how I saved my parents $8750 using points and miles

I love helping my parents achieve their travel goals with points and miles. They don’t want lots of credit cards. They are retired. However, with a little planning, we can save them big money with points and miles. We get them free flights and hotels to pair with their love of cruising.

My parents living their best lives in South Beach Miami (check out my dad’s shirt!)

For 2025, we have booked them 8 round-trip tickets all on points. If we had paid for these tickets with cash would have been $7450. I helped them get 4 free round-trip tickets to Miami and 2 round-trip tickets to Seattle on their Southwest Rapid rewards. I also got them two free round-trip flights to London using Capital One and Chase Sapphire points.

We have booked four free hotels for 2025 saving them over $1300. Hotels in South Beach, Seattle, and London.

Last month, when I visited my parents we went through the credit cards. They each had a Chase Sapphire Preferred card. They each had a Southwest Rapid Rewards card. My mom also had a Capital One Venture card. A total of 5 cards. I realized Mom had her Chase Sapphire card since 2018. It was time for a new sign-up bonus for that card. You can get the sign-up bonus on the Chase Sapphire every 4 years. My mom canceled that card mid-February. She will switch to the Chase Saphire Reserve card when she reapplies in April. The card has some travel insurance coverage we want to have in supplement to her annual policy she has. I had two claims paid in the past year with this card you can read about one of those here.

My parents, me and my youngest son - points make it possible for us to all travel together affordable

To help my parents achieve more points. I will have my dad send my mom a referral link from his Chase Sapphire card. He will get a referral bonus for referring her and then she will get the signup bonus.

We will review their cards after she gets the Chase Sapphire Reserve Sign-up Bonus. They are supposed to be thinking about what they want to do in 2026 and we will make a plan to get there using points and miles.

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