Last Updated: 10/10/19 | October 10th, 2019
The best way to travel when you don’t have any money is to take money out of the equation. OK, not completely. While you can travel really, really cheaply, some money is required (unless you want to go hobo-style like this guy, in which case, this article isn’t for you).
But, assuming you don’t want to do that, you are going to need some money for travel. But you don’t need as much as you think you do, especially if you work to make your two biggest expenses — accommodation and flights — virtually free.
How?
By travel hacking.
I’ve written about it before, but I’ve never really broken down how I earn all those points and miles and redeem them for the business-class flights you always see me enjoying on Instagram. In this post, I’ll go into detail and provide the step-by-step breakdown of exactly what I do to earn around one million points a year — all without traveling! (When you add in the miles and points I get from traveling, it’s well over a million per year!)
This is going to be a long post, so get your coffee ready.
First, a refresher: travel hacking is the art of collecting frequent flier, hotel, and credit card points and airline miles and redeeming them for free travel. But it’s not about spending lots of money — the idea is to “hack the system” and use rewards programs against themselves to get lots of points and miles without spending a lot of money or traveling a lot. You leverage these systems to your benefit.
And it’s not just for Americans — Canadians, UK residents, Australians, Kiwis, and Spaniards can work these systems in their favor. (In reality, anyone can, but it’s just easier if you’re in these countries. So, while I will use the American market as an example, as that is the one I have access to, the principles and strategies I use can apply to you. Just substitute your local cards and programs for mine!)
One quick note before we begin (especially to the travel hackers reading this): in the travel hacking world, my mileage earning is pretty small. I know people who earn multiple millions of miles a year doing what I do (and a few other things), but I value my time, so why spend time earning miles I don’t need? My mileage needs are taken care of. I don’t waste time getting miles I don’t need.
Miles also lose value over time as airlines change their earning and burning rules, so I would rather have what I need and not waste time getting something with a decreasing value. Miles aren’t money.
Some people do this for the love of the game; I do this because I’m cheap and want to pay for as few flights and hotels as possible.
Here’s how I get those points and miles:
Step 1 – Sign up for credit cards
Credit cards are the tool through which you run your money in order to accumulate your points and miles. Think of them as the points-and-miles printing press. You can earn points and miles without them, but the process takes a lot longer and is a lot harder. To make this work, you will need a credit card.
When used properly, credit cards are smart financial instruments. You can earn hundreds of thousands of miles per year that enable you to travel for free (and they offer better purchasing protection than your debit card). Simply having them won’t send you into debt or cost you high-interest rates. Just make sure not to spend more than you have and to pay off your bill each month.
So the first thing I do is apply for a bunch of these credit cards. But I don’t do it willy-nilly. I have a goal in mind.
As a crazy travel hacker, I have more cards than the average person needs, but I always apply for new cards to reach a specific goal. Be sure to do this: think about the trip you want to take, where you want to stay, and how you want to get there, and then get the cards that help you get there.
If I’m low on American Express points, I’ll look for a new American Express card. If I want to go to Iceland, I’ll sign up for an Alaska Airlines card because I can use those miles to book a rewards ticket to Iceland thanks to their partnership with Icelandair. Moreover, I always look for what card offers the highest bonuses, even if I don’t need those points right away.
What have I signed up for this year? In the last six months, I applied for the following cards:
- IHG – I don’t stay in hotels often, but I use hotel points for any last-minute stays I need or for conferences when I don’t want to stay in hostels. Since I’d never held this card before, I got the 65,000-point bonus.
- American Airlines Platinum Business Card – Though I fly AA often and earn their miles easily, it had been a while since I had this card, so I applied again for a 50,000-mile sign-up bonus.
- American Airlines personal card – Same as above.
- Alaska Airlines personal card – Since Bank of America lets you cancel and sign up for this card again and still be eligible for the bonus, I sign up for this card every 2–3 months. This got me 25,000 miles.
- American Express Everyday card – They ran a 25,000-point promotion so I finally got this card, as the normal bonus is 15,000 points.
- Chase Ink Bold – When they offered a recent 60,000-point sign-up bonus, I applied for this business card as my charity FLYTE’s card.
Total points earned: 275,000
One thing to note about credit cards is that you can’t just sign up, cancel, and sign up again. Many card companies make you wait 18–24 months before you become eligible for a sign-up bonus again. (American Express only lets you earn the bonus once per card per lifetime!) I cycle through cards on a multiyear basis.
Therefore, I try to space out my sign-ups. I do two or three big credit card sign-up frenzies per year. This allows me to meet any minimum spending requirements (see below), allows the temporary dip the application causes in my credit score to go away, and gets me around any red flags the credit card companies have. For example, if issuers see you have applied for a ton of credit cards lately, they are less likely to approve you. Chase has something called the 5/24 rule, which states people who’ve applied for more than five cards within a 24-month period can’t get a new card from them. I’ve heard mixed reports on this, though — sometimes it catches people, sometimes it doesn’t.
Moreover, despite popular belief, having a lot of credit cards won’t hurt you. In fact, it can help you. Outside of your payment history, your utilization is the next most important factor in your credit score. Don’t worry about anything else. If you have $100,000 in available credit but only are using $5,000, that’s better than only having $5,000 in credit and using it all every month. Having more cards can actually help your credit score because of the better utilization ratio they create.
Here’s a list of credit cards you can sign up for!
Step 2 – Meet the minimum spending requirements
Each of these cards comes with a minimum spending requirement before you can earn that bonus. You just don’t get it for nothing. That meant I had to spend $11,000 in three months in order to meet the requirements and earn my bonuses! (The Alaska Airlines card comes with a fee of only $75 and no spending requirement so I essentially just bought 25,000 miles for 75 bucks.)
Here’s how the cards broke down:
- IHG: $1,000 minimum spend
- AA business card: $3,000 minimum spend
- AA personal card: $3,000 minimum spend
- Alaska Airline: none
- American Express: $1,000 minimum spend
- Chase Ink business card: $3,000 minimum spend
But my everyday spending isn’t anywhere close to that.
Since the purpose of travel hacking is to not spend extra money (you should absolutely not go into debt for this), I had to figure out ways to meet those spending requirements without incurring extra debt. Here’s how I did it:
- In the US, you can pay your federal tax bill on a credit card for a fee of 1.87%. I don’t pay all my taxes during the year so that at the end of the year, I have to pay them in one large chunk. I then time that tax payment with a credit card sign-up so I can get the bonus. Yes, there is a fee, but if you work out the math, it’s worth it. That took care of a big chunk.
- I time my purchases and sign-ups. If I have to move, buy furniture, need a computer, or join a gym, I sign up for a card and then charge my big purchases to the card.
- I go out to dinner with my friends, pay, and ask them to reimburse me. I used this technique in Las Vegas, and that took care of the entire minimum spending for the Amex Everyday card. This is especially easy with apps like Venmo nowadays, where they can reimburse you easily at the exact moment of payment.
- I ask friends and family if I they have a big purchase they wouldn’t mind letting me put on my card. This doesn’t always work, and it isn’t always needed, but often friends and family will let me put it on my card as a favor, and then they’ll pay me instead of the store.
- I manufacture spending for the remainder. This is when you move money around so that you artificially create spending through gift cards and money orders. You can buy pre-paid debit cards, turn them into money orders, put those money orders in your bank account, and then pay off your credit card. You have to pay a fee for the cards and money orders, but when doing this for sign-up bonuses, it’s worth the cost. I purchase pre-paid debit cards in $500 increments.
Note: As I incur a lot of business expenses, it’s easy for me to meet the minimum spending requirements for business cards (for the Chase Ink business card, we met the spending requirements by paying expenses for the charity). The steps outlined above were used for the personal cards.
Total points earned: 25,000 (21,000 in spending, plus category bonuses [see below] on food and office supplies; my tax bill represented half my spending)
Step 3 – Be smart with spending
Get category bonuses
In the movie Up in the Air, George Clooney’s character never wastes an opportunity to earn points. I’m the same way. I never, ever, ever just earn one point per dollar spent if I can get 2, 3, or 6 points per dollar spent.
Certain cards have what are known as category bonuses, where you receive 2–5 points per dollar spent. It varies by card, but generally, you get 2 points on restaurants, 2–3 on airfare, and 5 on office supplies. Here’s a list of the cards I use regularly and their spending bonuses:
- American Express EveryDay Preferred: 3 points per dollar spent on groceries (up to $6,000 annually)
- American Express Premier Rewards Gold: 3 miles per dollar spent on flights
- Citi ThankYou Premier: 3 points per dollar spent on groceries; 2 points per dollar spent on hotels
- Chase Sapphire Preferred: 2 points per dollar spent on food
- Chase Ink Bold: 5 points per dollar spent at office supply stores or business expenses (up to $50,000 annually); 2 points per dollar spent on hotels
For example, if I am buying an airline ticket, I’ll use my American Express Premier Gold and get 3 miles for every dollar I spend. I buy gift cards at Staples on my Chase Ink card to get 5 points per dollar spent. I pay my cellphone on that card too!
Why get one point at a time when you can get five?
But there are also a few other ways to get bonuses, too:
Use airline shopping portals
All airlines, hotels, and travel brands have preferred merchants. These companies — ranging from clothing retailers to sporting good stores to office supply businesses and everything in between — partner with airlines’ (hotels’, etc.) special shopping malls. By ordering online through these malls, you can earn additional points.
You can use Evreward or Cash Back Monitor to discover the current best deals across various programs. Simply type in the merchant or product you want, and it will compile a list of bonuses the various point programs are offering at that moment so can you maximize the programs to purchase from.
Say, for example, you want new clothes from the Gap. Going into the Gap store gets you one point per dollar spent. By using Evreward, you can see that by going the United shopping portal, signing in, clicking the link to Gap, and purchasing online you can earn three points per dollar spent. Suddenly, you get 300 points instead of 100 for your $100 shopping spree!
Shopping portals 2.0
While purchasing online is great and can lead to earning multiple points per dollar spent, you can stack offers to get double and triple the amount of points! For example, if you go to Sears through American Airlines’ portal and buy a $100 gift card, you get three AA points per dollar spent. Go back through the portal to use the gift card for $100 in merchandise and get another three points for total of 6 points for $100 spent. This way you earn 600 AA points instead of the 300 you would have gotten if you had just made your purchase directly through the online portal in the first place. Remember, if you just walk into a Sears store, you’ll only get 100 points for that $100 USD purchase!
So if I used my AA credit card, I would get 700 points total (600 in bonus points plus the 100 from spending) or I could get 600 AA points and 100 Chase points if I used a Chase card.
Dining rewards programs
Just like shopping portals, airlines also have dining rewards programs. You sign up with your frequent flier number, register your credit card, and get extra points when you dine at participating restaurants in the airline’s network (which rotate throughout the year). It’s important to note that while you can sign up for every program, you cannot register a credit card with more than one. That means that if your Chase Sapphire Preferred card is tied to your American Airlines account, you can’t earn miles on your United Airlines account with that same card.
Join one of the programs in the Rewards Network (they run all the dining programs) so you can get five miles per dollar spent once you became a “VIP member,” which happens after 12 dines. So if you get those 12 under your belt (so to speak) early in the year, for the rest of the year you’ll be racking up five points per dollar spent!
A note on keeping track of all this: As I was writing this post, I went to dinner with a few friends. My buddy Noah was like “This is too much to keep track of.” That’s a common feeling among people looking to start travel hacking. However, it appears more complicated than it really is. Once you know what cards give you what bonuses, the next step is to simply use the cards that get those bonuses and meet your goals.
For example, as I mentioned above, all my airfare goes to my American Express Gold card. I get three miles per dollar spent, and this is what provides a bulk of my yearly AMEX points. For restaurants, I use Chase Sapphire since I get 2 points per dollar. For online shopping, I tend to go to AAdvantage shopping portal as a way to “juice” my AA account.
You never want to spread yourself too thin, though: having points all over the place will lead you to having low point balances in multiple accounts. I tend to stick to just a few accounts with my everyday spending: Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, and Citi ThankYou points because they are all transferable to other airlines and hotels. (Note: Since I mostly fly American, I don’t worry about building miles in that account as I get them through flying. Most of my business expenses go to Starwood SPG so I don’t worry about building a balance there through personal spending.)
Total points earned per year: roughly 150,000 (spending and bonus category dependent)
Want to Learn How I Travel the World for Free?
Stop paying full price! Download our free guide to travel hacking and learn:
- How To Pick a Credit Card
- How To Earn Miles for Free Flights & Hotels
- Is Travel Hacking Really a Scam?
Step 4 – Rinse and repeat on the manufactured spending
There are some people in the travel hacking world who manufacture spending like it’s their job. I have a friend who processes $10-20,000 a month in gift cards. That’s too much work for me. I’m busy and don’t feel like putting that much effort into it. However, I do a small amount of this in order to “juice” my point accounts, especially those with category bonus at Staples via my Chase Ink card that help offset the $4.95 fee per card. Here’s a diagram of how this works:
I don’t do this every month (you can’t do it while traveling) but this helps me offset minimum spending requirements on cards and earn a few extra miles each year.
Total points earned per year: 150,000
(Note: I use my Chase Ink business card a lot at Staples. I buy Amazon, iTunes, and restaurant gift cards to be sure I maximize the 5 points per dollar spent bonus. The number above reflects not only the manufactured spending I do but the gift cards I buy too.)
Step 5 – Sign up for every contest, survey, and deal in the world
Airlines and hotels often offer points and bonuses for signing up for a deal, taking a survey, filling out a form on Facebook, etc. The points here are small (100-1,000 at a time) but over the course a year they can add up. United recently gave 1,000 miles to people who signed up for their dining program. American Airlines gave you 350 miles just for entering a contest to win more miles!
Moreover, I also use the E-Rewards survey program. Every day they send me surveys via email and if I have time, I fill them out. They take 5-20 minutes each. Each completed survey is worth a certain number of “e-dollars” that can be redeemed for points on a number of programs:
Point redemptions vary but $100 in e-rewards money equals 2,000 AAdvantage miles.
Total points earned per year: 25,000
Step 6 – Buy points/miles… sometimes
Airlines and hotels sometimes offer really good deals for points/miles and, if I know I am going to use them soon, I’ll buy them at a discount. This basically lets you buy flights for cheaper than booking them. For example, Lifemiles (Avianca’s membership program) often does a promotion where you can get a 135% bonus on bought miles. If you max the promotion out, you usually get 352,000 miles for around $4,900, but at that rate, you’re buying miles for 1.4 cents per mile, which is an amazing deal. (The closer you get to 1 cent per mile, the better the deal! Follow websites like View from the Wing or One Mile at a Time and they alert you to all these point offers, break it down, and basically tell you if this is a good deal or not.)
It may sound crazy to spend that much money on miles (and you certainly don’t need to do it at all), but let’s put it in perspective. For 90,000 miles, you can book a one-way first-class flight from the US to Asia. Since you spent 1.4 cents per mile, that ticket works out to be $1,260. Not too bad for a first-class ticket, huh?
Buying points and miles is a way to pad your balance and buy tickets at a steep discount. I do this sometimes if I’m traveling soon and know I’m going to paying for the ticket anyways (I don’t always use miles when I travel). It’s not free, but I would rather buy a first-class ticket for $1,260 than an economy ticket for the same price.
Sometimes travel hacking is about finding value and doing a bit of arbitrage to get more for less!
Points earned: 100,000 points
Step 7 – Cancel cards I don’t use
Airline cards have fees, so when the yearly fee comes due, I’ll cancel the cards I don’t use or that don’t have a benefit to me. For example, the British Airways card: I used it for the sign-up miles and was done with it. It was canceled. The Hyatt card? It has a $75 yearly fee but it comes with two nights free each year. That’s two nights in a hotel for $75. I keep that one. The American Airlines personal card? One of the benefits is 10% miles back on redemptions, so if I redeem for 100,000 miles each year, I get 10,000 miles put back into my account — well worth the $95 annual fee.
Canceling cards doesn’t hurt your credit score. Old credit lines help, which is why I keep my Discover, Capital One, and a few other cards around. They have no fees and high limits so they anchor my credit. As I said before, what is important is your overall debt-to-credit ratio. So canceling a few cards lowers that ratio, but if I have no debt it doesn’t matter.
Moreover, I also transfer the credit lines to other cards with that card company so that I don’t lose the credit (and that doesn’t even make a mark on my credit score, let alone a dent!).
Step 8 — Get a second round of credit cards
Twice a year, I go on a big credit card splurge and start the cycle again. I’ll look at what I canceled and what I need. Since many operators require a waiting period between bonuses, I’ll aim for cards I haven’t had in a long time as well as which have another sign-up bonus.
Then after I get the new cards, I’ll repeat step 2 to meet any minimum spending requirements.
Total points earned: 200,000-300,000
Total points earned: roughly 975,000 per year ± 50,000
(The above tricks don’t count all the miles I earn via business expenses, which add up to an additional couple hundred thousand miles a year, putting me well over one million miles earned.)
A lot of this stuff depends on time and effort. If I got more credit cards, I could earn more. If I spent more money, I could earn more. I just don’t care enough. I have more miles than I need. I fly my team around on miles. I fly myself anywhere miles. I give miles to my mom.
By using the eight steps outlined in this article, the sky is the limit on how many miles you can earn. It just depends on how much you want to ramp up each step. As I said before, my million miles per year is a small number compared to some of the other travel hackers out there.
It is possible to earn more miles than you will need to travel and fly for free. Even if you travel only once a year, just want to visit your parents, or aspire to take your family on one trip, you can do it.
Travel hacking doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s simple and accessible to everyone.
Want to learn all about points and miles?
Stop paying full price for airfare! Download our free guide to travel hacking and learn:
- How To Pick a Credit Card
- How To Earn Miles for Free Flights & Hotels
- Is Travel Hacking Really a Scam?
Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks
Book Your Flight
Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.
Book Your Accommodation
You can book your hostel with Hostelworld. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels.
Don’t Forget Travel Insurance
Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:
- World Nomads (for everyone below 70)
- Insure My Trip (for those over 70)
- Medjet (for additional repatriation coverage)
Ready to Book Your Trip?
Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel. I list all the ones I use when I travel. They are the best in class and you can’t go wrong using them on your trip.
Chris
Really neat to see the process broken down and explained. I’ve worked really hard to minimize my spending and simplify my life…but this is rather tempting!
Chris
Hi Chris (great name by the way!)
I feel the same way, I’ve been trying to minimize spending and reduce the number of direct debits and bank related things, too. However, this whole travel hacking is tempting for obvious reasons.
I wonder if it truly is as simple as Matt makes out or if signing up for all these cards , surveys and rewards programs make it unnecessarily complicated
Frank
@Chris (Both)
I think it can be as easy or as complicated as you like. We don’t go to quite the lengths that Matt does to get miles, but just grabbing a few cards with lucrative bonuses each year is pretty straightforward for my wife and I. It isn’t a whole lot of work in our case.
Christy
I would agree with Frank! I started travel hacking mid year last year and I ended up traveling for 3 months to Ireland & Europe in December 2015. Due to Matt’s and other travel hacker tips, I had close to $1000 in points value to redeem for AirB&B stays, all my flights between countries (which is cheap), plus some of my car rental in Ireland (which is EXPENSIVE!!!) as well as train tickets. That was from signing up for the Capital 1 card and the Barclay card which together with the sign on bonuses gave me 80K points alone (so $800 equivalent)
Jim
For Chase Sapphire, the statement: “(3 on the first Friday of each month)” I don’t think is true any longer
NomadicMatt
Yeah, it ended at the end of last year. Thought I removed it before I hit publish. Thanks for catching that!
Jim
Great information in the article, however. Please keep it up. I actually got into travel hacking from a couple of the articles you wrote, plus \”The Ultimate Guide to Travel Hacking\” is a great reference.
jason b
there should be a software program to track all this for you. Maybe adapt quick books or mint. I just don’t think I would spend enough what about just running out the clock? Have you tried flightfox.com?
Zach
Great post Matt! I’ve always put off using frequent flyer miles cause I didn’t know where to start and I’ve heard that they aren’t what they used to be. But I’ll be travelling around a lot these next months so this post has been a great start, thanks!
Laura
Travel hacking makes big travel possible for those of us without much money. Good credit can take you a long way!
Flystein
How do you complete minimum spending requirements without much money?
NomadicMatt
Step #4 on this post!
TN
A perfect post for newbies like myself. Very insightful and thorough. Minor correction- “Citi Thank You Premier- 3 points per dollar spent on groceries” is incorrect. Should it say “3 points per dollar spent on travel”?
Shaun
Hi Matt, great article as usual 🙂 Which cards would you recommend for someone living in Malta ? And what is the process to apply for a credit card online ? Since in our country you usually have to visit the bank branch and sign the papers etc
Louis
So how do Aussies / Kiwis etc. get American credit cards? *confused* Apart from Amex, there’s only a couple of credit cards here that offer frequent flyer points at all, and they do not give additional extra ongoing bonuses that US cards do. Usually laws governing finance make getting a credit card from another country very difficult.
NomadicMatt
You have your own cards you can get! Check out pointshack.com.au for a list of great and current deals!
Guineveruca
Great timing – I’ve been meaning to get an Alaska Airlines card for a while. This gave me the nudge I needed. Easy peasy! Per the website, the sign-up bonus for that one is currently 30K miles, not 25K. even better!
Leana
@Guineveruca A tip for you. If you go to Alaskaair.com and make a dummy booking, you should see an offer that comes with a $100 credit. That will offset the annual fee on the card which is not waived. You don’t actually have to book any airfare, just get to the last page where you have to put in your credit card info. Hope it works!
NomadicMatt
Yes, the deal I got is a few months old as they just changed the offer!
Kristin
That sounds like an awful lot of work. 😉 But I love the diligence with which you explain how to do it! I would have never considered, for example, paying off my taxes with a credit card.
christy
That’s how I felt at first until I actually did it. I started paying for ALL my bills with a credit card, all groceries, etc. I just paid no attention to my bank account and didn’t even carry my bank debit card with me anymore. I just stayed on budget on what I was spending on my CC with what I would normally spend using my bank debit card. Then at the end of the month, I’d go pay off my credit card with all the actual cash that was still in my bank account that I hadn’t touched. It does require some discipline for sure as it can be tempting to spend more when you are buying things with a credit card. But things like bills – just always put those on your credit card each month, You can even pay a landlord with PayPal and charge it to your card (you incur a small fee, but it’s not much). Travel hacking and using my credit card has actually made me more disciplined with my spending and how I track my money than ever before.
TP
Thank you for the circles and arrows.
Darkrus
Doesn’t work in Europe. Especially not in the Netherlands
Ladislav
Yes, those tips don’t really work in Europe much. Credit card companies don’t give such a nice bonuses. I would apply for US credit card, but without any credit score we are out of luck.
One of the best credit cards I came across in Europe was Miles&More from Lufthansa that has partnerships with banks in multiple countries. You get a bonus around 2-6 000 miles for signing up and then 1 mile for 2 Euros spent (in Germany), 3 miles per 4 Euros spent (in the Czech Republic). However, they don’t work in the Netherlands either 🙁
After considering multiple airlines credit cards in Europe, I was best off with credit card that has 2% cash back in the Czech Republic.
Mara
Thank you for the great advice !
Patti
Great post Matt, I discovered travel hacking a few years ago and have earned over a million miles mostly through credit cards and manufactured spending. Having a flat bed in first or business class on long international flights is totally worth it.
Jim
Really? Totally worth it? Hours/days of fiddling so you can sleep in a tiny bed instead of a seat? Much less hassle is to just take a sleeping pill on that long flight.
Rocco
Jim, It does not take “hours/days,” especially since Matt has done most of the footwork for you. If you are like most people, you already use a credit card for most purchases, and you had to apply for that credit card. So why not spend 5 minutes applying for a different card that will give you an extra 50,000 points (aka miles) simply for doing what you already do? If you prefer cattle class over business class, you can still get that tiny seat for yourself for roughly half the points. Sounds like a win-win. The real value of points lies in how you choose to use them. I save mine for international travel, and I only select Saver Awards, where I can routinely yield at least 3 cents per point, and sometimes 4 cents or more. So, when Chase recently gave me 80,000 bonus points for a Business Ink card, that is the equivalent of at least $2,400 in my pocket.
Craig Workman
Matt! What Alaskan airlines credit card are you looking at that doesn’t have a minimum spend? I checked the visa signature card and it comes with a $1,000 spend.
NomadicMatt
That’s the new offer. The offer I got a few months back was different. I like the new offer just as much. More points, and most people can hit $1k in spend in 3 months.
e
Thank you for addressing this. I was just coming in to ask this.
So you have to hit the 1k spend now.
But are you still able to open the account, hit the spend, close the account and just keep doing it over and over like you said before?
Christy
And since I’m new to manufacture spending, you could easily hit the $1K mark just by doing the steps Matt outlines for manufacture spending (ie – buy two $500 gift cards with pin enabling, etc). Isn’t that right @nomadicmatt?
Vivi Fox
Awesome post Matt. Will follow your great tips and advice.
Thank you and regards.
harv
my Hyatt card only gives one “free” night each year (after paying the $75 annual fee), and then it is only for a category 1-4 hotel. If your card gives two nights please explain.
Diane
Hi Matt!
How have dealt wit Chases 5/24 rule? Or will that be more in effect in about 2 years?
Thanks for all your info!!!
Diane
NomadicMatt
The 5/24 rule is real. It’s why I limit my Chase card openings.
Christy
So isn’t the IHG card through Chase? If I’ve opened Chase Saffire this year and already have another Chase SLATE (to pay off debt at 0% – opened for about a year), then would it hurt to apply for the IHG?
MP
How about the actual reward seat availability nowadays? Has it improved with the amount of credit card miles recently available or can it be very difficult to find connections even for senior mile travelers?
NomadicMatt
Award availability is down because planes are flying fuller thanks to a better economy, mergers, and reduced capacity. So you don’t find as many seats as you did in the past but if you are flexible, there’s always something. You just have to work with the dates and routes.
Kate
I’d love to see an article on how to get seats.
jason
Eh, I get it. I really do. However, I try to keep my life simple, and this is not it. Plus, I have real problems with these credit card companies tactics, business practices and ethics. Or corporate malfeasance. B of A?Didn’t they need a bailout? Chase too? Not to mention the possibility of being hacked and taken for a ride, or dealing with all the attendant bullshit spam emails and offers this probably entails. Ugh, no.
Maggie
Great post Matt!! Interesting and informative content. Thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts.
Justin
Great article. The step by step approach really explains it well. I don’t think I could do this 🙂
Carl
Great post Matt, this will really help me start my travel hacking ambitions to getting me and the family to Australia for my 40th in 18 months as I have a real passion for getting back to Sydney for his occasion. My only concern is that I probably only have 6 months to earn the points (400,000) as I will need to book in January to be able to get a qualified flight for next December. Any tips on how to get around the qualified flights rules or knowledge on how and when the airlines apply the restrictions?
Kim
Great info but it sounds like you have points spread out all over the place. Can you somehow combine them to purchase flights?
Ray
Great advice, Matt! However, since this is U.S. centric, and I am from Canada, does your book delve into how us Canadians can travel hack like this? Our banking system and laws are slightly different than that of the United States, hence my question. If not, then who would you recommend we follow for advice for that?
Rachael
This just wouldn’t work in Australia!!! If someone can explain how the above steps would copy over into Australian cards/companies then I will buy you a beer, but I just don’t belive this can work as we don’t have the same types of cards and only 2 frequent flier programs
NomadicMatt
It can definitely work! Check out the website pointshack.com.au. That’s the #1 site for travel hacking in OZ/NZ.
Rachael
Not to mention that in Australia you can’t apply for credit cards the way you do, it will give you a bad credit rating and they just won’t be approved (I am a credit card / personal loan lender with a major bank so I can speak first hand!)
Michael
I have a card with the ANZ bank I had 240,000 points with them. The points were only worth $725.00 AUD. I was going to Romania last year I was going to use the points for the airfare. I was only allowed to purchase the flights through the ANZ bank with my points. The were charging $700.00 more for the same flights that travel agencies here in Australia were selling them for. So I just cashed the points in. This article is great just wish we had the same rules here as they do in America. Cheers
Miro
in USA it works much much better compared to Europe or Australia, the most important thing is how you can redeem these points(they are not equal, different cards, different points etc) and if you can get cheap reward flight, because you need to pay tax or surcharge.
In Europe it works only in UK and also it is not a big deal at all.
In USA you can get easily first class flight to Europe ,almost, for free
Caroline
Thanks Matt! I got into travel hacking a few years ago after reading your blog. This one really spells it out and there’s new tips that I can use today.
Angie
Thanks, Matt. I received some gift cards from my previous employer and used one for a money order to deposit into my bank account to pay bills. Good tip!
Mindy
Regarding manufactured spend- Do you take the debit card to the bank to purchase the money order, and them immediately have them deposit that into your account, or can you buy the MO elsewhere?
Christy
I emailed Matt about this as well. I think most grocery stores offer money orders at the customer service desk. So you can buy your visa gift card (you then have to go online and register it and set up a pin, so it acts like a debit), then turn around (or maybe go back the next day or next time you’re at the grocery store) and buy the money order from the grocery store. Then you could go deposit it at the bank. Not sure if banks will let you purchase a money order and then immediately deposit it. That would be a question for the bank.
Jen Eldredge
Hi Matt, Great article–thanks! I just started this hacking thing a few months ago and am coming up on some annual fees. So will be looking at benefits for annual fees, but surely will be canceling a couple of cards. How do you keep track of your miles? Especially after you have cancelled a card?
Hamza
Thanks ! I got into travel hacking a few years ago after reading your blog. This one really spells it out and there’s new tips that I can use today.
Alan Cuthbertson
Hi Matt great information. We are always looking at ways to gain points. As Australians we mainly stick with the oneworld alliance and have found that quite good. In face we managed an around the world trip on points in Business just last year and are well on the way to amassing enough for another one. It’s truly amazing just how rewarding it can be and it’s very possible if you follow certain steps like those in your article. Well done keep up the good work.
Shayan Naveed
This went over my head. it is so confusing! I feel like I have to be in finance to understand this.
Also, the banking/credit system in Thailand is so confusing and definitely some crappy benefits. Plus not very friendly to foreigners.
Anu
Have shared this post like a hundred times at least. This is such a detailed post. Most of it apply to United States but same could be applied to India as well (but we have lot less options here 🙁 ). Thanks for yet another killer post again. Good day 🙂
Benson
Thanks for explaining manufactured spending Matt! Does anyone know if there is an Australian equivalent, and/or whether it’s possible to automate or semi automate the process? Or does it always require physically showing up somewhere? Any thoughts on outsourcing it and splitting the profits?
Jellis Vaes
Sweet Matt! Thanks for breaking this down and giving a more clear insight for earning frequent flier miles!
Kim
Newbie question: We want to travel with a family of 4. If I have points, but they’re spread out among several credit cards, how do I purchase 4 airline tickets for the same flight? If one card had enough for 1 1/2 tickets, and another card had enough for 1/2 a ticket, etc.
Stacey
I’d ask Extra Pack of Peanuts.
http://www.extrapackofpeanuts.com/
Rocco
Kim, Not a problem. With award tickets, there is no cost difference for buying two one-way tickets rather than a roundtrip, so you can mix and match airlines and alliances. When our two girls were little, sometimes one would fly with Daddy and one with Mommy. It was a special adventure for both kids. International routes usually have similar timing, so we would all leave at similar times and arrive at similar times, just via different airlines. Now that our girls are both in their late teens, we are planning a trip where the girls will be on one flight, and Mom and Dad will be on another. One caveat: If you need to change your itinerary, two one-way tickets will incur two change/redeposit fees, while a roundtrip would only incur one change fee.
Bruno
Hey!
Do you have any tips for getting miles with credit cards in Europe? It seems to be a desert on these kind of deals around this side of the pond!
Thanks
Bruno
Julie
hey bruno! I have the same question!! Would be awesome if Matt could give some tips!! Thanks!
Mary
how do you get an invitation to sign up for E-rewards?
NomadicMatt
It’s free to do so!
Gosha
Hi, has anything had changed over the years? As I can’t see an option to join E-rewards and looks like I do need to be invited to be able to sign up over there.
Elaine
When I go to Advantage shopping portal there is a statement saying that points are not eligible on gift cards. Are you sure that points will be will be transferred to my AA account? I certainly hope so!
NomadicMatt
To which section are you referring to exactly? I mention gift cards a bit.
Maxime
Hi Matt
Which cards/programs do you recommend for French people?
Thank you
Bill
In USA, most prepaid debit cards are no longer able to be purchased by credit card, cash only. That would put a huge dent in this plan.
Lenah
7-eleven lets you pay for prepaid debit cards with a credit card.
Lindsay
I really don’t think Canada has anything close to these different programs. It’s also very difficult as even tho I live in Canada I take most of my flights on American carriers out of Detroit. So… I have a easy bank credit card that turns into travel cash, no worries of blacksouts, and then try and concentrate all my flights into AA points when on partner airlines. Any other tips espec for Canadians?
Adzy
Australia has made it very hard. Each application for credit card you take a significant whack on your credit score.
Also, the Reserve bank has forced banks to only charge the cost what it costs them for interchange fees. So the banks have cut card earning rates by half, cause thats how they use to fund programs.
My two earning cards went from 1-3 points per dollar to 0.5. The only one who still has high earning rates is American Express, and every merchant in Australia charges you 3% or more to use AMEX.
Nina
Hi Matt, I have a question after reading through your post. Can you combine miles and/ or points from multiple cards in to one place somehow, or are you constantly using different cards/ points banks to book your travel? I.e. If I have a travel visa credit card at my bank and also get an American Express, can the point values be merged somehow? (Very new to travel hacking, apologies if that’s a very basic question!)
Carrie
For the manufactured spending with the gift cards made into money orders, have your banks ever looked at those large deposits as suspicious activity/questioned you about it?
That is my only worry for the manufactured spending, since those are not deposits I make often!
Very helpful article. :]
Luke
One thing I don’t understand is how you redeme the points if they are spread across different cards? Say you sign up a bunch of cards and have 275,000 points across 3 or 4 different cards. Well if I want a flight then I need all the points on the one card right? Or can you pay for the one flight with points from all the different cards? I am looking to fly to hong kong in the summer from manchester airport with either emeritz or etihad airlines and would very much like to try this to see if I can get the flight cheaper.
Christopher
Luke, you need to have enough points in the same program at least for one-way flight. You can redeem on both Etihad and Cathay Pacific (there is a direct flight from MAN to HKG on Cathay) using American Airlines miles. From the 275,000 points and miles 100,000 were American Airlines miles. When redeeming AA miles, one-way Business class from MAN to HKG is 75,000 in Business and 90,000 in First Class. Now you have to take care of the return leg – 25K points were earned on the Alaska cards, which you can get 2-3 times a year. When redeeming Alaska miles for partner awards, Cathay Business class from Europe to Hong Kong costs 42.5K miles in Business or 70K in First class.
Ryan
How do you find all of the serveys and forms to fill out for extra flyer miles? Do you find them through the website of whatever card you have? Or do you have some links to keep track of them?
Flavius
So i read all the comments and watched the George Clooney movie, but still i\’m confused how to do it! I\’m from Romania, but live and work now in the UK for 5 months, My goal was to come here so i can travel around. So can you help me out with some tips for a UK credit card holder:D ?
Deloras
Had a lot of trouble finding information about small business startup loans nyc, happy I came across your blog though…very
useful
Do you participate in any social sites
Vanessa
Travel hacking is really great for flights, although sadly in the UK the sign up bonuses just aren’t as attractive as in the US.
Josh
So as companies like Chase have begun to crack down on people for MS–manufactured spending– (they can see exactly what is bought with their cards at Staples) have you found a work around for those few hundred thousand points? This is especially awful since chase has some great cards and if they cancel one of your cards, they typically cancel ALL YOUR CHASE CARDS and often any bank accounts you have with them as well. This can be a serious side effect of MS and is worth mentioning before people get into trouble because of your blog. I mean, it might be worth the risk, but people should know what they’re potentially getting into. I don’t MS for this reason.
Also, Chase specifically now has the dreaded 5/24 rule so you may want to add that to your post. This get the card, cancel the card, reapply for the card won’t work with Chase cards as they only allow you to have up to 5 credit card accounts opened up every 2 years. And they won’t allow you to get the same award again within a two year period. AmEx is only allowing certain rewards once in a lifetime.
Sarah
If I choose the cancel the AAdvantage Card, do I still get to keep the miles I earned from spending the $3000 or whatever amount in the set time period?
Thanks!
Dave
Awesome post, Matt!
Are you really able to get the sign-up bonus on the Alaska Airlines visa every 2 to 3 months? That’s crazy! I’ve been waiting for a 50k signup bonus…but could have been getting 25k intermittently if I had known about the churning rules on this card. Let me know!
Laura
It’s been a while since you could churn the Alaska Airlines card every three months and have several at a time. Bank of America cracked down on this. Now, with a few exceptions, you can get ONE Alaska Airlines personal card at a time. If you have a business you can get the business version too.
Cally
Question about the manufactured spending! I’ve read a lot of banks look out for this and if you deposit too many money orders in the same amount as gift cards purchased they can cancel your account, how do you avoid this? Also, I hear many places will not accept gift cards to pay for money orders, is there a guaranteed vendor who will do so or just call around?
Rocco
Matt, It would help to have chapter and verse on the manufactured spending. I have found that you can use a debit card to buy money orders, but you cannot use a credit card to buy or load a debit card. If they do accept a credit card, they will impose a cash advance fee, which quickly eats up the value of any additional points.
Kalyn Scott
I love the post, but wish there were better options for those without great credit. As a family of 5 preparing to travel the world, I would love to take advantage of card points. Unfortunately, my credit is only slightly above average, but not where it needs to be to earn awesome rewards.
NomadicMatt
What cards have you tried to apply for?
Anya
Hi Matt! Thank you for a great post! I truly enjoy reading your website! My spouse, 2 kids and I are trying the basics:) I have one question: do you keep the points/miles after closing the credit card? Thank you for your time!!
Toby Dore'
Cancelling credit cards does not hurt your credit score? Is that completely accurate?
Mike
I think I get the idea how this works but I don’t understand how do you redeem your points on multiple CC. Lets say I collect 500 000 points which could be enough to purchase some air ticket ( for free? ). But the points are spread out on lets say 6 different credit cards which is not enough to buy anything if used separately. Do you get my point? How do you actually use those? Can you collect the points from different sources into let`s say one account somewhere and then use them?
sunny morris
Can you explain how to transfer your credit when canceling a card? Is it simply just asking the representative you talk to when canceling your card to move it to another card you have from that same bank?
NomadicMatt
Yup, that’s exactly what you do!
Itai
Are you aware of any such card in Canada? I have already 5 cards and at most get 1.5X points but never seen any multipliers like you mentioned… so it just not happening. It took 10 years to get to 250K points… it’s something but I aint’t moving fast like this.
Lenah
I am curious if you have ever received a penalty for not paying your taxes throughout the year. I have read that if you owe more than $1000 or more than 10% of your total annual taxes at the end of the year, the IRS can charge you a penalty. I have actually been slightly over the $1000 amount the past three years, but this year I am way over that amount. I have yet to receive a penalty fee, and I am looking forward to getting a big chunk of frequent flyer miles by putting my tax bill on a credit card. Yet I am slightly worried that this year might be the year that my luck runs out and I get penalized or audited for doing this.
Katrina Ahuja
It still seems like you were able to put a decent amount of personal expenses on these credit cards to get that many points. Can you give us a ball park amount of how much money you would have to spend on these cards to get that many points accumulated?
Brenna
Super helpful post, Matt! The only thing I’m wondering about is using tax payments to earn points. I’m self-employed (freelancer) and, according to my accountant as well as some web research I’ve done I need to pay my taxes quarterly rather than once a year. That would make it harder to earn more points at once. Are any of you guys in the same situation?
Shaylee
Hey!
So one of my favorite things to do is wait until I find an extremely cheap flight to buy the ticket. Would a travel credit card still be recommended?
I guess I’m just wondering if it would be worth it to me to spend time racking up all these miles if I could find the same flight for less than the miles would be worth?
Would it be better for me to get a card that allows the points to be used like cash and put this toward the cheap tickets? If so do you have any recommendations for this process?
Thank you!
Ashley Hoober
Wow! very interesting post. They should make some sort of app for tracking all of this electronically! you could be on the verge of something amazing
Michael
I have a card with the ANZ bank I had 240,000 points with them. The points were only worth $725.00 AUD. I was going to Romania last year I was going to use the points for the airfare. I was only allowed to purchase the flights through the ANZ bank with my points. The were charging $700.00 more for the same flights that travel agencies here in Australia were selling them for. So I just cashed the points in. This article is great just wish we had the same rules here as they do in America. Cheers
Tom
How do you get the 1 million?
From Step 1 to Step 6, it is 725k = 275k+25k+150k+150k+25k+100k.
On Step 8, you mention the 200k. However, it is the next year which is a repeated calculation with the Step 1 (275K).
Therefore, for the example you offer, the title is supposed to be “HOW I EARN 725K points and miles EACH YEAR” rather than “1 million miles”. 1 million miles are totally different with 725k points + miles.
Michael
Only Just started researching and studying Travel hacking and credit cards and so far so good. I’m understanding most things and this website really helps. Although I am confused about whether you can transfer your points from card to card. I’m looking to get the AMEX reward gold card. If after a few months i get a Delta rewards card can i transfer the points between or not??
Thanks!
Izabeau
I dont think i would call this a ‘travel hack’ maybe more like a ‘credit card hack.’ Also, i dont know how this process does not absolutely wreck his credit score. Maybe having 100,00 credit cards outweighs 100,000 credit score hits? I would also like to say that this isnt a hack since you must have a lot of money to do this. Someone with say an $800 a paycheck (per month) could never ever do this. Me for example. i dont make enough money to spend 3k in 3 months. Maybe if i used the i’ll-pay-for-it-if-you-pay-me-back method.. but like Matt said, its not dependable. With that said, still good tips.
Ralph
Your World Nomads referral needs updating.
I’m 68. I requested a quote for worldwide trip insurance for 12 months.
WN said that they only insure 65 and under.
Alana Delia
This was SUPER helpful and a really fascinating read. I have never closed a credit card then attempt to reopen that same card lets say.. a year later….. Does it depend on the credit card company if they let you have another sign on bonus again??
For me, the Capital One Venture was been an excellent card to have ( as i work on a cruise ship and am always in a different country and dont pay any foreign transaction fees on the card). I travel a lot for work and that sign on bonus got me a free roundtrip flight from JFK to Manila last year… I paid $7 in fees on my ticket……. a FREE return flight.. In fact, I still talk about my $7 flight to the Philippines still to this day with my boyfriend….
This article you wrote Matt was excellent and I learned some new pointers…… planning my next FREE flight back the Philippines on credit card miles 🙂
Michael Jordy
Now, for someone who can’t commit to airline loyalty, airline credit cards aren’t the best deal. Generic travel rewards credit cards offer more rewards per dollar spent, and the airline cards have annual fees and higher-than-average interest rates, which is why you should not use theses cards if you cannot pay the balance in full each month. What these cards are great for, however, is accelerating how many points you can earn each year. Specific credit cards for example, gives you a 10,000-mile bonus when you hit a certain spending threshold.
Eva Allison
Earning Airline miles on shopping, gift cards, can help you travel to your dream location. Many of American airline miles partners offer free miles on purchasing promotional products in Washington. These logo printed gift items will help your with business advertising.
Benjamin
Excellent post. My only concern is how opening multiple new cards affects your credit report’s Average Length. If I have 2 cards that are 10 years old, and I get 10 over two years, won’t that skew my average length of credit history, thereby lowering my credit score and profile?
Chris
Hi, what type of pin enabled cards are you buying with a credit card? where are you buying money orders with these prepaid cards. Most places only take cash for money orders.