Tomorrow I'll be listing the top current sign up bonuses for rewards credit cards. But what does it mean for a card to have a top bonus?

There are two equally valid ways to value a credit-card sign up bonus. The method that is appropriate for you depends mainly on how much you spend per year on credit cards.

Absolute Value Method: Calculate the total value of the sign up bonus in dollars. Rank the sign up bonus offers by their value in dollars.

Rebate Percentage Method: Calculate the total value of the sign up bonus in dollars.

Today I am flying from Honolulu to Los Angeles on a flight operated by American Airlines. I bought my ticket with 12,500 British Airways Avios and $11 as described in this Anatomy of an Award. I listed 12,500 Avios and $11 as one of the cheapest ways to get to Hawaii recently.

Yesterday at 2:50 PM, when I got the email to check in, I did so.

Hey there, you're reading an outdated post! The updated series from April 2015 can be found here.

This is the fifth post in a monthlong series. Each post will take about two minutes to read and may include an action item that takes the reader another two minutes to complete.

I travel very differently than many of my readers. I'm up front in a premium class, but then when I land, I take my one carry on and zero checked bags to the house of a complete stranger where I stay for free. I couchsurf.

Couchsurfing refers to two things: the act of sleeping on a strangers couch or guest bed for free and the website couchsurfing.org--the main facilitator of couchsurfing in 2012.

Couchsurfing enriches and "en-cheapens" my travels so significantly that I wanted to evangelize about it for a post.

Every three months, Priority Club releases its list of PointBreaks hotels. That's huge news because you can stay at any hotel--any Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Staybridge Suites--on the list for $35 a night between now and October 15, if the hotel has award availability.

Priority Club releases a PointBreaks hotels list every quarter as a loss leader.

This is another post in my Anatomy of an Award series, in which I take a real award I’ve booked and break it down step-by-step to elucidate the award booking process. If you have a real award you’d like to write up in a similar post, please contact me, and you can write a guest post.

Etihad Diamond First Class looks like an aspirational award if I've ever seen one. Here's a YouTube promotional video of the suite .

Hey there, you're reading an outdated post! The updated series from April 2015 can be found here.

This is the fourth post in a monthlong series. Each post will take about two minutes to read and may include an action item that takes the reader another two minutes to complete.

Hey there, you're reading an outdated post! The updated series from April 2015 can be found here.

This is the third post in a monthlong series. Each post will take about two minutes to read and may include an action item that takes the reader another two minutes to complete. I am writing this for an audience of people who know nothing about frequent flier miles, and my goal is that by the end, you know enough to fly for free anywhere you want to go.

The main source of frequent-flier miles is credit card sign up bonuses.

When I skewered the British Airways Travel Together companion pass a few days back because of the gigantic out of pocket cost of the surcharges, a natural question emerged: how can you fly in British Airways First Class without paying $1,000 plus miles.

The short answer is to fly from Brazil to Europe with American Airlines miles.

Hey there, you're reading an outdated post! The updated series from April 2015 can be found here.

This is the second post in a monthlong series. Each post will take about two minutes to read and may include an action item that takes the reader another two minutes to complete.