Have you never gotten an award ticket? Here's what you need to do and mistakes to avoid

When I detached my first award ticket in 2002, a flight with Alitalia from Milan to Prague in Economy, I succeeded almost without my knowledge.

When I took my first long-haul flights to the U.S. I did so without signing up for any loyalty program and wasting, in hindsight, enough miles to peel off at least one business class always to the U.S. Because back then the tables were much, but much, more generous both for earning miles and redeeming award tickets.

Over the next few years, as I began to understand the world of reward travel, I tried to read and inform myself to learn the tricks of the trade, and today I can call myself well-versed enough to be able to tell newbies what mistakes should not be made and what is really important for those who want to approach this world.

The reasons for getting started and the first steps

2021 is the year of the restart, we hope, and especially in Italy it will be the definitive year of payment digitization, this means that more and more stores will accept digital payments. Every time you go to the ATM to withdraw cash you will be doing nothing but wasting points, because even one coffee a day at the end of the year Will bring points into your piggy bank.

This is the year of state cashback and the receipt lottery, so it is the best year to start collecting points to turn into travel.

1. Take advantage of welcome bonuses. Thanks to these "gift" points you can easily get your first prize ticket without spending a euro more than you normally spend. Do you think this is difficult? It is not, we explain how to do it step by step.
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2. Fewer people flying, more award seats available. In this restart phase, companies are trying to fill their planes as much as possible, which means more award seats available on as many flights as possible.
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3. Lots of offers from carriers to accumulate easy points, obtain or renew status. This also applies to hotel chains, because of course when you travel it is also important to sleep well.

The mistakes not to make

There are many, but I want to list only those that could be categorized in the "deadly sins," leaving the "venial" ones for a future article.

1. Do not complete the spending to get the welcome bonus provided in the new credit card, Or sign up for a credit card at a time when the welcome bonus is ridiculous or disbursed In services and not in points.It is absolutely the worst of mistakes, because these points are "literally" given away, and not completing the spending in the allotted time is like throwing money out the window. If you know that you will soon be facing a mandatory set of expenses such as car insurance, a new refrigerator, a vacation, now is the time to apply for the new card or upgrade. You already know you will spend that money, so why not maximize the return from that expense? Do not be enticed by phantom alternative discounts such as an Amazon gift card and do not use points to discount the card fee.
2. Chasing status. If you fly little, there is no point for you to try to get a elite status in a particular airline. On the contrary, it is important to try to accumulate points from your paid flights in the best program for your needs or goals.
3. Not having a clear goal. The first time you have to give yourself a doable goal. If you decide to start running, the first time you don't aim for the New York Marathon, but maybe the London 10K. This is important because you have to decide at the beginning whether, for example, you want to bet on an award ticket with Alitalia, or a partner airline, or on a non-SkyTeam alliance airline. If you keep your rudder steady toward your goal you will be able to organize your spending to accumulate points in the right direction and not toward different and noncommunicating "piggy banks."
4. Thinking only of business class. Of course traveling first or business class is everyone's dream, but if you don't have the opportunity to accumulate as many points, or if you want to travel with the whole family remember that with the same points with which you get a biz ticket to the Maldives, you can take 3 economy tickets to Thailand.
5. Do not keep track of annual credit card fees. Every card brings benefits and costs, disregarding costs can often lead to unnecessary expenses that will ultimately only decrease the real value of your rewards card. If you know that, for example, you will not be able to take advantage of a card's benefits this year, you can downgrade to one that costs less. You won't lose your points, and you can look for a new bonus card to return to the superior card in the future.
6. Never let points expire. Keep track of your points, card expirations, and the rules of individual loyalty programs. There's nothing worse than waking up on the morning of January 1 and finding out that the 100k thousand miles you had accumulated have vanished into thin air because you hadn't made any movements in the last 24 months.
7. Never transfer points to a loyalty program without checking seat availability. Many companies, Alitalia excluded, offer the possibility of optioning places for enough hours/days to complete the transfer of Membership Rewards points to the loyalty program. By doing so, you will be assured that when the points are transferred your seats will still be there waiting for you, vice versa you will not be able to go back and the points will remain on that card with the risk of losing them forever.

I hope you find this little guide helpful. Need some help? Leave a comment and we will get back to you.

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