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How To Use This Site

Family Points Passport is written for parents who want five-star trips without five-star prices. You don't need to read everything — just follow this path, in order.

  1. Get The Free 101 Guide

    Everything starts here: Melissa's seven-lesson beginner guide to travel hacking — welcome bonuses, credit scores, which cards and in what order, and how to redeem for outsized value. One free PDF, delivered the moment you leave your email.

    Do this now: Download the guide — it's about a 13-minute read.

    Get the guide
  2. Learn The Words

    Points people speak in shorthand — 5/24, transfer partners, cents per point, Player 2. The plain-language glossary defines all of it, with the family angle included, so nothing else on this site (or anywhere) reads like a foreign language.

    Do this now: Skim the glossary once; come back when a term stumps you.

    Open the glossary
  3. Choose Your Cards

    The cards we actually carry and the honest reason each one earns its place — organized by what your family needs, not by who pays the biggest commission. This is where the points come from.

    Do this now: Pick your next card, not your next five. One at a time.

    See the cards
  4. Put The Calculators To Work

    Free tools for the real decisions: when award bookings open for your school-break dates, what your points become in every transfer partner, whether a redemption is actually good, and whether a premium card's fee pays for itself.

    Do this now: If you have a trip in mind, run the booking-window calculator first.

    Open the tools
  5. Book Like We Do

    The strategy guides are the playbooks: how we search award flights step by step, where Chase, Amex, and Capital One points fly furthest, and the exact letter we send to request hotel upgrades.

    Do this now: Read the award-booking guide before your first redemption.

    Read the playbooks
  6. See It In Action

    The hotel tours on YouTube and the trip reports show you what the points actually buy — room by room, resort by resort. And the gear that survives our trips lives in the shop.

    Do this now: Watch one tour of a resort on your wish list.

    Watch the tours

The honest part

You don't need to understand everything before you begin — and you definitely don't need to follow fifty accounts. The whole game rests on one rule: pay your balance in full every month. Interest erases points several times over. If that's not where you are yet, sort it first — the points will still be here.

Wondering who “we” is? Our story is here.