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15 Beginner TipsAnd Tricks To StartTravel Hacking
WHAT IS TRAVEL HACKING?Travel Hacking is the “art” of traveling for free or witha small budget by accruing rewards, chasing milesand discounted fares, and looking for every possibleway to “game” the system. The goal is to spendas little as possible to have travel experiences thatwould normally cost much more.In the last few years, I’ve earned over 1,000,000 milesand points without flying, in addition to the thousandsof miles earned flying around the world.Travel hacking takes time to master and a lot ofpatience, but with these 15 tips you can begin tounderstand what travel hacking is and how youcould save money on your upcoming trips.
1. Sign-up to your favorite airlineand hotel’s rewards programOne of the most important elements of travel hacking isaccumulating points or miles to redeem them for free travelor upgrades. Think of miles and points as a currency, andjust like any currency, they do have a specific value. Somemiles are worth pursuing while others are not.If you don’t know which programs would be best for you,start by creating a frequent flyer account with AmericanAirlines (One World), United Airlines (Star Alliance), andDelta Airlines (SkyTeam). These three airlines are the bestones to cover all three major airline alliances, giving yougreater chances of earning and redeeming miles. Whilethese airlines are US based, signing up with them still workswell for travelers from all around the world.For hotels, sign-up for the Starwood Preferred Guest program.This is a hotel program that gives you points for hotel stays,and it also lets you redeem some airline miles for hotel stays.
2. When looking for airfares, don’tjust stop at the first site you visitand buy the airfare thereUsually, I start with Kayak.com since it is a pretty goodaggregator, and it includes most airlines. But, after reviewingthe prices there, I like to compare them with the Google ITAMatrix to see the “actual” fare published by the differentairlines. You can’t buy the tickets at the ITA Matrix site, but ithelps to know how much it should cost.Then I head to skyscanner.com, which for some reason, moreoften than not it seems to show the cheapest flights with thebest routes. (This is my favorite site for flights at the moment)After that, I like to keep digging deeper on the Internet bysearching on sites like momondo.com, travelocity.com,expedia.com, smartfares.com, and orbitz.com, amongothers. Sometimes they offer exclusive discounts that canmake the airfare even cheaper than on the actual airline’ssite.
3. Start searching forflights leaving on Tuesdays,Wednesdays, and SaturdaysIn general, search for flights departing on Tuesday orWednesday as these are generally the cheapest days to fly.Saturday is often cheap too since most people don’t wantto break their weekend to fly.4. Be very flexible with your travelplansFlexibility will help you get the cheapest airfare possible.Look for flights at “inconvenient” times like early in themorning, late at night, and red eyes. Also, use the searchtool in Kayak.com and other sites that show airfares threedays before and after your desired date to see if there arecheaper days to fly near your preferred dates.
5. International airfares are often thecheapest when booked 54 to 66 daysin advancedSome studies show that this timeframe is a good rule of thumb to buyyour international flights, but exceptions always happen. Domesticflights are usually at their lowest about a month before the trip.6. Be open to a stopoverTickets that include them are often cheaper. When you fly direct, youare probably flying to or from the airline’s hub, which makes it a bitmore expensive. When you have a stopover, prices tend to be lowerbecause you usually pass through the airline’s hub, but don’t staythere.7. Don’t forget to visit the airline’snative siteDepending on exchange rates, a flight may be cheaper in theairline’s local site and own currency. (i.e. Asiana Airline’s Korean siteinstead of their US site)
8. Wikipedia can help!Not satisfied with the airfare prices you’ve found on searchengines? Head to Wikipedia! Not all search engines showbudget airlines (which we know by now are usually thecheapest ones). So, if you know your destination’s airportname or code (i.e., LAX), go to Wikipedia and search forthe airport there. Wikipedia usually shows all the airlines thatfly to the airport, including the obscure/unknown ones, andthe destinations covered by those airlines. Once you seean airline on the list that didn’t appear on a search engine,go straight to their website and check the prices there.9. Use the “incognito” or “privatebrowsing” mode found on Firefoxand Chrome browsersWhen you’re checking airfares one the Internet, websiteskeep track of your visits through cookies. Often, they raisethe prices (or keep them at the same price if it recently wentdown) because they know you’ve already visited the siteand saw a given price. Incognito mode hides your browsinghistory and cookies so that sites don’t know it is you again.
10. Sign up for credit cards whenthey offer a substantial sign-upbonus – like 30,000 to 50,000 milesor pointsUsually, to earn the sign-up bonus you need to spend a minimumamount of money in a certain amount of time. To achieve this,you can use your credit card to pay all your daily spending likegas, groceries, rent, online shopping, etc. But, make sure youpay your balance every month to avoid paying interest rates onyour purchases.You can view additional airline & frequent flyer credit card offershere.11. Buy gift cards and pay with themOften credit cards offer 2X – 5X points per dollars spent on specificstores (i.e. office supply stores, drug stores, etc.). These storesoften sell gift cards for restaurants, gas stations, online shopping,and more. Buy these gift cards (only for stores or services youalready use) with your credit card so you can rack up multiplepoints per dollar. Then use the gift card to pay for dinner, gas, orwhatever necessary purchase in the applicable store.
12. Do a Mileage Run to gainAirline status and add miles toyour account at a low costMileage Runs are when people take flights simply toearn miles and elite status. They look for last-minutedeals or fare specials and hop on the next flight. Thetruth is that with all the latest changes in the airlineindustry, Mileage Runs are becoming harder andharder to do, but still, sometimes you find a good one.To learn more about how to do mileage runs and findout when these deals happen, check the FlyerTalkforum. (Note: Their jargon can be a bit advanced)13. Stay in more than onehotel in a citySeveral hotel chains offer promotional rewards for acertain number of “stays”. This means that if you’re ina city for four nights, you could stay at four differenthotels to accumulate four “stays”. Sure, moving everyday is not ideal, but this is a fast way to accumulatefree nights very fast!
14. Multiply your miles byshopping onlineA similar concept applies when shopping online atthe airline’s mileage mall portal. These “online malls”often offer multiple points per dollar or specific bonusmiles (i.e. 5,000 extra miles) for certain purchases. Agood site to check for current rewards is evreward.com.15. If the first person can’thelp, try someone elseSometimes asking nicely by phone or at the hotel orairline’s front desk or check-in clerk for an upgrade,freebie, or discount is a good way to travel hack yourvacation. Often you will get a “no” for an answer,but the best thing to do is hang up or wander aroundthe hotel/place and come back again when thestaff has changed (or call back). More often thannot, the answer is highly dependent on who you talkto and often staff are more than happy to give youthat bigger room, business seat, or other perks if theywill go to “waste” otherwise.
Of course, this is just the beginning of your travelhacking “career”, but by applying these tips andmore for 30 minutes every couple days or so, soonyou could earn over 100,000 miles/points withoutactually flying that much or spending high amountsof money.Ready to travel hack?Want to learn more and become a travel hackingexpert? I highly recommend checking NomadicMatt’s Ultimate Travel Hacking Guide where you’lllearn all the detailed tricks to fabricate spending tomeet the sign up bonuses in your new credit cards,how to earn even more without flying, which are thebest travel hacking websites, and more.Lastly. If you have questions or comments, feel freeto contact me.Norbert
15 Beginner Tips And Tricks To Start Travel Hacking. WHAT IS TRAVEL HACKING? Travel Hacking is the “art” of traveling for free or with a small budget by accruing rewards, chasing miles and discounted fares, and looking f
