Have you ever created a spreadsheet to ensure you spent the required amount to earn that big welcome bonus on your new travel rewards card? Or, even worse, failed to spend enough in time to earn those points? Gulp. Work smarter, not harder. If you're lucky, the bank behind your credit card will have a welcome bonus tracker that makes it easy to see your progress. If not, there are plenty of ways to stay on top of your spending to see how close you are to earning that new, big welcome bonus. Just remember: Credit cards are serious business. You should never apply for a credit card if you're alr ..read more

If you're flying one of Delta's long-haul routes you'll see two booking options between Delta One Business class and economy: Delta Premium Select and Delta Comfort Plus. But what's the difference, and how do you choose?      Both are a step up from economy, but neither experience will be quite as comfortable as a lie-flat business class seat. Premium Select is Delta's version of premium economy with some of the same amenities you'll find in business class but without the privacy or seat that converts to a bed. Meanwhile, you can think of Comfort Plus as a more souped-up versio ..read more

Getting a new credit card is all about timing: Do it right and you'll end up with a massive pile of points (or miles) just for signing up and meeting your new card's minimum spending requirement. The key here is applying when that big bonus is at its absolute peak. You see, banks periodically roll out increased, limited-time welcome bonus offers on their most popular cards – and when they do, that's the time to strike. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of reasons to sign up for a new card with the standard bonus offer – but if you can get in on an elevated bonus, it's all the sweeter.  ..read more

Whether you're looking to use your points and miles to get to Europe in business class, book a Delta flight somewhere near or far, or fly all the way to Tahiti, there are few better – or cheaper – ways to get there than with Flying Blue miles.  Flying Blue is the shared frequent flyer program of French carrier Air France and Dutch airline KLM. And they're some of the easiest in the world to earn – Flying Blue is a transfer partner of all the major banks. If you're earning points with credit cards from American Express, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Chase, Citi, or Wells Fargo, you can t ..read more

From cheap flights within the U.S. to nonstops to Rome (FCO) in lie-flat seats to the holy grail of booking Delta One business class to Europe for 50,000 points, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points can be incredibly valuable. But the British carrier made it much harder to find the award availability to actually book those sweet spots by eliminating a handy price calendar from its site – the key to pulling up a month's worth of flights.  Nearly two years later, it's finally back. Our team is now seeing the option to click “Price Calendar” on each and every search for reward flights at Virgi ..read more

Travelers might be hitting a breaking point with their American Express cards and the never-ending cycle of raising annual fees while adding questionable, difficult-to-use benefits. But American Express's own CEO says that trend will continue … and they're not even done this year.  American Express previously promised investors that it will revamp 40 of its credit card products throughout 2024. On Friday, Amex CEO Steve Squeri reiterated that goal: Even after raising annual fees on nearly the entire suite of Delta co-branded cards and Hilton's small business card earlier this year, more m ..read more

Whether you're a diehard American Airlines flyer or hope to never set foot on an American jet, you should be earning American AAdvantage miles. Here's your chance for small business owners (and trust us, you might be one) to earn a bunch of them. Citi has an American Airlines business credit card to help you earn even more AAdvantage miles with a new, limited-time sign-up bonus on the *Citi AA Biz*: bonus_miles_full To top it all off, the card's $99 annual fee is waived for the first year. Read on for a full look at the card and why this bonus should be on your radar.     Learn ..read more

Travelers love taking advantage of long weekends, and if you procrastinated booking a Memorial Day weekend getaway this year, you're in luck! The airlines have been slashing flight prices for May and are even letting the savings trickle into the first week of June in some cases. That's resulting in unusually affordable Memorial Day weekend flights for many destinations in the U.S. and beyond. We've seen some of the best fares of the year for Memorial Day weekend pop up over the last few weeks or so, but we know from experience that the lowest of those fares will evaporate over the next two wee ..read more

Flights can be the priciest part of a trip – especially over the summer when travel demand drives airfare even higher. And while we could tell you to go somewhere in the spring or focus on traveling during shoulder season to save even more, that doesn't work for everyone. That's OK: There are still ways to save. If you're dead set on traveling in June, July, or August this year, there are plenty of tools and easy tricks to save hundreds on a flight this summer. Every dollar counts, and if you can save a little cash on airfare, you'll have more to spend on other parts of your trip. Read on for ..read more

Credit cards provide valuable purchase protection for cardholders when goods and services do not meet expectations. The same goes for unauthorized charges appearing on your account statement. This is just one of the many reasons we recommend using a credit card whenever possible.   If an item arrives damaged or the wrong product was shipped, the company is usually liable to provide the customer a refund. But when a company fails to promptly issue a refund, that's where credit card chargebacks come into play. The same goes for any charges that you didn't authorize. Credit card fraud i ..read more