Meghan Coyle
Appearances
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
Sally, that was awesome. Lots of great advice in there that you wouldn't necessarily expect.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
Thanks for listening. We hope you're inspired to keep your wallet even fuller. See you next episode.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
So we'll put a link in our show notes to the NerdWallet article about all the changes to the United Cards.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
In fact, they replaced Lyft with Uber.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
Oh, I love the people who swear the cheapest airfares come out on Tuesdays. It's not a Trader Joe's restock, people.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
That sounds so awesome, like this private jet experience, walking out on the tarmac. But how much is it?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
Should we go to the Monterey Aquarium, Sally?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Secrets to Finding Cheap Flights and Avoiding Fees, Straight from Scott’s Cheap Flights
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
We'll link to it in the show notes.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Oh, yeah. I saw your pictures from that. It looks so gorgeous. Yeah. You know, I'm really not a fancy hotel person.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Lots of great Florida representation on there and a little SoCal. Love it.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
Oh my God, that is steaming hot. Just tell me why. I'm not going to be convinced, but go ahead.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
I hate bothering even one person. Okay. Yes.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
That's not surprising to me at all. Ever since the pandemic ended, cruises have been super, super popular.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
And you'll find out it can be as low maintenance or high maintenance as you want it to be.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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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How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees
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?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
That's the dream.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
I want to stay in one.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
Okay. This is on my bucket list for sure.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Visit National Parks for Free, Avoid Crowds, and Save on Lodging
I love this.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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And while I was there, I just went on the airline's app.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Of course, we say this and then suddenly something's going to happen in San Diego.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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So I'm actually like spending less on flights now.
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Okay. But inflation is still bad for the egg eaters among us. Looking at you, Sally.
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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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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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It feels like you're hanging out in the Incredibles living room.
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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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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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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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Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars.
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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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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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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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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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Coming up, we're talking about what you should do when your travels go awry.
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It's one of the most read topics on NerdWallet, probably because when it happens to you, you need answers fast.
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Geez, that's terrible luck that it happened to you on the same trip. After all, cancellations are not actually that common.
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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.
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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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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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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.
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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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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.
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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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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I was low-key hoping you would pick this one.
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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.
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Yeah, I love this, especially if you're traveling with friends. Where would our families be without us?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Interesting.
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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.
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Well, you know I love myself as companion pass.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Yeah, I went on the Explore tool on Google Flights to figure out where she should go.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
No, I mean, Paul is totally agreeing with my hot take here.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Am I just giving them a one-name answer?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
Okay, well, is that your draft pick?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
All that for no annual fee.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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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Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
Okay.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
Also, this is our first episode, so feel free to leave a review or send us an email with feedback for the show.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
I literally just saw you on my Instagram, so I get it.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
Thanks for listening. We hope you're inspired to keep your passport full and your wallet even fuller. See you next time.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
We see you, just not literally.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
And some of you might recognize our voices if you tune into our sibling podcast, Smart Money. Yes.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
Yeah, it's easy to make mistakes when you're traveling if you're not thinking about it all the time.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
Exactly. So we'll tell you about strategies to save money on travel and what things are actually worth spending on.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
Oh my gosh, that must have felt so good after a long flight.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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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Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
after an international trip. But that also comes with TSA PreCheck, so Global Entry is like getting two benefits for one.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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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Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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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Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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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Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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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Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
And that basically cuts the annual fee in half, but I just have to remember to book it that way.
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Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
But it can work for you if you're planning to fly Southwest again and could use the funds. Exactly.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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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Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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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Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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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Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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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Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
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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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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Oh my gosh, that sounds amazing.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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?
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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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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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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.
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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.
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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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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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How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
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
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
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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How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
I'm like, whew, all right, I'm good for a few years.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
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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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How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
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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How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Yeah. Okay. Let's do that this weekend when I'm not traveling.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
But it's hotter, so that's a trade-off.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
I rarely think it's worth it.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Yeah, I'm inclined to say no, you can't switch it because it's going to be so expensive.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
That's what I would have guessed.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
That's an interesting attempt. But if you fly standby, there is no guarantee you'll actually get on the flight.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
Maybe we could record our next podcast episode right there.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
I loved your photo of the miso donuts. I need one.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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%.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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,
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
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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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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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How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Plan Smarter and Save More on Summer Travel
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.