Travel hacking is an amazing thing and I don’t understand why more people don’t do it. This post touches upon how I earned over 225,000 miles in just 10 months for travel.

I’m not sure the term ‘hacking’ is quite right as you’re not really doing anything wrong. You’re just learning the system and using it to your advantage.

When I knew my overseas adventure was imminent I began researching ways to save on those big travel expenses, namely flying. The past few years has seen a big leap in airline costs (I’m looking at you gas prices) and as someone who is going to be on a tight budget, I need all the help I can get.

And that’s where airline miles come in.

Hours of research later and with the help of amazing travel hacking blogs like The Points Guy and Million Mile Secrets I learned that the fastest way to wrack up airline miles is through credit cards, namely the sign up bonuses. These puppies can reach upwards of 60,000-100,000 airline miles just for signing up and reaching the set minimum spend.

Prior to this I had only ever been in possession of one credit card - the Bank of America Cash Rewards card. It had (well actually still has) a $2,500 limit and my parents had to co-sign for me to be accepted. That was the extent of my credit. Pretty sad.

United MileagePlus Explorer

United Airlines consistently had the cheapest flights from San Diego to Boston so the first card I applied for was the United MileagePlus Explorer card. I received 35,000 miles for spending $1000 in the first 3 months. You receive 2 points per dollar for United purchases and 1 point per dollar for everything else. Pretty simple and straightforward.

Chase Sapphire Preferred

The next card I got was the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. You get 2 points per dollar on travel and dining and 1 point per dollar on everything else. This card required you to spend $3000 in 3 months but had a sign up bonus of 40,000 points.

Now I don’t spend 3k in 3 months and the whole point of getting these credit cards for the sign up bonuses was that you didn’t have to spend any more money than you normally would.

That’s where Amazon Payments comes in handy. Amazon Payments is a nifty program that lets you pay someone up to $1000 a month with a credit card and no fees. Here’s where it gets a bit tricky. You have to find someone you trust who you can send the money to.

My sister was graciously willing to be the recipient of my money. She would withdraw the money I sent into her own Bank of America checking account and then she would send the money back to me via a transfer to my Bank of America account. I would then use that money to pay off the credit card.

Ok fine. I guess the term ‘travel hacking’ is well placed. But I only used it to make up what I wouldn’t be spending on the card already and only for credit cards that had high sign up bonuses. That’s at least what I tell myself to help me sleep at night.

So from the Chase Sapphire Preferred card I currently have 44,455 miles. The great thing about Chase miles (or Ultimate Rewards as they are called) is they can be transferred in a 1:1 ratio to many airlines and hotels - including United.

Barclay Arrival

Next came the Barclay Arrival Mastercard. When I signed up the offer was 40,000 points for $1000 spend in 3 months. Easy peasy. (Though as I understand it you now have to spend $3000 in 3 months.) The great thing about this card is that you get 2 points per dollar on everything. Everything. That’s why this card is my go-to credit card.

It isn’t affiliated with any airlines or hotels, but what you can do is pay yourself back for travel. So if I buy a ticket costing $300 using my Barclay Arrival card, I could later use 30,000 points and pay myself back for the cost of the ticket.

I recently received an upgrade on this card to the Barclay ArrivalPlus card which has chip and pin capabilities which is great for traveling abroad.

I currently have 47,246 miles with Barclay.

American Express Blue Sky

This was not a card I planned on getting but it came as a targeted offer in the mail and it was so good I couldn’t pass it up. The offer was 30,000 miles after spending $500 in 3 months. And no annual fee. The decision to get this card was simple. It works like the Barclay Arrival card in that I can use the miles to pay myself back for travel expenses.

Through this card I earned 30,701 miles.

Chase Ink Bold

The last credit card I applied for was the Chase Ink Bold card. This one isn’t actually a credit card but a charge card, so I have to pay off the balance each month. Since I don’t do any crazy spending and always pay off my balance every month anyway, that wasn’t a problem for me.

The difference with this one however is that it’s a business card. But since I started this blog I could claim it as my business and get the card anyway! The signup deal here was 50,000 points for $5000 in 3 months. Now that’s WAY more then I spend each month but I knew I had a few large expenses coming up I could put on the card in addition to using Amazon Payments.

Then, about a month after receiving the card Chase upped the sign up bonus to 60,000 points. I called them and asked them if they could honor the new sign up bonus for me and they did!

Therefore from this card I have earned 66,425 points so far.

Grand Total

After adding up all I’ve earned over the past 10 months from these cards the grand total comes to a whopping 226,693 miles. Not too shabby if I do say so myself!

Moving Forward and Irony

This is definitely something I plan on continuing as time goes forward. It’s a great way to wrack up lots of miles quickly to save on the biggest travel expense of all - flying.

And in case any of you were wondering what happened to my credit through all of this? It actually skyrocketed. It was originally somewhere in the low 600s and is currently around 780. A big part of your credit score comes from your debt to credit ratio so as I signed up for all these cards my credit increased dramatically and my debt stayed very low.

The irony of it all? I never actually ended up using miles for my flight to Beijing. The cost of a direct, one-way flight from Settle to Beijing was $425 (such a deal!) and I decided I’d much rather spend my miles on a more expensive flight than that.

Have you ever played the travel hacking game? How many miles were you able to earn for your trip?