010 - 10:28:25, 20.33

[00:00:00] Ever dream of going to Japan, not just once, but every year. Me too. I'm John. And that dream became my mission, which is why I started rewarding routes. A podcast about making Japan travel possible. Year after year, I learned how to leverage credit cards to earn points and miles turning everyday spending into flights and hotel stays across Japan.

Each episode I'll share what I've learned from booking award travel to building meaningful itineraries and deep diving into regions, traditions, and experiences that make this country so special. Let's build your rewarding route one trip at a time. I would say most of us have had an experience, one of those chaotic experiences at an airport where things are at a higher stress level than normal.

Well, at least I know I have. So in today's episode, we're gonna be talking about travel perks that [00:01:00] come from credit cards. That make travel days so much more stress free. These are actually perks that make you look forward to those airport travel days.

I know it does for me, and I love airports in general. I love seeing all the different types of airports and some are more epic than others, but in general, I look forward to travel days because I've taken advantage of. Credit card perks that make just travel days a lot less stressful.

So that's what we're gonna be talking about today. And number one is TSA PRECHECK and Global Entry. And I've been able to use these perks a whole ton. And I can say it really does change the game when it comes to those travel days and making it a lot less stressful.

Because the worst thing to see when you get past the check-in area, or maybe you have carry on so you don't even have to go to the check-in counter is seeing a [00:02:00] queue longer than a Disneyland ride. It's pretty wild. So let's get into it. TSA PRECHECK and Global Entry. So why does this matter? Nobody likes long security lines.

Having to take your shoes off and remove your laptop, and especially me who travels with a lot of tech, like my Nintendo Switch and my iPad and my laptop, it's kind of a hassle to be going through a normal security line. But with TSA pre-check and global entry, all those hassles can go away. So for TSA pre-check right now, if you were to apply for it, it's 79 95 for five years.

For global entry, it's $120 for five years. But no, with global entry, it includes pre-check. And this is the route I took. Um, I know I'm gonna be traveling internationally and I have traveled [00:03:00] internationally and it comes with pre-check as well. So might as well get global entry, which. There are cards that come with global entry, and I'll go over it right now.

A few cards that come with global entry, which is $120 credit that you get reimbursed as soon as you put the application in. It may take a take a few days, but a few of them are the Chase Sapphire Reserve, the Capital One Venture and Venture X American Express Platinum.

In the Southwest Rapid reward performance business card. It's just a few of 'em. , Most of these cards I've had, I haven't had the Sapphire Reserve, which I do plan on getting in the future, just not right now. It doesn't make sense for me right at this moment. So maybe you're wondering what's the difference between the two TSA precheck global entry?

Well, TSA precheck provides expedited security screening for departing flights from the US [00:04:00] airports. Global entry includes that same benefit. But it also includes when travelers are returning to the US after international travel. So you get both, which is really nice. And that's the route I took with my Capital One Venture X Card.

And a tip is, say if you have a Venture X Card and you have a Reserve card or a Platinum, or maybe the Southwest Business Performance card, if you already use one of the credits with one of those cards. You can use the other card and if you know anybody and your friends or family, they can just use your card to pay for that transaction and you'll get reimbursed.

So the process with precheck, you would complete an application online, do the official TSA website. Make an appointment in person at, , whatever location is near you or whatever's available, and bring whatever documents are required [00:05:00] of you.

Haven't done this process because I went with global entry, but global entries, processes, it's very similar. You apply online. Where you pay. , After you complete your application, you wait for your application to get approved, and then you can schedule an interview. So you'll use, a scheduling tool on the website to book an appointment.

To get your interview done for global Entry. I remember doing this back in 2022 and it was extremely difficult to find appointments. I know it was booked months in advance, you'd have to be on the website almost every day just to keep refreshing and seeing if any spots would become available.

And I live in Orlando. And I got my interview in Sanford. That was the closest location to me at the Sanford Airport. The interview's very short. It's not very long. You get asked some questions that I can't remember, and you'll get approved from there. If everything goes [00:06:00] nice and smooth, which it should.

Now a tip around us for available appointments. Say you're on an international trip and you had applied. For global entry. Well, if you're coming back to the US from an international trip, you can actually do it in customs. You can ask the officers down there to,, give you an interview for your global entry.

And you're able to do it that way without making an , appointment. And I would say most major airports offer , this service. So that's something to consider if, say, appointments are really hard to still find. If you're on an international trip soon and you apply for a global entry, you can have an interview as you're coming into the US from an international trip.

Next thing to note is. Add your known traveler number into your airline profile, so your known traveler number will be given to you once you get approved from precheck or global entry. Which comes with [00:07:00] pre-check, you'll go ahead and add that to your airline profile. You'll wanna make sure when you're, whenever you get your boarding pass, either on your phone or printed out that it says TSA pre-check on there or they won't let you in.

, I know it's happened to me a few times where I thought I put the known traveler number in, but I didn't. And I realized it. 'cause when I look at my boarding pass on my phone, it doesn't appear right above the QR code. So I went in there. You can do it like right before you go through security.

Basically just put your known traveler number in refresh and it'll pop up. Having this benefit is so nice, especially on those days that maybe you're stuck in traffic or you're just slightly behind. It's nothing like seeing a massive queue at security, but when you look over to TSA precheck, it's a lot less crowded and sometimes there's nobody there.

I know Orlando, where [00:08:00] I'm located, is a major hub and the security lines can be quite hectic, especially during the busy times. I call it ain't spring break, but knowing that we have TSA precheck. It gives us such an ease of mind and it's so stress free when it comes to our travel days. This has been one of the best things that I've included in our travel days, and , I'm so glad that we can leverage credit cards to get this benefit.

So number two is something I haven't done personally, but it's having clear plus. So this is another fast track option. Uh, kind of like TSA precheck, but what ClearPlus is, is a paid membership service that provides faster airport and venue security screening using biometric, identification such as your eyes and fingerprints.

Uh, this is about $209 a year, and it's not available at every [00:09:00] airport, so. The biggest difference here is clear speeds, the start of the security process. While TSA pre-check helps quicken it after the agent confirms your identity. So normally you would want both of these to really maximize, , the quickness of security.

Honestly, I've never felt the need to have clear, and I don't have any of the cards that come with a clear credit. The cards that come with the clear credit are like the American Express Platinum, the American Express Green Card, the Hilton Honors Aspired Card by American Express. I don't have any of these cards, so that's another reason I don't have the credit or have clear, um, I don't have the credit to use on Clear and personally, I just, with TSA pre-check, it's enough for me.

Okay, I'm gonna link an article in the show notes. , It's a good read by the Points guy. It's about TSA precheck and clear and having both of [00:10:00] 'em and how it could be beneficial to you. So yeah, if you wanna give it a read, I think it's a pretty good article. Number three is a big one for me. And not only is TSA Precheck and Global Entry, a fantastic perk and helps with so much stress, especially when you're running late.

But when you're past security, I know you just wanna relax. You want to be in a quiet space, you want to have good wifi, maybe some charging outlets. Who wants a nicer air bathroom? I know I do. And that's the lounge. So airport lounge access is such a good benefit from credit cards, and it really has changed the way we travel.

You know, for some reason my stomach decides to always be hungry at the airport. And of course the airport is the most expensive place to buy food. It's like $20 a sandwich. Having the lounge access is so nice. You get food. You get drinks. Well, it depends on the lounge, so let's go over it first. I always get to the [00:11:00] airport a lot earlier than normal.

Sometimes I like to get there three hours before. If I know there's a good lounge to go to, if there's not like Orlando here, I usually get there about an hour and a half before my flight leave. So let's go over some lounges. With American Express. The American Express Platinum and Business, there's the Centurion Lounge.

Now American Express has the most amount of lounges in the world. Unfortunately. In the past, if you had a American Express Platinum Card. You are able to bring in guests with you to the lounge. They took that benefit away, so it's only the person carrying the card that is allowed access to the American Express lounges.

If you want to bring somebody in, it's a $50 charge for an adult and $30 for children age two to 17. I've been able to experience some Centurion lounges back in 2022. My [00:12:00] wife was the one that had the platinum card, so we were able to use the centurion lounges in Vegas and Denver quite a few times. I think overall we used it four times.

We went to the lounges and it was a really good experience. I enjoyed the Centurion lounges every time I went, and the food was really good. We had drinks there. It was a really nice place to just lounge and relax, and I believe that was our very first. Lounge experience, the Centurion lounge in Vegas on our way over to Hawaii, and it was a good lounge.

It was a good first experience, and it left a lasting impression on us. It made me think, wow, I really enjoy having a lounge coming to the airport early, which is stress free right there because you're early, but you have a place to relax. You have a place to eat. You can save so much money on food. And yes, all these [00:13:00] cards that I'm mentioning that have these perks come with annual fees, so know that, but they're offset if you're able to use the benefits and perks that they give you.

And lounge access is a big perk. If you travel enough, you can save money on food and just have an overall better travel day experience. Capital One Venture X. Is a card I have and it allows you access it to Capital One lounges. Right now the member of the card, which is myself, I can bring in two guests with me.

It's an amazing perk to bring guests with me 'cause I'm always bringing my wife along. But unfortunately, February 1st, 2026, only members with the card have access and any guests would have to pay Additionally, just like American Express and the reasoning for this change is Capital One was a new lounge.

They had revamped. Themselves and they [00:14:00] started coming out with lounges, so they wanted to get people in the lounges. But now I'm seeing such a massive difference from when I got this, uh, venture X card years ago to now that the lounges are really packed and there's a lot of people. So to scale that back, they're adding these rules to kind of limit how many people are crowding the lounges.

So it's unfortunate because I've enjoyed the Capital One lounges so much, especially the one in Denver. Whenever we're going from the East coast to the West coast, I'm always making sure our connections are in Denver so I can hit up the capital One Lounge. It is such a good lounge. The food is really good.

I really enjoy the portions they give you and even the presentation. , It's really nice. The bar is really nice and they even have a to-go section, which is so amazing. 'cause after we eat, [00:15:00] I make sure we take some to-go snacks because for some reason my stomach also gets hungry whenever we're in the air.

So at the moment, the Venture Ax card is my go-to card for lounges. I've enjoyed Capital One lounges so much. I've even been able to take showers that you can reserve at the front desk of the Capital One Lounge. And what a feeling it is to have a connection, be able to shower, be able to eat, and then hop on your next flight, like that's next level stress-free Ultimate travel day.

So I've really enjoyed it. I'm still debating if I'm gonna keep this card. I think I am for another year. But I know the next card that we're gonna be talking about, or the next lounge I'm gonna be talking about is something. I really liked and I got to experience once this year, and that is the Sapphire Lounge.

So to get into the Sapphire Lounge, you'd have to have the Sapphire [00:16:00] Reserve Now. The Sapphire lounges are starting to pop up more and more. The Sapphire lounges are fairly new, so they're following what Capital One did with allowing the cardholder to bring in two guests. This is to gain popularity as the lounge and get more foot traffic and get people talking about it.

And let me say my experience, when I went to New York this year, I was flying outta LaGuardia and with my Venture X Card. It allows me priority pass, which I'm gonna get into next, but with Priority Pass, it allows me a one-time visit to a Sapphire Lounge. This is when I took advantage of it, because I was traveling alone during this one leg.

I was flying out from LaGuardia and they have a Sapphire lounge there. And let me say the lounge is absolutely stunning. The whole design of the inside and the different rooms and the whole flow of it. Was just beautiful and I would [00:17:00] recommend just look on YouTube and see what these lounges look like so that you can kind of get an idea.

But this lounge was fantastic and I remember sitting down at a smaller booth and the table had a QR code on it. I scanned it and I was able to just put in my order there. I got a drink and I believe a chicken sandwich. And it came straight to my table, and that was, I was so impressed by this lounge. It was stunning.

The service was great, and it really exceeded my expectations because Capital One's been my favorite lounge so far. But now that I experienced a Sapphire Lounge, it really took it up a notch for me. So now I'm kind of considering maybe a Sapphire Reserve in the future because it got so many perks and benefits with the revamp It recently got.

I know the, the annual fee is extremely high, but you always have to do your research and understand the benefits that come with these cards and offset 'em with the ones that you know you'll use. [00:18:00] So let's get into Priority Pass, 'cause this is another benefit that's added on to those other cards that I just mentioned that have those access to those ex exclusive lounges like the Centurion Lounge, capital One Lounge and Sapphire Lounge.

So with the Priority Pass, there are a lot of 'em throughout the world. What I like doing is going on the Priority Pass app and seeing what airports have Priority Pass lounges if they don't have a big brand lounge like the other three that I mentioned. Just a heads up though, priority Pass lounges are a very hit and miss lounge.

You're not gonna get the experience like the big lounges, but. They are still a nice place, a nice quiet space to go into. They'll still have maybe some food and some drinks. , It's very minimal, but it's just enough to feel comfortable. I do have to mention that when [00:19:00] we visited in San Francisco, it was the club SFO, and it was a really good lounge for being a priority lounge.

'cause I know other airports have the club, but normally they're very simple and minimal. Where the one in San Francisco was really nice for a Priority Pass lounge. I would say it's just under those major lounges, but it's not far off and it offers really good variety of food and seating areas and just a nice place to sit back and relax.

So with Priority Pass, let's get into, , how many guests and such you can get in with different cards. So with the American Express Platinum. If the card member can get one guest in with the Venture X Card, you can still bring in two guests to the Priority Pass Lounge, but this also ends on February 1st, 2026, where the member of the card is the only one that has access, and each additional guest is $35.

With the [00:20:00] Sapphire Reserve, you're able to bring in two guests, and I'm not sure if I mentioned this. With the original Sapphire Lounge, but if you have the Sapphire Reserve, you can also bring in two guests. So that's why I'd say right now the Sapphire Reserve is going to be or is the best lounge access card because you can bring in two guests to the Sapphire lounges and you can bring two guests with you into the Priority pass lounges.

The annual fee is really high at 7 95 right now. But you have to do your research and look into all the perks and benefits because there are a lot that are included with this card. And you can offset all of that $795 through credits that they give you throughout the year. So I have to say, out of all these on the list, the lounges are my favorite.

It's been such a game changer. And not only do I get to show up early to the [00:21:00] airports, but I get to have a nice, relaxing experience and I get to eat my food that I so desperately crave when I get to the airport. And it's just a really good experience, and if you can experience it, I would highly recommend it.

All right, the next topic I have is no foreign transaction fees from credit cards. So if you're going international. This is such a nice benefit to have because you can avoid those 3% charges on any purchase you do internationally. Whenever I travel internationally, especially when I go to Japan. I could just use my credit card whenever I can and whenever it's available, and it's becoming more and more available in Japan, as I know it's a very cash based society, but that's slightly changing and I can use my credit card a lot, and especially if I have a credit card that has a signup bonus I need to hit, hopefully it has a no foreign transaction fee.

But a lot of cards do. So [00:22:00] let's go over it With Chase, there's a Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve with Capital One. You have the venture and Venture. X American Express has the platinum card, the gold card, the green card. I'm only naming a few from each bank. I'm not naming all the cards. I'm just giving you a, a general example.

So with Citi, there's the Citi Advantage Business World Elite MasterCard, which is the American Airlines Card. The Citi Strata Premiered card. You even have a no annual fee card. This isn't Citi, but it's with Built. The Built card doesn't have any foreign transaction fees, and it's a zero annual fee card.

So it's a win-win. I know those travel days can feel very stressful, but as you travel more and benefit these perks that these credit cards give you, it can really become an experience where you look forward to and you look forward to the going [00:23:00] to airports and experiencing different lounges and breezing through security in no time.

That's really nice. Just really nice not taking your shoes off. But who knows, you might actually have these perks sitting in your wallet. So definitely take a few minutes, look at your cards and see if they have any of these perks. And there are other perks I didn't even mention, but I just wanted to talk about the main ones that have really impacted the way I travel and make those travel days less stressful.

If you have a favorite travel perk that makes your travel day smoother, send me a message on Instagram. Email me at Rewarding Routes podcast@gmail.com, and I'd love to hear it. I'd love to share your tips. I I always write down anything that I learned from you guys. And I make sure to share it on a future episode or if we cover that topic, I make sure to mention it.

So thank you so much for listening. I hope you got some really good value out of this and I'll see you on the [00:24:00] next one. See ya.