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After we had been full-time RVing, we nonetheless beloved taking to the skies and heading on far-off adventures. That included flying to RV overseas in international locations like New Zealand and Italy. Now that we’ve bought two children in tow, we’re nonetheless part-time touring and taking our household everywhere in the world.
We may by no means have afforded a lot journey in our grownup lives if it wasn’t for “journey hacking.” On this publish, I need to share our journey hacks that turned our journey dream right into a actuality with some nearly free travels.
Journey Hacking
Journey hacking is the place you be a part of rewards packages to earn and redeem factors that prevent cash on holidays. This implies saving on airways, lodges, rental automobiles, and so forth.
We’re not speaking about cashing in factors to save lots of 10% once you e-book via a reward program (which is widespread and by no means price it), however the form of factors that can permit your partner to fly wherever with you at no cost. Heath and I’ve achieved this for nearly a decade!
My mother and father have used Southwest’s reward program for years to fly at no cost, however it wasn’t till we met our good friend Chris Guillebeau—who visited each nation on the planet by way of journey hacking—that Heath and I bought severe about utilizing these strategies ourselves.
I’m going to stipulate just a few of one of the best methods we’ve earned factors and share with you the cool methods we’ve redeemed them.
Caveat: The quickest, best technique to earn factors for journey hacking is thru bank cards. When you’re horrible at managing bank cards or have accrued bank card debt, this technique shouldn’t be for you.
Learn how to Fly For Free (Domestically)
I’m an enormous Southwest Airways fan. They’re pleasant and useful, and so they by no means cost you for canceling your flight or altering your reservation. Plus, our luggage fly free, which may actually add up with different airways. After we fly home, they’re our most well-liked airline.
Southwest has a rewards program known as Speedy Rewards the place you’ll be able to redeem factors for flights. You earn factors in just a few alternative ways: by flying Southwest, by purchasing on-line via their hyperlinks, or by renting automobiles or reserving lodges with their companions. However the best and quickest means is thru their bank cards.
We use three Southwest Speedy Rewards bank cards: the Plus and the Premier, supplied via Chase, in addition to a enterprise bank card.
Since we signed up for these playing cards throughout bonus durations, right here’s a snapshot of what we earned:
The Plus
- 50,000 bonus factors after spending a minimal of $1,000 in your first 3 months
- 3,000 factors on our anniversary yearly
- 2 factors per greenback spent on Southwest Airways and companions
- 1 level per greenback spent on all different purchases
- $69 annual price
The Premier
- 50,000 bonus factors after spending a minimal of $2,000 in your first 3 months
- 6,000 factors on our anniversary yearly
- 2 factors per greenback spent on Southwest Airways and companions
- 1 level per greenback spent on all different purchases
- $99 annual price
The most important factor with signing up for a journey reward bank card is that you just enroll throughout a bonus interval or use a referral hyperlink. You’ll be able to earn round 25,000 factors once you enroll usually, however when you anticipate a bonus interval or enroll via our referral, you’ll be able to earn as much as 80K bonus factors anytime. (Bonus factors differ primarily based on the kind of CC you select/present promotion.)
We signed up for the plus and the premier playing cards on the similar time, which can not make sense on paper. Nevertheless it meant we earned 100,000 factors nearly immediately, setting us for much more rewards.
The Companion Go
Southwest provides one thing each different airline NEEDS. It’s what they name the companion go.
Right here’s the way it works:
While you earn 125,000 factors in a single calendar yr, you might be given “companion standing.”
This implies which you can fly one individual with you wherever at no cost till the top of the subsequent calendar yr. That is why you need to apply for each bank cards above in the identical calendar yr. You’re nearly assured to hit companion standing! And when you do that early within the yr, you’ll be able to have companion standing for nearly two full years!
When you hit the 125,000 mark, Southwest sends you an e mail letting that:
- You’re clearly superior and
- You should designate who you need to fly with you. You’ll be able to change this individual as much as 3 occasions whereas your companion go is legitimate.
We might pay for Heath’s flight in factors (we had lots!) and mine was almost free. We’ve got to pay $5.60 per leg, which is the US authorities tax for home flights. (The price could also be extra when you take a global flight, for instance to Mexico, when there are extra charges and taxes concerned.)
To economize on home flights, Southwest is one of the best place to begin. I can’t suggest it sufficient.
There’s just one small con: They don’t fly in all places, like an American or United. They fly to most main airports and expanded to extra of Mexico and the Caribbean, however you’re undoubtedly a trip on this hemisphere.
Learn how to Fly For Free Internationally
We’ve been dreaming of RVing overseas since we hit all 50 states. That is why we signed up for Delta SkyMiles American Specific card.
Skymiles is similar sort of program as Southwest’s Speedy Rewards. You earn miles by flying Delta, reserving lodges and leases via companions, purchasing via their portal, and making use of for his or her bank card.
Disclaimer: After I say we earn miles, this doesn’t imply literal miles. Delta “factors” are known as “miles.” After we flew from Anchorage to Austin, which is 4,000 literal miles, we earned roughly 1,000 Skymiles. When you’re flying 3,000 miles from LA to NYC, your flight doesn’t price 3,000 miles, extra like 30,000. Miles is only a fancy-sounding phrase for factors.
Listed here are the main points from after we signed up:
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- 60,000 bonus miles after spending $2,000 within the first three months
- A $50 assertion credit score when you make a Delta buy in your first three months
- 2 miles per greenback spent on Delta
- 1 mile per greenback on every part else you spend
- Baggage fly free (saving you $50 a flight)
- Precedence boarding
- No annual price for the primary yr, then $95
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Delta adjustments their bonus mile choices usually and from what I’ve seen, they provide as much as 70,000 miles max, normally throughout a bonus interval or via a referral hyperlink like ours. It’s fairly exhausting to catch them on promotion, however completely price it.
The 60,000 miles we earned is the bottom price of a round-trip flight to Europe from America. Their regular bonus of 30,000 miles is a one-way flight to Europe. Both means, you’re saving lots of or effectively over a thousand {dollars}. (Asia and Australia are round 80,000 factors at their lowest. It’s tens of hundreds of factors you’d have to earn, which is why getting the cardboard throughout a bonus is essential!)
Prior to now yr, we earned almost 200K factors, masking round-trip flights to New Zealand and Italy. All we now have to pay is our authorities taxes, that are typically a few hundred {dollars} per individual relying on the nation you fly to.
We’ve flown Delta just a few occasions domestically since becoming a member of Skymiles as effectively and actually get pleasure from it. Typically they’ve a cart of snacks on the gate ready for you, plus, we get to board early. To not point out simply having the cardboard means we by no means need to pay for our luggage. I’m a fan. Additionally they have a companion go on the Platinum card, however it’s for one flight a yr, not each flight like Southwest. We’ve truly by no means used our Delta companion go now that I consider it…we have to take benefit!
The most important con with Delta is that it’s an American Specific card, which many small companies don’t settle for. After we journey overseas, we’ve observed that it’s actually finest to carry a Visa or Mastercard as a result of you should utilize it in all places.
You’ll be able to be taught extra about Delta’s SkyMiles program and their Amex card right here.
These are our two huge hacks to fly at no cost.
However there’s nonetheless one different hefty expense throughout journey: lodging.
Learn how to Keep For Free
I really like lodges. There’s one thing about falling right into a resort mattress that’s extremely enjoyable.
Heath and I are members of just about each resort reward program. That’s as a result of becoming a member of these resort reward packages is free (becoming a member of most airline reward packages can also be free!). We’ve got accounts with Selection Accommodations, IHG, Marriott, and Hilton.
However we’ve solely had the bank cards for IHG, Marriott, and Hilton.
I discover resort teams significantly complicated since a bunch could have a dozen totally different manufacturers of lodges underneath their umbrella. For instance, nobody is aware of what IHG means. It’s Intercontinental Lodge Group. They cowl Vacation Inn, Kimpton, Crowne, Staybridge, Candlewood, and so forth.
Principally, irrespective of the place you’re going, there’s in all probability an IHG resort. Then there’s Hilton, which owns Doubletree, Embassy, Homewood, Hampton and extra. Marriott is not less than fairly good at tagging on “by Marriott” on the finish of all of their lodges, however IHG and Selection by no means make it clear which lodges they personal.
(And people are not at all the one resort chains on the market, simply a few of the larger ones.)
We’re in all of the packages and have three resort bank cards: IHG and Marriott, each supplied by Chase, and Hilton, by American Specific. We’ve gotten a number of free resort nights with every card. Marriott used to present annual free nights however stopped just a few years in the past. Hilton factors landed us three free last-minute nights in London in June, however that used up all our sign-up bonus factors. With IHG, I’ve in all probability gotten 20 free nights. I’ve had it the longest, however generally their factors go longer than another resort model.
Of the three, IHG is my favourite.
Right here’s what we bought after we signed up for the IHG Rewards Membership Credit score Card:
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- 70,000 bonus factors once you spend $2,000 in your first three months
- 1 free anniversary night time annually
- Earn 5 factors per greenback spent on IHG lodges
- Earn 2 factors per greenback spent at fuel stations, grocery shops, & eating places
- Computerized platinum elite standing
- $0 price for the primary yr, then $49
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These bonuses have modified loads since we signed up, specifically your elite standing and the annual price. When you use our referral hyperlink, you’ll be able to rise up 140,000 bonus factors (and see their present promotion interval advantages as these change usually).
This yr (2022) IHG has achieved an enormous overhaul of its advantages, so I’m questioning if the cardboard will nonetheless be price it sooner or later. However when you get the 140,000 bonus factors at sign-up, that’s almost two weeks of free resort nights, which is the very best bonus I’ve ever seen on a resort card.
Proper now, the free anniversary night time annually is why I’ve had this card for nearly a decade. The annual bank card price is means decrease than the price of a resort night time! They’re phasing out that profit, although.
Accommodations run wherever from 10K factors to 40K factors an evening (in my expertise), so when you select proper, your factors can final some time. You may get simply eight free nights between the bonus factors and the free night time you’re given only for hitting the minimal spend on the cardboard. That’s your complete week-long trip paid for.
Right here’s the hidden better part: By incomes 75,000 factors, which you’ll simply do after hitting the minimal spend, you earn elite standing. We hit the “Spite Elite standing” after we first signed up.
Spire Elite standing has gotten us upgrades at each resort go to. Not simply “Right here’s a complimentary bottle of water” (which sure, they do provide you with), however I’m speaking in regards to the candy upgrades. Virtually each time we keep at an IHG resort, we’ve been upgraded to suites and even had entry to government lounges with free snacks. We don’t e-book or pay for suites. We pay for the most cost effective room they’ve, however with our standing, they offer us an computerized improve to their nicest room, plus different perks like free breakfast, free drinks from the bar, early check-in, late check-out, and so forth.
Like after we bought to Paris in June and so they gave us a card at no cost wine. It’s the primary time a resort has ever given me a wine tasting to assist me select my pink:
Basically, if you wish to stroll right into a resort and really feel like a queen, this card is ideal for you.
Now, all lodges and airways gives you higher therapy for being a member of their reward program (you don’t even need to be a bank card holder), however IHG has given us the most important bang for our buck. Marriott helps you to skip the check-in line when you’re a reward member and Starwood helps you to test in early. Each reward program has perks. However nobody has been nearly as good to us as IHG, so I’ll brag on them essentially the most.
Retaining Observe of Reward Applications
Again in 2013, I began a word on my cellphone that appears like this:
Selection Lodge
#
username:
Southwest
Alyssa #
username:
Heath #:
username:
Hilton Honors HH
And so forth and so forth. It’s a really lengthy word all these years later! It shops my Skymiles/Speedy Rewards/Lodge quantity and my username for every account so I can simply reference them. Any time I e-book a flight on Delta, like I actually did this morning, I can simply open the word and replica Heath’s Skymiles quantity and even Ellie’s quantity! Sure, even Ellie has her personal account. (Not her personal bank cards, to be clear, however her personal Skymiles account so she will earn factors for each flight. When she turns 18, she will go on a free epic journey of her personal.)
Our (Present) Favourite Credit score Card for Flight and Lodge Factors
Having a variety of flight and resort playing cards can negatively have an effect on your credit score (particularly when you’re signing up for lots in a single calendar yr or when you’re not paying off your bank cards each month like it is best to).
Which is when it’s good to think about a card that will get you factors for each!
Our present fave is the Chase Sapphire Most well-liked card.
(You may even see from this publish that a variety of the CCs we use are Chase bank cards. I like their app one of the best for managing banking, significantly after we’re overseas.)
On the time we signed up, the cardboard sign-up bonus gave you 100,000—actually the very best it had ever been. On the time of writing, it’s at 60,000, which remains to be good, however that promo was significantly spectacular. Signing up for any card throughout a giant promo makes a giant distinction!
The Chase Sapphire Most well-liked will earn you factors which you can switch to a number of airways and resort teams. At the moment, you’ll be able to switch factors with no price to:
Airline Journey Companions
- Aer Lingus, AerClub
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- British Airways Govt Membership
- Emirates Skywards®
- Flying Blue AIR FRANCE KLM
- Iberia Plus
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Singapore Airways KrisFlyer
- Southwest Airways Speedy Rewards®
- United MileagePlus®
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership
Lodge Journey Companions
- IHG® Rewards Membership
- Marriott Bonvoy®
- World of Hyatt®
I lately transferred factors to our Southwest Airways Speedy Rewards account once I was 10,000 factors shy of reserving flights for our household of 4 to go to Mexico. The method was very simple and it took round 5 minutes for me to refresh my Southwest account and see that the factors had been deposited.
I really like the flexibleness of this card since it could actually associate with so many firms. If I want a resort night time and I’m shy just a few factors, I can simply cowl the distinction by transferring factors—making this an incredible card to have together with my different journey playing cards.
Mistake Fares and Low cost Flight Offers
I really like free flights, however there’s a time for shelling out for a flight.
We love the Faredrop app to seek out ultra-cheap flights from the US to international locations everywhere in the world. Faredrop, created by our buddies Kara and Nate, is an app that sends you flight offers on to your cellphone or e mail. You’ll be able to set your “residence airport” AKA the place you wish to fly out of and which area of the world you’re most curious about touring to. Then you definately’ll get updates instantly as their software program finds offers.
Some offers are mistake fares. Errors fares are unintended value errors made by airways. Different offers could also be promotions airways are working, short-term gross sales, or simply sudden low costs. Offers normally solely final a few days (if that lengthy) so that you need to preserve watch in your notifications to see if there are offers on the locations you’re wanting to go to.
For our first worldwide journey with our daughter when she was 4 months previous, we discovered a Faredrop deal to Italy.
Flights to Venice had been underneath $500—usually $1,150!
We rapidly booked two round-trip tickets to spend a month in Italy. Flights had been underneath $1,000 for us each, and we paid a nominal price for an infant-in-arms ticket.
Each time we’re searching for flight offers however don’t have factors, Faredrop is our go-to useful resource for saving cash.
Heath and I are fairly frugal individuals who like to journey. When you’re fiscally accountable sufficient to repay your bank cards and never accrue debt, I can not suggest journey hacking sufficient. Heath and I not often pay for flights or lodges, and that could be a nice feeling.
As a result of we journey as usually as we do, all the annual charges on all of those bank cards are price it.
Do you make the most of journey advantages from bank cards? What’s your favourite? I’m at all times searching for one other whole lot!
Observe: We’re under no circumstances related to the above firms or banks, we simply actually like flying at no cost and needed to share the love!