Anyone Can Be a Travel Hacker

I am an unapologetic travel hacker. One of those people who are constantly looking at new and creative ways to accumulate miles and points that I can later use for free or drastically discounted travel. When I traveled a lot for work, it was easy. I accumulated miles and points rapidly and with little effort. I read up on the best way to use reward points to get the maximum benefits and wow, did I benefit. Business class flights to Europe, stays in five-star hotels, I was able to take the kinds of vacations that I had only ever dreamed about.

Then COVID hit and we were all grounded. Next, I lost my job and my travel days were over but for an annual vacation and the occasional long weekend. If I wanted to continue earning rewards, I was going to half to get creative. But I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s take a step back.

Generally, the first step in travel hacking is getting the right credit card. All travel related cards offer huge sign-up bonus and usually require a minimum spend. For example, if you sign up for the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card today you can earn 40,000 bonus miles after you spend $2,000 in the first six months.

There are dozens of travel related credit cards out there, many specific to a certain airline or hotel chain. Others where you accumulate points that can be transferred to multiple airlines or used through the credit card company’s travel portal. Some cards come with a lot of additional perks like free checked luggage, airport lounge access and travel insurance. Of course, the value of these perks are reflected in the card’s annual fee. Before applying for anything take your spending habits into account. These types of cards typically have an annual APR of 24%-26% so if you carry a balance, your interest payments will almost always outweigh the value of the rewards. However, if you can commit to paying off the balance at the end of every month, then you want to select the card that most aligns with your travel habits.

I’m going to be honest, figuring out the right card is a process that can make your head explode. So many options and considerations. Fortunately, there are experts with a lot more experience than I that can help you sort through the confusion so I will humbly refer you to them. My go-to for all things points related is The Points Guy click to see their assessment as of September 2023. Another useful resource is Nerd Wallet and there are always the experts over at Forbes.

Once you’ve chosen the right card(s) the next step is to start accumulating points. The most obvious way is by flying with your chosen airline. If you are someone who only flies once or twice a year, then you will want to consider all the other ways that you can earn points:

Dining Programs

Most airline and hotel programs include a separate dining program. As an example, the American Airlines dining program allows you to sign up for free and link a debit or credit card. Every dollar you spend at a participating restaurant equals 1 loyalty point. If you subscribe to their e-mail alerts that increases to 3 loyalty points for every dollar spent. After 11 meals at participating restaurants, you obtain VIP status and receive 5 points for every dollar spent. Assuming you sign up in January and immediately register for email alerts, you will start receiving 3 points for every dollar spent. Let’s say you eat at a participating restaurant twice a month and average $30.00 per meal, at the end of June you will have earned 1,080 points and now will receive 5 points for every dollar. If you continue the trend, at the end of the year you will have acquired 2,880 points. These points are in addition to the regular points that you will accumulate by using a co-branded or travel related credit card.

Shopping Portals

As with dining, loyalty programs usually have a shopping portal. These portals have rotating featured deals where you can get additional points for everyday purchases. For example, the United Airlines shopping portal is offering 4 points per dollar sent with Sephora. Alaskan Airlines is promoting up to 900 miles for subscriptions to Disney+. For any purchase, especially large ones, it’s a good practice to check your airlines shopping portal before ordering off of Amazon.

Other Travel

You can often book hotels, rental cars, cruises, and vacation packages directly through an airline’s web site and receive rewards for the booking. On my recent trip to Turkey, I earned almost 3,000 American Airline points by booking our hotels through their AA Advantage Hotel site.

Partners

Very few rewards programs stand alone, as a rule, they all have partnerships with other programs. For example, Marriott allows you to transfer Bonvoy points to over 30 different airlines, transfer ratios vary but they also include a 5,000 miles bonus for every 60,000 miles you transfer. Before deciding on any specific loyalty program, research their partners and partner benefits.

With all the different ways to earn miles and points it gets confusing and often doesn’t seem worth the bother. For me, travel hacking is a game. Some people like to play golf or chess or Tuesday night trivia. I like to play the points game and I think I’ve gotten pretty good at it. So, if you are feeling a bit intrigued but not ready to jump in headfirst just keep coming back to my blog for more specific tips and tricks. In other words, let me do the research for you.