Tools

For travelers, managing money abroad can be a major source of stress. Enter the Charles Schwab Investor Checking Debit card – a financial tool that has become a favorite here at Life of Points and among international travelers. This card offers many travel-friendly benefits over traditional checking accounts, with its ‘superpower’ being its advantages for withdrawing money abroad.

Unlimited ATM Fee Rebates Worldwide

Our favorite feature of the Charles Schwab debit card is its unlimited ATM fee rebates worldwide. Yes, you read that right. This means you can use any ATM, anywhere in the world, without worrying about fees. At the end of each month, your account is reimbursed by Schwab for all ATM fees incurred, putting the money back into your account.

This feature eliminates the need to carry large amounts of cash or waste time searching for specific ATMs to avoid fees. Instead, you can use the most convenient ATM available, knowing that any fees will be refunded.

No Foreign Transaction Fees

Another advantage for international travelers is the absence of foreign transaction fees. While we at Life of Points generally advise against using debit cards for purchases abroad, this card’s elimination of foreign transaction fees makes it a viable option if you need to use it.

Many banks charge a percentage (typically 1-3%) on every transaction made in a foreign currency. These fees can quickly add up, especially on longer trips.

No Minimum Balance Requirements

Unlike other checking accounts, the Schwab Investor Checking account has no minimum balance requirements or monthly fees.

The absence of minimum balance requirements and monthly fees makes this account ideal for use as a dedicated travel account. Before any international trip I normally load the account up with my expected expenses (plus a little extra spending money).

Tip: Fund the account about 10 days before your trip as transfers to this account take longer than usual.

Additional Travel-Friendly Features

Beyond its main benefit for withdrawing money abroad, the Schwab debit card offers other travel-friendly features. These include travel accident and travel insurance, purchase protection, and extended warranty coverage on eligible purchases.

The Bottom Line

Whether you’re a digital nomad, a frequent business traveler, or an occasional vacationer, the Charles Schwab Investor Checking Debit card offers a great set of travel-friendly features. Its combination of unlimited ATM fee rebates, no foreign transaction fees, and no minimum balance make it an excellent tool for managing money while traveling.

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Here at Life of Points we are all about redeeming our points and miles. Therefore, we’ve found the best tools for travelers to maximize their rewards and streamline the booking process. One of the biggest challenges in the points and miles world is the time-consuming task of searching across all the various airline websites for deals and itineraries that work for you. 

That is where our preferred points search engine steps in. Seats.aero is a powerful web-based tool that allows users to search for flights, track availability, and set alerts for when a new redemption option becomes available. 

Whether you’re a seasoned points traveler or just starting your journey into the world of points and miles, this guide will teach you how to use Seats.aero to its fullest potential. 

Explore

Seats.aero’s Explore function can be accessed from the home page and allows users to search for flights with their preferred airline mileage program. Each airline program’s transfer partners are also conveniently displayed so you won’t have to memorize or spend time searching for these details. 

If you’re using the free-version of the tool you’ll be limited to flights within the next 60 days, and you will not have access to the filters on the page. Free-users will only be able to use the search function, or sort by clicking the column headers.

Paid “PRO” users can refine their search by specifying departure and arrival airports, number of seats needed, maximum points for redemption, preferred days of the week, and direct flights only. Additionally, PRO users have access to results up to a year in advance.

In the image above you will see two flights leaving out of Montréal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL). Results and their corresponding point cost can be found on the right in a simple color-coded system. Blue indicates the route includes layovers, and green indicates the flight is direct.

For more information, you can click on the gray info button on the right of the page. This will prompt you with the popup seen below. In the resulting popup, important information such as flight time, point cost, taxes, and operating carrier can be found.

A nice feature of Seats.aero is that it displays results of airlines’ alliance partners. In the example below we searched the United MileagePlus program and got a result operated by Air Canada. This flight being operated by Air Canada is bookable using your United MileagePlus points. Clicking the blue Book via United MileagePlus button will initiate the booking process on United’s website.

Search

Users frequently rely on the Search function to plan trips since it offers precise filters tailored to individual needs. This tool provides the flexibility to search across multiple airports and includes filters for loyalty programs, alliances, transfer partners, and more.

One of the more handy features of the Search function is the integration of Multi-Airport codes. These allow users to use one code to search a broader area or an airline’s major hubs. You can view these codes by clicking the grey Multi-Airport Codes button at the top of the screen. A snippet of the codes can be seen below.

Example using Search function

Let’s begin with a hypothetical trip itinerary. For this search, we’ll assume we want to depart from the Miami area for a European vacation. Let’s also assume that we have a stash of American Express and Chase points.

We begin the search by entering QMI as our origin airport, which represents the Miami Metropolitan Area airports (MIA, FLL, and PBI). We use EUR as our destination airport which represents all large European airports.

After clicking search, the filters will appear. Because we have American Express and Chase points I will narrow our search to include flights only bookable with these two point currencies. 

The narrowed-down results are shown below. 

We see that the results show a mix of direct and non-direct flights and range from 12,500 points in economy-class up to 107,700 points in first-class. As we learned earlier, clicking the info button on the right-side of each result will display important details about each flight.

In this example, Miami to London (MIA-LHR) with Virgin Atlantic costs 12,500 points and $152.80. The $152.80 consists of a government imposed charge and an airline imposed surcharge. Always be aware of what the taxes are on award flights as they can occasionally be prohibitively expensive. 

Create Alerts 

The last of the main Seats.aero functions is the ability to create alerts. If your search doesn’t yield any results or the available options don’t align with your travel plans, you can set up an alert to be notified when new options become available. Creating alerts is a powerful feature that ensures you don’t miss out on new redemption opportunities that fit your travel plans.

Below is a screenshot of an example alert for our sample trip:

Note that SMS notifications and ability to choose a range of days are restricted to PRO users.

Conclusion

Seats.aero is an invaluable tool for travelers looking to maximize their points and miles. Whether you are searching for flights, or setting alerts for new redemption opportunities, Seats.aero simplifies the process and saves you time.

With features tailored to both free and PRO users, it offers flexibility and precision in planning your trips. By mastering Seats.aero, you can make the most out of your rewards and enjoy seamless travel experiences!

If you’re unsure how to maximize your points and miles or need advice on planning your trip, join our Discord server and ask away!