A Brief Introduction To Traveling Free With Miles & Points From Credit Cards

I want to begin this post by making a promise. This is not going to turn into a miles and points blog. The main purpose of this blog is to write in-depth about the places I travel. However, I'm currently in planning mode for a couple of trips, and that also means I'm assessing how I will fund them. Every trip for the foreseeable future will be funded, at least in part, with airline miles or credit card/hotel points. Because of that (and the fact that I have some referral links available that could earn me even more miles), I'd like to give a super basic introduction for folks that don't have a clue what I am talking about.

Earning Free Travel With Credit Cards

If you can meet these requirements, you're a candidate to earn free travel with credit cards.

• You have a reasonably good credit score (Over 700 is best, 650+ may work)
• You have the means and the discipline to put the majority of your every-day spending on credit cards and pay the balance in full every month.

If you don't meet these requirements, I strongly suggest you don't pursue this strategy.

Earning Miles & Points on Purchases

This is probably what you normally think of when you hear of a rewards credit card - you get one (maybe two) points or miles for every dollar you spend. For those of us that don't live lives of luxury, that might be just a few hundred or thousand dollars per month. Earning at a rate of 24,000 miles per year, it would take you over two years to get enough miles/points to fly roundtrip to Europe. As you accumulate credit cards that earn valuable awards, you'll want to be sure to put your every-day spending on the card. But those points are just icing on the cake, really. There's an easy way to really speed things up.

Maximizing Sign Up Bonuses

Sign up bonuses are where the party is. Most cards offer some sort of bonus. Certain cards offer excellent bonuses. I'm going to introduce you to three cards that I have gotten for myself within the last year that had a killer signup bonus.

If you spend $3,000 during the first three months you have the United MileagePlus Explorer card (referral link), you'll get 50,000 miles. You'll get another 5,000 miles if you add an authorized user and use that card to make just one purchase. Spend an additional $2,000 when it makes sense for you, and tadaa!—you now have 60,000 United miles. That's enough for one roundtrip economy ticket from the United States to Europe on United or one of their many partner airlines (like Lufthansa).

You could also get the Chase Ink Plus card (referral link), which recently increased its sign up bonus. This is a business card, so if you want to be completely honest with the bank you should only apply if you own your own business of if you collect income as a sole proprietorship (say, by consulting, speaking, or doing freelance work). This card offers 60,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points if you spend $5,000 in the first three months you have the card. Fun fact: You can transfer Ultimate Reward points directly to your United Mileage Plus account. So by signing up for this card and the MileagePlus Explorer card, you now have 120,000 miles—you can bring someone else with you on that trip to Europe! This card earns 5 points per dollar spent on telecom service (phone, internet, cable) and office supply stores, so you can rack up lots of extra points if you use this card for those purchases.

Since you'll need somewhere to sleep in Europe, you could also pick up a card that earns hotel rewards. The Chase Marriott Premier card (referral link) is currently offering a 50,000 point bonus after spending $1,000 in three months. PLUS, you'll immediately get a free night certificate for a Category 1-4 property when you receive your card. AND you'll get a free night at a Category 1-5 property on your card anniversary next year. So at a minimum you have a couple of free nights for your trip.

Booking Travel With Miles and Points

Let's start with flights. In this scenario, you'd be working with United MileagePlus miles. Visit their award booking page, and you'll see just how easy it is to find and book award flights. I was amazed at how simple it was the first time I did it. Helpful hint: You can usually book a flight about 11 months in advance. That is when there will be the most availability at the Saver level (which is what I was referring to earlier in this post). You may, however, find Saver awards just a few months out. It all depends on where and when you're traveling, and what award seats are available.

Booking award stays with Marriott is also easy. Go the reservations page and check the "use reward points" box to see hotel prices in points instead of dollars. When you book four consecutive nights with Marriott reward points, you get the fifth night free. So, if you could find an acceptable Category 2 hotel (10,000 points per night), you could book four nights for 40,000 points, get the fifth night free, and use your free night certificate for the sixth night. Suddenly you've secured a week of free lodging. To be honest, Category 2 hotels are not fancy. They're usually in smaller towns or located at the airport or on a freeway in larger cities. But if you normally stay in a budget hotel, you'll likely be satisfied. If your wanted a wider selection of hotels, you could move up to Category 4 which is 20,000 per night. Charge a few months of expense on the card so you can book three nights, then use your free night certificate for the fourth night. There are some great European options in this category, such as the Courtyard Vienna Schoenbrunn, Courtyard Prague Flora, or the Munich Courtyard East, which would all be located near public transportation to get you around the city.

Thoughts on Applying for Credit Cards

If you wanted to fly to Europe next summer and stay a handful of nights for free, you could do it with what you earn from these three credit cards. Note, however, that all of these credit cards are from Chase. One bank may not be keen on giving you three credit cards at once. If you want to space out your applications by a few months each, that should be ok. Or, if you have a partner or significant other that will be traveling with you, split the cards up (hint: the Chase Ultimate Reward points can also be transferred into a spouse's account). OR, you could both apply for the same card so you get twice the signup bonus.

Key things to keep in mind:

• Don't apply for too many cards from the same bank at once.
• Don't apply for cards too often (try to space groups of applications out by a few months).
• Make sure you can cover the minimum spend on the cards in the eligible time period to receive the sign up bonus.
• If you have a partner, maximize your rewards by splitting cards between the two of you, or doubling up on extremely lucrative cards.
• Each of these cards have an annual fee, which is waived the first year. You are free to cancel the card at any time, and you generally have two months after an annual fee posts to cancel and not have to pay it.
• Note: You must transfer any Chase Ultimate Rewards points out of your account (to a travel parter or other Chase Ultimate Rewards-earning card) before you cancel your card, or you will forfeit your points. United and Marriott points are yours to keep even if you cancel.

Still Have Questions?

Feel free to ask some questions in the comments, or check out a few of my favorite resources: Frugal Travel Guy and Million Mile Secrets.

Disclaimer: The credit card application links in this post are referral links. They are also the best available signup bonus for each card at the present time, so I don't think you'll get a better deal using any other public link. However, if you use the links in this post, I'll get bonus points/miles once you receive and use your card. 

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