Chris Hutchins' Top Points and Miles Tips, Straight From “All the Hacks”
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Maybe it's Maybelline. Hey smart travel listener, how would you like a free two hundred and fifty dollar Amazon gift card?
We're giving away two of them and all you have to enter to win is take our listener survey.
And this year's survey is way shorter than last year, so do fill it out. Ah short, just like me, you'll love to see it. We really want you to fill it out because your answers actually help us shape the show, what we cover, what we cut, and whether hot takes live to see another episode. Oh no, that would be sad
if we cut them, but tell us what you want to hear. Now is your chance to make your voice heard. Go to Nerdwallet.com slash travel survey and submit your entry by September thirtieth. You can find the official rules at that same link.
That's nerdwallet.com slash travel survey. Thanks and good luck. As soon as we started planning to record an episode in SF, I knew there was one travel expert we had to have on the show. It is my fellow Bay Area travel expert,
SFO Frequent Flyer, and host of his own podcast, All the Hacks, Chris Hutchin, is in studio today with
us to record. Thanks for joining us. Yeah,
thanks for having me.
We're talking all about practical tips for earning and redeeming your points in miles. Chris does this for his entire family, but no matter how many points you have or how many people you travel with, you can use these same strategies. Welcome to a special in-studio edition of Smart Travel from NerdWallet, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Megan Coyle.
How can listeners enter the $250 Amazon gift card sweepstakes?
And I'm Sally French. And we're the travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip. Coming at you from a real video set in San Francisco. And you can actually watch our video on Spotify. But first, before
We get to the main segment. I want to share our disclaimer, and that is that we will talk about a few credit card companies that are neurolet partners in this episode. That does not influence how Megan and I discuss them. The benefits, terms, and fees mentioned were accurate at the time of posting it, but of course, things can change. Some offers may have expired by the time you're listening. For the latest details, follow the links in the episode description. All
right, let's hop back to our houses real quick and we'll be back in studio right after this. Chase and Air Canada refreshed the Chase Aeroplan credit card last week. It's got a new name. It's called the Chase Air Canada Aeroplan card now. And it has a new earnings structure, new benefits, and a new annual fee. I think
the headline benefit on this card is that you get automatic airplan 25k status every year, no spending requirement needed. That is something that we don't see on a lot of credit cards.
It's also a lot simpler than the old version of that benefit on the card because previously you would get it the first year you became a cardholder and then there was a fifteen thousand dollar minimum spending requirement each calendar year to keep renewing it. So now there's no spending requirement, you just get this automatic elite status as a cardholder.
This makes me wonder though. It is going to be so much easier for so many people to I guess get status, which they've always been able to do with this card, but hold on to status. And it does kind of make me ask, if everybody has status, if everybody is special, then does that mean nobody is special?
I mean, yeah, maybe. And it also makes it a little bit harder to get upgrades and like maybe some of the benefits that make elite status really worth it. But there are other benefits to elite status, things that don't require other people to not be flying on the same bed as you.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:48
2
How can listeners enter the $250 Amazon gift card sweepstakes?
1:48–10:36
3
What are the new features and fees of the Chase Air Canada Aeroplan card?
10:36–28:37
4
Why did Hyatt end its partnership with American Airlines and switch to Delta?
28:37–43:00
5
What are the new DoorDash credits and other offers for the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s 10‑year anniversary?
43:00–1:16:44
Speakers
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