How to Get Free Airline Tickets Including First Class
The other day I was doing some research on some articles for my best stock ideas of 2018 and I was getting a bit of writers block. I got some coffee and started browsing the internet for nothing in particular when I stumbled upon a Youtube video by some guy named Tai Lopez.
He had some Asian kid on the video and they were discussing how the kid had dropped out of Stanford and how he is now an expert in hacking credit card reward programs for free flights, including first class, and free suites at top hotels around the world.
In twelve months this guy claimed to have went from no credit cards to 330 credit cards and like $3 million in available credit. Of course just enough tidbits were given to get the schlubs and shoeclerks watching to sign up for a “mastermind’ course to learn how to do this.
Airline Travel Today Sucks
It did intrigue me because I need to make some overseas trips next year to Central Asia for personal business. I have been dreading these trips because one is like 33 hours total travel time and the other is 29 hours. I have done these trips before and they suck.
The last time I went to Asia I was in economy class and it was just brutal. By the time I got to where I was going it felt like I had been anally probed by aliens. I am middle age and I just cannot take those economy seats anymore. It takes two days just to recover physically. Was that a flight or a squat and deadlift workout? Plus the whole experience sucks. It reminds me when I rode on a Greyhound bus to Navy Basic Training thirty years ago. Winos and weirdos.
Business and First Class Is The Way To Go
In contrast, I went to Ukraine last year, to visit friends and family, and was able to trade in enough points (from previous work related travel) to fly business class on Austrian Airlines for virtually free. Totally different experience. I flew from Houston to Chicago and then onto Vienna and Kiev.
I was able to access the Austrian airlines lounge between flights. Super comfy chairs, Great wifi, no sitting on the floor charging my phone on the one outlet in the terminal, no SKS (screaming kid syndrome), free premium beer and wine, good selection of food and snacks. I was able to chill out get some work done without having people trip all over me. A very pleasant and civilized experience. The free airline tickets were super great and so was the service.
Reverse Engineer Free Airline Tickets
It got me thinking that if I devote a little time I can reverse engineer this free airline ticket plan that these guys are selling as a mastermind course for $1000 and get enough miles so I can get business class or first class tickets to Asia. I mean if I am capable of writing great investment articles then I should be able use the internet to figure this out.
This will be an ongoing blog about my personal experiences in obtaining sufficient miles to get my free business class airline tickets. This is not advice and everybody’s credit rating, job status, salary, and financial history will determine how successfully they can exploit this plan.
A Great Credit Score Makes It Easy
I have spent quite a bit of time cultivating an excellent credit rating. I can tell you upfront that having a great credit rating makes executing this plan very easy. If you have bad credit or are in credit card debt I recommend you read my article “How to Get Out of Debt” before attempting to hack airline points with credit cards.
Another piece of advice I would give you is that if you are the kind of person that can’t control spending or does not pay off your credit card balances every month I would not recommend using this strategy. In addition, if you are planning on making a major purchase in the near future (house or car) I would recommend not trying this plan.
Applying for credit requires that the banks make credit inquiries on your credit report. Multiple inquires will lower your credit score in the near term and you may have to do a lot of explaining to a banker if applying for a mortgage.
This plan entails leveraging your credit rating by applying for credit cards that offer large sign up bonuses consisting of airline points, hotel points, or card specific points that can be converted into airline or hotel points.
Have A Goal And A Plan
After doing some research I believe the best plan is to first determine where you want to go and how many points you need to go where you want to go.
Since I live in Texas and mostly fly out of Houston I have been a member of United’s frequent flyer program MileagePlus. I like United and MileagePlus because they are part of the Star Alliance and have many airline partners. This is important because when using points you will be more than likely be traveling on code share partner airlines.
I want to research how many points I need to go to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan next April, 2018. I go on the Mileage Plus website and type where and when I want to go. One piece of advice is be flexible in your dates. This will yield more choices which means you may have the opportunity to spend far less points.
After checking the United Mileage Plus website the flight will cost me 85k points and some small fees. So to fly from Harlingen, Texas to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan roundtrip in business class it will cost me a total of 170k points and $54 in fees. The same reservation in Business Class on Orbitz was over $6k cash. So yeah it is worth it to my mind to devote a little time and effort to leverage your good credit rating for virtually free airline tickets in comfort.
In addition, and most importantly, I will arrive relatively well rested and in a condition to conduct business which is the reason I am going there in the first place.
I already have around 161k mile saved up in MileagePlus so I could just buy the miles I need from United which would be around $380 bucks. Still a good deal but this is about credit card miles so let’s dive in. Refer back to the Tai Lopez marketing video I mentioned earlier. On the video the kid mentions a website he uses to find credit card deals and in fact it is the secret sauce for free airline tickets in my view.
The Secret Sauce
The site is US Credit Card Guide. If you go on this site they rank the cards by points awarded and they constantly update the pros and cons of each card. They also give you basic info on each card including sign up bonuses, annual fees, and pluses and minuses of each card. They even have a basic guide that has a wealth of information for exploiting these card programs.
One nugget of information they point out is that when applying for certain cards some banks have some interesting rules. When applying for Chase cards you should consider that the bank has a 5/24 rule. What this means is that Chase will deny you credit if you have applied for more than 5 cards in the last 24 months regardless of your credit rating. It does not matter if they are Chase cards or not. This is great info as Chase has some of the better cards that have the best mileage rewards.
I have pretty good credit so the first card I applied for was the Chase Sapphire Preferred card 50k points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months. After completing the signup process I was approved immediately online. Adding my wife as an authorized user will net me an additional 5k points.
There Is Always A Catch
One of things you will notice when signing up for these cards is that you will need to spend a certain amount of money in a certain amount of time in order to get the points. Depending on your situation this might be difficult.
First off you can pay just about all your bills online with a credit card nowadays. I pay electric, mobile phone, cable internet, grocery, and gas with the card. In addition, I travel for my work and my company does not issue travel cards. This works for me as I charge my expenses to my card and they reimburse me.
Another strategy to get through the spend thresholds is to wait until you have a major expense coming up like remodeling your house. You can buy the materials on the card and snag the points. There is even a site called Plastiq which will cut checks to people you owe and charge your card.
Understand Fees and Basic Math
One caution with these services is that they charge a fee to process payments. Of course the reward points have a value , typically 1.5 to 2.5 cents each (this is listed on the US Credit Card Site) so it would behoove you to do the math and figure out if the cost benefit is in your favor.
There are other ways to get the spending requirement done. You can pay your taxes with the card (again there is a fee around 2%) and if you overpay you just get a refund after you file your return. There are websites and online forums that are completely devoted to figuring creative ways to manufacture spend.
If you plan on actually getting involved in using cards to get free airline tickets I would suggest building a simple spreadsheet to keep track of your cards with info like; annual fees, necessary spend needed for award, time needed to accomplish spend, credit limits, and any other info that you need to maximize your awards.
If You Snooze You Lose
You don’t want to be in a situation where you miss out on an award because you fell short on minimum spend. Like everything else I advocate doing treat it like a business. If you want to manage something than measure it. That’s what professionals do.
If you have bad credit or are in debt I would not recommend getting involved in this. You have already demonstrated that you cannot manage credit very well. Get out of debt first, click here to get on a plan I used. Once you get your situation straightened out you can consider utilizing these schemes.
You earned your outstanding credit rating through prudent use and management of credit. Why not use that asset to obtain free airline tickets and upgrades to make your like more enjoyable. I am not expert on this so if you have any suggestions or inputs I would love to hear them. Just include them in the comments or email me as I interested in maximizing this opportunity.
Happy points gathering!