When You Wander

Yeah, you heard me. FREE FLIGHTS. You interested? Me too.

I recently had coffee with a friend and I was nonchalantly telling her about my favorite technique for cheaply flying around the world, when she brought it to my attention that she had NO IDEA that this trick (or as the wanderlusters call it – “travel hack”) existed. We were both mind blown. Which led to this post.

Let’s call it – Travel Hacking 101, the Free Flight Edition. I like it.

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking. “Carolyn, whatever you’re about to say is either…”

1. Difficult and/or time consuming. (It’s not).

or

2. There must be some strings attached. (There aren’t).

Now, before you continue reading you have to trust me and this process. Believe me when I promise you this trick truly works. (I’ve already had a free round-trip to Japan). Okay? Okay.

Have you heard about travel credit cards? You might even have one. Almost every airline and bank offer some sort of card with an array of perks. For example, there’s a Southwest card, a United card, an American card, a Bank of America card, etc… You may know a little bit about these cards, but I’m finding that most people either…

1. Think they’re a waste of time to invest in

or, even worse

2.  They have one of these cards but have no idea how to use/get to/find their points!

I’m going to explain how to apply for the best cards out there, so that you’ll actually use and profit from your points, but first things first.

NOT ALL TRAVEL CREDIT CARDS ARE CREATED EQUAL. Read that again. I’ll wait.

Okay. What do I mean by this? True, all travel cards offer some sort of points, BUT not all cards offer ENOUGH points right from the start to get you that free flight to your dream destination.

Therefore, the KEY to applying for a travel credit card is first doing your research to see which card currently has the best sign-up offer!!

Sign up offers are always changing, so if you’re considering a travel credit card, it’s good to check online every month for the latest offers. One of my favorite resources is The Points Guy. If you go to his website, he lists the best deals at the time. (He also does loads of travel reviews, which can come in handy down the line or when considering which company card is right for you).

My personal, all-time favorite card is the Chase Sapphire Preferred! Once approved, you have three months to spend $4,000. Once you hit the $4,000 mark, you will automatically receive 50,000 travel points! Now you might be thinking $4,000… that’s a lot of money. But if you can put your rent and your bills on the card, it doesn’t seem like much money anymore! You must’ve even already hit your goal.

For example, when I received my card in 2015, I put my rent ($850/month) and my utility bills ($150/month) on the card, plus all my gasoline and groceries. Basically, everything I bought I put on the card!  Then, I’d immediately transfer money from my checking account over to the card to pay for what I just bought. With this strategy, I hit the $4,000 goal in two months; I didn’t even need all three. And that’s just me, a single person with no spouse, children, or family to pay for.

Two more reasons why I love the Chase Sapphire Preferred card (not to be confused with any of the other Chase cards) — zero interest/fees for the first year and airline variety!

Most travel cards charge you an annual fee starting the moment you are approved. Chase Sapphire Preferred waives the fee for the first year. After that, it’s $95 per year, but TRUST ME when I say, you’ll have more than made up for that cost with all the points you’re given. The Preferred card also waives the interest for the first year, so if you choose not to immediately pay your bill, you have an entire year before the interest kicks in. (You can also choose to cancel the card before the one year mark and avoid the $95 fee altogether if you wish).

But the thing I’ve found MOST AWESOME about this card… airline variety! Unlike having a specific airline travel card (i.e. Southwest, United, American), the Chase Sapphire Preferred card allows you to use your points for multiple airlines! Instead of being restricted to one company, I can choose from seven major airlines and their partners. The flexibility and options are endless.

Exhibit A: When moving to Japan last year, I could compare several airlines to see which one offered the lowest points to get me to Osaka. While Singapore Air and Korean Air were at least 45,000 points one-way, I found an excellently routed United flight for only 30,000! A year and three months later, I had accrued enough points to fly back to America for free once more!

Exhibit B: My sister and her fiancé also each applied for the Chase Sapphire card last year. They each earned 50,000 points, plus when you add a second cardholder onto your account, you earn an extra 5,000 points. In total, they received 110,000 points, just for signing up and spending money that they would’ve otherwise spent on a regular credit card! Since then, they have used points to fly round-trip to Costa Rica (2 people) for free, as well as round-trip to Japan (1 person).

Exhibit C: My parents applied for the Chase Sapphire last year. My mother is about to use their points for the first time, flying round-trip to Europe (into Vienna and out of Paris) for free.

All of these freebies are simply thanks to the sign-up bonus that comes with this card!!

So let me repeat, NOT ALL TRAVEL CREDIT CARDS ARE CREATED EQUAL. You may have a travel card that you signed up for a long time ago, that did not have a points bonus going on when you signed up for it. My recommendation – CANCEL IT. Cancel it, and get a different card that gives you the fantastic rewards and benefits that you now know are out there.

You may be worried that cancelling a credit card will drastically affect your credit. THIS IS A MYTH! I cannot even stress how untrue this is. Don’t worry, the only way your credit will be affected is if you are cancelling several credit cards every year!

I’ll use myself as an example once more. In 2015, I cancelled a Suntrust bank credit card and applied for two travel credit cards (Chase Sapphire and Starwood Preferred) all within a few months. My credit stayed the same! Fast forward to 2017. I just cancelled the Starwood Preferred card and am about to apply for the United Mileage Plus card. Upon cancelling the Starwood card, I compared my credit, and it didn’t drop a single point! I decided to cancel this card because now that I’ve had it for over a year, the annual fee kicks in, and honestly, I’d rather not have to pay it. So instead, I’ll get the United card, which will waive the annual fee for the first year and give me sign-up points…but more about that below. 🙂

If you don’t want to take it from me, please read about it from Nomadic Matt, one of my favorite travel bloggers. He is a world of travel knowledge, especially when it comes to travel hacking. Read his article about travel myths here, his article about choosing the best travel card here, and how he earns 1 MILLION frequent flyer points a year here.

In addition to the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, there are a few other great cards out there as well. Pay attention to the criteria for how much you need to spend within the time frame (i.e. – $4,000 in three months for Chase Sapphire) as that’s the key to getting all the fabulous points.

The United MileagePlus card normally has some fantastic offers, the only negative being that you must use their points for United flights (or their partners) only. However, if you are someone like myself who tends to fly United frequently, then this might be a perfect second travel card! Normally, the offer is 50,000 points if you spend $3,000 in three months. However, I recently received a flyer in the mail upping their offer to 70,000 points if I sign-up by the end of June. That can be a free round-trip flight to Asia right there, with points to spare!

I hope you can see why I’m so passionate about travel hacking. (You may have noticed the ridiculous amount of exclamation points I used writing this…sorry, not sorry). Travel credit cards are one of the best tricks for free travel! Why pay when you can go for free?! To all of you out there who have said you can’t travel because you can’t afford it, think again! And to all of you who have wondered how I’M able to afford all the travel that I do, well, now you know… 🙂