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I haven’t paid for a flight in over ten years for myself or anyone in our company. As an entrepreneur who relies on PPC advertising to acquire customers, my company spends a lot of money each year on Google and Facebook ads for the business. And I ensure that every penny is paid using a points-earning credit card.
So, what’s in my wallet? I use the Amex Business Gold card for the first $200k in spend to earn 4x points on advertising for 800,000 points per year. After that, my Chase Ink Business Premier card earns 3X points on the next $150k spent on advertising for 450,000 points per year. And then, my personal and business Amex Delta Platinum cards are used to hit my Delta MQM spend and boost thresholds to earn Delta status. Finally, the Amex Business Platinum card is used in $5000+ increments to earn 1.5x points on advertising spend. The Business Platinum card also ensures that I have Delta lounge access at practically every airport, Priority Pass lounge access, and also gives me free TSA Pre-Check and Clear access to bypass security screening. I have three Amex cards for the business, so I’ve opted to get reward points back when redeeming on Delta (at 35% back), American Airlines (at 25% back), and United Airlines (at 25% back). I’ve created a Google Doc explaining how flight bookings should be handled for our employees to maximize the usage of points depending on the airline used. Additionally, free Amex green cards can be added for employees as add-on cards to the Business Platinum card so every employee can receive free TSA pre-check. They simply need to have a unique green Amex card that they use when paying for pre-check.
For my personal transactions, I pair the Chase Freedom Unlimited at 1.5x on every transaction with the Chase Sapphire Reserve for my wife to upgrade all our points to Chase Ultimate Rewards Points. These points can be redeemed in the Chase Portal at a 1.5x rate. I can use the Chase point transfer tool to link our two accounts and periodically transfer points between them.
The end result is that we no longer pay for flights, even internationally, and every employee who wants it gets free TSA pre-check, I am often upgraded to first class, and we get free lounge access when traveling. For personal trips, I use my Chase UR points to redeem free tickets to Universal Studios, Sea World, rental cars, and more.
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