New Year - New Task List

Happy New Year !!! (I may have started this post about a week ago but just finished it this morning)

I figured I'd start the year off with a bit of a task list of things I'm doing to get the year started off right in the Points Cash Miles world.

•  Check your hotel points and airline mileage account balances and more importantly, the expiration dates.  I started with this task because I consider it to be the most important.  there's nothing I hate more than losing the points we work so hard to collect.  Over the coming weeks, I'll be going though all of my accounts and will provide some ideas for how to extend the expiration dates for the various programs.

• American Express Platinum card holders - $200 Airline Reimbursement Choice - this benefit is based on calendar year as opposed to membership year, so if you carry this card you are now eligible for another $200 worth of Airline reimbursements.  You can view or change or airline choice HERE.

• Also for Amex Platinum Holders, If you haven't already called to have your complimentary Starwood Gold status added to your SPG account, now's as good of a time as any to do so.  Just call the number on the back of your American Express and they'll initiate the call to SPG. 

• Chase Freedom 5% signup - Gas, Starbucks and Drugstores up to $1,500 of spending - If you carry this card and haven't already activated the 1st quarter benefit, do so now.  The link is HERE 

• MrRebates.com - I used Mr. Rebates for at least half of my online holiday shopping this year, so it's time to check to make sure my purchases are showing up in my account.  My favorite shopping portal is the Chase Ultimate rewards portal but often I find that the cash back percentage is higher at Mr. Rebates.  I've had great results with Mr. Rebates and have only once had a cash back tracking issue which was quickly corrected after I emailed customer service.  Mr. Rebates does reward referrals, so if you decide to give them a try I'd appreciate if you'd use one of my links.

• Amex Small Business Saturday - if you haven't already, check to make sure you've received your $25 credits on each of the cards you may have used at a participating small business.  If you are still waiting, it's time to send a secure message to customer service through the American Express website.  I actually had a $25 credit that didn't show up due to the charge not posting to my account until 11/25, the day after small business Saturday. A quick note to customer service was all it took to get the credit posted to my account. 

• Back in September MyPoints had a deal with OpenSky that offered 150 points per dollar spent.  If you participated, you may be sitting on a bunch of MyPoints that need redeemed.  Mommy Points wrote about this recently - read more HERE.

2012 Free Travel Review

At the beginning of a new year I like to take a look back at the previous year and analyze my expenditures of points, cash, and miles for travel the previous year.  This helps me to plan for future trips as well as check if I've been getting the best deals and make sure it's still worth the time commitment involved in playing the points and miles game.

I'm hoping this post doesn't come off as bragging - that's not the intent; there's plenty of people out there who just can't wait to tell you how awesome they are and I'm not one of them.  I'm simply a guy who loves to travel.  With moderate travel resources and 3 weeks of vacation each year, I look to make the most of it, and points and miles have been helping me do so for the past 5 or 6 years.

Rockefeller Center Tree - Dec 2012

2012 saw quite a few weekend trips but nothing earth shattering - there weren't any flights in international business class or exotic destinations this year and probably none to come in 2013 either.  I do have some big ideas for 2014 but we'll get to that later...

Free (or nearly free) Travel in the past 12 months has included the following:

- 2 first class tickets to NYC (American Airlines - 27k British Airways Miles)
- 2 coach tickets to return from NYC  (American Airlines - 9k British Airways Miles)
- 3 nights at the Waldorf Astoria NYC (150k Hhonors Points)
- 4 tickets to Las Vegas on Southwest (2 expired award vouchers + $100)
- 2 return tickets from Las Vegas - (38k Southwest points)
- 1 night at the Radisson Cleveland Gateway (10k Club Carlson points + $80)
- 1 night at the DoubleTree in downtown Columbus, OH (0 HHonors points)
- 1 round trip to Vegas (21k Southwest points)
- 2 rooms for 1 night at the Palazzo, Las Vegas (Free Credit Card Night, 50k points)
- 3 round trip tickets to Nashville  (roughly 40k Southwest points)

I finished out the year with a returning  to NYC for New Year for the second straight year but I'll include that on next years travel listing as the trip ended in 2013.

Overall I burned a decent number of HHonors points and a ton of Southwest points (actually I didn't have SW points so I was transferring Ultimate Rewards points).  I'll need to restock, as Hilton is my go to hotel chain for reward stays and Southwest is my airline of choice for trips to Las Vegas.  In the coming weeks I'll outline my plans for reloading my accounts.

At this point I'm not exactly sure what  travel 2013 will hold, but I'm eyeing a return to Vegas in the spring or summer and possibly NYC for New Year's Eve again next December.  Once I get a better idea I'll be putting together some travel goals for the year as well as developing a plan to achieve them.

If you're interested in learning more, consider following by email or just bookmarking the page - I'll be here with new material 2-3 times a week, possibly more if there happens to be anything I find really exciting in the world of points and miles.

Holiday Break -- Until Jan 7th

It's probably already obvious do to the lack of new material, but things have gotten a bit busier than usual lately and I really haven't had time to devote to the website.  I'm going to take a few more weeks off with plans to come back with new material during the 1st full week of the new year.

Thanks for your support,
PointsCashMiles