Everyone wants to fly for free, and we have some of the best tips to make it a reality. Travel hacks come in many shapes and sizes, from hidden city ticketing to tracking down cheap flights, but some of the easiest ways to save or fly for free are simpler than you might expect.
Frequent Flyer Credit Card
If you haven’t already sign up, you should. This might be the easiest way to fly for free soon. And if there’s one thing that beats cheap flights, it might be to fly for free.
Practically every airline has a partnership with a credit card company.
For every purchase you make without a travel rewards card, you could have earned miles for your next trip. These can add up quicker than you might think if you want to fly for free.
Keep in mind that most cards do have minimum requirements, and spending limits to meet within the first few months, but you can usually meet them by just paying your bills with the card.
Many airlines award you 25,000 miles or more just for getting approved.
There’s lots of travel myths to avoid when seeking deals.
Travel Rewards Card
Having trouble deciding which or not loyal to one particular airline? Great, because you can earn points that you can convert to miles to fly for free too.
There are plenty of cards like American Express, Chase Sapphire and Capital One great offer points and are a great alternative to miles.
Another benefit of travel rewards cards is if you fly enough and make it to elite status, you’re much closer to the front of the line for being bumped up for a business or first-class upgrade. Also keep in mind for hotels as well.
There are also small loop holes with certain carriers like American Airlines, British Airways and others where you can qualify for airline elite status, and even fast track yourself for Elite Qualifying Points. Every status level has individual requirements, such as qualifying miles (EQMs), elite-qualifying segments (EQSs) and elite-qualifying dollars (EQDs) per calendar year. Be sure to check with the programs you’ve joined for more details.
Cards and Companion Tickets
There are a number of airline credit cards that allow you to take just about anyone you can might call your companion on a free flight once a year, just for renewing their credit card. The only cost to you being a few taxes and fees ranging $10-20 more or less, depending on airline.
Flexible Inconvenience
We’ve mentioned before that being flexible when travelling can help you find cheap flights. Well, vouchers can also help you to save, and even fly for free with the right approach.
Flights are often oversold, and if you’re willing to give up your seat, you can receive a travel voucher (typically valid for one year) and more common on very popular routes where more likely to be overbooked. While it might like an extraordinary inconvenience, one way it can really benefit you is if you accepted a travel voucher during low season for a free flight, and turn around to book it later when the prices have gone up. Sometimes you can also use it towards a more expensive ticket as well.
Did you know that you don’t have to settle for vouchers?
Top Off Those Points or Miles
Practically every airline have shopping portals, and you can earn miles on almost everything you buy. Sometimes you’ll even find deals where they offer lots of extra miles for every dollar spent. When you’re close to having enough points for that free flight, a purchase from a portal like these can put you over without having to fly. While this isn’t exactly flying for free, it does get you there faster if needed.
A few examples of portals to shop for acquiring additional points include;
Air Canada- Aeroplan EStore
American Airlines- AAdvantageEshopping.com
American Express- Bonus Points Mall
Chase- Ultimate Rewards Shopping
Delta- Skymilesshopping.com
United- Mileageplusshopping.com
Maximizing your Rewards
When thinking to redeem rewards, you want to be aware of the overall value represented at the time of doing so. Depending on how you spend those air miles, the value is usually worth between $0.01 and $0.02. While rewards are only good if you can use them, you want to watch how you do it.