Are you tired of spending an enormous amount on flights? Well, good news! Travel hacking could be the solution to all your travel woes. It’s an exciting method to convert sign-up bonuses and incentives into airline miles which can be used to obtain discounted or cheap flights from your dream destinations. With a little bit of creativity and some insider know-how, you’ll travel for free in no time.
The Basics of Travel Hacking
Travel hacking is all about swapping credit card sign-up bonus as well as incentives to earn airline miles. The miles can be used to purchase discounted or even free flights. Certain credit cards will also permit you to use miles for hotel stays and rental car offers.
How Does it Work?
The secret to success in hacking your travel plans is to take advantage of the sign-up bonuses for credit cards and establishing frequent flyer miles on a select group of airlines. When it’s time to make a booking consider the cost. If the price is under $300, it’s best to pay in cash and save your miles for a more expensive flight. When the flights start getting over $500, you’ll need to review those frequent flyer accounts and find out which airline will give you the most value. All it boils down to is the amount of points or miles you have in your travel bank for every airline.
Start with Travel Hacking
Are you interested in learning the secrets of travel hacking? First step to open the credit card that comes with a sign-up offer. There are plenty of great credit cards that offer a variety of benefits and features. It is all dependent on the airline, your habits with spending and what features are crucial to you.
Top Credit Card Picks
Here are some credit cards great to use for hacking travel:
- Chase Sapphire Reserve
- Chase United Explorer
- JetBlue Mastercard
- Capital One Venture X
If you’ve been approved for a credit card you’ll need to hit the spending limit for minimum expenditure in order to get the bonus. Every card has different guidelines, so make sure to look up the details. Then you can begin to rack miles and then using them to book your dream vacation!
Ready to jet-set with your points?
Now that you’ve built up the points amount, it’s time to redeem them for some sweet getaway! Different credit card providers will offer different ways to redeem your points, but here are a few examples from some of the ones I have experience with:
Take a trip by using Chase Ultimate Rewards
If you own an Chase cards, you can use your points to redeem them through the Ultimate Rewards portal. Through it, you’ll get access to nearly every airline. You can make use of a combination of the points as well as cash in order to book your trip. You can book your flight entirely using points if you’ve got the balance for it! Sometimes even if you do not have enough points to cover the full cost, you still can purchase flights through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal and pay the balance in cash using every credit card.
United
Are you tired of paying full price for your flight tickets? Did you realize that when booking directly through United you can choose the option of paying with dollars or points? Be careful that if you don’t have enough points, you aren’t able to combine points and dollars for flights. If you’re a few points short, United gives you the option to purchase additional miles.
JetBlue
Are you looking for a domestic flight? Take a look at JetBlue! JetBlue offers an enjoyable and comfortable flight experience with extra legroom as well as free snacks. Plus, their booking process is similar to United’s that allows you to book with either JetBlue either dollars or points, but not both. But, JetBlue has a unique feature that lets you pool your points together with your relatives to earn points twice as fast. Be sure to verify that you are a family member before trying to hack into the system.
Hit that Minimum Spend
If you’re like me or my travel companion Becca You’re probably quite frugal and it can be difficult to think of spending thousands of dollars to reach the required amount to qualify for credit card bonuses. But don’t fret, we’ve been through it and we’re here to share our tips and tricks.
Pay your rent (if you can)
This is a huge one! If you’re able to pay your rent with a credit card, do it! Be prepared to be charged a fee, typically about 3%. It might be worth it in the long run in the event that the bonus is substantial enough.
Pay for a medical bill
Another great way to hit the spending limit is to cover a medical bill. If you don’t have any medical bills in the near future, ask your relatives if you could pay them for theirs, and they’ll repay you.
Repay the loan
If you’re in the middle of a loan take into consideration making payments on them with an credit card. Make sure to pay off the credit card balance in full so you don’t accumulate more debt.
Ask family for help
Ask your family members to look into any big expenses coming up which you could help pay for. Be sure to be sure that you’re able to have confidence in the person you are talking to and they are aware of the reason for doing it.
Give gifts
If you’re in the middle of the holiday season, consider buying all your gifts using your credit card. This way you can reach the minimum spending requirement and also be ready for gift giving. Be sure to avoid paying more than you contemplating to.
There are a lot of methods to get the most from your travel credit card. You can earn miles or points to use towards airfares or other travel-related costs. Here are a few more suggestions for maximising your rewards
Pay for travel expenses using your credit card
Whenever you’re planning a vacation, make use of you 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, however, you’ll also earn points or miles for these expenditures.
Use your credit card for all your daily costs
Another way to meet the minimum amount of spending and earn points is making use of your credit card to pay everyday expenditures. This could be things like food, gas and even your telephone bill. Make sure you pay the balance off in full every month to ensure you don’t accrue interest charges.
Benefit from bonus categories
Some travel credit cards will offer miles or points in exchange for certain types of purchases, like eating out or traveling. Make sure you review the rewards program of your credit card and avail any bonus categories that match with your spending habits.
Take into consideration the possibility of transferring your balance
If you have existing debt on a credit card, you might want to transfer that balance onto the travel credit card which has the introductory APR of 0% for balance transfer. This will let you pay off your debt without accruing interest. It will also assist you in reaching the minimum amount required to earn the credit card’s bonus.
Make use of your miles or points wisely
If you’ve amassed a large amount of points or miles, be sure to use them wisely. Review the rewards program for your credit card and compare the worth of various redemption options. For example you can use points to book a ticket directly with the airline could provide you with a greater value than using them for the purchase of a gift card.
Another suggestion is to use a rewards card that allows you to transfer rewards to different loyalty program. This will allow you to get a wider selection of options and greater flexibility when making use of your rewards. For instance, you might be capable of transferring your rewards to the frequent flyer program of an airline or a hotel rewards program. This gives you access to a wider variety of hotels, flights and other travel benefits that may not be available through the rewards program on your credit card.
Also, discover if your credit card offers any perks that can reduce your travel costs. A lot of credit cards provide travel insurance, rental car insurance, baggage protection and other benefits that could be invaluable when you travel.
When you travel with a companion each of you will be able to earn rewards using your own credit card. Just remember that you can’t share the costs on the same card, and be sure to keep track of your rewards in a separate manner.
Overall, the key to maximizing your travel rewards is to know your credit card’s rewards program and ensure that you’re making use of it in the most effective way possible. Utilizing all of the methods I’ve described that you can earn rewards fast, exchange them for valuable travel experiences, and enjoy a wide variety of travel benefits.