Ask the Nerds: Booking Traps, Transfer Optimization and Card Strategy

Summary

Podcast Summary: Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways

Episode: Ask the Nerds: Booking Traps, Transfer Optimization and Card Strategy

Date: August 5, 2026
Hosts: Sally French & Megan Coyle
Special Guest: Myles
Location: NerdWallet studio, Scottsdale

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Episode Overview

This listener question–packed episode dives deep into maximizing your travel dollars for upcoming vacations. NerdWallet experts Sally French and Megan Coyle, joined by Myles, cut through the latest changes in travel perks, credit card offers, lounge access, and award point strategies. They answer listener questions about using points for transatlantic trips, credit card transfer strategies, tools for international payments, and the recent overhaul in airline and hotel loyalty programs. Real listener scenarios help clarify how to budget more smartly, avoid booking traps, and stretch your rewards for dream getaways.

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Key Discussion Points & Timestamps

1. Industry News: Lounge Access & Credit Card Updates

[03:00–15:24]

• Chase Sapphire Lounge Changes
  • As of August 15, 2026, Chase Sapphire Lounges will no longer allow Priority Pass/Lounge Key access except for select eligible Chase cardholders (Sapphire Reserve, JP Morgan Reserve, Ritz Carlton Card).
  • Sally French: "If you want to get into these lounges, it's time to pay up that annual fee." [05:08]
  • New positive: For eligible cardholders on layovers, entrance time extended to five hours before connecting flight.
• American Airlines & Citi Card Update
  • Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite annual fee jumps from $595 to $695 (as of Aug 23), but Admirals Club membership value now pegged at $1400.
  • Megan Coyle: "That’s almost double… are you serious?" [06:25]
  • Guest policies clarified: Card/membership allows bringing spouse or up to two guests. Extra perks include up to $500 in statement credits on AA vacations, increased Lyft credits, and President’s Club Avis rental status.
• AMEX & Hotel Partner Transfers
  • AMEX points now transferable to Leading Hotels of the World at a 4:1 ratio; these points generally valued at 8 cents each.
  • Sally French: "If you have an American Express Platinum card, you also get complementary Leaders Club Sterling status." [11:20]
  • Noted alternative: Citi ThankYou points transfer at a less favorable 5:1.
• Citi Strata Elite Dining Series
  • Exclusive events for high-tier Citi cardholders, e.g., runway shows, F1 dinners for $100+. Value as unique, money-can’t-buy experiences.

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2. Listener Q&A: Card Strategy, Points Transfers, International Payments

[18:10–45:04]

a) Maximizing Delta Points for Italy

[18:10–23:44]

• Marie asks how to use 202k Delta AmEx points for Italy flights.
  • Business class is possible, especially since Delta cardholders get 15% savings when booking awards via Delta.com/Delta app.
  • Sally: "Marie, you're going to Italy business class. Wow." [20:34]
  • Advice: Check with points tools (e.g. Seats.aero), consider which legs to book in premium. For upgrades, generally upgrading post-purchase is rarely worth it.
  • Myles: "International flights are usually cheaper as roundtrip than buying two one-ways." [20:34]

b) Sending Euros for Europe Trip: Wise, Cash, or Card?

[23:44–27:51]

• Claudia asks about sending Euros to her daughter traveling in Europe.
  • Wise offers easy, low-fee currency transfers/smart card options, especially for ATM withdrawals.
  • Sally: "Whatever I travel abroad, I order currency from my bank because I want to have some cash on hand." [25:52]
  • Big preference for credit cards (with no foreign transaction fees) due to global acceptance and consumer protection.
  • Suggest exploring student cards for young travelers.

c) Wyndham Reward Point Transfers

[28:18–30:46]

• Two-way possibilities, neither recommended:
  • Wyndham points can transfer to select airlines (bad value: 5 Wyndham = 1 airline mile) and from Chase/Capital One/Bilt/Citi to Wyndham (1:1).
  • Sally: "That is a terrible transfer." [29:28]
  • Only transfer if points set to expire with no alternative.

d) Booking Through Capital One Travel—Middleman Issues

[31:13–33:52]

• Robert asks if booking AA via Cap One Travel complicates rebooking during irregular ops.
  • Hosts recommend booking direct for smoothest issue resolution (especially for elite members). Use portal mainly for annual Cap One credits/bonuses.
  • Sally: "I personally don't book flights through Capital One Travel when I can avoid it... I don't want to use Capital One as the middleman for an American Airlines flight." [31:56]
  • Capital One Travel occasionally offers cancel/change-for-a-fee options.

e) Southwest: Good Use of Chase Points?

[35:01–38:18]

• Listener wonders if Chase-to-Southwest transfers are worthwhile after program changes.
  • Mixed feelings; while point value is strong (1.3c), experience has worsened due to upcharges and seating policies.
  • Sally: "I have never felt so nickel and dimed/slash poor in my life." [36:14]
  • Transfers generally best when bonuses exist or you’re a frequent flyer.

f) Credit Card Signup Bonus Logistics

[38:18–40:00]

• Listener: When do signup bonus points post?
  • After meeting minimum spend, bonus posts with next billing cycle—not right after the charge or end of the promo period.
  • Sally: "It's not like they'll hit at the end of the three months... it's typically just the billing cycle." [38:55]
  • Plan travel redemptions with lag time in mind.

g) Do Purchased Points Count Toward Elite Status?

[40:19–40:46]

• Pat: If I buy points in the AAdvantage portal, do they count as status points?
  • No, only flying or spend on certain co-branded cards earns status points.
  • Sally: "Unfortunately, they do not." [40:26]

h) United Credit Card—Who Gets Miles on Joint Accounts?

[40:50–44:41]

• Allie: Is it better for my husband to buy flights with my United Club card or his United Gateway card? Which earns more miles?
  • Use the card with the highest multiplier for the purchase (her Club card earns 5x, Gateway earns 2x).
  • Flying miles only go to the traveler, and with $0 fee Gateway card, her husband won't get extra 'on flight' miles unless he spends $10k annually.
  • Sally: "Always charge all the Ally household purchases to Ally's fancier United credit card." [43:28]

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3. Hot Takeoffs: Should Airport Lounges Replace Booze with Coffee?

[45:04–46:33]

• Myles: "I think we should just replace the bar in airport lounges and make it a coffee bar."
• Sally voices skepticism; Megan and Myles both don't use the booze benefit, would rather have high-end coffee and lower entry fees.
• Sally: "There are a lot of people...because they think that's a terrible idea." [46:06]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Overvalued Card Perks:
  • Sally French [08:56]: "I also just really want to cut through that kind of marketing baloney where they're saying that the value is so high but then they just kind of inflate the value because of the lounge access price. So don’t totally be seduced and say you’re getting all this value for the annual fee."
• On Booking Through Portals:
  • Sally French [31:56]: "I personally don’t book flights through Capital One Travel when I can avoid it... I don’t want to use Capital One as the middleman for an American Airlines flight."
• On Airline Experiences Changing:
  • Sally French [36:14]: "I have never felt so nickel and dimed/slash poor in my life" [about new Southwest seating policies]
• On Practical Use of Points:
  • Megan Coyle [09:40]: "We see this all the time with premium credit cards, right? They add all these like coupon book like benefits and it gets to be a lot to keep track of."

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Tools, Resources, & Best Practices

• Award Booking Tools:

  • Seats.aero (mentioned for Delta award findings)
  • Google Flights (for cash fare comparison)
  • NerdWallet's Points Value & Transfer Calculators

• Student & Travel Cards:

  • Student-focused cards now exist with $0 annual/foreign transaction fees—consider for young travelers.
  • For travel in Europe, always use credit cards for protection, but bring some cash ordered from your bank for emergencies.

• Maximizing Card Benefits:

  • Evaluate whether you will realistically use all "coupon book" style perks before paying high annual fees.
  • Only transfer points to partners when the value is compelling, or points are about to expire.

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Listener Questions Segment Timestamps

• [18:10] Delta points for Italy / Is upgrade worth it?
• [23:44] Wise vs. cash vs. credit card for Euros in Europe
• [28:18] Wyndham Rewards transfers—worth it?
• [31:13] Downside of booking through Capital One Travel?
• [35:01] Should you transfer Chase points to Southwest?
• [38:18] When do signup bonus points post?
• [40:19] Do purchased AAdvantage points count for status?
• [40:50] United cards: best for household bookings?
• [45:04] Hot Takeoffs: Lounges—coffee bar instead of alcohol debate

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Conclusion

This episode was a jam-packed, Q&A-heavy guide through current travel loyalty program changes, the realities of booking with points, and how best to use credit cards and travel tools for real-world scenarios. Sally, Megan, and Myles' frank assessments, backed with live search examples and real number crunching, make this an invaluable listen for anyone looking to elevate their next vacation while avoiding common booking traps.

Final thought: Whether you're collecting points for a lavish flight, budgeting for a family getaway, or just sick of getting squeezed by airline seat policies, this episode equips you with actionable tips, smart strategies, and a healthy dose of skepticism toward overhyped travel perks.

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For more tools, reviews, and up-to-date guidance, follow Smart Travel and check out the NerdWallet links in the episode description.

Transcript

[Megan Coyle]

The following is a paid sponsorship, not an endorsement by NerdWallet's editorial team. Today's episode is sponsored by Bilt.

[Sally French]

You've heard us talk about Bilt as the loyalty program that lets you earn points on rent wherever you live. And they just leveled up even more. As of 2026, renters and homeowners can also earn up to 1.25x points on their housing payments.

[Megan Coyle]

This is thanks to Bilt's three new credit cards, the Palladium Card, Obsidian Card and Blue Card. All three can turn your housing payments, rent or mortgage into flexible rewards so you can choose the card that fits your lifestyle without missing out on points and exclusive benefits.

[Sally French]

Built Points can be redeemed at top airlines and hotels, Amazon.com purchases, future rent payments and more. Built Points have also been ranked by top publications as the industry's most valuable point currency.

[Megan Coyle]

Your housing payment is most likely your biggest expense. Make it rewarding. Find the card that fits your lifestyle and apply [e-mail] smarttravel that's J O I N B I L T.com smarttravel make sure to use our URL so they know we sent you. Terms and limitations apply subject to approval and eligibility.

[Sally French]

BILT cards are issued by column N A member FDIC pursuant to license from MasterCard International, Inc. Hey friends.

[Olivia from Ollie]

Olivia from Ollie between new routines and the ultimate group project known as parenting, you need science backed solutions that work with your life. That's where Ollie comes in. Start your mornings off right with multis made to support nutrition and immune health. Choose from our lineup of gut supporting probiotics and we've got occasional sleep support to help the whole fam chase their big dreams. Head back to class with the number one Gummy supplement brand. Stock up on ollie.com today. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

[Myles]

Today we've got advice on the best way for your kids to show up to their Europe vacations with Euros in hand.

[Sally French]

And I explain why I'm not booking flights through Capital One Travel and we're

[Myles]

looking up award flights to get you and us to Italy. Welcome to a special in studio edition of SM Travel from Nerdwall, a deep dive into the tips, tools and tactics to maximize your travel dollars.

[Megan Coyle]

I'm Megan Coyle.

[Sally French]

And I'm Sally French and many of you are looking at not listening but looking at us from a real studio set. You can watch us on Spotify if you're not doing that already.

[Myles]

And of course, we're the travel nerds. We're always ready to help you plan your next big trip. And today's episode is all about your questions about planning those trips because we

[Sally French]

really do want to help you. But first, our disclaimer, and that is that we will talk about a few credit card companies on this episode that that are nerd wallet partners. That does not influence how Megan or I discuss them. The benefits, terms and fees mentioned were accurate at the time we recorded this, but of course things can change. So for the latest details, follow the links in the episode description.

[Myles]

All right, real quick, I'm going to run back to my house. You run back to your house and we'll do the news and then meet right back here in like a minute. Sound good?

[Sally French]

Go.

[Megan Coyle]

American Airlines and Citi have a big refresh coming to one of their premium airline credit cards, and Priority Pass members

[Sally French]

just lost access to the Chase Sapphire lounges.

[Megan Coyle]

Plus, AMEX just found a new way to get your points into some of the world's fanciest hotels.

[Sally French]

Ooh la la.

[Megan Coyle]

So starting us off, effective August 15, 2026, the Chase Sapphire Lounge Network locations will leave Priority Pass and Lounge Key, which are two of the biggest airport lounge memberships.

[Sally French]

Yes. So there are currently nine Chase Sapphire Lounge locations around the US and up until now, if you had a per Party Pass membership or a Lounge key membership, you got one free visit per calendar year. And then you could also go in as many times after as you wanted if you paid the $75 entrance fee. However, after August 15, you do not get that free visit. You also can't even pay to get in. The only way to get into one of these lounges is if you have an eligible Chase card. I'm talking about cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Reserve for Business, JP Morgan Reserve, and the Ritz Carlton Card.

[Megan Coyle]

Let's just be really clear that lounge access to Chase Sapphire Lounges is not changing for the Chase Sapphire cardholder. So Chase Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Reserve for business, the J.P. morgan Reserve Card, the ones that you just mentioned, Sally, keep unlimited complimentary access and their Priority Pass membership isn't affected otherwise. Right? They can still visit other Priority Pass lounges.

[Sally French]

Right? There were a lot of people in the comments section. I posted this on Reddit and it was on my Instagram and people were saying, well, what is the inverse? Am I going to lose Party Pass if I have a cheese Sapphire Reserve? And the answer is no, you can still get into Priority Pass lounges. However, Megan There is a change for these eligible cardholders that is actually positive. Effective August 15th, if you are accessing one of these lounges as part of a layover, you can actually enter within five hours of your connecting flight. It used to be three hours. It is still you can only enter three hours ahead of your originating flight. But now with that layover, you have a little extra time.

[Megan Coyle]

So what all this means is that Chase is trying to help deal with overcrowding in their lounges and they're taking away access for people who do not have a Chase credit card.

[Sally French]

If you want to get into these lounges, it's time to pay up that annual fee to get one of those eligible cards. Again. Chase Sapphire Reserve is probably going to be the most common way most people enter.

[Megan Coyle]

Okay, lots of lounge news this week. On Monday, August 3rd, American Airlines and Citi announced changes to the City Advantage Executive World Legend mastercard. Wow, that's a mouthful. But that is the American Airlines card that came with lounge access to American Airlines Admirals car clubs.

[Sally French]

So this annual fee used to be $595. Now the annual fee becomes $695. That is for new cardholders as of August 23rd. What I find fascinating about this is that in cities pitch get this card, they say having it gets you $2,300 in value. And it's, it's just this big number. Some of the benefits of holding this card include a faster path to elite status. But one of the big ones that Megan, you're saying is Admirals Club membership. But what is interesting is you used to be able to buy Admirals Club membership without holding the credit card. You could just pay cash. It used to be $850. But Megan, I hope you're on the edge of your seat. They are raising the price of Admirals club membership to 1400 dollars.

[Megan Coyle]

Oh my gosh, my jaw dropped when I saw that number. I was like, wait, are you serious? Like that's almost double. Yeah.

[Sally French]

So I do think it's funny when they're like, oh yeah, this card has 2,300 DOL value, but they're now using the 1400 dollars lounge membership value rather than the 850 that it used to be. And then might I remind listeners, if people are doing math in their head and are just utterly confused and they're saying why should I pay $1400 for Admirals Club membership when I could just pay $695 in annual fee to get the card and get Admirals Club membership that way I say you are correct.

[Megan Coyle]

And we should talk about the guest

[Myles]

policy for this particular Admiral's Club cardholders

[Megan Coyle]

or people with the 1400 dollar Admirals Club membership can bring either immediate family like a spouse or your partner and kids under 18 years old or up to two guests every time you visit the lounge. So that membership basically helps get you guest access for, you know, maybe two or three other people, depending on how old the kids are, I guess.

[Sally French]

Let's also just spell out a few other benefits on this card because what else leads to that quote? $2300 in value. There are up to a 500 DOL in statement credits on eligible American Airlines vacation purchases. Up to $100 per year in statement credits on eligible Admirals club purchases. But this excludes day passes. So if you want to buy food or drinks or premium options in the lounges, this is helpful. There are Lyft credits which is previously was $120 per year. They actually bumped it up to $180 per year. You can earn bonus a advantage miles new loyalty point milestones. There's also complimentary Avis Presidents club status. That one is limited to 8-31-8 and then that benefit theoretically goes away. So some other things that might sweeten the deal of holding the card.

[Megan Coyle]

I am sort of interested, I guess in the new loyalty point milestones because I use an American Airlines credit card to earn elite status and you need to earn loyalty points to be able to earn elite status. So it is nice, I guess that they're giving you a 10,000 bonus loyalty points at certain milestones. But that would require a lot of spending or a lot of flying. Like you already would have had to earn the first level of elite status, which is gold level to be able to and then some to be able to earn the 10,000 bonus points. So I'm not sure how useful it is, but I think in theory the idea is good.

[Sally French]

Yeah, I do think Citi is a brand that loves to be super hoop jumpy. You know, I always love to dunk on the City Strata League card because they have the bonus dining rewards, but it's only on Friday and Saturday evenings. And this card also strikes me as quite hoop jumpy. I I also just really want to cut through that kind of marketing baloney where they're saying that the value is so high but then they just kind of inflate the value because of the lounge access price. So don't totally be seduced and say you're getting all this value for the annual fee. Really understand what Is a lounge actually worth it to you? How many times are you actually using lift credits? Are you even going to stay at an Omni once per year to again get that other free night reward? Just be realistic about yourself about how many of these rewards you can actually use.

[Megan Coyle]

I mean, we see this all the time with premium credit cards, right? They add all these like coupon book like benefits and it gets to be a lot to keep track of. I would say with this one, just keep it simple. If you really want the lounge access that comes with guests, then it might be worth getting this card just for that. Because like you said, the equivalent Admirals Club membership is $1400 and this card costs $695. So basically half of that. If that is something that's important to you, the lounge access, then this card would be worth it. And I honestly wouldn worry about the other benefits. I mean they could help you offset the annual fee a little bit, but if you don't use them, I wouldn't stress about it.

[Sally French]

Fair enough. Other news. AMEX membership rewards card members can now transfer points to the leading hotels of the world's Leaders Club program. This is at a 4 to 1 ratio. There's also a minimum 1000 point increments. This hotel program is known for its really luxury hotels. They're all independent hotels. So I think this is compelling. If you're like, I don't want to stay at a Hyatt or Marriott like everyone else. I want that more boutique luxury hot. This could be intriguing to you.

[Megan Coyle]

And these are very high value points. So Even though that 4 to 1 transfer ratio sounds like, oh no, that might not be a good deal, it actually could be really good because points with Leaders Club are generally valued around 8 cents each. So assuming that holds, you know, and they're not raising the redemption rates for these award stays, you're looking at roughly 2 cents per Annex Point in value if you redeem them with Leaders Club.

[Myles]

So that is a really good value,

[Megan Coyle]

especially for hotel redemptions.

[Sally French]

If you have an American Express Platinum card, you also get a bonus benefit in that you get complimentary Leaders Club Sterling status. You do have to separately enroll, it's not automatic, but with that you get some extra benefits like 5% bonus points on qualifying stays, potential for space available upgrades, and there are some hotels that you really want to upgrade in. One of the top hotels in this program for me personally is a Halekalani in Waikiki. I actually stayed here a few years ago and it is beautiful. If you get the upgrade pay for the cheap room that faces the other direction. But get the upgrade to the ocean view and you will be so happy.

[Myles]

Ooh. Okay.

[Megan Coyle]

I also like some of the other independent hotels in this program, including San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara. I think it is the most beautiful property in the U.S. i said it. I've only ever just like walked around and had coffee and stuff.

[Sally French]

Oh, you didn't stay there.

[Megan Coyle]

It is so beautiful and I know

[Myles]

lots of people love it.

[Megan Coyle]

I also want to call out here if you want to transfer points to Leaders Club but you don't have an AMEX card. There is another option. You could transfer city thank you points, but it has a less favorable transfer ratio. The transfer ratio is 5 to 1 for the cards with an annual fee and it's even lower for the no annual fee cards. So again, I would try to transfer your AMEX points first, but if you don't have those, then Citi is an alternative and you could also always look out for a transfer bonus.

[Sally French]

Speaking of Citi, City and MasterCard are expanding the Curated Table, which is their exclusive dining series only for City Strata Elite card members. They have three events rolling out this fall slash winter.

[Megan Coyle]

Yeah, so they're all based around some pretty big events in the U.S. one is fashion. So there's a Runway show by Christian Siriano, who was a contestant on Project Runway like eons ago. Oh my gosh, that would be really cool. There's also a dinner tied to the F1 race in Austin, Texas this year. I love F1. And there will also be a McLaren driver appearance from a McLaren driver. There's only two, so I mean it's 50, 50 odds who you get at your dinner. And then there's a repeat event. It was so popular last year during Miami Art Week. So some things people should know about this dining series. The tickets start at $100 for eligible city Strata Elite card members. And there are also some premium packages you could also buy. But I think $100 could be worth it if you are really into any of these events or experiences. I feel like just eating dinner, like anywhere in a major city like where I live LA costs more than $100. So to get all of that and the cool experiences associated with this dining series I think could be worth it.

[Sally French]

And in a lot of ways, this is kind of a money camp buy experience. Otherwise you have to have a City Strata Elite to be able to even buy this to begin with. We see this trend with a lot. Premium credit cards like the Chase After Reserve will also run fancy events. And it's kind of this benefit in a sense that, yes, you do have to pay to go, but it's an experience that you could not get anywhere else.

[Megan Coyle]

And a reminder, the City Strata Elite card has a $595 annual fee, so there is kind of an upfront cost on top of the ticket cost. But that card has a lot of great benefits. I know Sally's not the biggest fan of the six points per dollar on dining on Friday and Saturday evenings. I honestly think, like, that's a lot of the times when I'm going out to eat anyway. So it's fine, whatever, it's all fine. It's three points per dollar at any other time. So it's not like you're getting, you know, just like pennies after that. It also gets 1.5 points per dollar on the purchases that don't fit into any of its bonus categories. And there's a lot of statement credit type of benefit, similar to the coupon book type of benefits we were talking about. So it is great for some people. If you are interested in learning more about the City Strata Elite card, we'll leave a link to the review in the episode description.

[Sally French]

All right. We have tons of listener questions to get to. We will dive into those after this break.

[Megan Coyle]

Today's episode is sponsored by Lisa Megan.

[Sally French]

I just got back from three weeks straight of travel and the day I got back back is a day. My new Legend Chill hybrid mattress from Leesa arrived. And you know what happened that night?

[Myles]

You texted me and told me you

[Megan Coyle]

got it because I got a picture.

[Sally French]

I had a near perfect sleep score according to my health tracker. And I slept 11 hours, the most beautiful night's sleep I've ever gotten thanks to my new mattress. And I have been getting that kind of great sleep score every night since then. Wow.

[Myles]

I love getting a high sleep score.

[Megan Coyle]

You can truly feel the difference and you can feel the difference in those, those premium materials that Leesa uses in their mattresses.

[Sally French]

I'm ashamed to say I'd been sleeping on this cheap 200 mattress I got when I moved into my new house. And I cannot believe I had been doing that to my body this whole time. I can just tell the Leesa mattress is way higher quality purely given the weight. When I moved my old mattress out of my house, it was just so flimsy, especially compared to my new Leesa mattress.

[Megan Coyle]

And there is a Leesa mattress for everyone. I took the Leesa sleep quiz. It took less than two minutes and I found my perfect mattress.

[Sally French]

Even better is that Leesa mattresses are designed and assembled in the USA. Plus you get free shipping, easy returns and an 120 night sleep trial.

[Megan Coyle]

Right now is the absolute perfect time to upgrade your bedroom. Go to leesa.com for 25 off select mattresses plus get an extra 50 off with promo code Smart Travel exclusive for our listeners.

[Sally French]

That's L-E-E-S-A.com promo code Smart Travel for 25% off select mattresses plus an extra 50 off and when you use our code you are supporting our show.

[Megan Coyle]

Go to Lisa.com, promo code SmartTravel. The following is a paid sponsorship, not an endorsement by NerdWallet's editorial team. Today's episode is sponsored by Bilt.

[Sally French]

You've heard us talk about Bilt as the loyalty program that lets you earn points on rent wherever you live. And they just leveled up even more. As of 2026, renters and homeowners can also earn up to 1.25x points on their housing payments.

[Megan Coyle]

This is thanks to Bilt's three new credit cards, the Palladium Card, Obsidian Card and Blue Card. All three can turn your housing payments, rent or mortgage into flexible rewards so you can choose the card that fits your lifestyle without missing out on points and exclusive benefits.

[Sally French]

Bill points can be redeemed at top airlines and hotels, Amazon.com purchases, future rent payments and more. Bill points have also been ranked by top publications as the industry's most valuable point currency.

[Megan Coyle]

Your housing payment is most likely your biggest expense. Make it rewarding. Find the card that fits your lifestyle and apply today at joinbuilt.com smarttravel that's J-O-I-N-B-I-L-T.com smarttravel make sure to use our URL so they know we sent you. Terms and limitations apply subject to approval and eligibility.

[Sally French]

Built cards are issued by Column n, a member FDIC pursuant to license from MasterCard International Incorporated. We are back here in Scottsdale in the studio. So again if you aren't watching us you can do that on Spotify. But we have a full listener Questions episode. This this first one talks about flying Delta to Europe. Our listener, her name is Marie. She says, I just started listening to your podcast and feel a bit obsessed.

[Megan Coyle]

Thank you.

[Sally French]

I love that Marie says. I keep finding new episodes and adding them up next to the queue. I have a 45 minute commute. I feel like by listening to your podcast I'm gaining value of that normally wasted drive. Thank you. Wow Marie, this is so nice. Okay, now for the question. Marie says, I am new to the whole points game. I recently got a Delta Platinum AmEx card. We put every payment on there, hoping to benefit for a trip to Italy. We have 202,000 points, nowhere near enough to cover a couple flights to Italy. If we purchase economy in cash, is there an opportunity to upgrade those flights to comfort or higher using points? Is that a smart idea?

[Myles]

Lots of other questions I have to follow up on this. Number one, how many people are going?

[Sally French]

It sounds like two. I'm getting two.

[Myles]

If it's just the two of them, they might have enough to fly. Yes, Business, maybe one way.

[Sally French]

That was my gut reaction when Marie was like, nowhere near enough points. I was like, girl, I think you do have enough points. So let me tell you this. I don't know what airport Marie is coming from or even where in Italy she wants to go, but I immediately saw this email and I was like, I'm going to do some searching. So I went to my favorite points tool called Seats Arrow. I did JFK to Venice because I feel like that's a good place to go to Italy. And what I found was you can do 115,000 delta miles per person each way. And so that would be business class. Now I know 115,000 times two, because I'm assuming it's two people is more than the 202,000 points that she has. However, Marie has the Delta card and Megan Delta card members save 15% when booking award travel with miles and Delta flights when you use delta.com or the fly Delta app. So that means that it would really only cost her 97,750 miles per person in business class each way. Marie, you're going to Italy business class. Wow.

[Myles]

Okay. Then she has to book the other way using cash. And sometimes international flights can be really expensive if you're booking them one way. That is the one piece of advice I give everyone is if you're booking to one ways domestically, it's usually the exact same price as a round trip. But if you're booking internationally, the round trip is usually a little bit cheaper than booking two one ways. So that's something to think about. Is it really worth flying business? So you have to pay more expensive one way in economy on the way back? I don't know. Pick your poison.

[Sally French]

But that's not necessarily always true. So I would just look at what round trip is versus one way because Marie might find some options. I recommend using Google Flights to find what those best cash airfares are. You might also just consider applying for a different credit card to get a new stash of points or mouths from a sign up bonus if you have time. And then maybe you don't have enough to do a premium airfare but you could do economy back the other way. Now to go back to Marie's other question is if you can purchase upgrades. If you can just use your miles to pay the difference you can. However, I don't necessarily think this is the best idea. I do find that often when they give you that offer to purchase an upgrade it is not worth it versus just paying more in full upfront because I think a lot of people forget what they paid for their cash fare and often that offer to upgrade to a business class seat requires way more miles than if you had just purchased the fair upfront. With the miles I'd be careful. I think those upgrade offers are pretty dangerous.

[Myles]

I would keep an eye on it though. I've seen some really low upgrade offers before going to Italy though that seems tough because that's a very popular flight and a lot of people are probably booking those premium classes outright. But just keep an eye on it. I've upgraded flights to Ireland before with points points. So if there is a chance that you see a good upgrade offer you can use the calculators on Nerdwall, its website and figure out how much are those points. If you were to convert it to cash and if you are comfortable with that amount then it might be worth it to upgrade with points.

[Sally French]

Yes, I still say Marie listen to our episode about points tools because I think rather than worry about doing a cash fair plus upgrade see if you can just use a points tool. Again I said seats arrow is a good one but there are many and we can also link in the show notes to our best awards tools reviews and there are quite a few that are all great. So maybe you consider using an award tool so you just book that business class outright. Now Megan I have a question for you. If you can only afford business class one way are you going their business class or back business class it only

[Myles]

depends which one is a red eye. So if you're going to Europe for me that is usually a red eye coming from the west coast coast because it is a long flight and most of them leave in the evening on the way back even though it's still a long flight. That one is all during the day usually. Like if I'm flying back from London that flight leaves at like 10am and I get back to LA 1pm the same day. So I don't do business class on the way back. More philosophically, I like to do business class on the way back because it feels like your trip has been extended, like another 10 hours or however long you're flying. It really gives you something to look forward to even though you might be sad to be going home.

[Sally French]

All right, next question. We are are still in Europe actually, because our next reader is Claudia. Claudia says my daughter just graduated from high school and is going to Europe this summer. My mother in law wants to give her some Euros. Do you think it's worth it trying to set up something like wise? We were thinking just good old US credit card as long as Laura remembers to hit the local currency button. Good job Claudia. Slash Laura. And we would give Laura a little cash for emergencies. But I could see if maybe she needs cash. One of those cards like Wise is worth it. It are the fees and small print all worth something like Wise? What do you think?

[Myles]

I don't hate WISE as an option. They make it really easy to get cash in a lot of different currencies and also transfer cash in a lot of different currencies. I've paid businesses in other countries using the Wise app Mega.

[Sally French]

Just really quickly I want to explain Wise for people who don't know. This was a company that formerly was called Transfer Wise. It can be a cheap way to send money from the US to a bunch of different countries, a bunch of different currencies. Its exchange rates are some of the best you can find. And so you can basically fund a Wise money transfer. You can link it with a bank account or your own credit card. The recipient needs to have a bank account. My thing with WISE is it seems like its primary use case is paying someone in a foreign currency. So if you have a small business and you're working with a contractor who lives in a foreign country, I always thought the use case was that you could pay them and then they could get the money in their currency.

[Myles]

Now there's also a Wise card that you can get. It has a $10 one time fee. So this isn't an annual fee like a credit card. It' just a one time fee. And then you're able to put money onto it just like a debit card. And then when you're in other countries you use that card to take money out from the atm. This is a really good option if your debit card has a lot of foreign transaction fees, ATM fees, the kinds of fees that eat into the cash you're getting out of the machine, then I think wise is a good option because that $10 fee is literally one time. Now, there are other bank accounts that do let you take out money abroad without those fees. Charles Schwab has a very popular bank account for this. But wise I find easy to use. I don't think that's a bad option for her.

[Sally French]

Interesting. Okay, I've never used wise, so maybe I'm going to consider it. I will say whenever I travel abroad, here's what I do. I order a currency from my bank because I want to have some cash on hand when I'm there. Especially if you're going to Europe and it's just Euros, pretty much every bank is going to be able to ship you Euros, typically, some of those more niche currencies a bank might not be able to ship. But Euros, I want to say 99% chance your bank can do that. I like to have just a couple hundred dollars worth of euros shipped to my house. So that way if I have to grab a cab, I'm not worried about finding an ATM to pay the cab drivers. Sometimes they're cash only, so I have some euros on hand. But then whenever I can, I always prefer to pay with credit card. As you mentioned, Claudia, you got to do a credit card that has no foreign transaction fees because that is money you should not have to pay. There are plenty of credit cards that have a $0 annual fee with no foreign transaction fees. But I think not just about earning the rewards, which we do like. But I think there are a lot of protections that come with a credit card. If your credit card gets lost or stolen, it's the Manx money. It is not your money that you have to pay back the way a debit card. If the debit card gets stolen, that's your money gone. If your wallet with all the cash gets stolen, that's also money gone. And we always see, you know, skimming, things like that. You want to be careful. And a credit card offers you a level of protection that I don't think any other payment method can offer.

[Myles]

A lot of places also accept credit card in Europe, so that won't be as much of a problem. I would just remember that some of your credit cards may have an authorized user fee to get a credit card for your daughter because she might not qualify for these travel cards with no foreign transaction fees on her own. Weigh your options. Think about, is it worth earning these rewards but having to pay a fee? Sometimes it is. My sister studies in Europe and she doesn't qualify for a travel card on her own, but I actually pay the user fee for her to use lounges on my Capital One Venture X card card. So that way she can have access to Priority Pass and she has that credit card in hand.

[Sally French]

There are great travel credit cards that are focused on students specifically. In fact, there is a whole realm of credit cards that target students. And, Claudia, your daughter is graduating high school, so I would consider maybe just applying for a credit card, because now she's going to college. You want to start building that credit and build those good money habits while she's young. So I'm pro credit card. All right, next question. This is the shortest, most succinct, best question we've ever gotten from Vicki. Can I transfer Windham Rewards points?

[Myles]

Oh, this was easy. Yes. The answer is yes. Although she doesn't say which way. Like, is she transferring to Windham from Wyndham? So I said yes, but I meant you can transfer credit card points that you've been earning on your travel credit cards to Wyndham.

[Sally French]

Oh, my gosh. I interpreted this as Vicky saying she has Wyndham points and she wants to transfer them elsewhere, like, to an airline.

[Ad Voice]

Oh, gosh.

[Myles]

Vicki, email us. Tell us which one you actually meant.

[Sally French]

Okay, because. Because I was kind of thinking when Vicki said this. Yes, you can transfer Windham points to certain airlines, but I would not. So Wyndham has transfer partners that include Aeromexico, Avianca, Frontier Airlines, Turkish Airlines, United mileage Plus. I would not recommend doing this because Wyndham, when you transfer points, it has to be. You transfer five Wyndham points to get one airline mile in those programs. So five window points becomes one airline mile. However, NerdWallet values one window point at 0.7 cents. So that means you gotta give five of these points to get one airline mile. So a United mile NerdWallet values at 1.2 cents. That is a terrible transfer.

[Myles]

You are giving up 3.5 cents to get 1 cent.

[Sally French]

A lot of sense. A lot of.

[Myles]

So that's not a good deal.

[Sally French]

I was kind of thinking that maybe Vicki had acquired all of these Wyndham points. It was like, I don't stay in hotels anymore because I only travel to see my kids. And when I see my kids, I stay at their house. So I want airline miles, but I don't want hotel points or something like that. That was kind of where I was going with this question. And I'm just like, oh, dog, no, don't do that.

[Myles]

Yeah, that's not a good use of Your point?

[Sally French]

You really are honestly never going to stay to Wyndham again? That I guess, yes. Because unused points are very worthless. Right? But even Vicki, I'd be like, book a hotel room for a friend and make it a gift to the friend. I would not transfer window points to an airline.

[Myles]

And there are Wyndham properties you can book for like 7,500 points. So that's not a ton of points, depending on how many she has. Okay, can I just answer the reverse of this question which I thought she was asking?

[Sally French]

Yeah, I was not thinking about that.

[Myles]

Okay, so there are a lot of credit card rewards programs that let you transfer to Wyndham Rewards. Those include Chase Capital One City, thank you points, and Built. Those are all one to one transfer ratio. So if you transfer one Chase Ultimate Reward point to Windham, you would still get one. So if she's looking for more Windham points and she is already earning one of these transferable point currencies, then yes, she could transfer to Wyndham.

[Sally French]

I do have one more good reason why Vicki might want to transfer her points out of Wyndham to someone else, and that is that Wyndham Rewards points expire four years after the date on which they were posted. So if Vicki got all these points three and a half years ago and is like, oh, man, I can't stay in a Windham in the next six months and I can't even gift it, then I do think again, those points are going to become a big fat zero shortly. If they're going to expire, then maybe you do transfer them.

[Myles]

All right, next question. Hi, Megan and Sally. I'm a recent retiree with plans to travel more. Don't we all? And I've really enjoyed listening to your podcast. It's been a great resource as I start planning my trips.

[Megan Coyle]

Up until recently, I was a loyal

[Myles]

American Airlines, a Advantage member with a Citibank card. And last year, I reached Platinum Pro status. Oh, fancy. I decided to add the Capital One Venture X card, which means going forward, I can book either directly with American or through Capital One Travel. Here's where I could use your advice. I'm concerned about what happens with issues like flight delays or cancellations. When I book directly with American, I could call them and usually get a quick resolution. But if I book through Capital One Travel and a flight is canceled, do I have to go through Capital One for rebooking? Or can I still work directly with the airline?

[Sally French]

Dude, Robert. Robert already knows. Robert answered Robert's own question. I personally don't Book flights through Capital One Travel when I can avoid it. Even though I have a Capital One Venture X Card. Because of that reason, I don't want to use Capital One as the middleman for an American Airlines flight. If I can book a flight directly through American, I am going to do that. The only time I would book through Capital One Travel is one if I want to get the bonus points for booking through Capital One Travel. Or for example, on the Venture X card, there is a travel statement credit where you get $300 per year. I do want to use that statement credit. So that's a situation where I would book through Capital One Travel.

[Myles]

And Robert, there are some interesting Capital One travel protections that are only applied to Capital One Travel bookings and you can see them when you're booking in their travel portal. Sometime there are options for like make any sort of change for $50 more or there's different types of fares you can buy when you're buying flights through Capital One Travel. So if you are, for example, trying to get that credit and you are worried about some of the delays or cancellations that could affect your trip, then perhaps purchasing one of those could be worth it. If that makes you feel more confident that Capital One Travel will be able to help you immediately. Because there are options that are like immediately rebooking the app as soon as it's canceled in Capital One Travel. But I agree with Sally. Book directly whenever you can, especially because you're an American Airlines Elite status member, you're a card member. Those are all things that get you prioritized in the list of people they're going to help when something goes wrong with your flight.

[Sally French]

Have you ever had to change a flight through Capital One Travel or one of these portals?

[Myles]

I haven't changed a flight. I have had to change a hotel reservation and it was a bit of a pain.

[Sally French]

Right? I booked a hotel through Chase Travel to get the bonus points and it largely worked, except then we had to change the hotel. So we had to call Chase and then Chase had to call the hotel to ask if we could. And I was like, what's the middleman? No middleman here.

[Myles]

Okay, we're going to take a break and talk about what's changed at Southwest and whether there's still a good transfer partner. That's right after the break.

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[Megan Coyle]

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[Sally French]

Sauce sounds extra crispy caesar sauce at

[Myles]

McDonald's for a limited time. All right, we've got another listener question. This one is about airlines as well. Should I transfer my chase points to Southwest? That was pretty easy question.

[Sally French]

Did we even get a name?

[Myles]

I don't think so. No name context.

[Sally French]

Just a straightforward question.

[Myles]

Anonymous listener, what do you think? Sally, you were a Southwest person before, like last year.

[Sally French]

Not even accounting for the financial aspect, which I think is what this listener is asking. Like, is it a good deal to transfer choose points to Southwest? I'm just saying no because I flew on Southwest recently. It was my first time since they did their changes and became the new Southwest. It was terrible.

[Myles]

Oh, no.

[Olivia from Ollie]

Sorry.

[Myles]

I hated it.

[Sally French]

I hated it. So now instead of just having the open seat where you pick whatever seat you want, now they have different classes of seating. So they have the big legroom seating. Then there's like this middle chunk. And then the cheap seats are in the back. Back this flight I did. I have to imagine all of them are like this. That middle chunk, completely empty. There's nobody in there. And then the back seats, we are all sardined. It is three by three. Every row is full. And we see all these empty rows up front, and people are like, can we move up front to these seats so we're not all little sardines in the back. I get it. If you have to be a sardine because the flight is full, fine. There were so many empty seats. And the flight attendants like, nope, nope. Those are extra money. You got to pay extra money. I have never felt so nickel and dimed slash poor in my life.

[Myles]

Unfortunately, Southwest has become just like all the other airlines. And I think a lot of people who used to fly Southwest are like, surprised by the new assigned seating. And it's just not the same. It's not the Southwest that people used to luv. You remember that, love. Okay, but let's talk from a monetary standpoint. So Southwest points are actually worth quite a bit in terms of airline miles.

[Sally French]

Nerdwall. It values them at 1.3 cents, which I would say if you're getting more than $0.01 is good. So 1.3 cents is super good.

[Myles]

And chase points are also worth only $0.01 per point if you're using them in the Chase travel portal. Unless you are booking one of those very special, very fancy Points Boost eligible redemptions.

[Sally French]

Right?

[Myles]

So points boost is where you could get up to 1.5 cents per point in redemption value if you have a Chase Sapphire preferred, or up to 2.5 cents with the Chase Sapphire reserve. But that's for like 12 hotels.

[Sally French]

So basically, if you were to book a sapphire Southwest flight in Chase's own travel portal, you would basically be spending one Chase point versus if you transferred it to Southwest, you would get that 1.3 cents of value. So you are getting a little bit more value if you just transfer the same Chase points to Southwest and then book it through Southwest. I do have though one caveat. This is common with pretty much any transfer partner is you need to transfer your points in increments, in this case of a thousand. So this is not a big deal if you like to have a bunch of Southwest points to your name. But if, let's say you need 9,100 points to book your flight, you have to now transfer 10,000 points, which means that you just have 900 points lingering in your Southwest account, which might not be a big deal if you fly Southwest all the time, but if you don't, that's annoying.

[Myles]

And Southwest points don't expire either, so you have the rest of your life to maybe use them. I would also say if there is a transfer bonus to Southwest, that might be another time to consider moving your points to Southwest from Chase because your points would be worth more. You save your points for something more exciting.

[Sally French]

You mentioned transfer bonus, which now has me thinking of sign in bonuses, which happens to be our next question. This one, like the last one, the person didn't leave their name. They didn't leave any other context. I don't know what's going on here, but they said as far as signup bonuses, do you get the points once you hit the spending requirement or after the three months?

[Myles]

Oh, that's a good question. Okay, so I believe you get them your next billing cycle after you've met the minimum spending threshold to earn the signup bonus. It isn't like the minute you spend that last dollar to hit the $3,000 spending requirement that you get tons and tons of points in your account. It doesn't just flood in like that

[Sally French]

in Their situation, their signup offer period was three months, but we see four month, we see six month offer periods of intro bonuses. It's not like they'll hit at the end of the three months or the six months. It's typically just the billing cycle.

[Myles]

Right, the billing cycle after you've hit that spending threshold. So if you can do it in two months, it'll show up on that second billing cycle statement.

[Sally French]

But this is important. You need to plan ahead. I think a lot of people are like, okay, I see this amazing business class airfare deal. That's 70,000 miles. Oh my gosh, this credit card is offering 70,000 miles. I'm going to apply for this credit card right now and then immediately book the flight. No, no, no, that's not how it works. Because first off, there's time to even get the credit card shipped to you often. Some have instant credit card numbers that you can start shopping right away. But typically you need to get the card in the mail, the mail. Then you need to spend on the card, then you need to pay off the card. And you could do theoretically that in a day if the card arrived right away. But then you have to wait for that period for your statement to actually go through. By that time the flight is probably gone.

[Myles]

Yeah, those business class flights go very quickly. So we always say give yourself three to six months, you know, ahead of when you want to travel to be able to sign up for a new credit card card, earn the signup bonus and book something. But honestly, even earlier is better. Our next question is another quick one. She literally said quick question.

[Sally French]

Perfect.

[Myles]

Do you know if the points you purchase on the Atmos rewards portal count as status points? Thanks, Pat.

[Sally French]

Unfortunately, they do not. You do not earn status points when you purchase miles. Straightforward answer to a straightforward question. Status points can only be earned through flying or by spending on an Atmos credit card.

[Myles]

And if you want to learn more

[Megan Coyle]

about the Atmos rewards credit cards, look

[Myles]

at the links in the episode description because we have reviews to all of them on the Nerd Wallet website.

[Sally French]

That card is so hot these days. I have a bunch of cards.

[Myles]

There are two cards.

[Megan Coyle]

There are two cards, right? Right.

[Sally French]

It's very popular. Next question about a different airline credit card is the United credit card. This comes from Allie. Ally says. Hi, Sally. I just read your summary of the new United card earning rules. Wondering if you can help me understand a funny situation. My husband has a 0 annual fee United card, which is the United Gateway card card. I have a higher fee United club card as the primary, which, by the way, that card has a $695 annual fee. My husband is going on a solo trip. Is the best option for him to use his card to buy his flight or is the best option for him to use my card to buy his flight? Will that affect the miles he earns for his flight? Or is the only consideration the miles earned from a generic United purchase?

[Myles]

Oh, wow. Okay. A double United couple. I love this.

[Sally French]

Yes. Now I do want to just sort of address what the changes Allie brought up are just in case the listeners or watchers forgot. In early April, United Airlines overhauled how travelers earn miles in its loyalty program. So now general mileage plus members who don't have a United credit card now earn fewer miles on their flights. If you are a cardholder and you're an elite status holder, you can earn more miles. And then this is a kicker. If you purchase a basic economy fare, you will no longer earn miles on your flight unless you have United elite status or United co branded credit card.

[Myles]

Yeah, and a lot of the airlines are doing this now. American, Delta, United, Alaska, they all earn 0% points on their basic economy just for flying it. And to be really clear about these changes, this isn't the number of miles that you'll earn by paying with your United credit card. This is literally, but in seat miles that you earn for literally taking the flight. The way that they word it though is miles per dollar on the amount you spent on the ticket. But you don't get those until you've actually flown the flight.

[Sally French]

So there's actually like two partners of miles. So let's address the fun one that they could do is you can earn miles miles from your credit card spending. And so whatever those miles you acquire, those go to the account of the credit card holder, the primary card holder. Right. So like your husband could charge those miles to your friend's credit card if he added the friend's credit card number and the friend would get those United miles. In this case, your husband's credit card earns 2x miles per purchase on United, but your credit card earns 5x miles because you have that higher annual fee credit card. I would would still charge his flight to your credit card, assuming that you do the shared finances thing and you're all sharing points because your household is going to walk away with more points if you charge his flight to your credit card. I would always charge all the Ali household purchases to Ally's fancier United credit card.

[Myles]

So now we're moving on to the flying Part, you've already purchased the flight, hopefully with your United Club card. So you earned the higher multiplier for the actual purchase. Now, to earn miles on the flight, those miles will only go to the person who is actually flying. And your husband has a United Gateway card. That one has a $0 annual fee and unfortunately that one does not qualify for the card member bonus to let you earn more miles for actually flying the flight.

[Megan Coyle]

But there is an exception though.

[Myles]

If you spend $10,000 on the United Gateway card in a calendar year, you can unlock the card holder bonus on flight earning.

[Sally French]

So he would earn 3 miles per dollar spent on that flight on top of the miles that you're earning from her car card, but only if he's spent $10,000 on the card in the calendar year.

[Myles]

And this is a brand new program. So depending on whether or not you've done that yet, you might not have enough time to do this before your next United flight.

[Sally French]

Yeah. So I think that TLDR here is charge a flight to your card alley because it's going to earn more miles. But he might not earn those additional miles for his fine unless he has spent $10,000 on the card. So nothing you can really do there. Don't just spend $10,000 just to get get it.

[Myles]

It is really becoming so important to have an airline card to fly these days because there are a lot of cardholder benefits, including earning more miles, including getting discounts on award flights that if you are a frequent flyer. I think you guys have the right strategy, which is getting the airline cards. But then those $0 annual fee airline cards don't always get the same benefits.

[Sally French]

Alrighty. That brings us to our hot takeoffs time. We answered all those listener questions, but now it's time to get a little spicy. Do you have a hot takeoff for us this week?

[Myles]

I do. I think we should just replace the bar in airport lounges and make it a coffee bar.

[Sally French]

Whoa. So get rid of the bar completely.

[Myles]

Yeah.

[Sally French]

No alcohol. We're not serving alcohol in lounges.

[Myles]

You know, it's not doing it for me. I don't drink a ton of alcohol.

[Sally French]

Yeah.

[Myles]

So the bar is completely wasted on me. And I know those day passes that you can buy to the lounge. I would imagine 80% of that day pass is supposed to cover the alcohol you're going to drink.

[Megan Coyle]

I'm not drinking any alcohol in the lounge.

[Myles]

So you know what? Lower the day pass rate. Put in a coffee bar because I always, always, always need caffeine.

[Sally French]

That is flying.

[Myles]

But I do not need alcohol.

[Sally French]

There's a lot of people who say I don't need caffeine. I have enough anxiety already. I need the alcohol.

[Myles]

Having a well made coffee like a barista made coffee really makes the difference in terms of how calm you are going into a flight. The alcohol does not calm me down. It like stresses me out.

[Sally French]

There are a lot of people right now who are banging at their iPhones or whatever they're using to listen to this because they think that's a terrible idea.

[Myles]

Well, come to my lounge. You won't have to pay as much.

[Sally French]

I guess that's why we call this Hot Takeoffs because that was a hot one today. Tell us what you think about Megan's Hot takeoff. You can email [e-mail] you can also drop us a comment right on the app if you are watching/listening on Spotify. That's right, you could watch us on Spotify.

[Myles]

And don't forget to follow us on social media. You can follow us on all of our travels. The podcast social media handle is smart travel pod and I'm Myles with Megan

[Sally French]

company and I am save with Sally. That's on on TikTok and Instagram.

[Ad Voice]

Now.

[Sally French]

I want you to know if you are not a subscriber, you need to be. Some people when they listen to podcasts, just go through and pick episodes. Don't be that person. Hit the subscribe button. That way you get new episodes every week. You can subscribe on your favorite podcast app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio. Make sure you follow, subscribe whatever the action is on the app. So we are in your ears every Wednesday. And for that brief 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.

[Megan Coyle]

We hope you're inspired to keep your

[Myles]

passport full and your wallet even fuller. We'll see you next time.

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