Tag Archives: Travel Credit Cards

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How to Transfer, Combine, or Move Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines Miles (with Direct Links)

Republished on 5/18/25 since AMEX announced that American Express Membership Rewards Point transfers to Hawaii Airlines will end on June 30, 2025.


Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. In this post, I will show you how we moved Alaska Airlines Miles into Hawaiian Airlines Miles, transferred those miles between Hawaiian Airlines accounts, and then transferred those miles to Alaska Airlines.  We wanted all of our miles to be in a single account (my Alaska Airlines account) to make award booking easier since we would book all of our award tickets from a single account.  Transfers between Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines were free and instant.  Here are the steps we did…

A few weeks ago, Laura and I transferred large chunks of American Express Membership Rewards Points into Hawaiian Airlines Miles when AMEX had a 20% transfer bonus to Hawaiian Airlines.  I transferred 417K AMEX MR Points into 500K Hawaiian Airlines Miles on August 29.

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Buy eGift Cards on DoorDash & Stack with 10% DashPass Discount

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  A few days ago, Laura received her new Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card and added it to our shared DoorDash account.  Moments later, there was a message that popped up asking if we would like to enroll in a free DoorDash DashPass membership.  I am looking forward to taking advantage of the $10 monthly discount on groceries and retail, along with the other benefits of the membership.

Surprisingly or unsurprisingly, DoorDash forgot to mention that you can buy eGift Cards (eGCs) through DoorDash and get a discount.  Let me show you how.

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Instant Access to Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card After Approval with Apple Pay & Google Pay

Updated at 8:15am PT on 4/23/25: I completed the $5,000 minimum spending requirement and the 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points show as pending in my account – all before even receiving the physical card in the mail.  You can also refer friends and family members to the CSP before receiving the physical card in the mail.  See both updates below.


Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  Last night, I was looking into credit card options since Laura and I have some large purchases coming up in the next few months.  While researching, I wanted to see if the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card (CSP) (click here to learn more and apply) offers instant access to the card, and I was happy to find out that it does!

According to Chase: “Spend Instantly: Apply for a card, use it the same day. Receive instant access to your card by adding it to a digital wallet, like Apple Pay®, Google Pay™, or Samsung Pay.” You can check out the full details here chase.com/digital/spend-instantly.  In this post, I will show you the process to add the CSP to your Apple Pay Wallet.

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Miles & Points Mantra #2: “Book Flights Now, Then Set Up Google Flights & Points Path Alerts”

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. I’m kicking off a new series on the blog called Miles & Points Mantra, where I’ll be sharing the personal “rules” I follow when it comes to using airline miles, hotel points, credit card rewards, and all things travel.  I try to follow these rules 100% of the time, but I have been known to break the rules from time to time.  Whether you’re brand new to travel hacking or a seasoned pro, I’d love to hear if you agree or disagree with these “rules.”  I have a long list of mantras to share, but if you have one you swear by (or want me to cover), please share it in the comments section below.  Let’s get started…

Miles & Points Mantra #2: “Book Flights Now, Then Set Up Google Flights & Points Path Alerts”

Whenever I am looking for paid or award flights, the first place I start is at Google Flights. Most of the time, I know exactly where I want to go and have a preferred departure time in mind. In a perfect world, my preferred flight will be the cheapest option, but in reality, it is usually not.  In addition to Google Flights, I use Points Path, which is an awesome browser extension that runs on top of Google Flights and displays the cheapest award price option next to the cheapest paid option. As a paying Points Path Founders Club subscriber, I have the ability to set up 50 award alerts that run simultaneously that I use to track specific flights and I receive email alerts whenever the award price increases or decreases (this happens almost daily).

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Miles & Points Mantra #1: “Use Hotel Free Night Certificates ASAP”

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. I’m kicking off a new series on the blog called Miles & Points Mantra, where I’ll be sharing the personal “rules” I follow when it comes to using airline miles, hotel points, credit card rewards, and all things travel.  I try to follow these rules 100% of the time, but I have been known to break the rules from time to time.  Whether you’re brand new to travel hacking or a seasoned pro, I’d love to hear if you agree or disagree with these “rules.”  I have a long list of mantras to share, but if you have one you swear by (or want me to cover), please share it in the comments section below.  Let’s get started…

Miles & Points Mantra #1: “Use Hotel Free Night Certificates ASAP”

If you are just starting out and only have 1 or 2 hotel Free Night Certificates (FNCs), it might not be too difficult to remember to use them before they expire.  Fortunately / unfortunately, between Laura and myself, we have earned / received 15 FNCs in the last 12 months from various credit card sign up bonuses, paying renewal annual fees on our hotel credit cards, and from completing a Hyatt Brand Explorer challenge.  15 FNCs means we have to spend at least 15 nights in hotels throughout the year in 4 different hotel brands (Hilton, Hyatt. IHG, and Marriott) within certain categories and point limitations.  The only way I can manage these FNCs is in a spreadsheet.

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