4.5 Step Guide to Travel for FREE - Travel Hack 101

#travelhack #freetravel

Travel Hacking 101: This video will teach you how to start traveling for FREE.

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

[johnsfinancetips]

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

[EthanPatrick_CreditCards]

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.

[Ozzy]

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!!

[espi]

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!

[parker]

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!

[Rob-ewbl]

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.

[scottshapiro]

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.

[kellycz]

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.

[muffemod]

I would like to see A (from applying to the cards) to Z (actual footage of the vacation)

[HoosierDaddyOfficial]

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!

[De_Guatemala]

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.

[naseemhelo]

Appreciate your advice, you being humble, and your honesty.

[sanaa]

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!

[anwarg]

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

[TinkerTailorSoldier]

Willing to share/break down your average spend per month (dollar amount)?

Business, rent (unless earning Bilt points), mortgage, auto loan expenses aside.

[xmikepogix]

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

[boogeymanw]

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.

[voldymore]

step 0 is the hardest part lol; have the csr, amex platinum. and ritz carlton combo soon

[Ellwood]

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

[Nocturna.]

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