Expedia credit card: 4% back on hotels (and groceries, gas, and more)

Citibank's Expedia.com / PremierPass credit card is worth keeping if you travel frequently.  This card advertises 2 Thank You Points (Citi's points program) for every dollar you spend on Expedia.

That's not bad on its own, but PremierPass cards also lets you accrue Thank You Points for miles flown on tickets purchased with the card.  Huh?  It's a little complicated...if you buy a ticket for $200 for a round-trip flight that is 1500 miles, you get 1700 points (if you use the Elite card) or 700 points (if you use the basic card with no annual fee).  But there's a catch: you can't get those "Flight Points" unless you spend a corresponding amount on purchases.  So if you dreamed of using this just for flight purchases, forget it.  (Damn those conniving Citibank shareholders...oh wait, that's us!)

Not so fast.  It turns out that you can get full "Flight Points" credit if you charge the taxes/fees on your award bookings.  So last year I paid $10 for an award ticket to Hawaii and accumulated 2,000 points that I couldn't use because I didn't buy anything else with the card.  But, when I booked a hotel stay on Expedia, I got 5 Thank You Points for every dollar I spent:

• 2 Purchase Points from Expedia as advertised


• 2 Flight Points from my earlier award ticket purchase that I thought I'd never see


• 1 point from registering my Thank You number with Expedia.com

Thank You, Citibank shareholders!  If you get the Elite version of the card, you can get 4 points back (2 Purchase Points & 2 Flight Points) at supermarkets, gas stations, drugstores, parking, and commuter rail.  That is, as long as you can bank Flight Points, ideally with award ticket bookings.

You can get an additional 1-4% back at Expedia by shopping through a cashback mall, or you can also give a commission to your favorite blogger by clicking here.