Many of us consider travel a large expense. However, for some globetrotters, travel doesn’t cost very much at all. Thanks to credit card points and miles, it’s possible to fly for free — and that takes care of one of the biggest costs of leaving home.
Jason Steele is a contributor at PointsGuy.com, and a credit card and travel expert. He almost never pays for the airfare his family uses, whether they are flying across the country or to the other side of the world. “You have to be creative and understand how these programs work if you want to receive the biggest benefits,” he says.
The keys, according to Steele, are in the smart accumulation of miles and points, and in their savvy redemption.
Accumulating points and miles
“Most Americans are probably earning the majority of their miles from credit cards,” says Steele. “Airline rewards programs are changing to base miles earnings on revenue, and not miles flown. You need to focus on credit card rewards if you want to accumulate points and miles faster.”
If you want to travel more, look for credit card points and miles programs that offer bonuses for certain types of spending. There are cards that offer two or three times the points and miles when you purchase gas and groceries, or when you spend money on travel and restaurants. Using these credit cards for your regular purchases can be a good way to earn points and miles quickly.
It’s important to use your credit cards as part of your regular budget, though. The value in points and miles programs lies in the fact you are receiving rewards, and you aren’t paying interest to the credit card issuer. Create a budget or spending plan, and fit your credit card spending into it, taking care to pay off the balance at the end of each month. Only buy what you already plan to purchase, and only use your credit card if you have the cash to cover your expenses.
Once you accumulate those points and miles, though, the trick is spending them in the most effective way possible. “Consumers are always finding that even if they have tens of thousands of miles available, they are still just a couple thousand miles short of a free ticket,” says Steele. “On top of that, airlines are always charging more miles and making fewer seats available.”
Spending your miles and points effectively
If you want to fly free, Steele says it’s a matter of looking for the right deal. He says that credit card miles programs partnered with airlines can help you earn points faster, but then you have to navigate the airline’s website. “These websites aren’t really designed to help you find what you’re looking for at the lowest points level,” Steele points out. He says that many airlines don’t include their partner airlines — which often cost less and help your points go further.
Rather than book your rewards travel with the main airline website, Steele suggests looking up the airline’s partners and then booking travel on those airlines, or calling the partners up to see what’s available. “This can be especially effective when traveling internationally,” he says.
Steele also says that you are likely to get more bang for your reward buck if you book on business class. “You get more cents per mile when traveling business class overseas.” He says that you might have to pay 25% or 50% more in miles to get a business class ticket, but in dollars you might have to pay two or three times the cost of an economy ticket to fly first class. If an economy ticket costs $600, it’s like paying up to $900 for business class when you upgrade using points or miles. If you were to buy a business class ticket with dollars instead of miles, you might pay as much as $1,800.
It also makes sense to use points and miles earned from regular credit card programs, rather than to rely on an airline’s program. Steele points out that Delta recently removed its rewards chart from the website, and many other airlines are becoming less transparent about their programs. However, using a credit card with a flexible program means that you can travel on different airlines, rather than relying on a single airline.
Finally, Steele suggests that those who are serious about getting an inside track on flying hacks visit FlyerTalk. This is a site where world travelers share tips and tricks for maximizing their travel points and swap stories of great deals and tricks for redeeming miles and points for the best advantage. “It’s one of the first places I went when I started learning about traveling for free,” says Steele. “You can learn more from reading FlyerTalk than you can talking to people at the actual airlines.”
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