Frequent Flyer Tips for Travelers New to Loyalty Programs

Budget airlines tempt you with cheap fares, but they charge extra for everything from seat assignments to carry-on bags. Is it worth it? Which low-cost carrier is the best? And what about their frequent flyer programs? Let’s take a closer look at Allegiant, Frontier and Spirit.

What if you could travel for free whenever you want to get away? It seems far-fetched, but some people do it and it may not be as difficult as you think.

Free travel, sometimes called travel hacking or travel rewards, is all about collecting points or miles and redeeming them for free airline tickets, hotel rooms, gift cards or cash.

The Boeing 777 is the most widely operated wide-body commercial jetliner in the sky today. There are over 1,100 of these planes currently in operation with orders for many more on the way. Here’s a rundown of who’s flying them and what they are offering.

Mobile apps are all about convenience, and there is no better time for efficiency than when traveling. As you plan holiday travel, take a look some of our favorite travel apps out there to help you from planning to packing.

Traveling can be made much easier and less expensive if you know about all the benefits available to you. Some are right in your wallet and you may not even know about them. They are the extra benefits that your everyday credit cards carry. You don’t need to get out the magnifying glass to figure out the benefits. Here are 12 travel benefits to look for from your credit cards.

Wouldn’t it be great to earn the same intro bonus several times with your favorite rewards cards? While it might be possible to do that with some credit card issuers, it’s not the best strategy for boosting your points or miles balance. At worst, the issuer will deny your application and you’ll take an unnecessary hit to your credit score. At best, you’ll probably have to wait years to get a second bonus.

There are so many travel rewards credit cards out there, choosing can be a dizzying process. Features including sign-up bonuses and other perks that can often make many cards sound perfect.

Beyond the bonuses and perks, though, lies a minefield of caveats. These 10 tips can help you come out on the other end with the card of your dreams.

Are you someone who tries to earn enough points and miles to travel with your entire family? Do you have friends constantly picking your brain to figure out how you travel around the world for free? It may be time to stop going it alone and get your friends and family involved in your travel hacking hobby. 

Credit card sign up bonuses are the fastest way to accumulate tons of points and miles. With all of the restrictions that the major banks have placed on earning sign up bonuses lately, it is important to be strategic when it comes to signing up for new cards. The best way to do that is to jump on offers when they are elevated above the standard sign up bonus, especially when they are at or near all-time highs like the Delta co-branded airline cards.

The release of the Chase Sapphire Reserve card set off a whirlwind of excitement, disappointment, questions, and answers around the travel blogosphere. When the card was released, Chase was not particularly clear on the details regarding some of the benefits. Now that people have received their cards and started activating and using the benefits, we have a better understanding of everything this card entails.

Everyone knows that you can earn frequent flyer miles by flying, and if you’re serious about collecting miles you probably also know that using a rewards credit card is a great way to earn while you’re on the ground. What you might not know is that there are a lot of other ways to earn, too.

Travel can be grueling, and when things go wrong, a domino effect can lead to missed connections or even forced overnights in some places. Add to that surly airport employees or crew members and lost luggage, and you can have quite the unique experience. If you save your complaints for cocktail parties or the hotel bar, you might be missing out on much-deserved compensation.

Every travel hacker knows that the quickest way to a free flight is having the right credit card. Whether it’s a co-branded airline card or a card with transferable points, such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve, getting a sign-up bonus will boost your points balance faster than any other strategy. These tips will help you get that big bonus.

Are you someone who frequently flies on Delta airlines and is looking for the best credit cards to maximize your travel rewards? This analysis will tell you the best cards to get and explain some tricks for squeezing all the benefits out of them.

The Everyday Preferred card and the Platinum card is the best two-card combination in the Amex cards lineup. The combined benefits of these cards provide just about everything a travel hacker could want in their credit card portfolio—high points earning rates on everyday spend, a valuable transferable points currency and a wide variety of luxury travel benefits and purchase protections.

Amex Membership Rewards is unique among transferable points programs in that it is the only program that has a card with no annual fee which still allows transfers to partners. That card is the Amex Everyday card (not to be confused with the Everyday Preferred card, which we take a closer look at below). So if you ever find yourself going through a period in which paying the annual fee on any other Amex cards is not worth it to you, but still want to retain your stash of MRs and ability to transfer them, a product change to the Everyday card may be the best option.

If you have seen people at the airport sleeping on the floor, shaving in the restrooms, and generally looking as if they have spenT hours and hours at the airport, they probably have. Some of these situations might be due to long layovers, but some of them are caused by flight cancellations and lengthy delays. The US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics states that so far in 2016, almost 458,000 flights have been delayed, almost 35,000 flights have been canceled, and almost 7,000 flights have been diverted, and that only includes the data for the U.S.

If you’re just getting into collecting miles and points for free flights, it can be a bit overwhelming. There’s a lot of information out there and it can be hard to sift through it all. To help out, we’ve compiled a list of fifteen tips for rookies. Hopefully you’ll avoid some of these mistakes now that you know about them.

Most airlines allow you to purchase award flights for other people. While this is a great option to have, it’s not as powerful as the ability to pool or share miles. Combining miles with family or friends can help you purchase award flights that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited card and the Chase Sapphire Reserve card is quite possibly the best credit card combination in the entire travel rewards industry. The combined benefits of this combo provide just about everything a travel hacker could want in their credit card portfolio – high points earning rates, a very valuable currency, a diversified array of travel benefits and purchase protections, and point transferability.

In addition, the ability to get so much out of only 2 cards allows travelers to simplify their wallets and reduce the cost of the annual fees they pay relative to a traveler who carries many cards. The Freedom Unlimited card has no annual fee while the Sapphire Reserve card carries a $450 annual fee.