Collecting frequent flyer miles can enable you to fly for free to all manner of destinations around the world. But did you know, you don’t even need to be a regular flyer to take advantage of the airline loyalty programs!
If you’ve got the travel bug, you’re faced with a dilemma. You love to travel, but it’s so expensive! Flights, hotels, and transport all rack up quickly. So, what’s the answer? Simple: frequent flyer miles.
I know what you’re thinking. You don’t board a plane nearly enough to rack up the mileage. But, you might be surprised to know you can build most of your airline points without leaving the ground.
You do, of course, earn frequent flyer points when you fly. However, there are countless other ways to boost your loyalty points. And once they’re boosted high enough you’ll get a free flight, or a free hotel, or perhaps an upgrade to business class.
By collecting points on the ground, we call this ‘travel hacking’, and it’s easier than you think. If you’re smart, you can take advantage of all the various offers out there. In this post, we’ll take you through some of the ways you can bump up your frequent flyer miles. You can use them to fund a romantic weekend away, or a weekend with friends. Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
Sign up to all the available loyalty programs
Different airlines and hotel chains each have their unique points programs. Some overlap, and some airlines all use the same program. It’s great when airlines use the same program because you can build points in one pot. The advice here is simple: never board a flight or book a hotel with signing up to the points program.
It’s a simple but effective way to make sure you never miss out in the future. There are hundreds out there, and you don’t need to go through and sign up to the entire list now. But, do sign up to the biggest programs at the biggest airlines. You’re likely to use British Airways or Virgin regularly, so start with their schemes.
Stay loyal
To get a free flight or free hotel room, you need to build up a lot of points. Obviously, you’ll never get there if you keep building some points in one program, and some in another. It’s best to target one scheme as much as possible.
For example, always try to fly the same airline to get their points. If you’re using a credit card (more on this soon), always use the same credit card.
Keep building your points in one scheme, unless it’s not possible. That’s where the other programs you signs up for come in handy.
Take advantage of credit card signup bonuses
Most credit cards are now affiliated to a frequent flyer rewards system. Almost all have some sort of sign up bonus. You can quickly and easily spot the best deal, and sign up for that particular card. You’ll then receive a flood of points to get you started. It’s a great way to give yourself a headstart.
The best introductory offers often give you enough points to fund half a plane ticket. Do bear in mind that they come with minimum requirements. It might be a minimum spend, and you might have to pay off the card in full every month. Read the fine print, and don’t sign up for more cards than you can handle.
Use the credit card sensibly
Now that you’ve signed up, and earned your extra points, use the card carefully. If you void any of the stipulations, you may lose those points. Some cards with great introductory offers have a high minimum spend. Make sure you can afford to make lots of payments on the card. Again, there are hacks you can do here. If the ‘charging’ limit is high, you can bump up the spending by using it to pay for large deposits. Don’t forget to pay their minimum costs every month, and don’t lose control of your spending.
Switch your hotel rewards
Most hotels also offer a points of rewards system. However, it’s rare that you stay in the same hotel twice. That makes it difficult to build them up. What you can sometimes do instead is switch the points to your airline program. Not every hotel will allow this, but the big chains are particularly good. They’ll let you switch the points to their partner airline or allow you to choose airline miles when you stay. Whenever you’re booking a hotel, ask about their policy.
Shopping portals
If you’ve got a credit card that allows you to build air miles, everything you buy transfers into points. That’s a great way to start building those miles with your everyday spending. Not only that, but most major airlines have a ‘shopping portal’.
They partner up with a big chain, and you earn points every time you buy something from them. Of course, it’s up to you to register and take advantage of it. Find out what shopping portal your favourite airline is using.
Answer a few surveys
We’ve also discovered some less conventional ways to build frequent flyer points. One of them is answering surveys. There are many online surveys that reward you with frequent flyer points. They only take a few minutes, and you get a little bonus at the end. Every little helps!
Sign up for online services, like Netflix
These various deals move around, but here’s one example we saw recently. For a short period, Netflix rewarded you with 1,000 frequent flyer points when you signed up. That’s a simple and easy way to get a big chunk of points in one go. These offers tend to move around, but keep your eye out for them.
Redeeming your points
We’ll leave you with a couple of final points on spending those frequent flyer points! Naturally, you can spend them a free flight. However, be aware of the small print. ‘Free’ usually means only the cost of the ticket. With some airlines, you may still have to pay the tax and other fees such as airport surcharges.
With others, there may be some limitations on destinations. A lot of travel hackers say the best value you can get from your air miles is not by paying for flights outright, but buying flights as you usually would and then using your points to upgrade to business class. Of course, the choice is completely up to you!
Has this article inspired you to start collecting frequent flyer points? Why not share your new hobby on Pinterest? Here’s a pin just for that:
