's guide to the best cash back cards. But cards we like include the Wells Fargo Active Cash, which earns 2% cash back on all purchases, not just Costco.
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That means you could earn up to 3.5% cash back at Costco, depending on your tier of Preferred Rewards status. The catch is that Preferred Rewards is based on your balance, which we already talked about.
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5% is killer, but these can be annoying because these cards require you to opt in to the category every quarter.
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You mentioned being a Delta flyer. So Delta is not a transfer partner of Capital One, but Air France and KLM, their loyalty program is called Flying Blue. They are one of the Capital One transfer partners.
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So since Air France and KLM are part of the Sky Team Alliance with Delta, you can actually transfer Capital One miles to Flying Blue in order to book a flight on Delta and possibly get some great redemptions that way.
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It used to be that you could just give those passes to anyone. But now the primary cardholder or the authorized user must be present when you go to the lounge. And you also can't go for as long. You have to enter within three hours of your flight's departure time.
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All right, that's the show. Cruisers, if you didn't pay for a Wi-Fi package, make sure to download some smart travel episodes to listen to offline.
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This episode was produced by Hilary Georgie, Claire Soce helped with fact-checking, and a big thank you to Nick Karisamy for editing our audio. You make us sound good. Thank you.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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Thanks for listening. As always, we hope you're inspired to keep your passport full and your wallet even fuller. See you next episode.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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And they're also expanding some of their lounges and redesigning them. Benjamin Din, our colleague we had on the podcast last week, went to the reopening of the United Polaris Lounge at Chicago's O'Hare Airport last week. And it looks so much more modern than the old design, although there's still like kind of a lot of marble. It's also 50% bigger, which is really nice.
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You should read Ben's review of the new lounge on the NerdWallet website. We'll put a link to the review in the episode description. By the way, a bunch of new transfer bonuses came out last week. Chase Ultimate Rewards is doing a 25% bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club through June 15th and a 25% bonus to KLM Air France's Flying Blue program through May 31st.
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They need to put L.A. back on the list. It's been months. There are some other great transfer bonuses going on right now, too. We have an article about all the transfer bonuses going on, and we'll link to it in the episode description as well.
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Okay. But for many travelers, a cruise is the ideal vacation, and they might be surprised to find that it's cheaper than a traditional land vacation. That's exactly right.
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Yes. For stays beginning June 15th and running through September at any of the under canvas properties, you can earn one American Airlines A Advantage bonus mile per $1 spent on your stay at under canvas. That's on top of the world of Hyatt points you already receive.
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Wow, we love a stack. And Hyatt and American changed their partnership this year and you don't earn miles on your Hyatt stays anymore. So this is a bit of a blast from the past. I'll take it. Yay. All right.
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Oh my goodness. If I gathered anything from your Instagram pictures, Sally, then spoiler alert, it looks like you had the best week ever on these cruises.
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Oh, yeah. But no cruise photos on my account. Yet. I need to add some. I've been on a bunch of cruises because my grandma loves them. My whole family did one just last year in the Mediterranean on Princess Cruises.
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But first, I want to hear about those ships you just checked out.
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Wow, that really worked out timing-wise.
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That's absolutely giant. It's in the ranks of the largest cruise ships in the world. Definitely not the largest as... Royal Caribbean holds that title.
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Just to put this in perspective, the last cruise I did was on the Sun Princess for my grandma. And that ship has a capacity of 4,300 guests. And I thought that ship was like Pretty big. So I'm dying to know what else was on this ship you were on. Let's start with the MSC World America.
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And I'm Sally French. And we're the travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip. As always, we'll talk about a few credit card companies that are nerd wallet partners in this episode, but that doesn't influence how we discuss them. The benefits, terms, and fees mentioned were accurate at the time of posting, but things can change.
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I would have been out of my seat singing along. Queen never gets old. Okay, that was the MSC World America. What about the Norwegian Aqua?
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A roller coaster water slide. Now, those are my two favorite things in one. I saw your pictures, but you should tell the listeners how it works.
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Oh my gosh, that's fast.
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Space Mountain at Disneyland doesn't even go that fast. I like those fast launches, though, because it doesn't give you enough time to get nervous.
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It makes me really happy when cruises invest in the entertainment because it might be one of the few times you get to see a Broadway-style show if you don't pay to see them when they come to your town or if you don't see them in New York. And these performers are super talented. I know several people who have performed on cruise ships, including a few ice skaters because I used to be one.
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Just to be clear, though, I have never ice skated on a cruise. I just know people who have. Yeah.
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That's very ghost kitchen-esque. What kind of food are we talking?
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Insider Strategies for First-Class Cruise Perks Without the Premium Price
Some offers may have expired by the time you're listening. For the latest details, follow the links in the episode description.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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Oh my gosh. I know you're serious about hitting those protein quotas, so I'm sure you beelined straight there when you saw barbecue.
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We have a packed show ahead. We'll discuss new ships on the horizon, why people love cruises and the best credit cards to pay for them and more. But first this. Sally, so remember those early pandemic headlines, floating petri dishes?
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So later this year, Disney is debuting not one, but two new ships, the Disney Destiny and the Disney Adventure. That's on the heels of the Disney Treasure ship, which debuted at the end of 2024. Very excited to see what those look like.
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I've also had my eyes on Virgin Voyages. Their next ship, Brilliant Lady, will set sail in September 2025.
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Their ships are so huge and over the top. That's including Icon of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world. We have a story about it on NerdWallet.
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I'll definitely put that link in the episode description.
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Insider Strategies for First-Class Cruise Perks Without the Premium Price
Now, they can have a huge upfront sticker price, which can be a turnoff when you see thousands of dollars for your one-week vacation.
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Insider Strategies for First-Class Cruise Perks Without the Premium Price
That's true. Now, every cruise line has its own policies, but typically your cruise fare includes lodging, meals at the standard restaurants on board, and most entertainment.
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And it's so convenient to go. You just like walk down the hallway. They also usually upcharge you for some extras like specialty dining. These are separate restaurants that you can book at, alcohol packages, services like the spa, and sometimes certain activities like gym classes, the arcade, and attractions like those golfing things, go-karts, bungee jumping, whatever your heart desires.
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To save money, you'd also have to plan your own shore excursions, and that's where things can get really pricey. You should tell everyone about that story you wrote about Disney vacation costs.
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You can read the full write-up of the comparison. There's a link in the episode description. You guys know where to find it. I've been on a Disney cruise and I did love it. So I'll put that out there.
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How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
And it gives you automatic diamond status, the top tier.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
And I know you use that free night reward and also got an upgrade at the Conrad Punta de Mida.
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How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Oh my gosh, that sounds amazing.
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How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Yes. For a private pool, I feel like I'd do it. Okay. So what are your other two statuses? I'm guessing those are the ones you have through your Amex Platinum card.
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How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
And you can enroll in these complimentary hotel elite statuses. So one of them's with Hilton. It's Hilton Honors Gold and Marriott Bonvoy Gold. These are both the second elite status levels. And I found that there's still like plenty of value from that second level, like the occasional room on a higher floor or with a better view.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
If there's one thing I know about you, it's that you love free food.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Just remember, booking with OTAs like Expedia does sometimes add some complexity to your travel. Like if you need to change or cancel your reservation, you'll have to deal with that middleman. At least on flights, though, you will still be able to earn Southwest points if you book a Southwest flight through an OTA.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Oh, that's good because I'm not really like a breakfast at the hotel type of person.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
I love hash browns. Like loaded hash browns are an immediate order for me.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Yeah, Marriott gold is the definition of cool, I guess.
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How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Certainly doable for some of the road warriors given Marriott's huge worldwide footprint, but that's like neither of us, sadly. Neither of us.
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How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Okay. So yeah, it sounds like credit cards are a great way to get automatic elite status. We have an article about all those credit cards ready for you linked up in the show notes. But what are some other tips for people who aren't in the market for a credit card yet? What are some other ways they can get elite status?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Yeah, that's a good tip. We mentioned it at the top and yeah, it's worth saying again. I would also look for promotions like the Built Rewards program has done a few promotions in the past where you get a 90-day trial period of elite status. That's right, yeah. And it's really cool because then you can like do this challenge and try to keep it for the rest of the year.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
That's not the case for hotels, and it's usually better to just book directly for your hotel stays.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
There's also some promotions at hotel programs, for example, where You might be able to get double elite qualifying credits for your stays during a certain promotional period. So, for example, like Hyatt had one recently. You had to register back in February, but you could earn two elite qualifying night credits for each eligible night you stay at their glamping brand under Canvas.
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How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
But you had to stay during the promotion period.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Some airlines and hotels even have partnerships so that elite members can have benefits at both. So some of these partnerships are like American and Hyatt or United and Marriott. So we've got some articles about that on the NerdWallet website that we'll put in the show notes.
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How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
If you have credit cards that grant status, you can get upgrades and perks without crazy spending. For airline status, you can get it with some credit card spending and some flying or something else.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Yeah, Hilton Gold is better than Marriott Gold from your experience, and it sounds like Hyatt Discoverist is. Ooh, I would say it's better than a poke in the eye.
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How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
All right. And this is the part of the show with hot takes or hot takeoffs. Hot takeoffs. This is my favorite part. I feel like this whole episode boiled down to the fact that chasing elite status can be overrated for many travelers. But let me make it a little spicier for you. If it's not easy for you to earn elite status, you probably don't need it.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
If you can meet 80% of the requirements to earn elite status through the travel you already have planned for this year, through the credit cards you have or are planning on getting this year, then I think being strategic about earning that like 20% more of the requirements, that's doable. Okay, that's fair.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
But if your normal travel and spending will only get you like 50% of the way to elite qualifying points or dollars, then maybe you don't travel enough to get that much use out of it.
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How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Okay. Honestly, for my American Airlines status, I try to take advantage of the shopping portal. That's like this online portal. It has a bunch of retailers you've already heard of and you shop at anyway. So in the American Airlines program, you earn the same amount of loyalty points as miles when you shop through the portal. Right. So whenever I want to buy something, I just go to the portal.
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How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Like recently, I needed contact lenses. So I searched contact lenses, ordered my contact lenses from the portal. Nice. And I just picked the one that had the most miles per dollar. And I got almost 1500 loyalty points. Not bad. Yeah. And compare that to one of the last flights I took. I got just 96 loyalty points flying to San Francisco from Los Angeles.
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Yeah, Hyatt has this great award chart that lays out the peak, off-peak, and standard points you'll need for each category. Most hotels have gotten rid of their award charts and they now use dynamic pricing. So it's really hard to estimate how many points you might need for a night. It depends on demand and all sorts of things. But Hyatt actually tells you how many points you're going to need.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
So I got way more elite status qualifying points by buying contact lenses. Wow. I see you there. Good. Good deal. And I can see you now that my new contacts have arrived. See what we did there. Okay. Do you have elite status? Have you scored an awesome upgrade? Let us know, listeners. Email us at travel at nerdwallet.com or send us a voice memo. You might even hear your voice on the show.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Make sure you never miss an episode. This episode was produced by Hilary Georgie and Tess Fagelin. Claire Sose helped with fact checking and a big thank you to NerdWallet's editors for all their help.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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Thanks for listening. We hope you're inspired to keep your passport full and your wallet even fuller. See you next episode.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Womp womp. Yeah, this happens every year. Usually most hotels are moving up a category. And especially this year, lots of Japan properties are moving up a category. They're getting more expensive to book on points, probably because the interest in Japan travel is still so high. I know. I feel like everyone I know is in Japan right now. Yeah, I'm glad I went way earlier. I went a few years ago.
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I'm like, whew, all right, I'm good for a few years.
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The other bright spot here is that these changes aren't going into effect until March 25th. So you still have some time to lock in those lower redemption rates before it officially goes up. And you also don't have to wait to book the ones that are going down in price. You could book those now. And if the redemption rate goes down, you'll actually get a refund of the points difference.
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How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Well, you know, sometimes the flights are more convenient on Southwest and I could fly to a smaller airport and take the same flight and the same Uber home as my friends. So listeners, do as I do and build a healthy relationship with your elite status, not a toxic one.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Another one before March 25th, it would be good if you could book any hotels that are going from category four to a category five if you still have a free night reward on your World of Hyatt credit card. Because the World of Hyatt credit card comes with a free night reward, that's only good on hotels up to category four.
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So if you're planning on booking any of those that are moving to a five this year, book it before March 25th.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
And finally, March 1st is actually the start of the year for American Airlines flyers like myself. I guess better late than never. Yeah, you know, I'm okay with starting the year in March. My 2025 was off to a rough start. So let's just, you know, reset the clock over the weekend. Okay, let's declare that 2025 actually starts in March, American Airlines style.
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So now you have until February 2026 next year to earn the number of loyalty points you'll need to earn elite status on American Airlines. This is actually so timely because we're going to talk about elite status today.
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Yeah, I've got to admit, I'm a little bit attached.
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How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
I know, it is, it is. Well, luckily there are a few ways to start earning those points. One would be by applying for the Citi A Advantage Platinum Select World Elite MasterCard. It has a higher signup bonus at the time we're recording this episode of 75,000 American Airlines miles after $3,500 in purchases within the first four months of account opening.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
And the annual fee is $99, but it's waived for the first 12 months. So it's a great way to check it out and see if this card is for you.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
And you'll be able to keep earning loyalty points on the spending that you do on that card all year. I should mention that American Airlines is also doing a promotion right now to earn 500 additional loyalty points for each flight segment you take in March, up to 5,000 loyalty points in total.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
So make sure you register for that in your A Advantage account to earn those if you have any flights this month.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Everyone assumes that the only way to earn elite status with airlines and hotels is by traveling all the time, being that person who flies multiple times a week or spends more time living in a hotel than their actual house.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
But as you'll learn from today's episode, that's hardly the case. You don't have to be a road warrior and stay 50 nights in hotels. And I will say for myself, I know better now. I actually have hotel elite status in three different programs. And based on the number of videos I see you posting at the gym, I know you're not actually spending that many nights away from the gym. involved.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Weird. You should. My size definitely correlates with gym elite status. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Now I have two types of hotel elite statuses and I think we might have some overlap. So I'm excited to go into some of the different strategies people might not know about.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Sally French. And I'm Megan Coyle. And we're the travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip. Today, we're talking about whether elite status is actually worth it.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
So before we get started, we should mention that we're going to talk about some specific terms and benefits and offers available on certain credit cards, but these can change. So make sure you check a credit card's current offer before you go applying for anything.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Let's do it. Starting with elite status on airlines. Back in the old days, you would have had to fly a lot to get airline elite status, like every week a lot.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
We're not even at the hot take part of the episode yet, Sally.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Well, you make a good point, and it's that there are some trade-offs for loyalty, and elite status can handcuff you to only flying with that airline.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Yes, I actually already earned my elite status for this year and I'm already using it for wedding travel. I just got back from the first bachelorette party over the weekend in Austin and I flew American Airlines on the way there, which is the one I have elite status in, but Southwest on the way back.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
I need to meet these people because you definitely should not be doing any of this for free drinks.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Okay, we'll get into this, but I also kind of feel that way. Yeah, no, it's real. So I have American Airlines gold status and I'm not married to it though. Like if I find a cheaper flight or something that's like more convenient, less layovers, whatever, I'll book that other airline. But if American does offer some comparable options, I'll get some super valuable perks.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
I love those free preferred seats and even the occasional upgrade to business class.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Okay, so our team at NerdWallet wrote about some of the best airline elite statuses for 2025. And we can link to that in the show notes so you guys can check it out. The most important thing to know about airline elite status in general is that there is a big range. Like the lower tier elite statuses might get you like $10 worth of benefits, like those free drinks you were talking about.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
And just a heads up, in this episode, we'll talk about a few credit card companies that are nerd wallet partners, but that doesn't influence how we discuss them. All right, let's dive into the news.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
And top tier statuses can be worth thousands of dollars. They could be worth over $4,000 if you have the very, very top status.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
I get it partly from flying, but also partly from credit card spending.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Yep. So for American Airlines, you have to earn loyalty points to earn elite status, and you earn them through flying, spending with their partners, shopping through the online portal, or spending on an American Airlines credit card.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
I hit gold status through a combination of sort of all of those, taking some American flights and also some flights on their partners, like their One World Alliance partner, Alaska Airlines.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Yeah, and putting a lot of my regular spending on my American Airlines card.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Yeah, let's not oversell it. Like with elite status, I get to board in group four and I get a free check bag. But I've had my American Airlines card for years, like even before I ever earned elite status. And with just the card, I got to board in group five and also get a free check bag. That is one way to go about getting... you know, some perks on the airline.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
And like maybe some other luggage benefits on some programs, United Airlines is the one I'm thinking of. They actually let elite members bring heavier bags for free as well. So instead of that 50 pound weight limit for checked bags, if you have elite status on United, you can bring a checked bag up to 70 pounds. Cool. I can bring my dog. Gumballs. Oh, gosh.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
I feel really bad for the luggage handlers. So I do want to like point out that I do have gold, which is the lowest elite status tier. Bottom of the barrel.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
And it takes a lot. It really does to get to platinum, platinum pro, any of the fancy tiers. I will say with gold status, I am eligible for upgrades, but all those people that have the higher statuses, they get priority. Right. So they will get upgraded to business class first, along with their companions, which like feels so unfair sometimes.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Yeah. And I'll be honest, I get upgraded probably twice a year. Okay. One is usually some random long flight and I'm like, wow, this is amazing. This is such a lifesaver. It always comes in right when I need it. Like it's a red eye or something. And then the other upgrade I usually get once a year is like on a one hour flight to San Francisco.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
So you get this big seat, but you're like, I literally, I don't need to sleep. I don't really get any good food.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
And that's the case with any airline, like not just American, this happens on every single one.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
I do want to point out one kind of underrated perk though of elite status. And that's- Sell me. You get to pick some of the preferred seats when you're booking for free. Okay. These are seats like closer to the front of the main cabin, even a main cabin extra seat with more legroom. It depends on your level of status.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Like for me, I get to pick those extra legroom seats if there are any available 24 hours before departure.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
I don't. I actually don't. But it does pay to be friends with me because, you know, my boyfriend gets like the extra legroom seats and he loves it. Okay. The tall people care.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Airline elite status. You know, overall, it has some perks. And if you value things like those check bags or the extra legroom, then it might pay off for you. Okay. Let's move on to hotel elite status. Another one we have written about on NerdWallet.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Yeah, remember when Southwest flights didn't even show up in Google flights? Oof, I know, dark times. That was tough. But that all changed in May of last year, and I'm so glad they got the technology working for that.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
And as is the case with airlines, you did not have to spend a bajillion nights to... earn this elite status?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Welcome to Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways, from NerdWallet
We're your financially savvy friends who love to travel. Plus, we'll dive into topics like loyalty programs, seasonal booking strategies, and even whether travel insurance is really worth it or just another way to burn your budget.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Welcome to Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways, from NerdWallet
Hi there, I'm Megan Coyle. And I'm Sally French. Welcome to Smart Travel, where we help you make your travel budget work smarter because who doesn't love more trips for less money?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Welcome to Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways, from NerdWallet
Spoiler, it involves a lot of chocolate covered raisins.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Welcome to Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways, from NerdWallet
Your passport will thank you and so will your wallet.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
But can't forget our usual disclaimer. We'll talk about a few credit card companies that are NerdWallet partners in this episode, but that doesn't influence how we discuss them. The benefits, terms, and fees mentioned were accurate at the time of posting, but things can change and some offers may have expired by the time you're listening.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Back to Harry Potter. So each of the main theme parks at Universal Orlando now has a tiny piece of the Harry Potter universe. At Universal's Islands of Adventure Park, you can visit Hogsmeade and Hogwarts Castle. At Universal Studios Florida, there's a recreation of Diagon Alley.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
That's the one that reportedly has five-hour lines, right?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Wow. Okay, so there's only one ride in that world. What else can you do if you're unwilling to wait in that line? That is the downfall.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
So it seems like the world that everyone is really looking forward to is Dark Universe. That's for fans of Halloween Horror Nights. This is like a special event at Universal during Halloween where they create all these little mazes with people who jump out at you. They're all themed. It's very scary. And I feel like I always get targeted to get the jump scare when I go do these.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Megan, Little Mazes, I would not undersell it. These are like huge productions. Yeah, they're not that big though. But this land is a big land. This is all for Halloween Horror Nights fans. So tell us a bit more about what you can find there.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
For the latest details, follow the links in the episode description.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Wow. Okay, so I don't want to get too many spoilers about it, but what can you tell me about the ride?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
All right, the fourth world you can definitely take your kids to. This is Super Nintendo World. I actually did a version of this one at Universal Studios Hollywood. This land has a version of Mario Kart Bowser's Challenge, which is like this dark ride and you put on goggles that are attached to cute little Mario hats. It's actually not that racing. Like it doesn't go that fast.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
So that was a bit of a letdown. And then there's also Toadstool Cafe, which is a mushroom themed food slash dining experience that I actually really like. Not the food, but like the experience.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Okay, what else is there in this Super Nintendo Land? Because the one in California is not that big.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
This is awesome for members of both United and JetBlue's loyalty programs. United's Mileage Plus members will soon be able to earn and redeem United miles on JetBlue flights, while JetBlue's TrueBlue members can earn and use their JetBlue points on United flights.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
I saw your photo on Instagram of this. It looks like too much. I I'm going to be honest.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
No, no, no.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Oh, gosh. Okay, so we're already on the food. What's the best non-dessert food you ate?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Okay, all of this I can get behind. I like the spicy. I like the mac and cheese. I like the cone. Everything sounds good.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
So over in the wizarding world, I'm sure they have butterbeer. And then they also have the butterbeer crepes you mentioned earlier. That sounds really good.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
I like that sharing energy that you can share with all the people you came to Universal with.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
So one of my favorite things to consume at Universal is actually not the food, but the drinks. The best thing I had at my last trip to Universal was the boba in Super Nintendo Land.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
And each airline's flights will show up on the other's website and app. So you'll be able to book tickets that have these mixed itineraries where one leg could be on United and the other could be on JetBlue. And everything's very seamless. You don't have to recheck your bags. It's all on one ticket.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Okay, that drink sounds so good. The other thing that cracked me up about your visit is all those people you interviewed who said their first stop was the merchandise.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Oh, my gosh. You missed out.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Okay, that one must have real magic.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
So who would you say these wands are for? Who should buy them and spend $65?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Yeah, and then they presented you the bill and you were like, sorry, I'm safe with Sally.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
I like that for a philosophy around whether or not you should buy them.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Yeah. So are you also out on the Nintendo power-up bands too?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Okay, so I did buy two of these bands the last time I went. Yeah, I took two of my sisters and my boyfriend. And like you said, it all adds up very quickly.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Yeah, we bought two for four people. But at least in LA, the Nintendo Land is so small that there's actually not that much to do if you don't have the bands. I think you would just spend maybe an hour waiting in line for the ride and then you eat at Toadstool Cafe and then... That's it. Right.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
So I actually think if you want to have this very full experience and spend a lot of time there, you actually do want the power bands. So it sounds like in LA you need the bands.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
And even though it's not a merger, it is still subject to regulatory review. So I'm still sad that JetBlue's earlier reciprocal alliance with American Airlines was blocked back in 2023. But there are a few key differences between that agreement and this new one. The first one is that United and JetBlue will not coordinate on pricing or scheduling.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
That's good to know. And you can actually use them across both. If you have been to the LA one and you bring your band with you to the Florida one, you can absolutely use it there. Yeah. So when we hang out in LA, I'll bring my band. So we'll use it.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Totally. And my last tip is that there is like this final showdown mini game that you unlock with the bands. And I actually thought that was my favorite thing to do in
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Yeah. I won't give too much away about what you actually have to do, but I thought the technology behind that was super cool, like way cooler than the Mario Kart ride.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
And to finish this show out, what else did you learn from the guests at Epic Universe on opening day? Megan, how about we just hear from them?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Sally, thanks for all these dispatches from Epic Universe. Make sure to follow Smart Travel on your favorite podcast app, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeart Radio to automatically download new episodes.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
This episode was produced by Tess Biglin and edited by Nick Chrismi. Claire Sosi and Hilary Georgie helped with fact-checking.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
we hope you're inspired to keep your passport full and your wallet even fuller thanks everyone see you next time
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
So assuming that everything gets approved, this Blue Sky program could launch as early as this fall.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Oh, yeah. United announced that their excursionist perk is getting the axe. That means starting August 21st, you'll no longer be able to score a free one-way flight on a multi-city award ticket. That's the type of ticket that lets you fly to multiple destinations, different legs, all on points. But it let you get three of those flights for the price of two award flights.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
So it was a really awesome sweet spot in the Mileage Plus program that's going away in August. Super sad for those United super fans.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Yikes. I mean, anytime you hear the word dynamically priced, that just means that something is going to cost more for the busy in-demand flights. I know, it's such a bad word. I swear the only thing left to become dynamically priced on airlines is the snack boxes. They'll be like, there's four left. It's going to cost you $25 now instead of 15.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
I will say those check-in deadlines can really sneak up on you. I've never missed the check-in time, but I have shown up too late to check a bag.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
so sad like they made me gate check the bag which means I had to go through the TSA security checkpoint and I had to throw out all of my liquids so I had to toss all these Christmas gifts I'd gotten like full-size hair products like a bottle of wine I was like please someone just drink this for me I'm so sad I have to let this go well I gotta say at least Southwest has trained me well I'm always the person who's checking in exactly 24 hours in advance anyway
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
And it was sort of sneaky the way they announced it, or rather, like, didn't announce it at all. If you purchase basic, want to get away, or anytime fares now, you'll have to pay $35 for your first check bag and $45 for the second check bag. That's pretty on par with what the other airlines like American Airlines and Delta Airlines charge as well.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Southwest is rolling out all sorts of changes this year, all in different phases. So the open seating policy is still around. But starting next quarter, you'll start to see the ability to buy extra legroom and assign seating on Southwest.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
I always forget Marriott has all these airline partners. It's definitely worth looking into, especially if you have a lead status, because sometimes you can earn airline miles for your Marriott stays and all you have to do is link your accounts.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Yeah, so losing a bit of value there. Marriott also has some summer deals if you book from June 4th to June 8th. The one that started today, it's 20% off at participating hotels or 25% off if you book through the app. This deal is good for stays between June 9th and July 6th. So... That includes the busy 4th of July holiday weekend.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
And don't worry, if you miss this sale, you can still catch one at the end of the month starting June 28th.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
I'm flying the Monday after 4th of July because it was $100 cheaper than flying on Sunday.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Sally, I can't believe how many people were at Epic Universe. That's the newest Universal theme park that opened in Orlando, Florida. If all those people were there that early, they are committed. Super fans. Yeah, they are prepared to shell out a lot of money for this new park.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
So for theme park enthusiasts, the park you need to know about this year is Epic Universe, which just opened May 22nd. Sally, you were there. This is a brand new theme park at Universal Orlando Resort, which brings their total number of parks to three. Well, four if you count Volcano Bay, which is a water park.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
It's also more expensive than the other parks. Universal Studios and Islands of Adventures one-day park tickets start at $119 per day, though, of course, like higher demand days can be even more expensive. And Epic Universe, if you just want that one-day park pass, is $139 per day at the start. So, Sally, is this park $20 better? Megan, it is so much more than $20 better.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Whoa. I know. That's a glowing review.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
That all makes sense. So bring us back to opening day. What was the vibe like in line?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Wow. Matthew is such a super fan, and he's a huge fan of the Dark Universe, which is one of the new lands. There's a bunch of lands that you kind of talked about a little bit earlier from this main Celestial Park area. There's a new Harry Potter land and a Super Nintendo land. Both of those already have versions at Universal's other theme parks in Florida and California.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
But Dark Universe and How to Train Your Dragon, those are completely new lands people have not seen before.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
So what were some of the first attendees excited for among all these new lands?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
You're listening to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Megan Coyle, back from two weddings in Italy. One suitcase almost didn't make it, but that's a story I'll save for another episode.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
More on those power-up bands later. But I'm still honestly surprised how popular the gift store is because as a theme park lover myself, that's an end-of-the-day activity for me. And even then, it's something I try to avoid if I'm trying to save money at the park.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
So what is your favorite land? Which is the one that you think people can probably spend the most time in?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
Whoa, that's super cool. And then there's also some rides here that make you feel like you're riding a dragon. Is that right?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
And then there's also an amazing show, which I love the costumes for. Tell us about that.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
From everything I've seen, this Isle of Birkland seems like it'll be my favorite because as a theme park lover, I love the storytelling in the lands. And this one feels like it got all the details right.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Is Epic Universe the Future of Theme Parks? Here’s How to Save When You Go
I want to know more about this supposedly different Wizarding World of Harry Potter land. So stay with us because that's up next.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Let's pivot to the opposite end of the spectrum. Let's talk about theme parks. There is so much happening in the theme park universe this summer. I'm so excited. And you just got back from one. So let's hear about it. I was just at Disney World. We're going to talk about that later. But the really big thing on my mind is its competitor just across the road. That is Universal Epic Universe.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
It is a new theme park opening in Orlando. It's part of the Universal Studios family of theme parks. And in fact, it's the first new Orlando theme park opening in more than 25 years.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Okay, so already there are two existing Universal theme parks, and each of those have their own Harry Potter lands. When Epic Universe opens, it'll have its own Harry Potter land that makes for three Harry Potter lands you could experience in the Universal parks. The first one was tied to Hogsmeade. There's one tied to Diagon Alley.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
And this third one is going to be actually kind of French-inspired. That's because it is themed to the newer Fantastic Beasts franchise. Harry Potter, the gift that keeps giving. Everyone always talks about over at Disney, Star Wars Rise of the Resistance. Yeah. But there is a ride that the people tell me is going to beat that in terms of cool factor.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
We will link to that in the show description. And we can print the names of the cards in the article, just not say them on the podcast. So again, check out that link in the show description.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
It's Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry. So that'll be over at Epic Universe. We're going to have to check it out to actually put it to the test if it's truly better.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
And then, of course, everyone knows Butterbeer. They're going to be serving that in this park as well. Yeah. Besides Harry Potter, there's going to be a Super Nintendo World. There's already one in Hollywood. This one is going to be even bigger than the Universal Studios Hollywood version. It'll have a Donkey Kong Country. That will feature its own roller coaster called Minecart Madness.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Megan, you've been to the Super Nintendo World in Hollywood. I have not.
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Okay, I will say I don't want to be like a complete ad for the Epic Universe version, but this one is going to have more rides. It's going to have some of the same stuff. It's going to have the mushroom restaurant, which I want to go to. But of course, we're adding more rides here. Speaking of more rides outside of Super Nintendo World, there's also something called Dark Universe.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
This is not tied to a singular franchise, but rather the universal monsters. So we're talking about Dracula, Frankenstein's monster. And then also, I cannot believe I have not seen this movie, but How to Train Your Dragon. There is Sally, you have not seen How to Train Your Dragon. I know. It's like, it's on my to-do list. I promise. Someday I will.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Yeah. Okay. Let's do that this weekend when I'm not traveling.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
What's really interesting about Disney World is I think they know all eyes are on Epic Universe. So they are offering tons of deals. This summer, beginning May 27th through September 20th, Disney World is selling 50% off kids tickets for three days or longer. Disney does define kids as ages three through nine. So 10 and up does not apply.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
I think it's like because people like me, I'm 32 and I'm like, I'm a kid, I'm a kid. So they're like, no, cutoff is nine. Other deals if you're not a kid, there is a three-day, three-park ticket, which starts at $89 per day. So that's $267 total. That's great if you're adults. The catch is it is not good at the main Magic Kingdom park.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
It only works at Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Disney's Animal Kingdom. I love Animal Kingdom, so I could spend a few days there. Honestly, same. And another deal that people love is the dining plan. This basically gets you kind of like coupons that you can use at the restaurants. Really alleviates the pain of paying because you don't have to whip out your credit card. It's on the app.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
And the new era of Southwest is already here as well. The airline just unveiled its new dynamic pricing, and I guess as the name suggests, it's all over the place.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
It's like a digital coupon so you can dine. And if you purchase a non-discounted four-night, four-day package that includes a room at certain Disney-owned hotels with tickets, then you actually get the free dining plan. So this is a great way to save a ton of money, especially if you can maximize it and you love to eat at all the restaurants.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
I was actually shocked. We were going through all the data of Disney World ticket prices. I manually pulled this all by hand, and I looked at average ticket prices by month. Surprisingly, summer is one of the cheapest times to go to Disney World. Believe it or not, the most expensive times are December, October. People want to celebrate the holidays there.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
But if you go in September, average one-day ticket prices are $125. August, $133. Compare that to the average, which is $153. So go in the summer and believe it or not, you save money.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
But it's hotter, so that's a trade-off.
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It is Disneyland's 70th anniversary. Technically, their anniversary is July 17th, but you know Disney. They love to extend the birthday as long as possible. So their celebration kicks off on May 16th, and then it actually runs through summer 2026. But really, if you want to experience it, this summer is the time to go. I love the World of Color water show.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
They're going to swap out some scenes with some new songs. I am most excited for the boys to mend. They're going to do their own rendition of Rainbow Connection, so I want to go just to hear that. I don't even know what Rainbow Connection is, but that's amazing.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Amazing. You are part of 44% of Americans who say they plan to take a summer vacation requiring a flight or hotel stay this year. We are going to dig into that data and share some tips for your summer travels. The matching shirts are optional though. Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Megan Coyle. And I'm Sally French.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Okay, okay. So you watch Muppets and I'll watch How to Train Your Dragon.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
So that's enough about theme parks. It is time for hot takeoffs. Megan, you told me over Slack that you have one you're excited to share. So hit me.
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I rarely think it's worth it.
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Yeah, I'm inclined to say no, you can't switch it because it's going to be so expensive.
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That's what I would have guessed.
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That's an interesting attempt. But if you fly standby, there is no guarantee you'll actually get on the flight.
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Definitely risky, but I guess that's why we call this a hot take. Take off, I should say. So we're going to have to do another show, I think, on more standby tips because that's definitely interesting. And especially people who like to gamble, this might be the way to go. And it could save you money.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
I guess so. People listening out there, if you've got more questions, send them our way at travel at nerdwallet.com. Or you can hit us with a voice memo because I love to hear your voice.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Five stars and a nice comment are definitely welcome, but we take feedback of all times. We do have thick skin.
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And here's our brief disclaimer. We are not financial or investment advisors. This info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Yeah, you know, it's been a rough go for Southwest flyers recently. A lot of changes and most of them not for the best. I will say this is a good example of why you should collect transferable points because when stuff like this happens, when your Southwest points get devalued, at least with transferable points, you can just choose to transfer them to another better partner.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Believe it or not, it's already time to start planning summer travel if you want to find some of the best deals.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
So maybe not the worst to be a Southwest loyalist because you can status match to these other airlines anyway. That can be super powerful. And speaking of status matching, MGM Rewards, which is the loyalty program for MGM resorts and casinos, they announced some new status matches to Marriott. So Marriott and MGM joined forces in 2023.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
They already had some status matching for the MGM rewards with the two highest tiers of status to Marriott's two highest tiers. But now MGM rewards Pearl members can earn Marriott Bonvoy tier matching benefits. They're getting silver elite status and MGM rewards gold members can now get Marriott Bonvoy gold elite status.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
I love the Marriott portfolio in Vegas. You know I'm a sucker for the Bellagio. Now, I know you visited a new lounge last week, Megan. Tell us about that.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Maybe we could record our next podcast episode right there.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
I loved your photo of the miso donuts. I need one.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Yes, indeed. So 30% of those who used credit cards to cover summer travel last year still have not paid off their balances. For Gen Z travelers specifically, that number jumps to 45%.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Now, there are certainly situations where you need to take on debt to pay for everyday life expenses like gas and groceries. But on this show, we tend to talk about credit cards in the context of earning fancy rewards, getting VIP perks to fund travel. Now, these cards that offer all of these benefits that we talk about on the show tend to have higher interest rates,
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
which very quickly outpace the value of any rewards. So if you are someone who pays for summer travel on a credit card, we generally only recommend using the fancy travel credit cards we talk about on this show for people who regularly pay off their balances in full every month.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
And we're the travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip. Which could be this summer. We found lots of fun data, so you'll know when and where the crowds will be. Where there are crowds, there are high prices. So hopefully by the end of this, you'll know how to avoid both.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
But speaking of rewards, 85% of summer travelers are using credit cards to cover some of their expenses this year. So let's talk about how to make the rewards you earn, the benefits that come from those cards, work for you.
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Yes. You know, this was an interesting report and people are getting smart. 58% of travelers say they are likely going to do this. So stacking benefits basically just means you use multiple benefits from either credit cards or other loyalty programs in one fell swoop.
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I do have a good one, so I hope you're ready for this. I'm ready. So I went to Vegas with my fiance for CES. It's a big tech conference. So many people are there. Prices are crazy. We flew Southwest using my companion pass. I know we talk about this pass all the time on the show. It lets me bring someone for free aside from taxes and fees.
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So I got that pass from hitting an intro offer on a Southwest credit card. Nice. Before the flight, we had dinner at the Centurion Lounge. That means free food, free drinks. We're going to Vegas. Good vibes. We got in using my platinum card from American Express. You love your free food and the lounges. One of 37. I know. This show is beginning to sound the same.
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Anyway, so once we landed, I used my Uber credit again from the platinum card to cover most of our ride to the hotel. We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria right there on the Las Vegas Strip using a free night certificate from my Hilton Aspire card.
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So it's not cheap. I fully agree. This fee is high. It is not for everyone. But this specific night we stayed, room rates that night alone were well over $550. That is the trifecta of a fancy hotel on a weekend in Vegas and during CES weekend, as you said, no less.
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Okay, so then I got my breakfast at the hotel covered because the card also gives me automatic diamond status, which gives a food and beverage credit good at any time of the day.
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and a slight room upgrade. Very nice. Now, I do like those offers you mentioned. One thing that's irritating about them, though, is with things like Amex offers, you have to manually add the offers to your card to get the discounts. So before you go shopping and spend your card, go through and see what offers actually apply to you and then make sure that you add them to your account.
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Megan, there is this bank adding Lyft credits to one of their cards. As it turns out, we are no longer allowed to say their name on this podcast, but to help you listeners out, their name rhymes with face. Or space. Or trace. Or at least we can keep doing this. Anyway, this unnamed bank is adding Lyft credits to one of their most popular travel credit cards.
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It's April, but it is time to talk about summer travel. So maybe you have a plan already with how you're going to stack your rewards, but let's talk about how far in advance do you think you should book? Megan, how early do you book summer travel?
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Yeah. So with domestic flights, NerdWallet recommends that you book one to three months in advance. So if we're talking about summer travel, let's say July, you're looking at booking in April. That's now. So I'm so glad you're listening to the show so we can remind you to actually go ahead and book this.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
For international flights, NerdWallet recommends booking two to eight months in advance. So if we're talking about a July trip internationally, May is really the latest that you should be booking to get any sort of good deal. Honestly, though, you could have started booking as early as last November. That would have not been a bad idea to start getting those good deals.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Me too. So the exception to this rule is holiday weekends. I'm talking about things this summer like Memorial Day and Fourth of July. Memorial Day is always one of the busiest times to fly. Most people will take off on the Friday before Memorial Day, and then they'll extend their trip beyond Sunday and then go out on Monday.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Because of this, we typically say Sunday is the most expensive day to fly, but that's not really the case Memorial Day weekend because people sort of treat that Monday like the Sunday and they actually fly out the Monday. So do keep that in mind when you're planning Memorial Day weekend travel. Even people fly out on the Thursday before.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
So understand that weekend kind of is a deviation from the standard weekday crowds.
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Yes, if you're trying to beat traffic, same rules apply. Now, NerdWallet looks at the best and worst days to fly of some of these major holidays. Visit nerdwallet.com. We'll put our link in the show description so you can see the best and worst days to fly on specific holiday weekends.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Yes, so many travelers, myself included, are going to make 4th of July a long weekend this year. I'm flying out on Thursday. I'm returning on Monday. I'm going with some friends to San Antonio because they have a great 4th of July celebration that I want to see. Oh, fun. Yeah, I know. I'm so excited. But let's talk about other trends we're seeing and where people are going this summer.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Again, I cannot say the name of this specific card out loud on this podcast. I know, I'm sorry. But if you've been listening to this, you know what card I'm talking about. It's the one with the super high annual fee. It has good statement credits, but the bad news is they are slashing the card's earning rates on Lyft. I wrote an article which actually does have the cards named in it.
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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Oh, I quizzed you on the national parks, so you're quizzing me now.
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Okay, I do think most people just end up for their first European trip going to Italy, so I'm going to say Italy.
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And I'm glad you brought this up. I actually worked with Dollar Flight Club to put together a piece on where to fly cheaply to Europe this summer. Oh, that's important. Yes. And, you know, we often recommend if you want to go to Italy, sometimes you don't fly directly into Italy.
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You can fly to another destination where you get that cheaper transatlantic flight and then find either a cheaper flight or even take the train to your final destination. So I worked with Dollar Flight Club to find some data, and we found six routes from major U.S. airports where average flights to Europe are under $900 round trip this summer.
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Okay, let's go. So there's Atlanta to Reykjavik, Iceland, Atlanta to London, Dallas-Fort Worth to Amsterdam, Denver to Amsterdam, Denver to Paris, and Miami to Munich. Nice. Another great destination is Japan. I feel like everyone I know on the planet is going to Japan. Yeah.
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two cities, Osaka and Tokyo, were in the top five trending international destinations in Google Flight searches for summer 2025. Curacao and St. Lucia, both Caribbean islands, were also in the top five on that trending Google Flight destinations list.