Daraius Dubash presentation at 2012 LA FTU.

1. Web: www.MillionMileSecrets.com
Email: daraius@millionmilesecrets.com
Twitter: @MilMileSecrets
Facebook: facebook.com/MillionMileSecrets

2. Daraius
“Duh-Rye-Us”

3. The Next 1 Hour
- Why Collect Miles & Points?
- Stuff Nobody Talks About
- Earning Miles & Points
- Using Miles & Points
- Questions?

4. Million Mile Secrets
Big Travel.
Small Money.

5. Why Collect Miles & Points?
Big Travel with Small Money
- Save money
- Have experiences you can’t afford
- Save time/less stress for frequent travelers

6. Visiting Emily’s Grandma
$600
Flights!

7. Jet Airways First Class Suite
$10,000!

8. Flying to London to Propose to Emily!
$5,000!

9. Thai First Class Massage

10. Escorted Through Airport

11. A $1,000+ Suite in Bora
Bora

12. The Iguacu Falls to Ourselves for 4,800
SPG + $90!

13. Save Time

14. Why Collect Miles & Points?
- Experiences Last Forever
- Memories with Families & Friends
- Save Money & Time

15. The Next 1 Hour
- Why Collect Miles & Points?
- Stuff Nobody Talks About
- Earning Miles & Points
- Using Miles & Points
- Questions?

16. Stuff nobody talks about

17. My Goal

18. Travel for 2?

19. Family of 4?

20. First Class?

21. Or Coach?

22. Good Credit?

23. Earn Miles From Business Travel?

24. Set a GOAL for YOU!

25. Stuff nobody talks about - Ethics

26. Know your limits

27. Always someone with more

28. Lots of Grey Area

29. Front Page Test

30. Organization Is Key!

31. Get Organized Or…

32. Award Wallet For
Tracking Miles & Points

33. Yodlee or Mint for Credit Cards

34. Tips to Stay Organized
- Pay Bills Online
- Set Outlook/I-Phone/Notes Reminders
- Excel Spreadsheet to Track
•Sign-up/Cancelled/bonus received/spending

35. Things WILL Go Wrong

36. How You React Matters

37. Know When To…

38. Sometimes “Good Enough” is Enough

39. Nothing is Certain

40. Hang Up & Call Back
Politely

41. My Wonderful Wife!

42. Double the Miles & Points

43. Stuff Nobody Talks About - Trade-off
- Trade-Offs
- Be aware of time invested
- Flexible travel dates and routings

44. Stuff Nobody Talks About – Bonus!
- Should I collect miles in all programs or just 1?
- Flight miles in 1 program
- Collect non-flight miles in ALL programs
- Don’t forget hotel points
- Hotel elite status could matter more
- Earning is easy. Redeeming is harder!

45. The Next 1 Hour
- Why Collect Miles & Points?
- Stuff Nobody Talks About
- Earning Miles & Points
- Using Miles & Points
- Questions?

46. Earning Miles & Points
- Credit Cards
- Debit Cards
- Shopping
- Dining
- Banking/Investing
- Promotions
- Asking nicely!
- Partners
- Flying

47. Earning Miles & Points – Credit Cards
The EASIEST way to earn hundreds
of thousands of points

48. Earning Miles & Points – Credit Cards
1 MILLION+ miles/points in
2011 from 16 credit cards!

49. Only 240,000 Miles to the Moon

50. My Credit Score

51. Do NOT Apply for Credit Cards If You…
Have a
mortgage in the
next 2 years

52. Do NOT Apply for Credit Cards If You…
Can Not pay your balance in
FULL each month

53. 3 Types of Credit Cards
1) Transferable Points
2) Airline/Hotel Cards
3) Cash Back

54. Types of Credit Cards -Transferable
1a) Chase Ultimate Rewards

55. Types of Credit Cards - Transferable
1b) American Express Starwood (SPG)

56. Types of Credit Cards - Transferable
1c) American Express Membership Rewards

57. Types of Credit Cards – Airline
Perks :
- Free bags
- Priority boarding
- Less miles for redemptions

58. Types of Credit Cards –Hotel
Could be worth paying fee for:
- Free night certificates
- Elite Status
- Discounted award redemptions

59. Types of Credit Cards – Cash Back
- 1 to 2% on purchases
- ~5% on categories
- Easy to understand
- Good for coach travel
- $5,000 business class ticket = $250,000 spending
- $80,000 spending on AMEX SPG = 100,000 AA Miles

60. Earning Miles & Points – Credit Cards
- How it works
- Sign-up for card and get sign-on bonus (25K to 100K)
- Usually have to spend a minimum amount $3,000 in 3
months
- Then what?

61. What is the
average household
income in the US?

62. $50,000*
*2010 US Census

63. Earning Miles & Points – Credit Cards
- Spend everything you earn, you’ll get only
50,000 miles/points
- Pay-off is with the SIGN-UP BONUS,
NOT everyday spending

64. Earning Miles & Points – Credit Cards
- Churning is key!
- Get same card again (YMMV):
-

65. Spending
Spending on Cards with no/low NET cash outflow
- Amazon Payments $1,000 per month free

66. Spending
Spending on Cards with no/low NET cash outflow
- Vanilla Reloads & Bluebird

67. Spending
Spending on Cards with no/low NET cash outflow
- William Paid for Rent
- Charge Smart for loans
Pre-Paid Cards
- Wells Fargo (Don’t use Citi & BOA)
- US Bank Visa Buxx
- ALWAYS check for cash advance fees

69. Will my credit score go down?

70. 3 Credit Bureaus
FICO Score Range: 300 to 850

71. Credit Score

72. Free Credit Score

73. How Many Cards?
Do what you’re comfortable with

74. Earning Miles & Points – Credit Cards
- Business Cards
- Don’t need an established business
- Selling stuff on ebay etc.
- Use SSN as Tax ID number
- Reconsideration
- Call and ask to move credit lines to get approved for new card
- Churning Strategy
- Each bank will pull credit report from a credit bureau
- Goal is to apply for cards with mix of 3 bureaus
- In NJ most pulls from Experian
- Retention
- Citi great at offering incentive to keep card

75. Earning Miles & Points – Credit Cards
Best Deals (Sign-up Bonus):
- 2 Citi AAdvantage cards for 50,000 miles each
- Use 2-browser trick
- 100,000 miles = Business Class to Europe/South America

76. Earning Miles & Points – Credit Cards
Best Deals (Sign-up Bonus):
- 2 Chase Southwest cards for 50,000 points each
- 100,000 out of 110,000 points needed for Companion Pass
-Chase United Explorer
- 55,000 miles after $2,000 within 3 months + $50 credit

77. Earning Miles & Points – Credit Cards
Best Deals (Sign-up Bonus & Spending):
-Chase Sapphire Preferred
- 40,000 sign-up bonus, 2X points on dining/travel, no forex
fees, TRANSFERABLE to United, Hyatt, British Airways,
Southwest etc.
-Chase Freedom
- 10,000 sign up bonus, but 5X points on certain categories
(gas, groceries, etc.). Points transferable to hotels/airlines if you
have Chase Sapphire Preferred.
- Chase Ink Bold (50,000 Points)
- AMEX Starwood Preferred

78. Category Bonuses
- 3X Airfare on Premier Rewards Gold
- 2X on Travel/Dining on Chase Sapphire Preferred
- Usually not worth it
- $175 Annual Fee
- Do the math
- Chase Freedom 5X with No Annual Fee

79. Earning Miles & Points
- Credit Cards
- Debit Cards
- Shopping
- Dining
- Banking/Investing
- Promotions
- Asking nicely!
- Partners
- Flying

80. Debit Cards
- Suntrust Delta – 1 mile per $1
- Bank of America Alaska Air – 0.5 mile per $1
- UFB Direct – American Airlines - 0.5 mile per $1

81. Earning Miles & Points
- Credit Cards
- Shopping
- Dining
- Banking/Investing
- Promotions
- Asking nicely!
- Partners
- Flying

82. Earning Miles & Points – Shopping

83. 10X on Nordstrom Via Ultimate Rewards Mall
-

84. Use Evrewards.com to Find
Best Deal
-

85. $1 purchase
keeps miles
from expiring

86. Earning Miles & Points – Dining

87. Earning Miles & Points – Dining
- Airline & Hotels have dining programs
- Sign-up for each and add your card online
- Earn miles for every time you dine
- Won’t go out of my way to eat…

88. Earning Miles & Points – Banking
- Bank Direct
•100 AAdvantage miles for every $1,000 up to $200,000
•25 AAdvantage miles for every $1,000 after $200,000

89. Earning Miles & Points – Investing
Fidelity Brokerage Accounts
•United, AA, and Delta

90. Earning Miles & Points – Promotions
- Social Media
- Email Sign-ups
- Watch a video
- Hotel/Airline Promotions

91. Earning Miles & Points – Asking Nicely
- Credit Card Retention Bonuses
- Goodwill Adjustments
- Providing Feedback

92. Earning Miles & Points - Partners
- Car Rentals
- Hotels
- Flowers
- Magazines

93. Earning Miles & Points - Flying
- The old-fashioned way!
- Two types of miles
- Elite & Redeemable
- Usually 1 mile per flown mile
- Earth’s circumference is 25,000 miles
- More miles in First or Business Class (50% to 100%)
- Elite miles earn status which gets you perks
- Very valuable for frequent traveler

94. Earning Miles & Points - Blogs
Read Different Blogs
- Million Mile Secrets
- View from the Wing
- Frequent Miler
- MileValue
- One Mile at a Time
- Wandering Aramean
- Others

95. The Next 1 Hour
- Why Collect Miles & Points?
- Stuff Nobody Talks About
- Earning Miles & Points
- Using Miles & Points
- Questions?

96. Using Miles & Points
- Airline Availability
- Hotels
- Transferable Points

97. American Airlines Partners

98. Airline Availability
- Airline availability on website sucks
- Partner awards are KEY
- Different tools to search for availability
- ANA
- Qantas
- Air France
- Be flexible

99. Airline Availability
- Paid Tools
- Expert Flyer
- KVS
- Award Nexus
- Award Booking Service

100. Using Miles & Points - Hotels
- Don’t forget hotels
- No taxes on redemptions
- Hotel awards are easier than airline seats

101. Transferable Points
- Diversify
- More options
- Chase Ultimate Rewards, AMEX SPG,
Membership Rewards

102. The Past 1 Hour
- Why collect Miles and Points?
- Stuff nobody talks about
- Earning Miles & Points
- Using Miles & Points
- Questions?

103. Web: www.MillionMileSecrets.com
Email: daraius@millionmilesecrets.com
Twitter: @MilMileSecrets
Facebook: facebook.com/MillionMileSecrets

104. Back Up

105. App-O-Rama
Every 3 to 4+ Months

106. App-O-Rama Planning
- Different Credit Bureaus
- Business + Personal
- Plan for Minimum Spending
- Call reconsideration to get approved

107. Reconsideration
- Not approved online
- Max out available credit or too many inquiries
- Call Reconsideration Department after applying
- Relationship, Credit Worthiness, Business Info
- Good reason for wanting card
- Show that you’re not a credit risk
- Hang Up and Call Again!

108. Reconsideration
- Chase
- Max out available credit or too many inquiries
- Call Reconsideration Department after applying
- Relationship, Credit Worthiness, Business Info
- Show that you’re not a credit risk
- Hang Up and Call Again!