How I earned 2.9 million points in 2023
Advertiser Disclosure: Melissa's Travel Addiction has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Melissa's Travel Addiction and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.
As promised, I’m breaking down exactly how my husband and I earned almost 3 million points in 2023!
Please note that this is a very close estimate as I don’t track this monthly.
Here are the cards we opened to earn the welcome bonus:
Cards I opened:
American Express Business Gold Card: 125,000
Chase Ink Business Unlimited: 90,000
Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Business MasterCard: 60,000
Chase Ink Business Preferred: 100,000
American Express Delta Gold Business: 70,000
American Express Hilton Honors Business Card: 130,000
Citi Business Aadvantage Platinum Select MasterCard: 65,000
Chase Ink Business Cash: 90,000 (opened Dec 2022)
Cards opened in 2023, with bonus posted in 2024.
Chase Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus Card: 75,000 (bonus posted in 2024)
How we earned 3 million points this year!
Cards spouse opened:
Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Business MasterCard: 60,000
Chase Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Business card: 60,000
American Express Business Platinum: (upgrade: 140,000)
Chase Ink Business Preferred: 100,000
American Express Hilton Honors Business Card: 150,000
Citi Business AadvantageSelect Mastercard: 65,000
American Express Business Gold Card: 130,000
American Express Gold Card: 90,000
Chase Ink Business Cash: 90,000 (opened Dec 2022)
Total welcome bonus/sign-up points: 1,615,000
Other ways we earned points:
We both opened an American Express business checking when they were offering 60,000 points: 120,000
We listened to a Marriott timeshare and received points: 100,000
Using Rakuten shopping portal; 32,400
Using American Airlines shopping portal plus gifted miles for delays: 34,000
Using Wydham Shopping portal: 30,000
Hyatt Bonus Journeys: 17,000
Referral Points:
Hilton Honors; 60,000
American Express: 70,000
Southwest: 120,000
Chase Ultimate Rewards: 480,000
Capital One: 50,000 (both of our links never had the 90k elevated bonus, so I used her link and split the points with my sister)
Most of these referral points are between my spouse and me referring back and forth. The 40,000 Chase referral bonus is huge! Most of the other referral points came from my siblings, parents and a couple of friends.
Other points:
I got 60,000 Capital One points from my sister.
Spend:
Total points meeting minimum spend plus multipliers like Amex Gold groceries and dining(4x), sapphire dining (3x), and platinum travel (5x). This includes any American Express special offers or Chase quarterly bonus categories that I maximized: 117,900
Total Points: 2,906,300
I hope this summary helps you to reach your 2024 points and miles goal!
Advertiser Disclosure: Melissa's Travel Addiction has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Melissa's Travel Addiction and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.
Melissa