Are you tired of spending a fortune on airfare? Well, good news! Travel hacking can be the solution to all your travel woes. It’s a fun way to turn credit card welcome bonuses and other incentives into airline miles, that can then be used to score discounted or complimentary flights for your ideal destinations. With a little bit of imagination and some know-how, you’ll fly for no cost within a matter of minutes.
The Basics of Travel Hacking
Travel hacking is the art of swapping credit card sign-up bonus and rewards for airline miles. These miles can later be used to purchase cheap or free flight tickets. Certain credit cards allow you to redeem miles to pay for hotel stays or car rental offers.
How Does it Work?
The most effective method for success in travel hacking is to take advantage of the credit card sign-up bonus and establishing frequent flyer miles for a specific group of airlines. When it comes time to make a booking, evaluate the cost. If the cost is under $300, it’s generally better to pay cash and save your miles to book a higher-priced flight. If your flights begin to climb higher than $500, it’s best to look into those frequent flyer accounts to find out which airline will give you the best price. It all comes down to the amount of miles or points in your travel bank for each airline.
Start with Travel Hacking
Ready to learn the secrets to hacking travel? The first step is to open the credit card that comes with a sign-up offer. There are a lot of fantastic credit cards that offer various advantages and features. It depends on the type of airline, spending habits and what features are crucial to you.
Top Credit Card Picks
Here are a few credit card options that can be excellent for travel hacking:
- Chase Sapphire Reserve
- Chase United Explorer
- JetBlue Mastercard
- Capital One Venture X
If you’ve been approved for a credit or debit card, you’ll need to hit the spending limit for minimum expenditure in order to receive the bonus. Each card has its own rules, so make sure to look up this information. From there it’s all about building up miles, and then using them to book your dream vacation!
Ready to jet-set with your goals?
Once you’ve accumulated your points amount, it’s time to cash them in for some sweet getaway! Different credit card companies will have different methods of redeeming your rewards, here are a few examples from some of the ones I’ve worked with:
Escape with Chase Ultimate Rewards
If you have an Chase cards, you can redeem your points via the Ultimate Rewards portal. Through this portal you’ll have access to nearly every airline, and you can use a combination of points and cash to book your travel. You can even book entirely on points if you have enough balance! Sometimes even if you do not be able to accumulate enough points in order to pay for total price, you can buy flights with Chase Ultimate Rewards portal and pay the balance in cash with the credit card of your choice.
United
Are you tired of paying full price for your flight tickets? Did you realize that when booking directly through United You have the option to pay with either points or dollars? Butbe aware, if you don’t have enough points you can’t combine points and dollars on one flight. If you’re only a couple of point short United provides the option of buying additional miles.
JetBlue
Are you looking for a domestic flight? You should look no further than JetBlue! JetBlue offers passengers a relaxing and pleasant flight experience with extra space and complimentary snacks. Additionally, their booking process is similar to United’s that allows passengers to book flights using JetBlue points or dollars, but not both. However, JetBlue has a unique feature where you can combine your points with family members to accrue points twice as quickly. Be sure to prove you’re really family before trying to hack the system.
Make sure you spend that minimum amount
If you’re anything like me and my travel companion Becca You’re probably quite thrifty and it’s difficult to think of spending thousands of dollars in order to meet the required amount to qualify for credit card bonuses. Don’t worry because we’ve been there and are here to share our tricks and tips.
Pay your rent (if you can)
This is a big one! If you’re able to pay for your rent using credit card, go for it! Make sure you pay a cost, which is usually about 3%. It could be worthwhile over the long term if the bonus is high enough.
Pay for a medical bill
Another way to reach the required spending is to pay for the medical bills. If you do not have any medical expenses in the near future Ask your relatives if you could pay their medical bills and they can pay you back.
Repay a loan
If you’re a borrower you owe, think about making payments on them with your credit card. Be sure to pay off the credit card balance completely so that you don’t end up with additional debt.
Ask family members for assistance
Talk to your family and look into any large expenses coming up that you can help pay for. Just make sure you are able to trust the person and that they understand why you’re doing this.
Give gifts
If you’re in the middle of the holiday season you should consider purchasing all of your gifts with cards from your credit account. So you’ll be able to hit that minimum spend and also be prepared for gift giving. Just make sure you’re not paying more than you already thinking of.
There are a lot of methods to get the most out of your travel credit card. You can accrue points or miles to use towards flights or other travel-related expenses. Here are a few additional suggestions for maximising your rewards
Pay for travel expenses using your credit card
Whenever you’re planning a trip, make use of you travel credit card to pay for your hotel, flight, rental car, and other travel costs. In addition, you’ll achieve the required amount for your credit card and earn points, however, you’ll also earn points or miles for the costs.
Make use of your credit card to pay to pay for your everyday expenses
Another way to meet the minimum amount of spending to earn rewards is using your credit card to pay for everyday costs. This could include items like groceries, gas or even your phone bill. Be sure to pay off the balance in full each month so you don’t accumulate interest.
Benefit from bonus categories
A lot of travel credit cards provide miles or bonus points on certain kinds of purchases, like dining or travel. Make sure you review your rewards program on your credit card and make use of any bonus categories that align with your spending routines.
Take into consideration a balance transfer
If you’re in the middle of a debt on a high-interest credit card, you might want to transfer the balance to a travel credit card with an introductory rate of 0% for balance transfer. This will let you pay off your debt without accruing interest, and also help you hit the minimum amount required to earn the credit card bonus.
Make use of your miles or points carefully
Once you’ve accumulated a substantial amount of miles or points make sure you use them wisely. Review the rewards program for your credit card and then compare the benefits of different redemption options. For example using points to book a ticket directly with the airline might offer better value than using them for an gift card.
Another option is to get a rewards card that allows you to transfer reward points into other loyalty programmes. This will let you have a wider range of choices and more flexibility when you want to redeem your rewards. For instance, you might be capable of transferring your rewards to the frequent flyer program of an airline or hotel rewards program. This can give the benefit of a larger variety of hotels, flights, and other travel perks that aren’t offered through your credit card’s rewards program.
Also, find out the card’s benefits. any perks that can help you save money on travel expenses. A lot of credit cards provide travel insurance as well as rental car insurance baggage protection, and other benefits that can be invaluable when you travel.
If you’re traveling with a friend each of you will be able to earn rewards using your credit card. Be aware that you cannot divide the cost with the same card and make sure to keep track of the rewards you earn separately.
The key to making the most of your travel rewards is to know your credit card’s rewards program and make sure you’re using your credit card in the most efficient method possible. Utilizing an array of strategies I’ve listed, you’ll be able to get rewards in a short time, use them for valuable travel experiences and benefit from a wide range of travel perks.