Travel Travel Hacking

[TeddyRivers]

Anyone else travel using points and miles?

My first travel hack was a road trip to the Grand Canyon with my son. I got a Discover card that doubled your cash back at the end of a year. I earned enough cash back to cover hotels, gas, tours and activities.
For my next travel hack, I went much bigger. I got multiple Chase cards with the intent of taking my son to South Africa. I paid less than $200 cash for our plane tickets and completely covered our hotel rooms.
My next trip was to NYC. Again, plane tickets were about $100 per person using United Miles. I got a free hotel room overlooking the World Trade Center with a Marriott card.
This summer I've went to Canada twice. Free hotel rooms both times using Chase points.
My next trip is to Poland and Athens. I used United points to pay about $130 per person for flights. My hotel rooms are free Marriott points and Chase points. I've also used some Chase points this time to book some tours.

Share your travel hacking stories here.

 

[marcimaria624]

Anyone else travel using points and miles?

My first travel hack was a road trip to the Grand Canyon with my son. I got a Discover card that doubled your cash back at the end of a year. I earned enough cash back to cover hotels, gas, tours and activities.
For my next travel hack, I went much bigger. I got multiple Chase cards with the intent of taking my son to South Africa. I paid less than $200 cash for our plane tickets and completely covered our hotel rooms.
My next trip was to NYC. Again, plane tickets were about $100 per person using United Miles. I got a free hotel room overlooking the World Trade Center with a Marriott card.
This summer I've went to Canada twice. Free hotel rooms both times using Chase points.
My next trip is to Poland and Athens. I used United points to pay about $130 per person for flights. My hotel rooms are free Marriott points and Chase points. I've also used some Chase points this time to book some tours.

Share your travel hacking stories here.

wow

 

[redney]

I'm a fan of The Points Guy website and FB. Lots of points and travel 'hacking' tips. https://thepointsguy.com/

 

[xiaoxiao]

Anyone else travel using points and miles?

My first travel hack was a road trip to the Grand Canyon with my son. I got a Discover card that doubled your cash back at the end of a year. I earned enough cash back to cover hotels, gas, tours and activities.
For my next travel hack, I went much bigger. I got multiple Chase cards with the intent of taking my son to South Africa. I paid less than $200 cash for our plane tickets and completely covered our hotel rooms.
My next trip was to NYC. Again, plane tickets were about $100 per person using United Miles. I got a free hotel room overlooking the World Trade Center with a Marriott card.
This summer I've went to Canada twice. Free hotel rooms both times using Chase points.
My next trip is to Poland and Athens. I used United points to pay about $130 per person for flights. My hotel rooms are free Marriott points and Chase points. I've also used some Chase points this time to book some tours.

Share your travel hacking stories here.

Wow. That’s truly amazing. I don’t have any awesome stories like that at all, so just wanted to say good for you!!!

 

[EmmJay]

We go to Hawaii twice a year using airline miles from our credit card. Generally, we are there for a minimum of two weeks. Our tickets are $11.20. We have family there so lodging is free. We use corporate discount for our rental car. Next trip is in December for three weeks (hopefully). Can’t wait!

So, we use a travel, family, and corporate hack.

 

[fabuleux]

Anyone else travel using points and miles?

The entire world.

 

[RueMonge]

The entire world.

Minus me, oh wise one. I generally cash in my points but do have one miles card attached to an airline.

Teddyrivers, aren't you worried about the temptation of charging too much to get the miles?

 

[Charles]

If you want to travel and don't want to fuss with flipping cards and tracking down deals, the Chase Sapphire card is a must have. Yes, it costs $450/year, but each year, they give you a $300 credit towards travel related purchases, so that knocks it down to $150/year, basically. They also reimburse you for Global Entry and TSA Precheck (FYI, get Global Entry as Precheck is included with it.). You get free access every Priority Pass airport lounge (with up to two guests, depending on the lounge). Which is clutch if you've been traveling all day and just want to relax away from all the airport traffic. They also almost always have free food and booze, so depending on how long your trips are, that's worth the other $150 fee right there. Then you get to the points. Every regular dollar charged is 1 point. Anything travel related is 3 points. I use my card for all my daily purchases, and some monthly bills if they allow it, then pay it off at the end of the month to avoid interest charges. Then, when you go to book travel through the Ultimate Rewards portal, all your points are multiplied by 1.5. So if you had 10,000 points in your account, when you go to book a flight or hotel, you'll have 15,000 points to use. This year I went to Australia and only had to pay $350 (saved about $1200 with points) for both my son's and my flights. I just booked flights to Mexico and saved $300. Def worth it!