The Thrifty Traveler Podcast · Tuesday, September 1, 2026
Kyle Potter reflects on his early mistakes in the points and miles game, stating he made choices that could have been optimized. He specifically recalls purchasing his wife's engagement ring in 2016 and opening a Delta SkyMiles credit card without considering his long-term travel goals or the types of points that would be most beneficial.
“Not like costly, fatal mistakes and points and miles, but things that we could have done better.”
“So I very vividly remember buying my wife's engagement ring in like 2016 and thought, wow, well, I'm gonna spend a couple thousand dollars, I should put this on a credit card.”
“But I wasn't thinking at the time about the trips that we were going to take and therefore which kind of points I should earn. So I did what everybody in Minneapolis and Atlanta and Detroit and Salt Lake City and Seattle does is I opened a Delta SkyMiles credit card.”