We are looking forward to 2022 being much more normal of a travel year than the last two years were, once we get safely past the latest COVID variant surge.
Travel Destinations
We have several trips booked for the upcoming year. We are hoping Paris will be a viable destination in the Spring, Hawaii this summer, and Dubai for the new year. We made sure to book them in a way we could cancel if things changed. A we learned from the last year years, flexibility is key!
We’re also hoping for some trips closer to home. The boys really, really, really want to make it back to Bar Harbor this summer and since we’ve decided not to send them to summer camp this year we should be able to find a window to visit. I also expect to be traveling to San Francisco for work every few months.
Points and Status Strategy
Last year we accumulated a LOT of points from credit card spend, bonuses, and the trips we canceled. This year, we’re going to focus on using those points instead of conserving them for maximum value. As long as it’s a reasonable value, we’ll try to use points. We will of course be earning more points, but I think our points balances by the end of the year will be smaller than they currently are unless we have to cancel the trips.
As far as status, we’re definitely going to focus first and foremost on re-qualifying for Hyatt Globalist status. Between the stays we’ve booked, my expected business travel (which mostly will stay in Hyatt hotels) and the qualifying nights we get based on credit card spend, we shouldn’t have any problem reaching 60+ nights.
My wife currently has Marriott Titanium status, but it’s unlikely we’ll get to the 75 qualifying nights to maintain that. She started the year with 30 nights from the credit cards she holds, which puts Platinum status (50 qualifying nights) within easy reach. If there are any promotions that will put us within reach of Titanium we would consider a mattress run to get there, of course, but reaching Titanium is not a priority as there isn’t much difference over Platinum status. The main benefit that applies to us is the low level United Silver status for my wife. It’s nice, but it’s not a game-changer for our travel.
My wife has reached Lifetime Gold status with Marriott and is halfway to Lifetime Platinum. Given how may Marriott hotels there are, we’ll likely try to keep her Platinum status for the next few years so she can get Lifetime Platinum.
For airline status, we will mostly be flying on points for family travel. Since we now live in the NYC area, our airline choices have changed and we’ll get a better feel for what airlines offer the best service for us over time. For work travel, I’ll probably concentrate on flying United out of Newark. It’s easy to get to via Amtrak and offers larger and nicer planes to San Francisco. I’ve found that I can often get Premium Economy seats for just a little bit more than an economy seat. While I had largely ignored Premium Economy in the past I’ve found I can sleep quite well on a red-eye so it’s quite worthwhile for me even if I have to pay for the upgrade out of pocket. Depending on how much I fly, I may come close to qualifying for United Silver status through those flights which would offset my wife losing her airline status when she doesn’t re-qualify for Marriott Titanium.
I do not intend to go for JetBlue Mosaic status as I had hoped (and failed) to last year.
Credit Card Strategy
I have a pretty diverse mix of cards at the moment. While I pay several thousand dollars a year in annual fees, despite our reduced travel load, I still get value from those cards.
The only card I’m thinking of canceling is my United Gateway card which is a card with no annual fee that I simply don’t use. I have the United Quest card which is where I put my United spend so the Gateway card stays in my sock drawer. I product changed my United Explorer card to the Gateway card the middle of last year. Once I’ve had the new card for a full year I’ll look to cancel it as it’s not a card that I’ve had for long enough to affect my credit history.
There are a few new cards I’ve been interested in to better leverage my existing spend. Last year Hyatt introduced a new business card which has some interesting features given how much we focus on Hyatt. Additionally, the new Venture X Rewards card is a premium offering from Capital One. I don’t have any of their other cards so it would be branching out into a new type of transferrable points, but it has some unique earning opportunities. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on it.
Other Travel Strategies
Since Tomatico is aging out of being allowed through PreCheck with us without his own (13+ need their own PreCheck), at the end of 2021 I used some credit card credits to get both him and his younger brother signed up for Global Entry. I figured since we had the credit with several of our cards, we could do the interviews for both of them at the same time and not have to worry about it when the younger one turns 13.
My wife and I have both renewed our Global Entry (using credits, of course) so we will find interview slots for the four of us, hopefully before we travel to Paris this spring. Interview appointments can be hard to come by so hopefully we can find one in time and all together.
Additionally, I signed up for CLEAR. While this doesn’t get us through security any faster, it does get us TO security faster. It’s a service that uses biometrics (iris scan and/or fingerprints) to identify you and cut through the ID check prior to PreCheck.
In most places, the ID check is not a big deal, but I’ve found that at Newark and San Francisco (places I frequent, these lines can be long and CLEAR can be a real time saver. My AMEX Platinum card offers $179/year rebate for CLEAR which is what the regular price is for one person. If you sign up for a United frequent flyer program (free) and enter your account number on signup for CLEAR, you can get a $60 discounted rate. Adding a second person costs $60, so I added my wife to my account and got to use the $179 AMEX credit.
I’ve already registered myself in person with CLEAR on my way back from San Francisco. It only took a few minutes to scan my eyes and take my fingerprints and next time it’ll be even faster. Kids under 18 can use it with the parents so we can use it when traveling as a family. Every little bit of waiting and stress we can eliminate at the airport is worthwhile.
Conclusions
We’re excited for the year ahead and hopeful we can start traveling again. We know COVID isn’t going completely away, but we are optimistic the world will start opening up and allows us to travel more like we used to. This is the year we hopefully spend a chunk of those points we haven’t been able to spend. Otherwise, NEXT year we’ll have even more points than we know what to do with!
Tomatico Travels 
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