What’s in Dia’s wallet: Panama by points

One morning during spring break, as I sipped coffee from my hotel balcony watching the ships enter the Panama Canal, I wondered why no one seemed to be talking about how Panama is an absolute steal if you redeem your miles. and points. So let’s do this.

I used my points in three different ways (a hat trick in Panama, if you will) to pay for plane tickets, hotels, and activities during my trip to Panama City. Each method allowed me to get a huge benefit from my points, so I’ll go through them one by one so you can see how the sausage is made. I’m a bit of an outlier in that I have a larger credit card collection than most, but the principles are the same and I hope this helps you think strategically about how and where you spend your hard-earned points.

Trick #1: Copa Airlines award tickets are widely available.

Copa Airlines is a greatly underrated Star Alliance partner based in Panama City. The airline has a network of routes between North, Central and South America and serves more US cities than you might imagine:

Because there are so many gateways, there are still many options when you’re looking for award tickets. For example, here is information on the availability of bus tickets from Baltimore to Panama City in October on the United website:

United

20,000 United MileagePlus miles on coach for a five-hour flight is a pretty good deal. But a little magic can turn good into great. Let’s go to the Air Canada Aeroplan frequent flyer program and find the same flight on the same date:

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Airplane

Those 20,000 miles just dropped to 12,500. And what’s even better is that business class on a single flight is only 25,000 miles. So for just 12,500 miles you can get a comfortable seat up front (worth every penny on a five-hour flight), an extra checked bag and lounge access. And on some routes you can even get a lie-flat seat. Needless to say, I chose this option. This was a particularly good deal for me because even though I was traveling during Easter week, there were still plenty of premium Cup tickets available.

To find this deal, I used one of my favorite tools: point.me. The good news is that thanks to our partnership with Bilt Mastercard®, I was able to search for United and Aeroplan ticket availability for free.

To earn Air Canada miles, I used my convenient Capital One Venture X Rewards credit card and transferred 50,000 Capital One miles toward a round-trip business class ticket. Aeroplan has many transfer partners that do 1:1 transfers, so I could also use Amex, Bilt Rewards, or Chase Ultimate Rewards® membership rewards.

You’ll notice in the fine print that Air Canada charges a higher tax ($79 CAD or $58 USD) compared to United ($5.60), so if you’re not spending a penny, you might still want to choose United. United lets you cancel for free, but Air Canada may charge a fee, so keep that in mind.

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

Welcome Bonus

Earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.

Annual fee	US$395
Purchase in April	19.99–29.99% variable
Foreign transaction fee	Nobody

Trick #2: Programs with multiple points go 1:2 in selection privileges

Choice Perks are the TJ Maxx of hotel rewards programs. You can’t guarantee you’ll find something suitable, but when you do, you’ll get a great deal. This is exactly what happened to me in Panama City.

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Hotel selection

The Radisson Panama Canal is located right in front of the canal and during Easter week you could earn 8,000 points per night. Nights are currently available for 16,000 points per night. The hotel, formerly known as the Country Inn and Suites, is not luxury by any means. But it’s clean, has a lovely pool and the aforementioned perfect spot for ship watching. Ubers are cheap and plentiful, so even though it’s a little out of town, most Ubers I took were around $5.00.

The secret sauce of selection benefits is the 1:2 transfer rate of Citi Premier Thank You Points and Autograph Points. This means I only paid 4,000 Citi points per night for the hotel room. And I was even able to book an ocean view suite because Choice offered both a standard room and a suite for the same amount of points.

Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Welcome Bonus

60,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening

Annual fee	US$550
Regular annual interest rate	22.49–29.49% variable

Trick #3: Chase Sapphire Reserve earns 1.5 cents per Ultimate Rewards point for activity

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is my go-to travel card because not only does it earn 3x points on travel (after earning a $300 travel credit), but it also offers comprehensive cancellation insurance and car rental coverage. But the superpower of the Sapphire Reserve is that Ultimate Rewards points are worth 1.5 cents each when you redeem them on the Chase Travel℠ website.

Dia Adams: Chase Screenshot

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I used my Ultimate Rewards point to book a whopping five activities while in Panama: two airport transfers, a walking tour, a cooking class, and a catamaran tour. An interesting thing I discovered while researching my trip is that if the tour had been offered on Viator, I could have found the exact same tour on Chase Travel for the same price. The tours add up and I have saved hundreds of dollars out of pocket by redeeming points in Panama.

Viator

Conclusion

I’d be happy to get cheap business class award tickets, get a deal on an ocean view suite, or redeem points for premium-priced activities. The fact that I found all three of them on the same trip made the spring break not only memorable, but also guilt-free because my only personal expenses were food and a Panama hat to take home as a keepsake. his hat-trick. .

Welcome to What’s in Dia’s wallet? In this monthly column, I’ll share what’s in my wallet, but also what’s on my mind. After over a decade of working with credit cards, traveling an average of 100 nights a year, and earning and spending over a million points each year doing so, I’ve learned a few things. If you have questions or ideas for future topics, please contact me at [email protected]. Dia Adams, Senior Editor

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