4.5 Step Guide to Travel for FREE - Travel Hack 101
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- Опубліковано 27 чер 2024
- #travelhack #freetravel
Travel Hacking 101: This video will teach you how to start traveling for FREE.
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0:00 Intro
1:41 What's Travel Hacking
2:36 Step 0
3:09 Step 1
5:58 Step 2
9:40 Step 3
15:03 Step 4
19:26 Step 4.5
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For those that can't commit to the full video the tldr; Google is your friend and can make your wildest travel dreams come true
Hey , amex has confirmed that the tax bill does not qualify for the minimum requirement.
I have screenshots. /:
My tip for anyone wanting to start out with this is to start with Chase credit cards. Their cards offer some of the best, easiest value through their top hotel transfer partner, Hyatt. If you don't start there it's pretty likely it will be harder to get their cards in the long run.
Great, thorough video as always John.
Thanks Ethan. Agreed Chase has some amazing cards.
Agreed Chase is the easiest and simplest to redeem. The Amex Platinum’s points is more for experienced travelers and takes tons of research to get the best value they sure do make it hard to get the most value for points lol.
Banks in my country don't offer anything like that. The only way for me to get those miles is by flying first with my own money for several years.
Hey John! Always thankful for the superb contents!
Just hoping for the in-depth video guide for airline alliance.😊 thank you so much! More power and points!
This video is awesome!! Im new to all this and have just been running through cards for SUB’s for the past year. I looked through many different blogs like the ones mentioned in this video and it’s all very confusing. This video fills in all the knowledge gaps and gives me a much more clear path on what to do. Time to put 400k points to work!!
400K!! That's amazing, wish you the best of luck on the redemption side of it!!
Appreciate your advice, you being humble, and your honesty.
Free free to check out my top travel cards here: bit.ly/jftcards
Would love a video doing a deep dive / step-by-step on your setup/tips for using points to fly to Thailand! Really want to go from Chicago to Bangkok one day soon and am trying to see how others have done it. :) Thanks!
Great video. I learned a lot.
Definitely be flexible. Wife and I are traveling in August. Originally we wanted to travel in September, but while award space was available, it was about 50k miles more each way. So we are going in August instead of September. Hotels are a little more, but it didn't make sense to use the 100k extra in miles to go in September.
Thanks, my brain hurts now. But I appreciate the info! I am planning a month-long trip to Australia in June 2024, and I hope I’m not too late to implement some of these tips!
I'm glad I could help! Australia is a tough one but with enough time and some creativity, you could definitely pull something off. Wish you all the best!!
Thanks for the great overview and for sharing some helpful resources. I’m in year two of traveling on points and I learned several things from this video.
Awesome insight! Could you make a video/short on the timing of last minute award openings typically by airline? I know some can be 14-15 days or even sooner
Off the top of my head Lufthansa is one that is known to open up last minute a decent amount. Check out seats.aero they only have non stop routes but it'll give you an idea
lesgoooo early gang
Hey brother! Love your content. If you ever need a place to stay in Maine, just let me know! I’m near Portland!
I would love to see an example of trying this to stay at the Disneyland resort!
It's frustrating when influencers present this as "free travel". Sure, it might be for them, or those in the military, thanks to their platforms, commissions, referral points, and waived annual fees. But let's not forget, this isn't the reality for the majority who end up shouldering annual fees. Yes, you can treat credit cards like coupon books and often get more value than the fee in the first year. However, these initial costs aren't free. The narrative of completely "free travel" is misleading because, ultimately, most will still need to pay taxes and fees along with annual fees. We must keep this context in mind while interpreting such advice.
Thanks for the feedback. I started in the credit card space in 2011. I got heavy into travel hacking in 2016. Didn't earn anything, just learned how to earn points and miles by reading through blogs, Reddit, FlyerTalk. Did my first redemption in 2018. Cathay F for $57. Didn't have any following on social media until maybe Oct/Nov 2021.
From 2018 - 2020 I spent 1 million points on travel valued at $100,00+, I was just a guy who wanted to play the game. No social media, no business, nothing. The only barrier to entry is someone's willingness to commit to learning.
What's been your favorite redemption?
Can you expand on what cards you should keep after the first year and what you should cancel? Trying to decide how many annual fees I need to be paying next year because these are racking up quick!
step 0 is the hardest part lol; have the csr, amex platinum. and ritz carlton combo soon
Awesome video, I learned a lot. However it’s not exactly free, but it’s “next to free”. Still a great video. Peace.
My problem, is, I travel enough that I end up using the chase points to top off platinum or 1k status for United. It's still sorta free, booking through Chase's portal, but I'm not chasing a flight to/from anywhere since I've had United status for so long, I don't want to give it up
Wish I had seen this one month ago, because I had a family emergency to go to in Canada and I have the Chase Southwest Airlines rewards card. I didn't realize that there was a mandatory minimum 10-day advance reservation for the car and hotel because they're outsourced to a third party and this threw my plans off and really kind of messed me up, because I needed that extra day to unwind from driving. So this is going to be a good video and very helpful for me for the next time. (With Southwest Airlines you can book the flight without the 10-day advanced using the points but it's different for the car and hotel portion, AND that third-party provider they were very rude and they were not nice like Southwest Airlines people are). Hopefully there will be something in it regarding Southwest Airlines and the Chase card...
I would like to see A (from applying to the cards) to Z (actual footage of the vacation)
For 18 years I flew on Economy using points and miles to take my spouse and three children yearly to Europe, Latin America, Canada, etc. Now we fly Business Int'l.
never been this early
now you have!
Just made my first two free redemption after starting thr game last year. Staying semi local though. Days drive each vacation property one in atlanta for two nights in October. $1200 Value for 30k points at margaritaville. And next year. Wild dunes resorts in Charleston. 5 day for a little less than 100k points worth well over $2500. Only using mid their cards. No premium cards yet. And leaving my marriot, hilton and amex points alone. I'm aware these are entry level hotel redemptions but that's just where I am in my life where hotel stays for my family and local experiences with my 5 and 6 year old daughters just make more sense. Once they get older and easier to contain, that's where the amex and hiltonbwill he for international travel
I'm glad I have 6 months to figure out if I can get better than $1200 off directly from Chase.
it's doable but if you aren't a business owner, have a rich family or just making a tons of money to spend widely, this can take very very long with how the airlines are catching up and devalue the points day by day. A trip from TX to Viet Nam used to cost around 200k points around trip now being 200k 1 way so the value is reduced by half haha.
I see where you coming from but I disagree. I churned 1 million points 2 years out of college. No rich family, not a business owner, and entry level sales role. I do agree points and miles are devalued year over year, just have to earn and burn!
@@johnsfinancetips I wish you have an answer for this but I guess you likely won"T. Bilts advertised that you can pay rent with Venmo and Paypal but it seems noone be able to pay through these portal as. I hope you have experient with these payment portal using the checking acount they Bilts generate. (Sending money to non business account)
Is it fine to keep closing the cards to reopen after 2 years for the bonus again? I have started travel hacking for disneyworld post deployment. I already got free flights through southwest by opening their card. With my chase sapphire card points and capital one venture points, our rooms are paid for 10 days (shades of green-amazing price for military). Free tickets due to the gracious gift of vettix. My husband will use my referral to get the same chase and capital one cards, to use the points to cover the food and rental car expenses. Are we fine to close the cards after? Our credit scores were great after and it is still great. Also these new cards are not our longest standing accounts.
I have a question/comment : So it seems to me like the this has more constraints than meets the eye. Since the main idea is using credit card points to transfer into miles, naturally you need to have enough points to transfer into miles. I’m not at the stage of my life where travel is a huge part of my life but lets say it is for this instance. I don’t particularly feel comfortable opening a new credit card every time I want to travel somewhere. From my understanding sure the sign up bonus is a pretty good initial boost, but what if I’m traveling a little more often. It doesn’t seem reasonable to build back up points and have enough to spend every time I travel.
For example, lets say I have a big vacation like the Maldives as you mentioned, then 3 weeks later I’m traveling domestic, and a few weeks later I’m traveling domestic. It doesn’t seem reasonable to have enough points “every” time you want to travel unless you open a new credit card to help boost the points earned. The vast majority of people aren’t traveling every month anyways. It seems more like okay I want to go on this trip, I have points “saved up” like saving up for a car or a new piece of technology, and spending your points on a big purchase, or in this case a flight for a vacation. Then if you need to travel again then you have to build up your points by spending money through your everyday expenses which can take a lot of time.
Yeah I’m in the same boat. Travel a few times a year, saving up points, and end up just looking for the cheapest flight anyway. Keep in mind the UA-camrs are having people sign up through their links and maxing out their referral bonuses. I’m not telling my friends to get credit cards with annual fees. So really a points grind
That's completely fair. For me, I've always thought it was cool to be able to fly in a lie-flat seat, but never thought I could afford it. Once I realized the power of CC points I was hooked. As someone who earn 1M points before having any social media presence, it's doable and that was just doing it solo. With a player 2, you could hit 2M+. It comes back to a willingness to put in time to learn the hacks to pulling in the monster sign up bonuses.
Don't get me wrong it's definitely not an easy thing to do. But 2 or 3 cards a year = 200 - 300K points and that's a very reasonable pace to go at. Best of luck!
@@johnsfinancetips You make an excellent point here (about points lol). It's very doable but eventually you exhaust your options. It may take 10 years, but at some stage you run out of sign up bonuses without doing something different. In this case making videos and getting lots of bonuses from referrals to keep those benefits going. Pretty much every video I've watched has some link(s) to referrals. No one really talks about what the get from that, except one video where the guys shows how many of his referral points were taken away, and it was a staggering amount to be honest. Wayyyy more than any regular consumer would get from referring a friend or family member. So I appreciate all you insight as it's very helpful but you guys do have an edge over the rest of us in this game. You're certainly entitled to it for sure, making these videos is a lot of work so I totally get that.
I’m actually looking at going to Thailand within the next year or so. What is the ideal time to go? And what airlines are usually the best redemptions? Have mostly chase points. Thanks!!
Def not in September like I am haha. Star Alliance tends to have good availability out there. Search on Air Canada is what I would recommend
@@johnsfinancetipsfantastic!! Thank you so much. Hoping to do the honeymoon there next winter
Wish you all the best!! I found solid availability into BKK from Boston which isn't a Star Alliance hub. I imagine you'd have good flights from ORD or NYC. I routed through SIN via Singapore Air.
I'm also from Boston
Willing to share/break down your average spend per month (dollar amount)?
Business, rent (unless earning Bilt points), mortgage, auto loan expenses aside.
Great video covers the whole frame of the hacking game. Question pls. In January of this year, I was able to get 4 econ tickets from SFO to Japan to travel in June this year via Chase points transferred to UA miles. I want to do the same for next summer but seems like UA increased a big % on miles. I used 35k for one way before but now it shows saver award ticket is 55k UA miles, is that something just changed on UA system?
Thanks for the comment! And yes sadly there was a big devaluation by UA earlier this year...they're taking a play out of the Delta playbook :(
A+ thumbnail 😆
hahah thank you!!
Wow. Beats Vegas???!!!
Heyy. So you mentioned going to the Philippines. I’m trying to bool flights From Detroit to Manila,and Manila to nyc but not having any luck finding flights. Any help would be appreciated
I swear Americans have so many credit card companies, and they offer actually good bonuses and advantages. We're neighbours (I'm from Canada) yet we have TERRIBLE credit cards. All we have is 5 or 6 garbage options from the same big banks
FIRST (comment rizz)
Who's first?!
I was. But didnt comment first
Qatar Airways is now an Amex transfer partner.
Hi John! Question for you. Can I transfer the points I got from my Amex gold to an Amex blue cash every day. I want to cancel my gold card and get something with no annual fee. Would this work without losing my points?
Unfortunately no. You can open an Amex Everyday card and you should be able to preserve your points from your Amex Gold
Okay thank you!!
Would I have to have an Amex platinum to access these transfer partners like the chase sapphire preferred. Or can I access these partners with the Amex gold
Amex Gold works!
Does watching with adblock support the channel?
I don’t travel or stay in hotels though. What else can rewards do?
Can you do a video of how you booked your 2025 Japan trip
Hell yeah, my eyes are open 👁️👄👁️
Hey John! I want to travel from Chicago to India and the cheapest flights are in Air India and Etihad. How can I maximise my Amex MR points usage? Any tips? Since British Airways Avios transfer ratio is 1:1.3 is there a way by which these avoid can be used to book Air India or Etihad?
Transfer them to Aeroplan at 1:1.. they have Air India biz class New York/India for 90k
@@NKKK19 thank you will try this next time
When do we cancel these credit cards so we don't have 6+ of them?
Downgrade them to a no annual fee card and just put it in your sock drawer. If there's no downgrade path, then maybe cancel when the annual fee posts after the first year.
Usually month 13, for Barclay and BoA I'm ok with cancelling within 12 months. Just don't cancel your first card ever. And if you can downgrade as mentioned above that works too, just make sure you don't disqualify yourself for a future bonus. Best of luck!
Do you have a referral link for Barclays?
What concert did you see in New York?
Illenium at Barclay's
so im planning to goto china phillipines and thailand in march whats the best way to get enough points if im just starting out and if not possible how to get the best points for these trips anyone can respond pleaseeeee and thanks!!!!!!!!!
ok
I did not know you can trasnfer between airlines! (BA to Qatar)
Yea that's an interesting one, it's because they are all under the Avios umbrella
I am keeping my eye on Qatar q-suites flight to Maldives for a year from now. There is no availability. My goal is to actually travel Winter 2025. I'm try to see what patterns may be present to releasing the award flights. All spring I have been able to find something. But nothing next june or July.
Q Suite tends to be fairly available, have you tried routing via other airports to MLE?
@@johnsfinancetips Looked at Atlanta, Washington, New York, Miami. Only business class flights are flexi flights. Really hoping not to have to use double the points. The weird thing is when I have looked before I usually can find something. Now nothing. I thought June/july was slower time for maldives.
My proudest moments in my short history of redemptions:
KUL IST NAP 32.5k TK Business Class, and
MSP CDG HAN 44k AF/VN Business Class
What do you think? I wish it were like that all the time.
W
Amazing! I have TK 777 in J booked next year BOS IST MNL at 62.5K - excited to try out their lounge in IST!
@@johnsfinancetips It took me two tries to really know how to enjoy that lounge. My first time I was intimidated by the sheer size. Give yourself plenty of time to try the huge variety of food, especially at the specialty food stands in the center area and off to the side. Better than the salad and buffet area. Have a great time!
I can't go anywhere cause I'm in pop up jail
Hey
hi
does that mean I'll end up with 100 credit cards in less than 3 years for chasing sign up bonuses??, my credit score will be 0 lol
Nice try Zack King
No entiendo a este chinito, un día dice que la cancela y otro día que viaja gratis hahahah
first
winner winner chicken dinner!!
This may be well known. Amex seems to have added Qatar as a transfer partner. No transfer bonus though.
Good catch I think that happened this week if not very recently! But yes no longer need to do the multi transfer options from BA!
I love your videos but I feel as if your videos are a bit disingenuous as you’ve gotten a lot of miles for travel from your UA-cam videos referrals
Thanks for your support and feedback. I started growing my social presence Jan 2021 on UA-cam and Aug 2021 on TikTok.
From 2016 - 2020 I flew
Cathay First
ANA First
Thai First
Qatar Business
Garuda Indonesia Business
China Southern Business
Thai Business
Singapore Business
Hawaiian First
Hope that helps clear things up a bit and wish you all the best!
@@johnsfinancetips thank you, like I've said I love your content and I've watch your content daily. Hopefully I can work my way up to my japan trip!
There is no such things as free, people!
I guess it was free because you paid with points. Points that costed thousands of dollars to accumulate.
Thousands of dollars that you still get to spend regardless in order to survive. When getting anew card sometimes you get tons of points by spending certain amount of money in a certain amount of time, key is to pay off your credit card in time and don’t carry a balance in order to actually take advantage of those points and not pay interest.
i gave it 3 mins he just kept yapping non sense i gave up
Tldr: Google
That's exactly it!!
I guess it was free because you paid with points. Points that costed thousands of dollars to accumulate.
It's all about leveraging spend - if you are already spending $1,000 you should make sure that you get a signup bonus. Or in the case of the Barclay's AA card you get 70,000 Miles for 1 purchase. Hope this helps!