I’m heading into a big summer travel season, maybe the busiest summer of travel yet for me and my family. Usually, when I post photos on my personal social media, I get some comments like “you’re so lucky you get to travel so much” and “I wish I could travel for free”.
Well, while I admit that I’ve had my fair share of luck in my life, my free travel is a result of strategy, not luck. I’m not taking free flights and hotel stays from companies in exchange for blog posts. I’m doing the things that I write about every week–collecting miles and points from credit card deals when the bonuses are high and using those to book almost-free travel.
The process for earning miles and points for travel
Very few of my miles and points came from butt-in-seat flights or hotel stays. The vast majority came from credit card welcome bonuses and everyday spending on credit cards. My miles and points balance is always changing, but before I cashed in some miles the other day for flights to Japan, my family had over 800,000 miles and points at our disposal.
I outline all of the steps in Beginner’s Guide: 7 Steps to Free Travel with Miles and Points. I encourage you to read the full post for all the details, but in summary:
Step 1: Set travel goals
Step 2: Sign up for frequent flyer/loyalty accounts with airlines and hotels
Step 3: Apply for a new credit card with an attractive welcome bonus
Step 4: Begin using new credit card and meet minimum spend for bonus miles (and always pay off your balance in full every month)
Step 5: Activate 2-player mode (spouse or partner)
Step 6: Apply for small business credit cards
Step 7: Spend the miles on free travel!
Hot Credit Card Offers June 2024
Credit card welcome bonuses are constantly changing, and they are impossible to predict. Some credit cards are part of our affiliate links which pay us a small commission if you use our links. Other cards aren’t in our affiliate link or the non-affiliate links have a better offer. If you click on a credit card link through our blog for more information, the link will state of its an affiliate link or non-affiliate link. We feature both because we want you to get the best deal.
Here are some of the hottest welcome offers:
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card: Currently, this card has 75000 bonus points after spending $4000 in the first 3 months. This offer is ending soon. See my prior post for more details.
Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Cards: The current offer on all three personal credit cards is 85,000 bonus points after spending $3000 in the first 3 months! Offer ends 6/26/24.
Capital One Venture Rewards Card: Current offer is 75,000 miles after spending $4000 in the first 3 months.
American Express Gold Card: 75,000 bonus points after spending $6000 in 6 months plus $250 in restaurant statement credits during first 12 months.
Hilton Honors Amex Surpass Card: 130,000 points + free night reward after spending $3000 in first 6 months.
Chase Ink Business Preferred: 100,000 bonus points after spending $8000 in the first 3 months.
Citi Strata Premier Card: Current re-launch offer is 75000 points after spending $4000 in the first 3 months.
I’ve gotten the “Must be nice” response but they can do it too! As others have said people don’t want to do the work or research, they don’t even want to listen, it’s just easier to make a comment.
I agree with Lynn. Most people I talk to say it’s too complicated/too much work/too much planning far in advance of the trip. I look at it as my time has value, and spending time earning points is valuable to me to enjoy a nicer vacation than I could normally afford. I have a friend I travel with sometimes and if I plan a trip for us I have to walk her through each step (or sometimes do it for her) and only give her the info she needs for the current card – not the full plan. I do it because I like to have a friend to travel with. And occasionally this gets me a referral bonus which helps compensate me for my time.
@Lynn and @Cari I agree, unfortunately. It’s surprisingly hard to get people into this miles and points hobby.
I find that people would rather be jealous, instead of putting in the time and effort it takes to gain this knowledge. I don’t mind helping people, but it seems like many of them want me to do most of the work for them!