Not even a year has passed since getting in the travel rewards game, and I have managed to make 2 redemptions with points and miles I’ve earned through credit cards. The first redemption is a pair of round trip business class tickets to Taiwan on EVA through Membership Rewards. The more recent redemption is a round trip business class ticket on Air France to Norway for next year’s girls-only trip to see the Northern lights in Tromsø.
Capital One came out with a new Venture X card late last year with a generous sign on bonus, which was made more valuable after Capital One improved their partner transfer rates from 2:1 to 1:1 around the same time. Capital One’s transfer partners aren’t as exciting, and has a lot of overlap with all the other rewards programs. What it lacks in uniqueness is made up by practicality. Air France Flying Blue is one such program. For 110k points, one can get a round trip business ticket between the US and Europe. The redemption rate isn’t as exciting as ANA’s 7¢ per point, but 2.7¢ per point is nothing to sneeze at. Being able to fly direct from the US west coast to Paris in a lie flat seat is certainly not a bad proposition.
FIRE'd @ 47 