Are you fed up of spending an enormous amount on flights? Well, good news! Travel hacking can be the solution to your travel-related problems. It’s an exciting way to convert credit card welcome bonuses and other incentives into airline miles, which you can use to get discounted or even free flights to your desired destinations. With a bit of creativity and some insider know-how, you’ll fly for no cost in no time.
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 pay for discount or no-cost flights. Certain credit cards permit you to use miles to pay for hotel stays or rental car offers.
How Does it Work?
The secret to success in hacking travel is taking advantage of credit card sign-up bonuses and to establish frequent flyer miles with a limited number of airlines. When you are ready to make a booking take a look at the price. If the cost is under $300, it’s generally better to pay cash and save your miles to take a more costly flight. If the prices start to rise over $500, you’ll need to review your frequent flyer accounts and see which airline can give you the best price. It all boils down to the number of points or miles in your travel bank for each airline.
Start with Travel Hacking
Ready to learn the secrets of travel hacking? Your first task is opening a credit card with a sign-up offer. There are many great credit cards that provide many benefits and features. It all depends on your preferred airline, your spending habits, and the features that are most important to you.
Top Credit Card Picks
Here are a few credit cards great for travel hacking:
- Chase Sapphire Reserve
- Chase United Explorer
- JetBlue Mastercard
- Capital One Venture X
Once you’ve been approved for a credit card, you’ll have to meet the minimum spend limit in order to qualify for the bonus. Every credit card has its own set of 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!
Are you ready to set sail with your points?
Now that you’ve built up the points balance, it’s time to redeem them for some delicious getaway! Different credit card companies will have different methods of redeeming your points. Here are some examples from some of the ones I’ve had experience with:
Take a trip with Chase Ultimate Rewards
If you own an Chase card, you are able to use your points to redeem them through the Ultimate Rewards portal. Within it, you’ll get access to virtually every airline and you can use a combination of the points as well as cash in order to book your travel. You can book your flight entirely on points if you have the balance for it! Sometimes, even if you don’t have enough points to cover the full price, you can buy flights with Chase Ultimate Rewards portal and pay the balance in cash with any credit card.
United
Are you tired of paying the full cost for your flight tickets? Did you know that when you book directly through United you can choose the option of paying with dollars or points? But, be careful in case you don’t have enough points, you cannot combine dollars and points for one flight. No worries though, if you’re a few points short, United provides the option to purchase additional miles.
JetBlue
Looking for a flight within the United States? Look no further than JetBlue! JetBlue provides an enjoyable and comfortable travel experience that includes extra legroom as well as free snacks. Additionally, their booking process is like United’s that allows you to book with either JetBlue points or dollars but not both. However, JetBlue is unique in that they offer a feature that lets you join your points with your relatives to earn points twice as fast. Make sure to prove you’re really family before trying to hack the system.
Reach that Minimum Spend
If you’re like me and my travel companion Becca I’m sure you’re pretty thrifty and it’s daunting to try to spend thousands of dollars in order to meet the required amount to qualify for the credit card bonus. But don’t fret, we’ve been through it and we’re here to share some of our tricks and tips.
Pay your rent (if you can)
This is a big one! If you’re able pay your rent using a credit card, do it! Just be prepared to pay a cost, which is usually at least 3 percent. It may be worth it in the long run when the bonus is large enough.
Make a payment on a medical expense
Another great way to hit the minimum spend is to cover a medical bill. If you don’t have any medical bills in the near future Ask your family members to pay for theirs and they can repay you.
Make a payment to pay off a loan
If you’re a borrower you owe, think about paying them off with the credit card you have. Be sure to pay off the credit card balance completely so that you don’t end up with more debt.
Ask family for help
Discuss your family with them and see if they have any major expenses in the near future which you could help pay for. Make sure that you are able to trust the person and they know why you’re doing it.
Purchase gifts
If it’s the holiday season take into consideration buying all your gifts with cards from your credit account. So you’ll be able to meet the minimum spending limit and also be prepared for giving gifts. Just make sure you’re not spending more than you already planning to.
There are a lot of methods to get the most of the travel credit card. You can accrue points or miles to spend on flights or other travel-related expenses. Here are a few more ways to maximize your rewards:
Book travel expenses with your credit card
If you’re planning a trip, make use of your travel credit card for booking your flight, hotel or rental car, as well as any other travel-related expenses. You’ll not only be able to hit the required amount to earn your credit card bonus, but you’ll also earn points or miles to cover the costs.
Make use of your credit card to pay for all your daily expenditures
Another way to hit the minimum spend to earn rewards is utilising your credit cards for daily expenditures. This could be items like groceries, gas and even your telephone bill. Be sure to pay off the balance in full every month to ensure you don’t accumulate interest.
Make the most of bonus categories
A lot of travel credit cards provide miles or bonus points on certain kinds of purchases, like eating out or travelling. Be sure to review your rewards program on your credit card and take advantage of the bonus categories that are in line with your spending habits.
Take into consideration a balance transfer
If you are currently in outstanding debt due to a high-interest credit card, you might want to transfer that balance onto the travel credit card which has a 0% introductory APR for balance transfers. This will enable you to pay off your debt without accruing interest, and also assist you in reaching the minimum amount required to earn the credit card’s bonus.
Utilize your miles and points carefully
If you’ve amassed a large amount of miles or points make sure you use them wisely. Review the rewards program for your credit card and then compare the worth of various redemption options. For instance you can use points to book a ticket directly through the airline may give you a better value than using them for the purchase of a gift card.
Another option is to get rewards cards that allow you to transfer reward points into other loyalty programmes. This will let you get a wider selection of options and greater flexibility when redeeming your rewards. For example, you may be able to transfer your reward to the frequent flyer program of an airline or a reward program for hotels. This gives the benefit of a greater range of flights, hotels as well as other travel perks which are not accessible through the rewards program on your credit card.
Additionally, try to discover whether your credit card has 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 extremely valuable when you’re traveling.
Finally, when you’re traveling with someone else and both of you earn rewards using your credit card. Just remember that you can’t share the costs on the same card, and be sure to keep track of the rewards you earn separately.
In the end, the most important thing to do to maximizing your rewards for travel is to be aware of the rewards program on your credit card and to ensure you’re making use of it in the most effective way possible. Through an array of strategies I’ve listed that you can get rewards in a short time, use them for valuable travel experiences and benefit from a wide assortment of travel-related perks.