💰 How to turn cash-back into points

Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 42 seconds

Howdy! Welcome back to your favorite part of every morning. Or at least it’s my favorite part of every morning. But I hope it’s yours, too.

I know for one lucky person, this will DEFINITELY be a morning to remember…

Here’s why:

• 🐢 Announcing the winner of our luxury Galapagos cruise

• ✈️ Frontier’s new status match is actually SWEET

• 💰 How to turn cash back into points

🐢 Announcing the winner of our luxury Galapagos cruise

Alright… the moment you’ve all been waiting for has arrived. The moment when we find out which lucky reader is going to become one with the turtles and enjoy a luxury cruise to the Galápagos Islands.

And without further ado, the winner is…

…

Tracey H.!!!!! Congrats! You should have received an email from us already with more details and instructions on how to claim this awesome prize.

BUT WAIT. Before the rest of you start crying (don’t worry, I am also sad to have not won), fret not.

Next week, we are launching another giveaway, and I have a feeling y’all are going to LOVE it… 😏

So stay tuned for another chance to win a free trip of a lifetime, and again, congrats to Tracey!!!

✈️ Frontier’s new status match is actually SWEET

When you think of airlines, most of you probably try to avoid thinking of Frontier. They aren’t exactly the Cadillac of airlines… Rather, they’re more like the stinky sewer rat of airlines (and not one of the cute ones). 🐀

Still, if you fly budget airlines like Frontier often, you can unlock some sweet perks that can save you a BUNCH of money.

And now, you can get these perks even if you don’t fly with them often, thanks to a status match they’ve just launched.

Here’s how it works:

• If you have elite status with any of the 45 qualifying airline, hotel, and cruise chains, you can match it to Frontier status

  • You can see the full list of programs here, along with which level of status each one will match you to

• There’s a fee associated, depending on which level of status you match to:

  • $99 for Elite 20k

  • $99 for Elite 50k

  • $149 for Elite 100k

• VERY IMPORTANT: The fee is nonrefundable, even if you aren’t approved

• Valid until December 31st, 2023

• You’ll get status through December 31st, 2024

Now I know what you’re thinking: Frontier is just selling us elite status, not matching it.

And yes, that’s true. But I actually think this is a fantastic deal, and I’ll tell you why.

The reason budget airlines like Frontier are so annoying is that while you can buy cheap tickets, they charge an arm and a torso for EVERYTHING else like seat selection, checked bags, and even carry-on bags.

If you have elite status, however, you could save money by getting all of those things for free.

Let me show you.

I just looked up a flight from Atlanta to Philadelphia, as I had a dream the other night about Jim’s Cheesesteaks, and I’ve been CRAVIN’ it hard. 🤤

On Frontier, this flight only costs $19.

Yay!

Except NOT yay… Not yay at all.

You see, to buy a carry-on bag for this flight, it’ll cost me $28.

Okay, not too bad…

But what if I want to select a seat with some extra legroom?

Well, friends, that’ll run you a not-so-cool $34.

So even with those tiny add-ons, this $19 flight has turned into an $81 flight or an additional $62 of fees.

If you were to match to Frontier Elite 50k status, however, all of these things would be free, along with more perks like mileage multipliers, family seating, and priority boarding.

So although it’ll cost you $99 to match status, you’ll be coming out ahead even if you fly a single round-trip during that one-year timeframe.

If you fly Frontier more often, you could really rack up some serious savings.

💰 How to turn cash back into points

It’s no secret. I like cold, hard cash… and I’m sure most of you also like cash.

But when it comes to travel rewards, I tend to favor turning my cash into points when it makes sense to do so (and when it offers more value).

And it just so happens that one of our favorite cash back business cards got an updated welcome offer that is worthy of taking a peek at 👀

But there’s more to this bank’s “cash back” credit cards than meets the eye… They might be solely labeled as cash back cards, but in fact, THEY’RE NOT.

This card can actually earn you a stack of the ultimate travel currency that we lovingly know as points.

BUT, there is a caveat.

In order to turn a lonesome cash back card into the ultimate points-earning machine, you must also have this card, this card, or this card (I know the anonymous card mentions are hella annoying… sorry 🥴).

To be clear, if you do not have another one of those aforementioned cards, you cannot convert your cash back rewards into points with this bank.

And if it wasn’t obvious already, this adds TREMENDOUS value—especially for a cash back card with no annual fee 🤯

One of the reasons is that it opens up the world of being able to use transfer partners, which is one of our favorite ways to redeem points for travel (and is possible to do with any of the three point-earning cards I mentioned earlier).

Additionally, in general, most of the cash back rewards you earn on the advertised cash back cards are only worth around 1 cent each (there are some exceptions).

But because this bank’s point currency is typically valued around 2 cents a pop, by transferring those cash back rewards to one of the point-earning cards, you’re basically doubling your value at no effort.

So if you’re looking to convert cash back rewards into points, simply log into your account, select the cash back card that you want to transfer points from, and click on Combine Points from its dashboard.

You’ll be prompted from there to pick the card that you want to receive those cash back rewards... and have ‘em magically turn into super tasty, valuable points 🤤

And if you’re curious as to why you’d want multiple cards from the same bank, check out our resource about the power of a credit card trifecta.

Want to help Daily Drop take over the world? Share our newsletter with your friends/family/pets/colleagues/enemies and win some rewards in the process!

You currently have 0 referrals, only 1 away from receiving the Daily Drop Travel Toolkit.

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…or you can just buy these prizes from our website if you want to keep us all to yourself. 😉

That’s gonna do it for this week, folks. I’m currently in a deep, dark corner of Addis Ababa airport on an overnight layover, but the next time you hear from me, I’ll be in chilly Cape Town!

Do you have any travel plans coming up? If so, I’d love to hear about them. So let me know by replying to this email or reaching out on the social medias.

Until next time,

9.0192° N, 38.7525° E