Flying Free - Airline Miles Strategies/Best Practices

[The Colorado Kid]

Hello Tuggers -

Looking for best practices for flying free for vacations.

My current strategy is using our Southwest Rapid Rewards Chase card for all spending to work to build miles for free flights.

But there are a bewildering array of travel cards and airline travel programs.

What have been your go-to strategies to fly as often as possible for free?

Thanks in advance for sharing your expertise!

The Colorado Kid

 

[dgalati]

I picked up The companion pass last Jan 20th. Needed 125k spend or bonus to get companion pass. Opened a business card in Oct 2019 with a 80k bonus on a 5k spend. Then I opened up a personal card in Nov with a 40k bonus on a 5k spend. I completed the total spend on both cards after the Dec 20th closing date with both bonuses deposited on Jan 20th statement. With the 80k bonus+ 40k bonus+ 5k spend +5k spend it gave me over 130k of airline miles to use with the companion pass added after the 125k spend or total with bonus points.

 

[The Colorado Kid]

I picked up The companion pass last Jan 20th. Needed 125k spend or bonus to get companion pass. Opened a business card in Oct 2019 with a 80k bonus on a 5k spend. Then I opened up a personal card in Nov with a 40k bonus on a 5k spend. I completed the total spend on both cards after the Dec 20th closing date with both bonuses deposited on Jan 20th statement. With the 80k bonus+ 40k bonus+ 5k spend +5k spend it gave me over 130k of airline miles to use with the companion pass added after the 125k spend or total with bonus points.

Wow! @dgalati that is amazing! And I'm a newbie at all things airline miles....is 130K miles about 2 domestic roundrip tickets?

 

[vacationtime1]

The "best" strategy for airline miles depends on where you live and where you travel -- i.e. who flies where you want to go. It also depends on what you are willing to give up to fly for "free" (distance to departure airport, non-stop flights, flight times, etc.)

Alaska Airlines is our "go to" airline to travel from SF to Hawaii -- they have non-stop flights from SF, Oakland, or San Jose (each reasonably close to our residence) to each Hawaiian island and a credit card that offers annual two-fers (we have two of those credit cards). But Alaska Airlines doesn't fly to Europe.

Our Europe flights largely depend on who flies non-stop. TAP to Lisbon, Norwegian to Barcelona, anyone to London (but avoid flying through London if you can because of fuel surcharges). And yes, DW has found ways to manipulate miles and points for any of the above. But it's always done on a trip by trip basis depending on availability (business class tickets using miles or points are not always available).

It's complicated. One size does not fit all. Or even most.

 

[Synergy]

Southwest is completely unique in their offering of the 'companion pass' which allows a person to designate a companion who can join them on any domestic flight for $5.60. On international flights, the companion has to pay fir the taxes on their flight, usually $20-$50.

Further, they don't use award buckets for booking flights with miles - their 'miles' are revenue based, with each point being worth about 1.5c. That means that 125,000 points (the number you need for the companion pass) is worth roughly $1850 in flights - plus, the companion flies for nearly free, so $3500 in flights is a fair estimate.

Because Southwest offers many fare sales, and I'm something of a deals hunter, I get a LOT of value out of our $1850. In January, we flew from Florida to Hawaii and back for less than 35,000 points. We've flown from RT from Florida to Denver for 6,000 points several times.

All in all, I'd say that we usually took a dozen or so trips (RT for two) every two years paid soley with the 110,000 the companion pass used to require. We still could book with cash and add the companion, so effectively flying half price.

Further, you can cancel a points reservation right up until ten minutes before departure and pay no penalties. Under normal circumstances, we have several speculative flights booked at great sale prices booked at any time. If we find a good deal on accomodations, we take the trip. If it doesnt pan out, I cancel and the points come back immediately.

I sound like I'm in marketing for Southwest, heh, but I'm not. They just happen to offer the best frequent flyer program in the business for people who like to travel within North America a LOT and don't mind flying economy.

 

[Firepath]

I also take surveys to add SWA miles. They add up pretty quickly.

 

[dgalati]

Hello Tuggers -

Looking for best practices for flying free for vacations.

My current strategy is using our Southwest Rapid Rewards Chase card for all spending to work to build miles for free flights.

But there are a bewildering array of travel cards and airline travel programs.

What have been your go-to strategies to fly as often as possible for free?

Thanks in advance for sharing your expertise!

The Colorado Kid

I liked United when they had fixed rate on travel points needed 12k or 25k for coach or 25k or 50k on first class. Now they have changed it to a fluctuating number of points needed depending on how many seats are left. It can still be a good deal to travel using United points but no as much as when it had fixed number of points needed. I just used 86k United points I had when I booked two first class seats from Florida. Total cost $11.20 or only $5.60 ea

 

[Synergy]

I also take surveys to add SWA miles. They add up pretty quickly.

Those are companion pass qualifying, yes?

We haven't decided whether to earn it next year or not. They extended ours through June because of the virus, but we don't expect much travel by then. We are hoping to fly to Yellowstone in August, but I'm not sure we'll have enough travel to make it worth earning the pass. Perhaps better to wait until 2022? This would be the first time in maybe a decade that we'll lose the pass for more than a bit of January.

 

[dgalati]

Southwest is completely unique in their offering of the 'companion pass' which allows a person to designate a companion who can join them on any domestic flight for $5.60. On international flights, the companion has to pay fir the taxes on their flight, usually $20-$50.

Further, they don't use award buckets for booking flights with miles - their 'miles' are revenue based, with each point being worth about 1.5c. That means that 125,000 points (the number you need for the companion pass) is worth roughly $1850 in flights - plus, the companion flies for nearly free, so $3500 in flights is a fair estimate.

Because Southwest offers many fare sales, and I'm something of a deals hunter, I get a LOT of value out of our $1850. In January, we flew from Florida to Hawaii and back for less than 35,000 points. We've flown from RT from Florida to Denver for 6,000 points several times.

All in all, I'd say that we usually took a dozen or so trips (RT for two) every two years paid soley with the 110,000 the companion pass used to require. We still could book with cash and add the companion, so effectively flying half price.

Further, you can cancel a points reservation right up until ten minutes before departure and pay no penalties. Under normal circumstances, we have several speculative flights booked at great sale prices booked at any time. If we find a good deal on accomodations, we take the trip. If it doesnt pan out, I cancel and the points come back immediately.

I sound like I'm in marketing for Southwest, heh, but I'm not. They just happen to offer the best frequent flyer program in the business for people who like to travel within North America a LOT and don't mind flying economy.

The only draw back I found with a companion pass is as a A list member my companion can not board at the same time as I do. A list members are given advanced boarding positions automatically and anyone else on same reservation can board with the A list member. This does not apply to someone traveling with a A list member using the companion pass.

 

[dgalati]

Those are companion pass qualifying, yes?

We haven't decided whether to earn it next year or not. They extended ours through June because of the virus, but we don't expect much travel by then. We are hoping to fly to Yellowstone in August, but I'm not sure we'll have enough travel to make it worth earning the pass. Perhaps better to wait until 2022? This would be the first time in maybe a decade that we'll lose the pass for more than a bit of January.

I received mine Jan 20th of this year and it is good for the rest of this and and all of next year. It is a great deal IMHO and costs nothing to get other then the $69 and $149 yearly credit card fees and if credit card is paid in full every month you will not pay the 20% interest on balances.

 

[Synergy]

The only draw back I found with a companion pass is as a A list member my companion can not board at the same time as I do. A list members are given advanced boarding positions automatically and anyone else on same reservation can board with the A list member. This does not apply to someone traveling with a A list member using the companion pass.

Oh my, then you'll be excited to hear that in the past several days, people on Flyertalk have noted companions being assigned a consecutive boarding number! It's an unannounced change and still too new to be sure of, but it's got us all excited.

 

[klpca]

I used to churn cards (open/use/close/repeat) but most companies are tracking that and putting restrictions on that behavior now (limiting it to 5 new cards in 24 months). It was fun while it lasted but it was a pain to keep track of everything to be honest. Now I use my Chase Sapphire Reserve as primary, Costco as secondary, and Alaska for Hawaii only. I have a Hawaiian card that I will be closing soon. We charge enough on our Chase card to travel on points for the most part.

My strategy going forward is to track upcoming travel and open cards as needed to get bonuses if I can get better value than using things such as Alaska's Companion fare. (buy one, get the second fare for $99). I can open cards in both my name and my husband's. He does not currently have an Alaska card and we aren't traveling to Hawaii as much as we used to, but if I need it I will open an account in his name to get a bunch of miles.

I had the Southwest CP a few years ago and since we don't fly very frequently (3 or 4 times per year) we weren't able to leverage it as much as I thought we would. I closed that card and that's one that I will reopen if the right offer comes along.

Somehow I lost a minimal number of Hawaiian miles (prob ~1000) and even though I caught it early they refused to reinstate them. Since I had previously closed our Hawaiian accounts (probably why the miles expired in the first place) I opened two new cards and got 60,000 miles for each of us. I waited a year, canceled my husbands card (forgot to close mine, lol, but I will soon) and we are still working through those miles. Only another year and I will be able to open a new account in my husbands name if I want to. I probably won't if we don't need the miles but I keep it in my mind as an option.

There are probably people who are way ahead of my in the game but I am not willing to spend a lot of time on this any more.

 

[Synergy]

I received mine Jan 20th of this year and it is good for the rest of this and and all of next year. It is a great deal IMHO and costs nothing to get other then the $69 and $149 yearly credit card fees and if credit card is paid in full every month you will not pay the 20% interest on balances.

Yes, we got ours in January of 2019 and they've extended it from Dec 2020 to June 2021. We are not certain it's worth opening two new cards to cover the latter half of 2021, and might get it in Jan 2022 instead. That would let me apply for a couple of cards now, with some attractive signup bonuses. Chase limits how many cards you are allowed to have opened opened in the last 24 months, and we are limited for signup bonuses accordingly. There are a couple I might appreciate more than a Jul-Dec 2021 companion pass.

 

[dgalati]

Oh my, then you'll be excited to hear that in the past several days, people on Flyertalk have noted companions being assigned a consecutive boarding number! It's an unannounced change and still too new to be sure of, but it's got us all excited.

I argued this when I flew to Nashville and even brought this announcement with me to show the rep at counter. As a companion my wife is part of my reservation but The manager at check in counter insisted my wife was not on my reservation and her ticket was only connected to my reservation. She said it was announced but hasn't been implemented yet. No problem when we flew home counter rep called us to counter before boarding to inform us we could board together on my A list boarding position. Maybe the customer service email I sent got to someone at Southwest with common sense.

 

[Synergy]

I argued this when I flew to Nashville and even brought this announcement with me to show the rep at counter. As a companion y wife is part of my reservation but The manager at check in counter insisted my wife was not on my reservation and her ticket was only connected to my reservation. She said it was announced but hasn't been implemented yet. No problem when we flew home counter rep called us to counter before boarding to inform us we could board together on my A list boarding position. Maybe the customer service email I sent got to someone at Southwest with common sense.

We've all been complaining about it since they made that announcement - about how they were going to give people on the same reservation consecutive boarding positions. Unfortunately, when you add a companion, they are assigned a separate reservation code, so technically they are NOT on your reservation. I think it was a bad move by Southwest, because their best customers (A-List with CP) are arguably the people who 'ought' to get this perk. Thank you for joining the chorus that has argued this, it appears that they might have worked out the technical wizardry to finally make it happen.

 

[The Colorado Kid]

Southwest is completely unique in their offering of the 'companion pass' which allows a person to designate a companion who can join them on any domestic flight for $5.60. On international flights, the companion has to pay fir the taxes on their flight, usually $20-$50.

Further, they don't use award buckets for booking flights with miles - their 'miles' are revenue based, with each point being worth about 1.5c. That means that 125,000 points (the number you need for the companion pass) is worth roughly $1850 in flights - plus, the companion flies for nearly free, so $3500 in flights is a fair estimate.

Because Southwest offers many fare sales, and I'm something of a deals hunter, I get a LOT of value out of our $1850. In January, we flew from Florida to Hawaii and back for less than 35,000 points. We've flown from RT from Florida to Denver for 6,000 points several times.

All in all, I'd say that we usually took a dozen or so trips (RT for two) every two years paid soley with the 110,000 the companion pass used to require. We still could book with cash and add the companion, so effectively flying half price.

Further, you can cancel a points reservation right up until ten minutes before departure and pay no penalties. Under normal circumstances, we have several speculative flights booked at great sale prices booked at any time. If we find a good deal on accomodations, we take the trip. If it doesnt pan out, I cancel and the points come back immediately.

I sound like I'm in marketing for Southwest, heh, but I'm not. They just happen to offer the best frequent flyer program in the business for people who like to travel within North America a LOT and don't mind flying economy.

@Synergy Excellent summary! Maybe I am onto something thanks!

 

[Synergy]

@Synergy Excellent summary! Maybe I am onto something thanks!

If you're up for a good deal of research, check out the Flyertalk forums. There are thousands of people who play these games, which require widely varying amounts of work you're willing to put in. Like klpca, we've toned it all down since the 5/24 restrictions took effect. We still eke a LOT of value out of our handful of signup bonuses each year.


The advice I like to give is to look at what you spend your money on, and know what card you should be putting each type of expense on. For instance, my Chase Sapphire Reserve gives me 3 points (each worth 1.5c) for dollars spent on dining. They (usually) give me 1 point (1.5c) for dollars spent on gas. I use my Venture card for gas, which gives me 2 points (theirs are worth 1c each) because 2c there is better than 1.5c on the CSR. A current offer for the Amex Platinum is attractive because it would (for six months) give me 10 points (@1.5c) for every dollar spent on gas - 15c is an incredible rebate, and that doesn't even account for the signup bonus!

Relatedly, putting all your spend on one card that gives a lower rebate can definitely make sense if there is a signup bonus to chase - if, say, you get 75,000 points for spending $6000 on a southwest card, and you know you'll earn the companion pass with flights or another card, that's arguably worth something like $2400 - so a 40c rebate, even though further spending after earning the pass is only a 1.5c rebate.

It all seems a little crazy, I admit - my other half has NO IDEA what I do. I just come to him sometimes and say it's time to apply for a card, and then every time we take a trip I tell him what card or game I played paid for each bit. He thanks me with real appreciation, despite not understanding it at all. A lot of the same skills I learned for booking award flights are very useful in getting good deals with timeshare. You might be surprised at how quickly you pick up the broad strokes.

 

[Theiggy]

Check out 10x Travel’s website and Facebook group. Awesome strategies.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Firepath]

Those are companion pass qualifying, yes?

We haven't decided whether to earn it next year or not. They extended ours through June because of the virus, but we don't expect much travel by then. We are hoping to fly to Yellowstone in August, but I'm not sure we'll have enough travel to make it worth earning the pass. Perhaps better to wait until 2022? This would be the first time in maybe a decade that we'll lose the pass for more than a bit of January.

I think they are, I’ve never come close to qualifying.

 

[BingoBangoBongo]

If you pursue the Southwest Companion Pass and try to max out the time to use it (Remainder of year you earn it in plus next full calendar year) be very careful with charges near the EOY. As someone else suggested, Search the Southwest thread on FlyerTalk. Every year there is someone who thinks they understand how charges get posted and they end up with just over a year to use it instead of almost two years they were hoping for. I’ve had it in the past and it can be a great benefit.

 

[dgalati]

I used to churn cards (open/use/close/repeat) but most companies are tracking that and putting restrictions on that behavior now (limiting it to 5 new cards in 24 months). It was fun while it lasted but it was a pain to keep track of everything to be honest. Now I use my Chase Sapphire Reserve as primary, Costco as secondary, and Alaska for Hawaii only. I have a Hawaiian card that I will be closing soon. We charge enough on our Chase card to travel on points for the most part.

My strategy going forward is to track upcoming travel and open cards as needed to get bonuses if I can get better value than using things such as Alaska's Companion fare. (buy one, get the second fare for $99). I can open cards in both my name and my husband's. He does not currently have an Alaska card and we aren't traveling to Hawaii as much as we used to, but if I need it I will open an account in his name to get a bunch of miles.

I had the Southwest CP a few years ago and since we don't fly very frequently (3 or 4 times per year) we weren't able to leverage it as much as I thought we would. I closed that card and that's one that I will reopen if the right offer comes along.

Somehow I lost a minimal number of Hawaiian miles (prob ~1000) and even though I caught it early they refused to reinstate them. Since I had previously closed our Hawaiian accounts (probably why the miles expired in the first place) I opened two new cards and got 60,000 miles for each of us. I waited a year, canceled my husbands card (forgot to close mine, lol, but I will soon) and we are still working through those miles. Only another year and I will be able to open a new account in my husbands name if I want to. I probably won't if we don't need the miles but I keep it in my mind as an option.

There are probably people who are way ahead of my in the game but I am not willing to spend a lot of time on this any more.

For myself and my wife and I have churned every card available 4 times. On a personal side and on the business side with the bonus points of each airline (United, American,Delta and Southwest) Most card companies have implemented the 48 month rule vs 24 month on receiving the bonus. Best part of receiving a bonus of airline miles or bonus cash is there is no 1099 at the end of the year.

 

[alexadeparis]

Something that no one has mentioned yet is making sure that you use a shopping portal for your chosen airline(s) for ALL online purchases whenever possible. They run bonuses about 9 times a year, where if you spend a certain amount you get bonus miles, on top of the regular miles per dollar they offer. I try to time my purchases if I can to wait for the bonus times. Keep in mind that not all stores are on there, but to find out which ones are on which portal you can go to evreward.com and type in the store. Doing this I am able to get at least two round trip tix per year just from the shopping. This is ON TOP OF what you are getting from the credit card company.

 

[b2bailey]

I haven't played the credit card miles game for years, but I couldn't resist the offer made on recent American flight. 60,000 miles if I spend $3,000 in 90 days. With Marriott Maintenance payments due soon, no brainer. However, I'd like some guidance about last date to make purchases. Card was issued on 10/04. Also, was shocked to see an APR of nearly 25%!!!

 

[Synergy]

Something that no one has mentioned yet is making sure that you use a shopping portal for your chosen airline(s) for ALL online purchases whenever possible. They run bonuses about 9 times a year, where if you spend a certain amount you get bonus miles, on top of the regular miles per dollar they offer. I try to time my purchases if I can to wait for the bonus times. Keep in mind that not all stores are on there, but to find out which ones are on which portal you can go to evreward.com and type in the store. Doing this I am able to get at least two round trip tix per year just from the shopping. This is ON TOP OF what you are getting from the credit card company.

Excellent advice! I use cashbackmonitor.com to track mile/point offerings when shopping online. I'm pondering earning the southwest CP with only one credit card next time around, and coming up with the extra via a combination of online shopping and hotel stays.

One thing to note - some portals have more than their fair share of technical difficulties, causing the points to not appear automatically. I use a separate browser that I 'clear' before clicking through portals, and take screenshots at every step. I have a high success rate for both automatic points posting and getting points issued manually after a failure. Chasing them is frustrating so I try pretty hard to limit the chance of scrambled cookies.

 

[twise625]

My husband and I alternate the SW companion pass every 2 years, The first time we did it was before they changed the rules and you were able to apply for 2 personal cards and get the bonus on each card. A few years ago they closed that loophole and now to earn it you really need to be able to apply for a business card and a personal card. We have several businesses so I use a different business for each of us. I am his companion through 2021. I'll apply for a business and personal card in the last quarter couple months of 2021 and he will be my companion the next two years.

I also have applied for various business and personal cards with the major airlines. A few years ago we used 60K points (120K total) and about $100 each way (broke up the trip American over, United back) to fly from our regional airport to and from Paris. Retail on those flights was $12k... not that I would EVER have paid that, I would have driven the 3 hours to fly out of a major airport for the cheaper flight, but it sure felt great to see that price.

When I am not trying to get the required spend on a new card, I tend to run all my charges through Chase Ink (business) and Chase Preferred (personal) because the points earned there can be transferred to their travel partners as needed (American, United, SW, Hyatt, Marriott, etc.).

I'm definitely going to check out evreward.com and start running what I can through the portal to maximize the points earned, thanks for that tip!