Are you fed up of spending thousands of dollars on travel? Well, good news! Travel hacking can be the solution to all your travel problems. It’s a fun way to convert credit card bonus and sign-up incentives into miles which can be used to score discounted or cheap flights from your dream destinations. With a little creativity and some insider knowledge, you can fly for no cost within a matter of minutes.
The Basics of Travel Hacking
Travel hacking is about exchanging credit card sign-up bonuses as well as incentives to earn airline miles. The miles can be used to purchase cheap or free flight tickets. Certain credit cards let you redeem miles for hotel stays and rental car offers.
How Does it Work?
The key to successful hacking your travel plans is to take advantage of credit card sign-up bonuses and building out frequent flyer miles for a specific group of airlines. When it comes time to book a flight, evaluate the cost. If the price is under $300, it’s best to pay in cash and use your miles to pay to book a higher-priced flight. When the flights start getting above $500, you’ll want to check those frequent flyer accounts and see which airline can give you the best price. It all boils down to the number of points or miles you have you have in your travel savings account for each airline.
Begin by Getting Started with Travel Hacking
Are you interested in learning the secrets to hacking travel? Your first task is to open the credit card that comes with a sign-up bonus. There are plenty of great credit cards that provide many features and benefits. It all depends on your preferred airline, your spending habits, and the features that are most essential to you.
Top Credit Card Picks
Here are a few credit card options that can be perfect to hack travel
- Chase Sapphire Reserve
- Chase United Explorer
- JetBlue Mastercard
- Capital One Venture X
After you’ve been accepted for a credit or debit card, you’ll need to hit the spending limit for minimum expenditure in order to qualify for the bonus. Every card has different guidelines, so make sure to check for the details. Then you can begin to rack up miles and then using them to book your dream vacation!
Ready to jet-set with your ideas?
Now that you’ve built up your points balance, it’s time to cash them in for some sweet vacation! Different credit card providers will have different methods of redeeming your points, but here are some examples from a few of the providers I’ve worked with:
Take a trip through Chase Ultimate Reward
If you own an Chase credit card, then you can redeem your points via the Ultimate Rewards portal. Through the portal, you’ll get access to nearly every airline and you can make use of a combination of money and points to book your trip. You can even book completely on points if you have the balance for it! Sometimes, even if you don’t possess enough points for the total cost, you still can purchase flights through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal and pay the balance cash using every credit card.
United
Are you tired of paying full price for your flights? Did you not know that when you book directly through United You have the option to pay with either points or dollars? But, be careful in case you don’t have enough points, you cannot combine dollars and points on one flight. If you’re a few point short United also offers the option to purchase additional miles.
JetBlue
Are you looking for a domestic flight? Look no further than JetBlue! JetBlue offers an enjoyable and comfortable travel experience that includes extra legroom as well as free snacks. Plus, their booking process is like United’s, allowing customers to book using either JetBlue either dollars or points however, not both. But, JetBlue has a unique feature where you can combine your points with family members to accrue points twice as fast. Just make sure you can verify that you are a family member before trying to hack into the system.
Reach that Minimum Spend
If you’re like me or my travel buddy Becca You’re probably quite thrifty and it’s difficult to think of spending thousands of dollars to reach the minimum amount required to earn the credit card bonus. However, don’t be worried as we’ve done it and are here to share our tricks and tips.
Pay your rent (if you can)
This is a huge one! If you’re able to pay your rent with credit card, go for it! Make sure you pay a cost, which is usually around 3%. It could be worthwhile in the long run if the bonus is high enough.
Pay a medical bill
Another way to reach the minimum spend is to cover an medical bill. If you don’t have any medical bills coming up Ask your family members to pay their medical bills and they can reimburse you.
Pay off a loan
If you’re in the middle of a loan, consider paying them off with an credit card. Just make sure you pay the credit card balance in full so you don’t accrue more debt.
Ask family members for assistance
Discuss your family with them and determine if they’ve got any large expenses coming up that you can contribute for. Be sure to be sure that you’re able to have confidence in the person you are talking to and they understand why you’re taking the initiative.
Give presents
If you’re in the middle of the holiday season take into consideration buying all of your gifts with the credit card you have. So you’ll be able to meet the minimum spending limit and also be ready to give gifts. Make sure that you’re not paying more than you planning to.
There are a lot of ways to get the most of the travel credit card. You can earn miles or points to spend on the cost of flights or other expenses related to travel. Here are a few additional ways to maximize your rewards:
Pay for travel expenses using your credit card
When you’re planning your next vacation, make use of your travel credit card for booking your hotel, flight or rental car, as well as other travel costs. In addition, you’ll be able to hit the minimum spend for your credit card bonus, but you’ll also earn points or miles for those expenses.
Utilize your credit card to pay to pay for your everyday expenditures
Another way to hit the minimum spend to earn rewards is using your credit card to pay for daily expenses. This could include things like gas, groceries or even your phone bill. Just make sure to pay off the balance each month in full so you don’t accrue interest charges.
Benefit from bonus categories
Many travel credit cards offer miles or points in exchange for certain types of purchases, including eating out or traveling. Be sure to review your credit card’s rewards program and take advantage of the bonus categories that are in line with your spending habits.
Consider the possibility of transferring your balance
If you’re in the middle of a debt on a credit card, think about transferring that balance onto the travel credit card which has an introductory rate of 0% for balance transfers. This will enable you to pay off your debts without accruing interest, and also aid in achieving the minimum spend for the credit card’s bonus.
Use your points or miles prudently
When you’ve earned a significant amount of points or miles make sure you use them wisely. Check out the rewards program on your credit card, and evaluate the worth of various redemption options. For instance, using points to purchase a flight directly with the airline could offer better value than using them for the purchase of a gift card.
Another option is to get an rewards card that permits you to transfer rewards to different loyalty program. This allows you to have a wider range of choices and more flexibility when making use of your rewards. For instance, you might be capable of transferring your reward to the frequent flyer program of an airline or hotel rewards program. This gives an access greater range of flights, hotels, and other travel perks that may not be accessible through the rewards program on your credit card.
Additionally, try to discover whether your credit card has certain benefits that will save you money on travel-related expenses. Many cards offer travel insurance as well as rental car insurance baggage protection, and other benefits that can be invaluable when you travel.
When you travel with someone else each of you will be able to get rewards on your credit card. Make sure you don’t share the costs on the same card, and be sure you keep track of your rewards in a separate manner.
The key to making the most of your travel rewards is to know the rewards program of your credit card and ensure that you’re using this program in the most effective method. Utilizing all of the strategies I’ve outlined in this article, you’ll be able earn rewards quickly, redeem them for valuable travel experiences and take advantage of a broad range of travel perks.