Travel Hacking!

What it is and how you can do it.

Photo by ian dooley on Unsplash

A Quick Intro

Hi, I’m Kimberly Anne AKA Expat on a Budget. If you don’t know my background: I relocated from San Francisco to Portugal, solo, in September 2022, sight unseen and without a built-in support system. Before that, I spent a year traveling alone across the U.S., living in a van. I’m also a published indie author with over 30 novels.

—If you’d rather listen to the author read this article with several ad-lib additions, click here.

Travel hacking sounds cool, doesn’t it? But what is it really?

Travel hacking is an umbrella term that has to do with rewards and techniques that are used to get travel related discounts (or even freebies) like airline tickets, hotel stays, and car rentals to name a few. These are achieved by obtaining points, whether you accrue them by using a travel related credit card, through hotel stays or using specific online portals.

Here’s How I Travel Hack

I book all my international travel using credit card miles that I’ve accrued by using my credit cards. I use my cards for as many purchases as I can, even in Portugal and I pay the cards back each month. I trade my points for miles, because I’m on a budget but still like (and need) to travel.

—Note: if you have an issue with overspending or budgeting, this may not work for you. If you’re interested in learning more about budgeting, I do have a budgeting and finance module in my upcoming class!

I have three travel credit cards and when I first started doing this, over five years ago, I thought I could only use the points from one card per trip. But that’s not the case and I’ve also made several expensive mistakes over the years. I’m going to tell you what they were in hopes you can avoid them and travel hack “the right way”.

What is the Points System?

First let me explain the points system. For those unfamiliar, read on. For those who already know this part, skip ahead.

With most travel credit cards you earn one point per every dollar spent. For others you can two or even three+ travel points for every dollar spent. Or, you may earn more points if you use a particular card for something specific. With the Citibank: Citi Strata Premier card, for example, you earn 3 points for every dollar you spend on gas. 

Some cards may give you more points for food. There’s a card that a friend of mine has, the Chase INK business card, that gives her 3 points for every dollar spent on advertising. 

The Amex blue card allots 2 points for every dollar spent on most things. And the Chase Sapphire cards offer extra points when you use your card to purchase most travel related items.

These are ways to accrue your travel points faster. But always check these first before signing up as things change! Also look for a card with a high points signing bonus. This means you may accrue 60,000 bonus points just for signing up while others give you a specific amount of signing points after you’ve spent a certain amount of money within a specific time frame, often in the first thirty days.

Using Your Points

Then you can use the points to “buy” a plane ticket. You can also use them for hotels or car rentals but these aren’t usually as lucrative. You can get cash back with some cards or use point to purchase items from online stores, like Amazon. Again, the transfer ratio for these options is not ideal. 

You get much more “bang for your buck” with airline tickets. I get a “free” round trip ticket each year to travel from Europe to the US which would typically cost me $1000 to $1500. But with the same amount of points I may only be able to purchase $500 worth of good on Amazon (this is just an example, these are not *exact* figures).

Tax Fee: you will still have to pay taxes on your airline tickets. I’ve actually gotten a couple of tickets without paying anything but this is rare. Usually the cost will be between $70 and $300. I take this into account when finding my ticket and go for a lower tax fee whenever possible. More often I am charged between $100-$200 per round trip ticket.

Using Points for Airline Upgrades: I have a friend who only uses her miles for upgrades, from coach to business or first class for example. I did this for the first time this year and was so unimpressed, that I won’t be repeating it. You have to decide what works for you. I’m not telling you to do it my way. I’m telling you what works for me. I use my points to “purchase” tickets in coach only. I don’t mind flying coach. I’m not tall so I don’t need extra leg space but my best friend is and does! I don’t need moist hand towelettes, endless crappy airline food and a private bathroom that only ten people are allowed to use. But that’s just me. ~Judgy much Kimberly? Um, yeah… sorry ‘bout that!

Transferring Points Through the Airline’s Travel Portal (don’t do this if you can avoid it)

There are a few ways to transfer your points to “buy” an airline ticket and the easiest and “most popular” way is to go through your credit card’s online travel portal. I strongly advise against this! Often times you will be spending more points for the same ticket that you can “purchase” directly from the airline. Another huge downside that happens when you use your credit card’s online portal is you may still have to pay for your seats, and believe me, this adds up quickly if you have layovers.

Example: when I purchased a ticket through Amex’s online portal, I spent twice as many points as the ticket would have cost me going directly through the airline’s frequent flyer program.

But, the last time I traded my points for a ticket through Chase’s online portal it was 200 points less. However, this hardly mattered because they charged me $$$ for my seats!

I encourage you to always check directly with the airline’s program or with an aggregate (explained below), if you’re tempted to use the card’s travel portal.

Another huge negative, is that most of the tickets purchased this way have no refund policy so if you have to cancel, you will probably lose your ticket and your points. This just happened to me—more about this below—and the ways I suggest you transfer your points instead.

The Most Common Cards

Almost all of these cards have a yearly fee and typically they’re around $100 for the lowest tier card, which still gives you plenty of points. The three cards I have are lower tier cards.

The higher tiers (with higher price tags) offer added benefits. For travel, these benefits are, most often, access to fancy airport lounges. I totally understand that some people may want these, but I couldn’t care less. I’ve been in a few airport lounges in my life but I can’t eat the food, and I don’t drink alcohol. For me, the price isn’t worth it. I also don’t like the vibe. I’m a granola girl who grew up rubbing elbows to find out, in my 40’s, that I actually prefer granola. But there is nothing wrong with elbow rubbing if that’s your jam. —Be sure to check the card benefits prior to signing up!

Chase Sapphire Preferred is probably the most common card to gain travel points and it will run you $95 a year (at the time of this writing). If you get the next tier up, Chase Sapphire Reserve, you have access to some airport lounges. Check this before you apply because the lounges for this card are limited. But this card will run you $550 per year plus $75 for each authorized user. It does offer 60,000 bonus points for signing up but that’s ONLY IF you spend $4,000 within the first three months. The Chase Sapphire Preferred offers the same exact bonus plus their current promotion also gives you $300 to spend on Chase Travel.

American Express has a great travel point program and if you can get the blue business card, you earn double the points on everything you purchase. The platinum card has the best travel benefits of any card I know and gets you into the most airport lounges (plus other benefits) but comes with such a high price tag ($695 per year) that unless you’re flying constantly and really need those lounges… Please check Amex for the yearly fees on all their cards.

I like the Citibank Strata Premier card because you to earn three points for every dollar spent on gas. So if you drive a lot, this is a great one to have. I originally got this before moving into my van to travel the US for a year. Now that I live in Europe, I haven’t used it but I really should try and see if it works the same here too. 

Why Not Airline Specific Cards?

I researched a lot before starting this and also took two classes. Everyone advised against specific airline credit cards, because they’re too limiting and don’t offer comparable incentives. 

Airbnb and Delta Points

Did you know that if you book your airbnb through a delta portal, you earn delta mile points? I do this whenever I book airbnb because I figure I have nothing to lose but I still haven’t accrued enough points to use them for anything.

How to Book Your Ticket Using Points

There are three ways, that I know of, to book your tickets. I’m sure there are more but these are the three I’ve used.

1. Using the online travel portal of your credit card. Pros: it’s easy. Cons: The tickets are not usually refundable. You’ll be paying/using more points for the same exact ticket you can get elsewhere for less. Most often, you’ll be paying extra $$$ for seats and sometimes checked luggage won’t be included either, so you’ll pay extra for that too.

2. Using an aggregate. In the past I’ve used point.me —It’s $12 a month and I subscribed for 1 month only, to find the flights I need. You can’t book through this platform but you can search for specific flights, airlines and the amount of points needed. They will then tell you where and how to move your points in order to redeem them. One thing you’ll have to do, if you’re not going through the credit card travel portal, is sign up for each airline’s award program separately. IE: American Airlines is AAdvantage, Delta has Delta SkyMiles, Air France and KLM are Flying Blue, etc. It’s not hard but it can be a little time consuming.

3. Going directly through the airline’s program. (more on this below)

What I Did When I First Started

1. I used point.me to find the flights that worked for me both time and point wise.

If the flight was on an airline that I did not yet belong to (program wise), I joined. It’s free.

2. I went to google flights and now I go directly to the airline to make sure the flight is available for same date and time!

3. Do this before you transfer your points.

4. Sometimes there are discrepancies between the flights listed on point.me and the actual flights offered by the airline.

5. Once you transfer your points to the airline’s program, you can’t transfer them back or to another airline. Your points on most airlines will have an expiration date but the points on your credit cards (typically, double check this yourself) don’t expire.

6. I go to my credit card and transfer the points to the airline.

7. You can then purchase the ticket directly from the airline using your points.

I’ve made the mistake of transferring points and not using them for the intended flight but just ended up booking a domestic flight with that airline within the year to use the points.

Another Thing to Know About Transferring Points

You can transfer points from multiple credit cards to most airline loyalty programs. For my most recent flight, for example, I transferred some points from Citibank, some from Chase and the rest from Amex.

My Mistakes:

My first mistake was booking a ticket through the American Express travel portal. However, they made it right because I ended up having to cancel due to an unplanned accident and surgery.

Mistake #1

Here’s what happened: I booked a flight through the AMEX travel portal and had to cancel. I did provide my x-rays and a doctor’s note. The representative I spoke to made another mistake. She told me I had a year to rebook the ticket but in reality, I only had 24 hours. However, since I was dealing with a severe injury (that I’m still healing from 18 months later), I didn’t even think about the airline ticket. But eleven months later I remembered and called to use it. I was told the first representative had given me incorrect information, but because of the unusual circumstances they would honor it. I used it for a birthday trip to Greece.

Mistake #2

This one did not turn out well for me. Before booking a flight back to Los Angeles from Portugal I did check both through the Chase portal and on point.me and strangely it was 200 points less to book the flight I wanted using the Chase portal. I found a flight on Iberia airlines and booked it. But due to some unforeseen circumstances with my Portuguese visa, I had to cancel my flight and rebook it. Chase refused to reimburse me and not only that, the person I spoke to was extremely condescending. One of the worst customer service agents I’ve ever spoken to and we all know, that’s saying a lot. So I lost $1,000 in points and no one at Chase (after several more hours on the phone) gave a flying F. I will never go directly through the Chase travel portal for anything. I learned that lesson the hard way.

What I Should Have Done and Did Do Next

I went directly to Iberia airlines and booked another ticket with them using my points. I wasn’t able to book online, but I was able to call and book that way. Their customer service is wonderful, they didn’t keep me on hold and the ticket is fully refundable for €30. Though I will mention that the first customer service agent couldn’t find the flight I had found on their website, and it was the one I wanted and needed. But after I was accidentally disconnected and phoned back, the second agent had no problem locating the correct flight. This was also the case where I transferred my points from all three credit cards to Iberia’s program, Avios, since I barely had any points left on Chase after the SNAFU.

From now on, I will always go direct using the airline and I may not use point.me again. First, I will check on google flights and then go directly to the airline, check the flight there, transfer points and purchase.

Hotel Hacking

The only “hotel hacking” that I currently do is by gaining points when using booking.com. Every time you use booking, you get points to use on future stays.

But my friend Ashley is an amazing hotel travel hacker! She stays exclusively in Marriott hotels all around the word for $30-$50 a night. She uses her Bonvoy points which you can earn by staying at Marriott hotels. Please check out Ashley’s website for more information.  

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Resources Specific to This Article

• For more information on specific credit cards and their points system check out The Points Guy

• Ashley —Living full time in Marriott Hotels.

• Chase Credit Card

• Point.me

• American Express Credit Cards

• Citibank Cards

• Marriott Bonvoy

• Airbnb Delta Portal

• 11 Apps and Websites to Make Reward Redemptions Easier to Find

• Traveling, I always use Safety Wing for Insurance.

**Using the above affiliate links (chase and safety wing only) will cost you nothing and help support my newsletter. You can also support me with a one-time donation of any amount here. Please know that I appreciate you regardless!!!

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LINKS FOR THE MOVE ABROAD SERIES, if you’re interested in moving abroad:

• Part 1—Want to move abroad? Start here!

• Part 2—Conquer your fears about moving abroad!

• Part 3—12 Minimizing Mistakes Part 1

• Part 4—12 Minimizing Mistakes Part 2

• Part 5—A Personal Case study (re: Minimizing)

• Part 6—Your Move Abroad: The Ultimate Checklist

Other Popular Articles/Podcast Episodes:

• Values: Differences Between Portugal and the US—Part Four.

• Inside the Homes: Differences Between Portugal and the US—Part One.

• Sidewalks, Zebra Crossings, Smells and More: Differences Between Portugal and the US—Part Two.

• Safety: Differences Between Portugal and the US—Part Three.

• First Six Months of Living Abroad

• How/Why I Ended up in Portugal

• Living Abroad After Two Years

• Archive of all my Articles and Podcast Episodes

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—Expat on a Budget AKA Living Abroad on a Budget and My Unknown Adventure by Kimberly Anne