How to travel more without spending more

With rising inflation and disposable income, travelers are looking for every conceivable way to stretch their dollars and travel on a budget. Sometimes credit card rewards and airline miles can turn a regular trip into a dream adventure.

Chris Hutchins, noted financial planner and host of the podcast All the Hacks, sat down with TravelPulse to talk about using credit card points for travel, the best airline miles programs, techniques for finding cheap flights, and more.

advertisement

Here’s the full Q&A session with Hutchins:

TravelPulse (TP): As a “10 million airline mile guy,” how do you accumulate credit card points and use them for free travel?

Chris Hutchins (CH): It really comes down to two main things. First, I look at how I’m spending my money and make sure I always have a card that gives me bonus points at the places I spend the most. I know I spend a lot on travel, dining and groceries, so I have a Chase Sapphire Reserve to earn 3x on travel and an Amex Gold to earn 4x on dining and groceries. Another great way to earn points is to use great sign-up bonuses to unlock new cards. I don’t take it to the extreme to open dozens of cards a year, but when I see an amazing bonus worth more than $1,000 in points, I usually use it. I recently published episode 65 of my podcast and shared a card that boosted their signup bonus to almost $1500 in points! Beyond that, there are tons of little hacks that I like to use to get more points. For example, I don’t have a card that gives bonus points at home improvement stores, but I was able to buy a Home Depot gift card at groceries using a card that earns 4x points at groceries.

How to use them to travel for free, if the points are with a specific airline or hotel group, I will take them directly through their websites. But if I’m earning points in a flexible program like Chase’s Ultimate Rewards or Amex’s Membership Rewards, I tend to transfer the points to their airline partners and book them in those partners’ distance programs. In episode 49, I went through exactly that to book a $20,000+ trip to Bora Bora with $1,500+ points.

TP: Keeping in mind inflation and the cost of travel, what are some tips for flying first class without unpacking your bag?

CH: The Secret to Flying First Class Although it usually costs 5-10x the price of an economy ticket to fly first class, it only takes 2x as many miles to book first class. ticket. So, when I take a big trip and want to relax on the amazing lie-flat beds that most airlines offer in business/first class, I always use my miles to book those seats for free.

Even if you don’t mention hotels specifically, I’ll share an optimization method that works for my 100s of listeners (and which I’ll explain in detail in Part 1). You’ll want to book directly with the hotel you’re staying at and after you book you’ll want to email them when you arrive to let them know you’ve booked a room with them and that you’d be happy to stay with them and they’re honoring anything. I still like to follow up ~2-3 days before I arrive to confirm your arrival. I’ve seen listeners get everything from a free upgrade to a bottle of wine — and one listener and her husband even got to see their initials on the pillow. Definitely try that and please share your success stories with me.

TP: Airline fares have increased by as much as 40 percent in recent months. What are the best miles programs and credit cards to save money and stretch your dollars?

CH: I try to store as many of my points/miles as possible in flexible points programs that allow you to transfer points to different airlines and hotel groups with all the fluctuations in airline prices. This way you get maximum flexibility and are not stuck with one airline that may have crazy prices. Among them:

– Find the ultimate rewards

– American Express Membership Rewards

-Citi ThankYou Points

-Capital one mile

– Bilt prizes

Marriott Bonvoy (You can actually transfer Bonvoy points to many airlines)

I will try to keep this spreadsheet up to date with transfer partners from all major card issuers.

TP: As the host of the All the Hacks podcast, how do you find the best deals by smartly searching for flights?

CH: My favorite tool for saving on airfare is Google Flights. You can search for the cheapest places to fly (and even those filters like “nonstop” or “under $700”) without a destination in mind. You can also search for multiple to/from airports at once to see if you can save more by driving a little more. Finally, you can navigate the calendar view by pressing the date field to quickly see how much it costs to fly on any given day. The only thing to keep in mind is that Southwest doesn’t show up on Google Flights (or most flight search sites), so you’ll want to check their site separately if you’re flying where you’re going.

Another great tip worth sharing is that shared by Scott Keyes from Scott’s Cheap Flights in Episode 5. It’s called Greek Island Trick and it works by combining long-haul international flights to the continent/region of your choice. Take a cheap regional flight (or train or bus ride) to get to your final destination. For example, if you’re trying to fly from San Francisco to a Greek island, there are only two airlines that fly between the two, even though there are many airlines that fly individually to each destination. So if you’re looking for the entire route, you’ll only have a few options, but if you’re looking to go from San Francisco to Athens, there are many more airlines available, so you can buy a cheap flight or ferry to get there from Athens. to the island.

TP: What are some of your secrets to getting the most value out of airline miles?

CH: The biggest secret to getting value from your points and miles is having some flexibility. While most people think this means being flexible on dates, it can also mean being flexible about where you’re going, how last minute you are, or how many stops you need to make to get there. Once my wife and I had a very specific window to travel, but we knew we only had a day or two of flexibility around the dates. We also know that we want to go somewhere in Europe. However, we were willing to wait until the last minute to book (when most Kiloage award availability actually opened) and were open to many different places. Finally, we booked a trip to Budapest, Prague, and Vienna a week before departure and not only did we have an amazing deal, but one of the most memorable trips we’ve ever taken.

If you want more secrets, hacks, and tricks to get the best value out of your travel, points, and miles, check out all of these Hacks specials to help you stay busy and save money on your next trip.

---

Be sure to subscribe to the Daily for the latest travel news, updates and deals TravelPulse newsletter over here.