I use the term hacking here merely not to exploit the system but I think “hacking” here is just a way to look and do thing differently, if you have the flexibility of course. Just like house “hacking” , you figure out a way to have someone else pay for your mortgage but you still have access and enjoy the property. Now travel hacking is simply a way to travel by maximizing the point you build up in the credit card system, or figure out a way to pay for it without the retail price. Let’s get right into it. Here is 3 tips any beginner like me can get started:
1. Get the right card that fit your spending habit
The only way you can get the card is to analyze your spending. Looking at your credit report and annually and see what category you spend the most on, and get the card that has the most point earned for that category.
For example, if dining is one of the category you spend the most on, then you should get the American Express Gold Card. Every dollar you spent on Food you get 4x points instead of just one. I currently do not have this card yet but thinking on getting one just to separate the dining expense to here
Chase also offer similar thing with 3x on dining on their Saphire cards.
At the moment, I am actually using Chase United Credit Card Business. Since most of my flight out of Houston are 90% from United, they offer some very nice perk that i utiilized. And sometime loyalty do pay when it come to travel. You get complimentary upgraded from time to time with the card.
If you don’t have one yet. Don’t forget to sign up using the link below to get the sign up bonus!
Thinking of Chase and American Express are the two most popular currency in the point system. these point can be transfer to all most all the major hotel and airline partners for the extra bonus
two main point to remember is looks for way to multiply your point without letting it affect your business two much. Your business still come 1st.
And – NEVER convert to cash or Amazon spending. that is the WORST way to spend your point
Do keep an eye on your annual fee as well. Do you want to combine the free card with the paid card. For example, lot of Chase card does not have annual fee and you can transfer the point out to partners.
An extra note for business owner. Categorize the card according to your business need. and yes, you can have multiple cards for one business.
2. Transfer to partners to get the bonus, don’t spend at portal
This is perhaps one of my mistake in the early day. We have the chase saphire reserve card and if you book the ticket through their portal, your point worth 50% more. While this is good already if you have the Saphire Reserved but if you pay a little more attention. Sometime they have special like this:
So if the airline is having a sale at their website (there a multiple facebook group and online toold you can use to track it) and you can use point to book. Go ahead and transfer the point to get the additional bonus point.
Pay attention to the money vs. point before you book at well. sometime is cheaper to book with money vs point and vice versa. I do not know the alogrithm that control this..yet.
So imaging you already have the card that multiply your point, and then comebine with the sign up bonus, and the transfer bonus to partners, you are sitting pretty already on a lot of point ready for your next trip
3. How i pay $1,000 for my business class back from Tokyo
Already story time, this might be applied to United only since they do have different ticket price for their business seat. I believe you you buy the ticket in the very early, the business seat is cheaper, or if you are flexible like me, we usually wait until the very last moment. There usually an upgrade that they can offer you can buy and get upgraded to business eat.
We use our hard earn point to pay for our economy class ticket To and back from Tokyo at market price. Nothing fancy here
On the trip going to Tokyo, I wasn’t able to get upgrade to business class, all of the seat is either full or offer with a full price of $4,675 for one person one way. I wasn’t ready to spend that much on a seat so I settle with a $299 upgrade to economy premium instead (normally $2000) but you should be able to catch it when they go for $299 quite easily.
On the way back however, the moment it said you can checked in now on the phone 24hrs before departure, during the checked in progress you can see the seat price drop significantly to $999.
I put down everything I have on my hand, and book it right away
Conclusion
- get the right card for your spending habit and maximize point earning
- Track on sale flight and leverage leverage bonus transfer to transfer to partner
- Keep an eye out for seat upgrade on the app
- Enjoy traveling 1st class and staying at nice hotel for fraction of the cost