Travel Hacking 101 will teach you the basics of travel hacking. You'll learn how to strategically collect miles and points and use them to travel the world for pennies on the dollar!
New to travel hacking? Want to learn more? Check out my site at http://natebuchanan.org/budget-travel-101/
2. What is Travel Hacking?
Strategically collecting miles and points and
using them to travel for the world for pennies
on the dollar
3. Outline
Real Life Example
Different Types of Miles & Points
How To Redeem Miles & Points
Main Strategies for Earning Miles & Points
#1 Strategy for Earning Miles & Points
Frequently Asked Question
Questions & Attempted Answer
36. Bring on the questions!
Website - natebuchanan.org
Social Media - @natebuchanan
Notas del editor
Experienced Travel hackers – repetitive
Beginners – Drinking out of a fire house
Get everyone on the same page before taking a deeper dive into other topics
Explain transferring SPG points to American Airlines
Different types of miles & points & how to go about redeeming them
What they are and how to redeem them
Four major frequent flyer programs
Zone based award carts
Distance based award charts
Only Redeem on the airline you earned miles on
United Award Chart U.S. to Europe
Zone based award charts are the most popular - United, Delta, and American Airlines all have zone based award charts
U.S. to Australia/New Zealand
As the zones get further apart the award flights get more expensive
British Airways Award Chart
The distance you fly determines the cost. Distance is segmented in to chunks.
Take advantage of sweet spots
Round trip flight 9,000
On american would be 25,000
British Airways is the cheapest way to fly to Dallas
Round trip cost 25,000
Round trip on American or United would cost 60,000
Just like airline miles there is no transferring between programs
Categories based of two things
Location
Quality of the property
Radisson Blu in the middle in the middle of a popular city – Country Inn & Suites in the middle of nowhere
Categories based of two things
Location
Niceness
Two main cards that offer fixed value points
It’s exactly what it sounds like each point has a fixed value
$500 Flight to California would cost 50,000 miles
Book an over night train from Milan to Venice – Using arrival miles to erase the cost
Transferable points are the most value because they’re flexible
Transfer chase points to United, Southwest, Hyatt and British Airways
Transfer to travel partners at a 1 to 1 ratio
Starwood only partners with Airlines
If you transferred Chase Ultimate Rewards to United, those Ultimate Reward points would turn into United miles
Then you’d book the award flight through United
Summarize – Airline, hotel, transferable, and fixed value points
5 main strategies for earning miles and points
Delta – Miami for a cruise
SPG & American for Costa Rica
American Platinum 100,000 points sign up bonus – Africa or Australia
Club Carlson – Two free nights in Vienna & two free nights in Austra
Chase Sapphire – Transferred Ultimate Reward points to United to book flight back from Thailand
Chase freedom an example or rotating categories
Chase in an example of fixed categories
Think about which credit card will earn you the most points with every purchase
Might not seem like a big deal at the time, but strategically spending on the right card adds up
Earn points through flying and staying at hotels
Online mall with store fronts
Target earns 3 points per dollar spent.
Points stack on top of the points your already earning for spending on your credit card
Might not seem like much at the time but it adds up over time
After signing up 3X – 5X Per $1 Spent at Qualifying Restaurants
Sign Up Bonuses the main reason use these
I could give a “overview” presentation without giving briefly discussing the number 1 strategy for earning miles and points
I AM NOT A FINANCIAL ADVISOR – CAN’T Guarantee this won’t hurt your credit score
Strategically applying for multiple cards on the same day every few months.
Keeps your credit score in the best condition possible.
Hard check when applying for cards decrease your credit score 2 – 5 points
Recover back from that dip over 3 or four months
Don’t know the exact reasoning. It just works
$925 If paid all my annual fees
3 Optoins
Keep if the benefits outweigh the cost of the annual Club Carlson 25,000 point annual bonus
Always downgrade if possible
Canceling hurts credit score because it reduces your length of credit history
Travel Hacking is hobby and it takes some effort, but it totally worth it!
