Here’s one more budget travel tip: maximize your mileage points!
Have you heard of the movie “Up In The Air”? George Clooney plays a man who, in addition to flying around the country firing people, has an obsession to earn ten million frequent flier points and to become a member of an elite, small group that has done so.
While that goal is a little lofty, I can identify with the desire to collect points. In any year, I only fly four or five times, but over the course of 15 years I’ve earned enough points to fly overseas four times (three trips to Spain and one to The Czech Republic) in addition to getting a free rental car on one of the trips.
How did I do it?
Airline Credit Cards & Frequent Flyer Programs: Tips For Frugal Travel
1. I opened a credit card that gave me points (one point for every dollar put on the card) toward one of the airlines I used, and also signed up for an American Express card that gave me points (again one point for every dollar charged) that I could use with any airline. Here’s a list of airline credit cards that offer rewards that you can use towards your travels:
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2. Early on, I took advantage of a program with American Airlines that — if I flew on their airline before a certain date — would triple my miles on every flight with them for the next year. I also kept my eyes open for any other special promotions that would increase point levels.
3. I signed up for various frequent flyer (flier?) programs and made sure that I plugged in my frequent flyer number when I bought my tickets.
4. I kept track of when my points expired so as to not lose them. When I went to Prague, it was in the middle of my third year of law school, and this was in February, so it was not the best time to travel. But my points were expiring the following June, and they had an open seat for a free ticket for a frequent flyer in February, so away I went. Sometimes, it’s all about the timing.
5. I decided to use my points only for overseas travel, rather than domestic flights; I also used points to upgrade my flights from coach to business or first class. This made the points something special and a goal to really work toward.
Building Up My Frequent Flyer Points
Unbelievably, my trip to Prague used up all of my frequent flier points. Being in school and studying for the bar exam the last five years, I haven’t had time to fly and accumulate more points. So I am starting over. I am flying twice in the next month, so I will get my balances started again. I discovered a great website: frequentflier.com that discusses all aspects of frequent flying and how to get points.
Frequentflier.com has a newsletter that can tell you about the latest promotions that are available, and they also have a forum, where like-minded frequent fliers can talk to each other. I doubt I will ever make that ten million mark, but I am sure to get enough to take a few more trips overseas.
Contributing Writer: BEM
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
truly frugal people arent frequent flyers. we either stay home, go on road trips or camping trips or we use someone else’s frequent flyer miles (ex : a family member pays for the ticket)
You’re not kidding. Airline credit cards are full of perks, like free tickets.
John DeFlumeri Jr
@Cyd,
I agree, though I think that one way to save money on travel is to rack up the points through rewards and use that to get the biggest cost out of travel, out of the way. If you’re good at managing your rewards credit cards and are responsible with using credit in general, this is one way to save big on travel. I, for one, am a big user of rewards cards. As someone who does not carry a balance, a rewards card is one of my favorite tools in my personal finance arsenal.
My view on elective travel is rather peculiar, actually. If I don’t think I’m going to have a better experience elsewhere than I can have in my own home, then I won’t go there. Getting a flight upgrade is one of those things that make a trip worth taking, at least for me. One of my least favorite things is to fly in economy (and yes, unfortunately, it’s something I can’t really escape altogether….).
My wife and I also earn Alaskan miles shopping at Safeway. Groceries are a huge part of most peoples expenses, and if you shop at Safeway, they will contribute in addition to your regular earnings.
Check this link about this.
I appreciate your overview- looking to travel to Peru soon, so I need to take advantage of a program like the ones above!
With my family scattered all across the globe, my mom especially racks up the frequent flyer miles, and puts them to good use!
These deals are full of perks and can be greatly beneficial, but they’re also deals to make money off of you. I would suggest that you don’t just jump into the deal because you want to get a free ticket… you have to spend A LOT of money before you ever get something for free. I’m glad SVB listed in her chart fees and such as these will prove to be very important in making a decision as to the cost benefit analysis of utilizing one of the above deals. Great Post.
I once worked for an airline with a loyalty program. If you are going to use airline miles to be frugal you have to be diligent with it. I have seen the stats on the % of earned miles that go unused. Most people will never use their miles.
It would be very unwise to carry and use a rewards credit card for airline miles if you aren’t planning to travel much or use your miles in the first place. That would be be very foolish, in fact. Why not choose a rewards card that paid you well? If airline miles are not your thing, then there are cash back credit cards and other types of cards you can apply for. Check out our list of best credit cards to find out the cards that are most suitable for you.
I had 10,000(ish) BA points revoked because I hadn’t used them within 2 years of gaining them. I may not have flown with them for that period of time as well so that too may have contributed.
On the whole I think airline mileage credit cards are a good deal and do cut your travel costs, especially if you travel longer distances. I’m glad you didn’t list United’s Mileage Plus credit card, though. I fell for a promotion offering me 45,000 bonus miles for signing up for their card in 2008, but have only ever gotten the initial 20,000 miles promised despite several phone calls.
Also with United, you have to book very far in advance to get decent free flights; I end up using most of the miles for upgrades to first class (not so frugal). I’ve had a better experience with my British Airways credit card and am using miles for free flights to London this summer. As long as you keep using the credit card, your miles don’t expire. The BA card is no good for domestic travel though; very limited reward flight availability on partner airlines.