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If someone works with points and miles for a hobby, let alone a living, chances are they know a whole lot about them. I mean, they obviously don’t need to learn which airlines are in which airline alliances (here’s a list), because they eat, sleep and breathe that kind of stuff.

And then there’s the rest of us.

I will be perfectly honest – although I love to travel, I am not a points and miles person. That’s Joe’s realm and I’m very happy to sit back and reap the benefits of his hobby (he’s also very happy to sit back and eat dinner at home, because I’m a good cook. Life is full of checks and balances like that). For the most part, I can’t tell you if a particular hotel chain is under the Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG or whatever umbrella unless the name is right there. So if it’s a Hilton Garden Inn, I’m good. Hyatt Centric? Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Ritz-Carlton? Kimpton? Candlewood Suites? Not a clue. Well, unless I look it up. Or ask Joe, if I’m feeling lazy. 😉

And then you’ve got the whole credit card thing. Over the years I’ve learned (most likely by osmosis) the general info that you get new credit cards because they offer sign-up bonuses of points. Or miles. But sometimes rewards. Or…whatever. And then you have to spend X amount of money in Y amount of time to get said bonus. All I know is that I’ll suddenly have a new credit card on the top of my wallet and Joe tells me to use it for “everything” (except for last summer, when I had a large dentist bill and “used the wrong card.” I used the card that was on top, so I don’t know why he said it was the wrong one. Meanwhile, it’s been 9 months and I STILL haven’t heard the end of it. MEN! #rolleyes #sigh). Or there’ll be a special deal where you get a double or triple amount of miles, points, rewards or whatever if you use THIS card for THAT store. And then I have to remember to use THIS card at gas stations and supermarkets and THE OTHER card for everything else.

The points and miles are nice but y’all, it’s a pain for someone who would much rather use the same AMEX green card for forever, for everything, because I know the number by heart.

But wait! There’s more!

So you’ve got all these credit cards, and points, and miles, and hotels, and airlines. Oh, and something called Avios (and why couldn’t they give those things a regular name because frankly, if you have one of them, you have 1 Avios, but if you have more than one, they’re still Avios, not Avioses or Avii?). Anyway, some of them are interchangeable. No, wait. Some of them are “transferrable.” But not all of them are. So you can transfer AMEX Membership Rewards to your Delta Sky Miles account, but not to your United Mileage Plus account. You also can’t transfer them to your Korean Air Skypass account, even though they and Delta are still in the same alliance. But you CAN put them into your Skymiles account and then use THOSE to make a reservation on Korean Air. But only if you’re willing to fly in coach because Korean Air won’t take Delta Sky Miles for first-class (and no, I didn’t know that. I was making up a hypothetical situation and checking with Joe to make sure it was right, and he told me all the details). And on top of that, the exchange isn’t always the same. Going back to Membership Rewards, you can transfer them 1:1 into your Marriott Bonvoy account, but 1:2 into your Hilton Honors account.

Y’all, if you don’t “know” this stuff, there is NO FREAKIN’ WAY to get a handle on it.

BUT! AwardWallet’s got people like you and me, who don’t necessarily “live” this stuff, covered. A while back they made a color-coordinated chart that includes EVERYTHING. Airlines. Alliance. Hotels. Credit Cards. What’s interchangeable transferrable to where and at what rate.

It’s GLORIOUS!

And they update it periodically, to boot! (the most recent update includes the addition of Bilt Rewards, which is a Mastercard loyalty program that lets you earn points when you pay rent [and yeah, I totally had to look that up]).

Click here to take a look at it.

For those of you who are as much of a beginner as I am, I hope it’s helpful!

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