I imagine yes…? I’m new to the hobby, and just working toward my first points-only trip (took the 10x travel course and follow their social media group). Would love a thread on the topic, if anyone else is interested.
We do a lot of points travel. Have for years. We leverage credit cards a lot.
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My youngest recently started traveling for work about 4 or 5 times a year - he ended up getting a couple of credit cards with travel and point perks. We often let him buy the large meals, the special gifts, etc. and then transfer funds for reimbursement so he gets the points. He needs those points more than we do.
We also use points for hotel and flights (and car rental). My H travels frequently for work, our families are all spread out so I do a fair amount of traveling myself, and we have credit cards tied to the our preferred airline and hotel brand. All major purchases go on the airline card other than the hotel stays. Keeping to the same carriers and hotel has been really helpful in racking up points!
I subscribe to The Points Guy newsletter. It has lots of valuable advice for newbies.
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We just paid for one of our flights to Warsaw with Capital One points. So cool. We put everything, personal and business, on the credit card, so points add up pretty quickly.
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I am amazed at how quickly points add up. My SIL has been at this “game” for a while now, and traveling everywhere at low or no cost. She finally convinced me to start.
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I’m not hardcore, our only points are from Southwest. Easy enough to just focus on that part. We have two SW cc’s in my name. Somehow we haven’t paid for flights since 2013- it’s hard to believe we’ve gotten so many points. We don’t fly quite every year but usually it’s 4-6 of us at a time. It’s great booking on points just for the fact that you can watch for lower fares or cancel and get points back instead of a travel credit with a time limit.
DD’s each got a SW card to start earning their own. DD2 just got hers this fall with an 85,000 bonus and 20,000 for her sister for referring her.
Can someone teach a class? 
I’ve flown first to Europe and domestically many times on points. Free stays at Hiltons and Hyatts.
However, in recent years it takes more airline points to get free travel, especially first, than previously.
I use my Costco Citi card for almost everything. I have $1400 in rewards so far this year. Which is cash in my pocket.
Other than one time signing bonuses, would a travel credit card equal the money I get back from Costco? When I look at the points guy, it doesn’t seem so.
My husband is adverse to signing up for new cards so we stick to one. No foreign transaction fees. That’s about it
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I have (had?) been a Costco citi card loyalist for years before starting down this path. It remains to be seen which I’m going to think is the better deal, when all is said and done. The particulars of the redemption you can find are what can make points more valuable than cash. SUBs are a big part of the strategy for accruing mega points, so if you’re not interested in opening new cards, it probably would not make sense for you.
We’ve used the Chase United card for years. My husband used to travel to Japan on United for work a few times a year, so it was good to have all the points combined. Now in retirement we charge many of our bills and discretionary expenses, so the points add up.
My husband traveled often for work and used Amex. We joined Amex membership rewards and have racked up many miles, which we used for travel. However, I found that rather than going through Amex directly, I could get a better deal by transferring the Amex miles to a frequent flyer account with an Amex partner airline. Over the years, the number of Amex partner airlines has decreased significantly. However, Delta and JetBlue are still Amex partner airlines, which are the two I use most often. Transferring these miles sounds more complicated than it actually is. I found that The Points Guy newsletter was helpful.
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@deb922 - We are like you and use our Costco Citi card for everything. We like getting the cash back each year. We bought most of the alcohol for D1’s wedding last May with our cash from last year. H needs new tires for his truck this winter so the $1,200 we already have in rewards will pay for that.
H doesn’t travel as much as he used to, but he does have enough miles on United for a free trip to Europe when we decide to use it.
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Another Costco card rewards team here. I did sign up for Alaska visa just so we have a second card if the first one is compromised. I figured that if I buy all of my travel and my husband’s work travel using that Alaska visa, we get priority upgrades and triple points. So one RT to Hawaii in first class has been paid for already since I got the card earlier in the year.
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We’ve used airline points for airline reservations, but have not learned the art of using Credit Card points for reservations, so interested in hearing others’ experiences.
The first time we tried to use credit card points (on an Alaska flight), was a nightmare. 48 hours after we made the reservations, Alaska had a sale, and the new cost was nearly 40% less. I had never seen such a great sale, but we thought “no problem” since we purchased main-level tickets (meaning they could be changed, allowed seat selection, etc.).
However, because we made the reservation using credit card points, we had no recourse. I called Alaska, and they explained that had the same reservations been made direct through Alaska, they could have easily changed the cost, and we would be credited the difference (to be used within 1 year), but because they were made with credit card points, we had to deal directly with the credit card company. Alaska even shared what terms and phrases we needed to use with the CC company. Alaska was great. CC Company was awful.
CC company would not budge, after being on the phone for hours, transferred to numerous reps, and up the supervisor ladder. No changes allowed. We could only start completely over, make new reservations with NEW points (or directly with Alaska without CC points), and wait for a credit of prior used points through the CC company. No one would confirm how long that credit process might take (but could be weeks or longer), and once received, required to spend the points within 12 months. There was no way to change the flight cost, and simply bank the difference. There was no way to wait for credit first, since the sale would be long-over.
Lesson Learned: DO NOT make flight reservations using points through the card company. SOME airlines allow you to first transfer points to their system before making reservations (Alaska was not a partner with our particular card).
Going forward, we decided to just get cash back for credit card points. They are worth less that way, but we can use for whatever we want.
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We have over a dozen credit cards that we used for loyalty status and sign up bonuses. We use various ones for their point multipliers in specific categories like restaurants or grocery stores. Some seem expensive at first sight but we get a lot of benefits from them besides points that offset the price. I have used points for many free nights and flights. We enjoy the loyalty status some of the cards provide. We definitely follow The Points Guy.
Another vote for The Points Guy!
At the risk of stating the obvious, think about where you fly from. There are a number of great airline programs with few flights from the hubs near me, so they aren’t on my radar.
If you have the ability to get a card when you are going to make a major purchase (including charitable gifts), it’s a great way to score a lot of points. TPG is a good way to find out when there are special offers.
The challenge for me is to not get spread too thin on these. You don’t get the real benefits without true loyalty, but if you aren’t traveling all the time, it can be tough to get beyond the first tier of rewards. But still, even the slow accumulation of points is worth it!
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Just circling back to this thread to say I just booked our first international trip–airfare and all hotels paid for by points and miles. 
I’m hooked.
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