I thought I would talk about basic points that you earn from different credit cards. Not all points or rewards will give you the best value, but with a little research and knowledge you can take the points you have and make them go further, you can leverage what you have to make 50% more by using a simple technique.

I talk a lot about the relationship between Delta and American Express, because in the past 2 years I have earned more free airline miles from their partnership than from any other credit card offer. I have been able to take advantage of two large bonuses. One was a 50% bonus and if you transferred a minimum of 100,000 American Express points to your Delta SkyMiles account, you would not only earn 50%, but would also get 25,000 MQM miles. The miles that actually count towards your class upgrades. Delta has 4 upgrade levels, the higher you go the better the benefits. You can view Delta’s benefits here.

• Silver – 25,000 miles
• Gold – 50,000 miles
• Platinum – 75,000 miles
• Diamond – 125,000 miles

As soon as you reach Silver you can get complimentary upgrades to First Class on any paid ticket. I’ve been upgraded many times just for being Silver with Delta.

If you were to get the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you could get 50,000 points that can be converted over to $625 worth of travel expenses. With the Delta / American Express relationship, if you can wait until they offer their next promotion, you could end up turning 50,000 points into 30%, 40% or even 50% more free airline miles. The value of being able to be patient will put more miles into your accounts, allowing you to travel more, for free.