How the planner actually works

What the planner is (and is not)

The Travel Goal Planner is a calculator. It takes the numbers you type in — your trip goal, monthly spending by category, and existing points balances — and simulates month by month how points would accumulate across a sequence of cards.

It does not search live award inventory, it does not pull your credit report or run any credit check, and it does not know your credit score. Award pricing is dynamic; always confirm the live price with the airline or hotel program before transferring points.

Where the award-cost numbers come from

Editorial estimate ranges, not live award prices. Points ranges reflect what well-executed transfer-partner bookings have typically cost across published sweet-spot charts and our own award searches; the low end is an off-peak/sweet-spot booking, the high end is a normal saver-level award. Cash ranges are typical advance-purchase retail fares for the same cabin. Award pricing is dynamic and devalues over time — treat these as planning targets and always confirm the live price before transferring points.

The award-cost table is refreshed monthly and was last updated 2026-07. Every figure is per person, round trip, departing the mainland US.

How points are valued

Each rewards currency is assigned a cents-per-point value from our valuations table — editorial estimates of what a point is reasonably worth when redeemed well, set deliberately below optimistic industry headline values. Transferable-currency values assume transfers to airline or hotel partners for good (not once-in-a-lifetime) redemptions.

How cards are scored and ranked

Cards are ranked by estimated first-year value: the welcome bonus valued at our cents-per-point figure, plus a year of earnings on the spending you entered, plus issuer credits counted at 50 cents on the dollar (because most people do not use them fully), minus the full annual fee.

A plan uses at most 4 cards. The months each card needs to meet its minimum spend are computed from your budget — the planner never assumes spending you did not enter.

Why Chase cards come first

When two orderings produce similar value, the plan schedules Chase cards earlier. Chase declines most applications once you have opened 5 personal cards in the last 24 months (the 5/24 rule), while other issuers do not weigh your Chase history the same way — so postponing a Chase card can cost you the card, while postponing others usually costs nothing.

Booking windows

Book-by dates assume award calendars open roughly 11 months (about 330 days) before departure, which is typical across major programs. Individual programs vary.

Compensation and independence

Card recommendations can include affiliate links; when they do, they are labeled every time, and compensation never changes the scoring — the ranking is produced by the formula above before any link is attached. See the affiliate disclosure for details.