If I lost all of my points and credit cards and had to start over from zero, this is the exact five-step order I’d follow.
It’s the same path that took me from budget backpacker to booking business and first class flights, and I don’t spend a cent more than I used to on economy tickets and cheap hotels.
Five steps. Starting from zero points. By step three, a single hotel booking earns enough to cover a business class flight.
Most people find points and miles overwhelming and never start. Or they start, spend on the wrong card, and burn points on bad redemptions. This is the 101 that sets you up for success!
Spending on a points-earning credit card is how you level up your travel. But not all cards earn the same.
If you’re starting out, I’d point you towards the American Express Gold Card. For most people, the two biggest spending categories are groceries and dining. And the Gold rewards you for those purchases.
The Amex Gold earns:
4X points per dollar at Restaurants Worldwide (up to $50,000 per year)
4X at US supermarkets (up to $25,000 per year)
Breaking down the numbers, if you spend $1,500 a month across restaurants and supermarkets you will earning 6,000 points a month at 4X.
That’s 72,000 points a year, and food you were buying anyway. Enough for a business class flight from the US to Europe.
Put that same $1,500 on a card earning 1X, and you’d only earn 18,000 points in a year. That’s a 54,000-point difference, just by putting that spend on the right card.
Because it’s a new card, you’ll also receive a welcome offer. And welcome offers are the fastest way to earn a large injection of points!
At time of writing, you can earn as high as 100,000 Amex points after you spend $8,000 in the first six months.
You can find out your personalized welcome offer from Amex using this link. Amex only does a soft pull of your credit to provide your welcome offer number. A hard pull will be done only once you submit your application after that.
Offers vary, so check what comes up for you and make sure you can hit the spend threshold.
Between the welcome offer and food spending alone, you could be sitting on 172,000 points pretty quickly.
The Amex Gold’s annual fee is $325, but it comes with dining, Dunkin’, and Uber credits that can offset the fee if you use them.
Using my link supports my work at no cost to you. Thank you if you choose to!
One rule, no exceptions: pay your card in full every month. Carrying a balance and paying interest negates all the value you’re earning earning from points.
Rakuten is a shopping portal, and it’s an easy way for you to earn free points on purchases you would have been making anyway. In addition to the points you’re earning on your credit card!
Before you buy something online or in-store, you click through Rakuten first. If there’s an offer with that retailer (Sephora, Ulta, Adidas, IKEA, thousands of others), you earn bonus points on top of what your card already gives you.
Same purchase, same price. Rakuten earns a commission on the sale and pays a portion back to you.
Elect to receive those rewards as Amex points and they land straight in the same balance your Amex Gold is building!
My account is currently set up to receive Bilt points. We’ll discuss why in future articles, so make sure you’re subscribed!
The bonus points rates change daily. Baseline is usually around 2X points per dollar, but promos can push it to 10–15X.
Make sure you link your Amex Gold in the Rakuten backend, then check the Rakuten site or app and click through relevant offers before you check out anywhere!
Stop using Booking.com, Expedia, or Airbnb. This is new platform is the best way to book hotel stays!
When you book a hotel through Rove you earn Rove Miles on the stay, up to 25X points per dollar, sometimes more depending on the property.
You still earn points on the credit card you book with, and where eligible, you’ll earn points from the hotel chain too.
That means one stay, earns points three ways: Rove Miles, hotel points, and credit card points. That’s what we call “triple dipping” in the points and miles community!
A room in Barcelona at $307 a night for four nights could earn 25,000 points.
Or, if your budget allows, four nights at the New Otani in Tokyo earns 148,000 Rove Miles from a single stay.
Rove Miles transfer to a long list of airline partners, so you’re adding flight options beyond your Amex transfer partners. Or you can spend them on more hotel stays.
Sign up through this link for 1,500 bonus points, no booking required.
Make a booking over $500 and use code RACHEL for an extra 5,000 bonus points.
You’ve got the points. Now you have to figure out how to spend them efficiently!
Most people default to spending points through the credit card issuer’s own travel portal. That’s usually poor value.
I recommend using a third-party award search tool that scans multiple airlines at once and surfaces the cheapest points pricing.
Since you have an Amex Gold now, Point.me for Amex is included with eligible Amex Membership Rewards Cards. Head to amex.point.me, log in with your Amex details, enter your origin and destination, and search. It tells you which airlines fly the route, which program to transfer your points to, and exactly what the flight costs in points plus taxes and fees.
Search across a few days to find the cheapest date to fly. Once you find availability that works, transfer your points from Amex or Rove to the airline, and book directly with the airline.
Once you’re flying more, lounge access can meaningfully elevate your experience. Free food, drinks, and a quiet place to charge your phone or get some work done before you board.
There are several strong lounge cards, and the right one depends on how and where you fly. I hold three of them personally, but 1 is sufficient for most people.
The main contenders include The Platinum Card from American Express, the Chase Sapphire Reserve, the Bilt Palladium, and a few others.
I have a full comparison video here so you can figure out which lounge card would be the best fit for you.
When you sign up for your new card you can expect another welcome offer, somewhere in the range of 50,000 to 175,000 points.
Zero points to flying business class for less than the price of an economy ticket. Five steps, in order.
You don’t have to become an expert to make this work. But if you want the full system (fast) that’s what my course covers in about 90 minutes.
If this was useful, the best thing you can do is subscribe. You’ll get weekly articles with credit card tips, news, and strategies to travel better, for less!
Is the American Express Gold Card worth the $325 annual fee? For most people who spend on dining and groceries, yes. At $1,500 a month across restaurants and US supermarkets you earn about 72,000 Membership Rewards points a year at 4X, and the card’s dining, Dunkin’, and Uber credits can offset much of the fee if you use them. Terms apply.
How do I start earning points and miles from zero? Start with one everyday card that earns well on your biggest spending categories, add a shopping portal like Rakuten to stack extra points on purchases you’re already making, then learn to search award flights before you redeem. That order, card then portal then redemption tool, is how you avoid the two beginner mistakes: spending on the wrong card and wasting points on bad redemptions.
What’s the fastest way to earn enough points for a business class flight? A card welcome offer is the fastest single lever. The American Express Gold Card’s welcome offer is as high as 100,000 Membership Rewards points after $8,000 of spend in six months as of July 2026, which on its own can be enough for a business class flight to Europe. Offers vary and terms apply.
Do I need excellent credit to start with points and miles? Premium rewards cards generally look for good-to-excellent credit, but you can start building points on a card you already qualify for and upgrade your strategy over time. The bigger factor is paying your balance in full every month. Interest charges cancel out the value of the points.
Is point.me really included with Amex cards? Yes. point.me for Amex is an award search tool included for eligible US Amex Membership Rewards Cardholders at amex.point.me. It searches multiple airline programs at once and shows you the lowest points price for your route.
Can I really fly business class for the price of economy? That’s the goal of this system. By earning on everyday spend, stacking portals, and redeeming through transfer partners instead of a card portal, the points cost of a premium seat can land at or below the cash price of an economy ticket. Actual value depends on your routes, availability, and redemptions.
I’m Rachel, and this is Rachel Points. I cover US credit cards, points strategy, and how to fly business and first class on points, without spending more than you already do. Subscribe for the next breakdown.
Advertiser disclosure: Rachel Points may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on Rachel Points are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear. Rachel Points does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Rachel Points has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products; Rachel Points and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.
Editorial disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analyses and recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers.
This post may contain links through which we are compensated when you click on or are approved for offers. The information here was not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.