The Daily Drop Podcast

In this episode, Mike discusses the major shakeup in the points and miles world, with Bilt Rewards adding Alaska Airlines as a transfer partner and why you should care about this!

Resources:

The Bilt Card: https://www.dailydrop.com/credit-cards/bilt-mastercard 

Episode Time Stamps:

01:24 Changes to Alaska Airlines loyalty program
05:09 Introduction of new award charts
06:36 New sweet spots and improved pricing
10:38 Free stopovers in partner airline hubs
12:22 Future ability to combine partner airlines on a single ticket
15:14 Expanded types of awards and unique pricing

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In this very fun episode, we give you the recording of our speech that we hosted live at the Travel and Adventure Show Atlanta 2024. Megan and Mike talk you through how we visited over 50 countries last year thanks to the magic of miles and points!

Resources:

Slides: https://bit.ly/tasslidesdd
YouTube version of this ep: https://youtu.be/XjRpjlHZYKo
Free gift as mentioned at the start - Miles and Points 101: https://www.dailydrop.com/course-videos/what-are-miles-points 

Episode Time Stamps:

0:00 - What's going on in this ep!? 
3:09 - Meet Megan and Mike 
8:06 - 9 week trip around the world
15:18 - Mediterranean cruise for free
18:46 - An even more free cruise
23:00 - Travel Hacking to Scotland with 10 people
30:23 - United Excursionist Perk
36:16 - Questions?

Keep Up With Daily Drop:

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Check out our top cards: https://dailydrop.com/pages/our-top-credit-cards
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Hang out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDrop
Prefer a video podcast? Head over here: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDropPodcast

In this episode, Megan provides an ultimate guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards. She explains what Ultimate Rewards are, how to earn them, and why people are kind of obsessed with them. She also explores the different cards that earn Ultimate Rewards and how to build a points family. Megan covers redemption options through the Chase portal and transfer partners, and more!

Resources:

Written guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards: https://www.dailydrop.com/pages/daily-drop-s-guide-to-chase-ultimate-rewards  

2 player mode podcast: https://link.chtbl.com/2playerddpod 

Portal podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2253039/13973904 

Transfer Partner Cheat Sheet: https://bit.ly/ddtransferpartners 

Miles and Points 101: https://www.dailydrop.com/course-videos/what-are-miles-points 

Episode Time Stamps:

1:08 - What are Chase Ultimate Rewards 

4:16 Prioritizing Chase Points

5:55 Different Cards that Earn Ultimate Rewards

10:10 Why is everyone obsessed with Chase Sapphire Preferred

17:50 - Ultimate Reward Redemptions 

20:20 - Final thoughts

Keep Up With Daily Drop:

Read the newsletter: https://www.dailydrop.com
Join the Lounge: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dailydroplounge
Check out our top cards: https://dailydrop.com/pages/our-top-credit-cards
Follow along on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailydrop/
Hang out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDrop
Prefer a video podcast? Head over here: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDropPodcast

In this episode, we are joined by Megan, Mike, and Tiffany to chat about what's in our wallets and why?! We answer questions like what's one card we frequently reach for? What's a favorite co branded card we have? What's our strategy for choosing our next card? And we answer some questions from you!

Resources from this episode:

Top Cards: https://www.dailydrop.com/credit-cards
2 Player Mode article: https://www.dailydrop.com/pages/miles-and-points-in-two-player-mode
2 Player Mode episode: https://link.chtbl.com/2playerddpod
Mike's spreadsheet: https://bit.ly/ddcctrackerus   

Keep Up With Daily Drop:

Read the newsletter: https://www.dailydrop.com
Join the Lounge: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dailydroplounge
Check out our top cards: https://dailydrop.com/pages/our-top-credit-cards
Follow along on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailydrop/
Hang out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDrop
Prefer a video podcast? Head over here: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDropPodcast

In this episode, Mike discusses fifth freedom flights and their travel hacking implications. He highlights several airlines that operate fifth freedom routes, including Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Air France, Gulf Air, and Ethiopian Airlines. 

Resources:

Weekend Round Up Newsletter: https://newsletter.dailydrop.com/forms/d7b781f6-5522-40bb-a818-f7cf9810662f 

Episode Time Stamps:

01:33 Introduction to Fifth Freedom Flights
03:13 Emirates Fifth Freedom Routes
05:52 Singapore Airlines Fifth Freedom Routes
08:04 Air France Fifth Freedom Route
09:51 Gulf Air Fifth Freedom Route
10:53 Ethiopian Airlines Fifth Freedom Routes
13:58 Other considerations

Keep Up With Daily Drop:

Read the newsletter: https://www.dailydrop.com
Join the Lounge: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dailydroplounge
Check out our top cards: https://dailydrop.com/pages/our-top-credit-cards
Follow along on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailydrop/
Hang out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDrop
Prefer a video podcast? Head over here: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDropPodcast

In this episode, Mike and Megan (are back 🎉) discuss several exciting credit card offers. Who gets the spotlight… Southwest, World of Hyatt, Marriott, Capital One, and United.

Resources:

All elevated offers Here: https://www.dailydrop.com/ranked-credit-cards/increased-welcome-offers 

Southwest specific bonuses here: https://www.dailydrop.com/ranked-credit-cards/southwest-airlines-cards?

Southwest Card Head to Head Episode: https://podcast.dailydrop.com/2253039/13884478 

Episode Time Stamps:

1:24 Southwest Elevated Bonuses

5:03 World of Hyatt Elevated Bonus 

11:08 Venture X Business Elevated Bonus

16:55 Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Elevated Bonus

24:11 An honorable mention - United Biz card

26:22 Conclusion

Keep Up With Daily Drop:

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Check out our top cards: https://dailydrop.com/pages/our-top-credit-cards
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Hang out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDrop
Prefer a video podcast? Head over here: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDropPodcast

In this episode, Megan discusses the importance of award search tools and shares six award search tools, 3 for flights and 3 for hotels. The question "How do I find award bookings?!" comes up a lot around here and these are tools to add to your search toolkit! 

Resources:

Seats.aero: https://bit.ly/ddseatsaero 

Points Yeah: https://bit.ly/ddpointsyeah 

Seat Spy: https://bit.ly/3SEVV66 

Guide with tutorials: https://bit.ly/ddfreesearchtools

Max My Point: https://bit.ly/ddmaxmypointtry 

Awayz: https://bit.ly/ddawayz 

Rooms.aero: https://bit.ly/ddroomsaero 

Episode Time Stamps:

1:24 What To Know About Award Search Tools

07:18 Three Flight Award Search Tools 

18:35 Three Hotel Award Search Tools

25:11 Conclusion

Keep Up With Daily Drop:

Read the newsletter: https://www.dailydrop.com
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Check out our top cards: https://dailydrop.com/pages/our-top-credit-cards
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Hang out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDrop
Prefer a video podcast? Head over here: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDropPodcast

In this episode, Mike discusses credit scores and credit card statements. He explains the components of a credit score, including payment history, utilization, average credit length, new credit, and credit mix.

Episode Time Stamps:

00:00 Intro and the basics

00:57 Components of a Credit Score

02:21 Payment History and Utilization

02:49 Average Credit Length and New Credit

04:17 Credit Mix

04:46 Understanding Credit Card Statements

06:38 Payment Due Date and Interest

07:34 Importance of Making Payments on Time

08:33 Managing Credit Utilization

09:28 Strategies for Low Credit Utilization

12:22 Strategies for Average Credit Length

13:44 Keeping Oldest Credit Card Open

16:36 Improving Bad Credit

20:28 Increasing and Decreasing Credit Limits

Keep Up With Daily Drop:

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Check out our top cards: https://dailydrop.com/pages/our-top-credit-cards
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In this episode, Megan discusses the strategy of two-player mode in miles and points. You’ll learn how to maximize your points with someone else, the various bank rules to keep in mind, how to manage annual fees, and more.

Episode Time Stamps:

00:28 What is Two Player Mode?

01:24 The Two Player Mode Process

03:21 Example: Chase Sapphire Preferred

05:08 Maximizing Two Player Mode with Different Card Families

06:35 Managing Annual Fees

07:28 Example: Maximizing Two Player Mode with Chase

10:18 Referral Rules for Different Banks

12:55 Combining Points and Authorized Users

16:13 Booking Travel with Points from Different Accounts

19:00 Combining Points within Banks

20:52 Airline and Hotel Loyalty Programs

23:18 Conclusion

Resources:

Chase Referral Page: https://www.chase.com/referafriend/catch-all  

Capital One Referral Page: https://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/refer-a-friend/ 

Keep Up With Daily Drop:

Read the newsletter: https://www.dailydrop.com
Join the Lounge: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dailydroplounge
Check out our top cards: https://dailydrop.com/pages/our-top-credit-cards
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Hang out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDrop
Prefer a video podcast? Head over here: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDropPodcast

Welcome to the weekly round up! Here we'll sum up what happened in the newsletter this week in 10 minutes.

Monday: https://www.dailydrop.com/newsletters/my-current-favorite-travel-hack?

Tuesday: https://www.dailydrop.com/newsletters/a-new-way-to-fly-to-mexico-with-points?

Wednesday: https://www.dailydrop.com/newsletters/airline-status-match-through-2026?

Thursday: https://www.dailydrop.com/newsletters/today-only-save-on-southwest-flights?

Friday:

Keep Up With Daily Drop:

Stay up to date with the newsletter: https://dailydrop.com/
Join the Lounge: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dailydroplounge
Check out our top cards: https://dailydrop.com/pages/our-top-credit-cards
Follow along on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailydrop/
Hang out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDrop
Prefer a video podcast? Head over here: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDropPodcast