
Travel Hacking 101 - justborn
https://viatravelers.com/travel-hacking/
======
ggm
I feel some of this is basically unethical. The cards should stop proffering
points bribes, and people with no intent of using the card as a cash vehicle
gaming the points are making it harder for longterm card users, because they
are eroding the value designed into the card as a real financial vehicle, not
a points-hound game.

I totally get why people do this, but this is not a good model for how to
live, which sustains, and is equitable with everyone else. There is an
implicit "laugh at the ordinary joes" tone to this kind of behaviour.

"...just become a travel writer, get schwag for free" Please: writing is a
skill. If you don't have good things to say about travel, and are doing it for
the skim, you're not adding value to the travel writing business.

Maybe I'm over sensitive or grumpy today. I think this is bad karma.

~~~
esotericn
A lot of it sounds like a huge case of false economy anyway unless they're
buying stuff to resell or something.

> Chase Ink Business Preferred: Will offer you 80,000 bonus points after
> spending $5,000 in the first three months. That is worth $1,000 of travel.

I don't have a US perspective, but someone who spends $1600 a month after rent
in the UK is either financially suicidal or well off enough that they probably
aren't fucking around with this sort of nonsense, they'll just pay for the
holiday.

~~~
ebg13
> _Yeah, see, I don 't spend $5K in three months._

I do. And that makes the $1000 free money for zero effort (signing up for a
new credit card in the US really is zero effort if your credit rating speaks
for itself). It's just another way that rich people profit by virtue of
nothing else other than being rich.

~~~
esotericn
Well, it's not exactly free money, it's free travel. If you can sell it, it's
free money.

If you were going to do it anyway, then yeah, by not spending the money you
come out ahead.

I guess I don't really live that sort of lifestyle. If you gave me $1K in
flights I'd have no use for it (which I think comes hand in hand with not
paying the $5K in the first place - consumption is expensive).

If you could buy shares on a credit card I suppose it could make sense.

When I was younger, I signed up to a bunch of accounts in the UK that paid
benefits. You could get 10 quid a month from Halifax, multiplied by three.
Possibly six, I don't remember now.

That actually was free money. There's still stuff like that around, but being
a software developer is better paid. And more interesting.

~~~
ebg13
> _Well, it 's not exactly free money, it's free travel_

It's free money even if you don't travel. 80,000 chase points is also worth
$800 cash directly. They just boost it %25 if you use it for travel through
their portal (I suspect that you don't get the best fares through their portal
though, so that boost seems like it might be a wash).

> _You could get 10 quid a month from Halifax_

The city?

> _but being a software developer is better paid_

Unless you make $700-$900 (subtracting the $95 annual fee) per minute (the
amount of time it takes to sign up) while working, working really isn't better
per amount of time spent.

~~~
esotericn
Oh, you can sell it? Well, now we're talking.

For a relevant time comparison you should subtract the research time, mind.
Those accounts were worth about $1K a year to me back then, but the amount of
time I spent trying to figure out new "hacks" was no longer worth it once I
had a job.

If you already know about it and aren't hanging about on the equivalent of
coupon forums, yeah, it takes 1 min, you'd be a fool not to.

~~~
ebg13
Yeah, in the realm of rewards cards in the US there are cash-back cards, miles
cards, and points cards. Cash-back cards just give you a redemption on
whatever you owe them for the next statement (you effectively pay $98 or $99
when you spend $100). Miles cards give you per-dollar-spent frequent flyer
miles for a specific airline or group of airlines usually plus a sign-up bonus
like mentioned here. Points cards are like miles cards, except the points are
more flexible and can be converted either to airline miles or to gift cards or
to statement credits.

As for the time spent researching. These days it basically non-existent. If
you google "best rewards credit card 2019" you'll find half a dozen sites all
with similar recommendations all telling you basically "Get this one, then in
a few months get this one, then get this one, then close them and start over
in a year. Don't do anything fancy, just spend enough to cash in the sign-up
bonus and then switch to the next."

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_kyran
I remember a few years ago seeing the writer of
[https://thesizzle.com.au](https://thesizzle.com.au) pop up in a forum asking
for anywhere online where he could make small (sub $1 transactions ideally
cent transactions.

I had a hunch it'd be for something to do with points.

Then this story popped up a little while later:

[https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/nab-shuts-
down...](https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/nab-shuts-down-qantas-
frequent-flyer-credit-card-loophole/news-
story/92624b276d834c3c6042921b72116c53)

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sooper
Has anyone made this stuff work in a country outside the US?

I've done a bit of research into this in NZ, where it seems to be a lot harder
to grind points (e.g. FlyBuys / Airpoints).

~~~
woutr_be
I've been trying it in Asia with Cathay Pacific's Asia miles. I don't really
do card churning, although I've opened a few cards just to get the sign up
bonus. I only have two credit cards that give me a good cash to points ratio,
and I try to use them to make the best out of it. For example, one I mostly
use when spending money abroad, just because I get a better ratio on foreign
transactions. While the other one I use for all my daily transactions, I
hardly ever use cash, and all my payments are linked to this card. I sometimes
also take advantage of some of the restaurants deals they offer. It also helps
that I use my own credit card when making expenses while on business trips,
this has probably earned me a significant amount of points.

All in all, I've been able to redeem a few flights, and upgrade a couple of
long-haul flights. I'm not that obsessed with it tho.

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therobot24
all of this sounds exhausting and doesn't highlight how little you would have
to value your own time to do at the scale the author suggests

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HillaryBriss
> _I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to over 12+ countries..._

c'mon. you must know how many countries you've traveled to. just look in your
passport or something.

~~~
esotericn
I found this one amusing, but for different reasons.

I've been fortunate enough to travel to over 12 countries too, we call it
Europe. Stick your thumb out at the side of the road, you'll be there in no
time. ;)

