by Cherry | Senior Travel Editor, The Miles Academy | Jan 20, 2026 | Maximizing Points and Miles
Interest is the quiet fee that makes every trip harder to afford. We have watched people stack points, plan dream routes, then hand back more money in interest than they ever got in travel value. If you want your rewards strategy to work, keeping interest off your...
by Cherry | Senior Travel Editor, The Miles Academy | Jan 20, 2026 | Travel Guides
Your flight gets canceled after you already paid for a nonrefundable hotel. Your checked bag misses the connection and shows up two days later, if it shows up at all. You wake up sick overseas and the front desk hands you a clinic address and a shrug. Those moments...
by Cherry | Senior Travel Editor, The Miles Academy | Jan 20, 2026 | Credit Card Reviews and Strategies
Your credit score is the gatekeeper for two things that matter a lot in 2026. It helps decide whether you get approved, and it helps decide how much you pay for borrowing. When this number is healthy, lenders tend to offer better rates and smaller fees. When it is...
by Cherry | Senior Travel Editor, The Miles Academy | Jan 20, 2026 | Travel Guides
Getting from your home airport to your final destination sounds simple until it is not. The hard part usually is not finding a flight. It is figuring out which routes even exist, where connections actually make sense, and which airports function like key gateways...
by Cherry | Senior Travel Editor, The Miles Academy | Jan 20, 2026 | Travel Guides
Travel insurance earns its keep when a trip turns messy. After a couple decades of flying on points and miles, the pattern is always the same. The flight deal is the easy win. The expensive part shows up after you land, like a clinic bill you did not expect, a missed...
