
A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free - aaronbrethorst
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/ben-schlappig-airlines-fly-free-20150720
======
saryant
I spend more time than I should in the churning/FF communities (all of which
are centered around FlyerTalk). It's fun. Ben's blog is one of the few I
follow, most aren't that great. Frequent Miler is a solid resource, as is
Wandering Aramean, but nothing beats being active on FlyerTalk itself.

In the last five years I've managed to earn and spend about 1.5 million miles
and points, with maybe 50k airline miles from actual flying and ~400k points
from actual Hilton stays. Between churning, manufactured spend and promotions
I'm able to do 1-2 international trips a year in first class, staying at good
hotels. I mostly travel to Asia and get great value out of free flights on
Singapore, Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines.

It's an awesome hobby if you: a) have time to kill b) are single and c) have
an insanely flexible schedule.

I used US and BA miles earlier this year to fly to Malaysia and Thailand for
free (well, plus taxes) in first class, spending five weeks between Hong Kong,
Penang, Koh Lanta, Beijing and Tokyo.

Drinking $300 champagne at 35,000 feet on a flight you didn't pay for is a
rather fun feeling...

~~~
misterbwong
Good to see another FT'er on HN. I've earned/burned about the same volume of
points as you and can attest that this hobby is awesome, with some caveats.

For the beginners out there:

1\. Be sure to read as much about earning miles as redeeming them. Both sides
are equally important and redeeming is actually getting much more difficult.

2\. Don't let the newbie blogs lure you into hitting credit cards too hard.
Banks are starting to tighten the clamps on our hobby. Be sure to learn, start
slow, and then start ramping up. Banks like to see a relationship, not just a
high credit score.

3\. If you're dipping your toe in Manufactured Spending (MS), start small then
ramp up over time. Nothing worse than getting shut down for hitting something
too hard. That said, MS is a great way to meet minimum spending without using
too much money.

4\. Don't let headline point valuations fool you into thinking you have to fly
in Biz or First to get a good value on your points. Blogs use these kinds of
numbers mostly to get you to sign up for CC's. Figure out your your strategy
and go that way. A person looking for a lot of domestic flights is going to
have a different strategy than someone looking to travel like saryant (and
myself, incidentally).

tl;dr; This hobby is amazing if you can figure it out and do the leg work. I
too enjoy good champagne 35k ft in the air ;)

If you have any questions, AMA! :)

~~~
myanonhnaccount
Could you give someone who has ABSOLUTELY no idea (even after reading your
comment) about any of this what it is you do to hack the system?

~~~
trentmb
Trade your free time and (temporary) credit score rating for miles- flights,
hotel stays.

~~~
kajecounterhack
Why was this voted down? Is this inaccurate?

Another layman question, what does this do to your credit score?

~~~
trentmb
> Why was this voted down?

People that engage in churning are a bit self-conscious (source: recovering
churner). Simple fact is you don't churn if you don't have to- it's not worth
your time.

> Another layman question, what does this do to your credit score?

Opening new credit cards lowers your credit score- it adds weight to the
single debt category(mortgage has a house backing it, a credit card doesn't),
lowers the average age of credit lines (someone that has paid a home loan on
time for the past 20 years is more 'reliable' than the naive 18-year old
college student das company is preying upon), and, if you open too many at
once, gives the impression you're desperate, insolvent.

------
post_break
Don't you have to worry about radiation at some point? I mean flying 300 days
out of the year has to add up.

~~~
ceejayoz
Not sure why you're being downvoted, it's a real issue.

[http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/24/news/24iht-
radiate_ed3__0....](http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/24/news/24iht-
radiate_ed3__0.html)

> A 1996 paper published in the American Journal of Epidemiology found a
> higher incidence of myeloid leukemia, astrocytoma, prostate cancer and
> malignant melanoma among 2,740 Air Canada pilots than in the general
> population.

> One study of female flight attendants in Finland and Denmark found an
> increased rate of breast cancer.

~~~
acqq
Also, via XKCD:

[http://xkcd.com/radiation/](http://xkcd.com/radiation/)

Three LA to NY flights are more than the approximate dose received at
Fukushima Town Hall over two weeks following the accident. But you have to
make 175 flights to get as much as you get with just one chest CT scan.

~~~
octocoupler
According to that graph a chest x-ray (20 µSv) has half the effect of a LA-NY
flight (40 µSv)

~~~
cbr
Chest X-ray << Chest CT scan (350x)

Which makes sense, since a CT scan is basically enough X-rays that you can
make a 3D picture.

------
akavel
I seem to have missed something, in that I don't get one moment of the story;
given:

 _in April 2011, he received a certified letter from United, cheerily
informing him that because he had taken advantage of the system his frequent-
flyer account was permanently suspended. He was banned from flying, he recalls
the letter saying, unless he paid the company $4,755 — the amount it claimed
as losses through Schlappig 's techniques. [...] Schlappig has repeatedly
offered to send United a check but has gotten no response._

\-- so, how he continued the Hobby afterwards? Did he switch to a different
airline? Can anybody help me understand?

~~~
saryant
He stopped flying UA and switched to primarily AA.

~~~
akavel
thanks for the clarification!

------
glup
Anyone else find this "hobby" somewhere between low-grade morally questionable
and a completely banal use of above-average problem-solving skills? Upper
middle class man-children with disposable income can, I'm sure you're
surprised to find out, game overenthusiastic corporate behemoths?

~~~
saryant
I'm curious as to what the morality argument actually is, as this isn't the
first comment to espouse that view.

What do you find morally questionable about churning? It's game in which banks
and airlines write the rules and reserve the right to change them
unilaterally.

~~~
gwern
I think the issue here is more one of externalities. We all know that fuel
prices are not at the true cost which prices in all the pollution,
geopolitical turmoil, military interventions, global warming, government
subsidies etc, and that fuel is one of the largest costs airlines have. So
when this guy and his followers hop on planes and fly millions of miles, often
for no reason other than to game some tiny loophole in airlines' marketing for
their own amusement, it's no different than if they had taken a bunch of oil
tankers and lit them on fire and danced by the flickering light - in the end,
they've killed some time, and a lot of valuable resources have been consumed
to do so. Couldn't they have found productive jobs and just played Xbox on
their time off or something? Did _this_ really have to be their
hobby/profession?

~~~
saryant
How much is actually being burned though? How much fuel does it take to
transport 200lbs on a transpacific flight?

~~~
ISL
Wikipedia suggests ~100 mpg/passenger [1]. As Schlappig has flown more than
400,000 miles, he's burned up about 4,000 gallons of fuel. That's a lot of
fuel. It's enough to heat a northeastern United States home for about eight
winters [2].

But it's not that much fuel. A 30-mpg automobile will consume a similar
quantity of fuel (gasoline, not jet fuel) in 120,000 miles of driving.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_efficiency_in_transport...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_efficiency_in_transportation#Aircraft)
[2] [http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/steo/tables/pdf/wf-
table.pdf](http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/steo/tables/pdf/wf-table.pdf)

------
imjk
Ben's only one of a growing number of high-profile frequent flyer bloggers:
[http://pointsbuzz.com/](http://pointsbuzz.com/). As most of the strategies
they promote for amassing ff points revolves around gaming sing up bonuses for
credit card fees, the bloggers make money from affiliate fees for credit cards
they promote. The airlines don't mind because they sell their miles to cc
companies and gain customer loyalty. The credit card companies don't mind
because they buy the miles for cheaper and use them as an incentive that is
cheaper than the lifetime value of the customer.

~~~
twblalock
There is also a subreddit for this:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/churning](https://www.reddit.com/r/churning)

~~~
saryant
/r/churning isn't a great resource, to be frank. Flyertalk is far and away
superior.

------
wehadfun
I don't get the appeal of flying first class just for the "fun" of it. You can
sit in a comfy seat, drink overpriced alcohol served by an attractive lady at
your local Mens club with much less hassle. Flying first class is cool if you
actually have to travel but just for the hell of it.

~~~
branchless
Flying business class is _less_ unpleasant than flying regular class. But it's
not pleasant.

I get that some people might like this. I was speaking to my other half about
it last night. People go on about how great first class is. I wondered if
people had a choice between teleportation and first class which would they
choose? I'd go for teleporting. I think most would.

So how great can first class be if I'd willingly exchange it for just the time
back?

~~~
arcticbull
Whereas for cash tickets, going up a class of service is exponential. A round-
trip to Asia is going to be about $1K in economy, $6K in business and 20K in
first. Points tickets are logarithmic, if economy is 1X, business is usually
1.5-6X and first is usually 2X. So you can pay 2X as many miles for a product
that costs 20X as much.

Business is a better seat, edible food and free booze. First [on a decent
airline] is a different world. Caviar and Krug/Pol Roger/Perrier-Jouet.
Lufthansa has an entire separate terminal building with private immigration,
security, private assistants, a restaurant, a massive bar and Mercedes or
Porsche limousine service to the side of the plane. Flown it many times, and I
keep looking forward.

First is no waste of time for me; champagne, caviar, gourmet dining and wifi
(or the plausible excuse for not having wifi), it's a wonderful way to spend a
few days.

~~~
branchless
The product does not deliver 20x the "value". It's aimed at people who have
more money than they can spend. If you have a job paying less than 200k the
cost of first-class is a huge deal. For them the cost is like you buying a
beer.

------
roflmyeggo
These type of communities tend to remind me of the "extreme couponing" crowd
and the like.

Sure you can get some free stuff, but at what price? What if you took that
time and invested it in bettering your skill sets, etc.?

~~~
rasz_pl
Like couponing its a hobby for people with limited skill-set.

~~~
saryant
As someone who's both heavy into this hobby and a software engineer at a major
tech company, I'm going to disagree. I get to fly around the world having fun
while spending very little.

~~~
rasz_pl
>spending very little

you are spending a lot of valuable time

~~~
saryant
It's fun. Unless we're going to reduce everything we spend time on down to
utilitarian justifications, that's all the reason I need.

------
verbatim
> United offered coupons to passengers worth $200 or $400.

I'd be pretty surprised to see that now. On my last long United flight, which
was 6-7 hours overseas, my in-flight entertainment system was broken, and they
gave me a $25 voucher. I was not impressed.

~~~
ngoel36
The amount of comp you get for small shit (e.g. broken light, no recline, no
IFE/wifi) is largely dependent on your status. A no-status member might maybe
get 500 miles on United, where as a Global Service might get up to 10K+
(depending on severity)

~~~
SeoxyS
Do you have to request the comp? I've never been offered compensation for the
often broken entertainment system, wifi, or power (as UA Gold).

~~~
ngoel36
They will often send you emails where you have to complete a form/survey to
get the offer. I usually request the comp. You can call in or email - if
you're 1K / GS, there are dedicated email addresses with 24 hr response

------
hobo_mark
Is any of this (realistically) applicable if you are european? We're still
reluctant to use credit cards at all here.

~~~
maaku
You can start using credit cards.

~~~
hobo_mark
Not to pay rent, and I spend very little on anything else.

~~~
keypusher
You don't buy food? Furniture? Car? Bicycle? Computer?

~~~
hobo_mark
Food of course (~200$/mo), and travel (but usually my employer pays for it, if
they send me somewhere worth it I will take a few days off before coming
back).

If I could 'hack' an extra return flight to SF, NY or Tokyo once a year it'd
be great however.

I update my phone and laptop every five years or so. Bike is free.

------
intrasight
I wonder what will be the long-term affects of all that high-altitude
radiation exposure. I guess we'll have to check back in with him in 20 years.

~~~
mikeash
Or check with any random crew member today who's been on the job for a couple
of decades.

------
ackalker
Tough chance of any youth from my country trying to compete with him. Our
government has imposed tough regulations on credit card ownership in order to
curb personal debt.

Those who apply for a credit card must be 18 years or older and provide proof
of stable income >= $2000/month before banks will even consider the
application. Also, all credit cards are registered at our national credit
registration office with their max withdrawal counted towards personal debt
risk, so applying for or owning more than just a few CCs at any single time is
very unlikely unless one has a very well paid job or other sources of income.

~~~
saryant
Fortunately (for me) the US has no such rules, other than the age restriction.
I joined this game four years ago when I was 21. Now that my credit file is
built up, I can open five cards within a week or so and almost always get
approved.

Within three years of starting I had available credit of 150% of my income.

------
robotresearcher
I use miles to get flights a couple of times a year. A 'free' long-haul flight
economy class costs me $700-800 in taxes, which can not be paid in points. How
can these out-of-pocket charges be avoided?

~~~
misterbwong
Which program and what route are you flying? $7-800 is on the high side for
economy taxes, which makes me think you are flying into LHR on BA or something
similar.

If you really are flying into LHR from the US, one alternative is to fly into
a different city in Europe and connect over.

~~~
robotresearcher
Good guess. Into LHR on Air Canada. Taxes brutal.

~~~
misterbwong
LHR taxes are definitely brutal. Assuming award space and that the routing
isn't too out of the way, you could look into flying on a partner. A quick
google tells me that you could look into flying on Swiss, Turkish, or United
to cross the atlantic. Flying on these partners using Aeroplan miles shouldn't
incur fuel surcharges

~~~
robotresearcher
Thanks, I will look into this. Could save a good chunk of change!

------
iamleppert
Kudos for him doing what he wants, but why?

~~~
chippy
> why?

Because he wants to and it works

But the interesting question to me is

> why don't we?

~~~
fwn
Probably because it is insanely unreasonable for many to go through all the
hassle for a few flights. I don't spend too much on flying but even twice the
price wouldn't bring me to churn credit cards, save all the credentials, watch
out for rewards, etc. This is all stuff I'd love to pay someone if I had to do
it.

------
swang
Doesn't this slam your credit rating by taking out so many credit cards? Or
does he (and other people who do this) not care?

~~~
saryant
In your early days, yes, you can take a hit from churning, but after a year or
so your credit should stabilize (assuming you never miss a payment). I've been
churning for a few years and my FICO is around 780.

~~~
swang
And do you just never close the cards either?

~~~
saryant
Some cards I close. If there's an annual fee, I weigh the benefits each year.
If the benefits don't justify the fee, I try to get the fee waived. Failing
that, I cancel.

OTOH cards with no fee get tossed in a drawer. I have 5 no-fee Citi Hilton
cards just sitting in my file cabinet.

------
mavhc
Seems like he's causing a lot of pollution

~~~
saryant
Actually, no. Airlines only release seats for award redemption if they don't
believe they can sell them. Therefore, he's only taking up seats that would
otherwise go empty on flights that are going to fly anyways.

~~~
chockablock
Sorry that can't be true. Even my lowly MileagePlus Explorer card allows me to
book an award seat on any flight with availability.

~~~
saryant
At the standard (rather than saver) award price. United knows almost nobody is
actually redeeming that, it's just a marketing ploy.

------
pingec
I wish us Europeans could do that :(

------
kzisme
This is pretty damn cool

------
rugatelstvo
It also helps to have a passport that lets you do that.

~~~
saryant
I don't follow. The hobby is really only possible for Americans and American
passports are easy to travel.

~~~
contingencies
I have an Australian friend who does this, so it's definitely possible outside
of America. I know it works because he's flown to visit me in a few places
(Asia, US). However, the insanely tight international travel schedules sound
to me more like a boring and unpleasant experience than enjoyment. Glad you
enjoy it though!

------
comrade1
This is a bad customer. I'm surprised the airlines just don't ban him.

~~~
imjk
It's actually a big circle jerk that benefits the airlines. Most of the
strategies that Ben and his cohorts promote is "gaming" credit card signup
bonuses. Basically, sign up for X credit card and get X number of of frequent
flyer miles. The airlines sell the miles to the cc companies for much cheaper
than a consumer could buy and in return get some revenue and customer loyalty.
In the case of co-branded credit cards, there's probably some revenue share
going on. The credit card companies then incentivize a new customer by giving
X frequent flyer miles after X spend threshold. The CC companies make money by
charging retailers a merchant fee for transactions. The bonus miles they give
to new customers is often itself cheaper than what they'll earn in transaction
fee from retailers, but almost certainly after you take into account the
lifetime value of the customer. The customer feels as if they got miles for
free or super cheap as they often make purchases they would have made anyway
on another card. And of course, bloggers like Ben get paid on affiliate fees
for promoting specific credit cards.

~~~
biot
I'm surprised these guys haven't gone to the next level and started up their
own credit card company. That might allow them to buy frequent flyer miles at
the dirt-cheap levels and offer ridiculous signup bonuses for their card. For
example, if 100K miles costs them $X, have an annual membership fee of $1.25X
and you get 100K miles a year bonus. Or for $12.5X, get 1M miles a year bonus.
The use of this as an actual credit card is purely optional. Or is this only
financially viable due to the transaction fees the credit card companies get?

~~~
fweespeech
> Or is this only financially viable due to the transaction fees the credit
> card companies get?

Yes. These reward cards work out to about 1-2% cashback equivalents after the
sign up bonuses. From the credit card perspective, the financials are
basically identical to their normal "cashback cards".

If you are like me and just want a couple free plane tickets a year, you just
pick up 4 new credit cards [~160-200,000 points/miles] and cancel them. If you
put 100% of your spending on credit cards and just cycle through the sign up
bonuses every 3 months, its really easy and 160k miles is 2 round trip tickets
a year anywhere domestically, with some leftover.

