Award Travel 101

In Episode 132 of the Award Travel 101 podcast, host Mike Zaccheo is joined by community member Heather Killingbeck to dive into how her passion for the Dave Matthews Band (DMB) intersects with her love of points and miles. Heather shares how a spontaneous trip to a DMB show in Mexico led to meaningful friendships and a realization that she needed to make concert travel more affordable—enter points and miles. She's since used over half a million points, possibly up to a million, to follow the band to iconic venues like The Gorge and even on a European tour, with award redemptions taking her to Amsterdam, Paris, and Lisbon. Her go-to strategy includes the Southwest Companion Pass, Hyatt Globalist perks, and travel hacking tools to make the most of every trip, all while juggling work, family, and parent guilt.The episode also covers major news in the points world: the launch of Citi’s new Strata Elite card with a hefty bonus, luxury perks, and the surprise reintroduction of American Airlines as a 1:1 trans