Every Monday, we share with you the best nonstop flight deals of the week from nine major cities in the United States. Every Wednesday, we share a roundup of recommendations of travel destinations from well-versed travel writers and globally touring artists to continuously add to your travel bucket list. But none of this would be beneficial without our weekly Thursday series that taps the best experts in credit card points and rewarding hacking.
If you’re ready to embark on a solo trip to Madrid this Spring or make a last-minute send to SXSW, dive into these plane ticket buying tips and strategies to save yourself more money and earn more points.
Adam Hill (@adamhillyeah): Buy Airline Points
Ticket prices can be absolutely egregious at times. I’m constantly looking for a way around paying any price for tickets if I’m being honest or trying to figure out if I can offset a ticket with an annual travel credit I get with one of my credit cards. My favorite way to buy a ticket without paying for a ticket directly is buying airline points directly from an airline and then using those points to get that ticket.
I recently booked a positioning flight to my home airport with Southwest Airlines. I was able to get my ticket with the Rapid Rewards points I still had left over, however, the price of the ticket in a cash fare was kind of outrageous to buy for my wife — I quickly checked the price to buy the amount of points needed and it turned out I would save $70. Win!
Wanna know an even better redemption?
Many times Lifemiles, Avianca Airlines’ frequent flier program, has bonus promotions when buying miles. You can get up to 165% and recently they had up to 175% bonus miles when purchasing a specific amount of miles. Lifemiles requires 87k miles to fly first class with Lufthansa, depending on the bonus being offered, you may only be paying $1,000-$1,300 for miles which will then be used instead of a typical $8,000-$10,000 cash fare. If you are originating from Munich or Frankfurt, you will get to experience the Lufthansa First Class terminal as well as being driven to your plane in a Porsche.
This is by far my favorite way to hack the normal cash fare of a ticket.
Brighton & Mila (@themilescouple): Use AMEX Platinum To Earn 5x Points On Flights
We most frequently use our Amex Platinum to book our flights — not just for the protections that it offers travelers, but because it earns 5x points on flights. If you don’t have the Amex Platinum, we recommend booking with other high-tier cards that earn bonus points on travel categories. Additionally, if you have status with a particular airline, one of the easiest ways to get the most miles out of a booking is to keep increasing in status tier so as to gain more points per dollar spent.
Finally, if you ever see award flights going on sale but you already have a flight booked, always check if your flight is included in the sale! In this case, you can call customer service and ask to be rebooked. Often, this will be at no additional (or very little) cost, and you’ll get to save some points for your next trip!
Allison Tackette (@luckytictac): Use A Credit Card Offering Travel Protections
Whether using cash or points, make sure to pay with a credit card offering travel protections. These travel protections cover baggage delays, flight delays or cancellations, and even rental car coverage. The protections help cover you in the event something happens and you have unplanned out-of-pocket expenses. Take weather delays for example. Airlines don’t have to provide any compensation for hotels, Ubers, or food. But by using the right credit card to pay for travel, you can submit for reimbursement and recoup those costs.
Ryan Horn (@profitsandpoints): Book Southwest Flights As Early As Possible
One of my favorite hacks is booking Southwest flights as early as possible. Southwest Airlines is very generous with their refund process if the price of the flight you booked drops after you book it. If you book a flight with Southwest, and the price of your flight drops, you can rebook that flight and receive a Travel Funds credit for the difference in fare. If you paid with points, the difference in Rapid Rewards points will automatically go back into your account!
All you have to do is sign on to your Rapid Rewards account and use the “Change Flight” option. You’ll then simply change your flight to the flight you were already on.
Serena Stone (@passionforpoints): Use The Correct Credit Card To Lower Your Price
I prefer to use points and miles to book flights but sometimes award flights are not the best choice nor readily available. In these cases when you need to pay out of pocket for a flight, here are four options to reduce the ticket price:
1) Capital One: If you hold the Capital One Venture X card, you will get a $300 travel credit each card member year to use toward travel booked through the portal. In addition, you will earn 5x on flights purchased through the portal with the option to use Capital One miles to cover the cost of the flight to erase the charge from your statement. Capital One also comes with a price match guarantee. Additionally, if you have both the consumer and business versions of the Capital One Venture X card, you will get a total of $600 in travel credit, which can be used for one transaction.
2) Chase: Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders can book flights through the Chase travel portal and redeem points for 1.5 cents toward flights. In addition, you will have a $300 travel credit each card member year and earn 5x points on airfare booked through the portal.
3) American Express: Business Platinum cardholders can book flights through American Express Travel, use points to pay for the fare, and get a 35% points rebate. This applies to all first/business class tickets and any class of ticket booked with the selected qualifying airline on your American Express account.
4) Direct with the airlines: If booking airfare directly with US airlines, use Google Flights to track prices for your route and dates. You will be notified if the airfare drops so you can contact the carrier for a travel credit.
Angel Trinh (@pennywisetraveler): Use Southwest Airlines & American Airlines For Backup Flights
I love using Southwest Airlines and American Airlines for backup flights. Both airlines have free cancellation, so if I find a better flight or cheaper cash deal I will cancel my flight that I booked with miles/points. The miles/points will go straight back to my airline account, and then I can take advantage of the cheap cash deal or better flight.
Spencer Howard (@straighttothepoints): Use Positioning Flights For Cheaper International Flights
Sign up for business and first-class flight alerts here.
Website
Positioning flights, hands down. There’s no way around it, sometimes when booking flights with points or cash, the prices out of our home airport will be absurd. For trips abroad, a great way to get around this is to book a separate cheap ticket to an airport that has much better prices for the flight abroad.
This can be even more useful when booking long-haul flights with points as it can sometimes be tough to find a domestic connection for your flight abroad. With a cheap positioning flight, you can open up many more opportunities.
Vivian Tu (@your.richbff): Browse Flights In Private Browser & Use A VPN
Order “RICH AF: The Winning Money Mindset That Will Change Your Life” here.
Believe it or not, buying flights from certain locations can cost more or less. If you have the time, don’t be shy about browsing through a VPN and even from a different country. You can test out different locations to see if the price changes. It might not be a huge difference but if you browse in private or use a VPN, it could end up saving you some money!
Angelo Minella (@paidwithpoints): Consider Booking Flights Through A Travel Portal
When buying a plane ticket be sure to search and compare all sites. Search prices, point requirements, and routing options. Sometimes it makes sense to buy through a travel portal. Sometimes that same flight is cheaper directly with the airline. Sometimes the flight can be cheaper in incognito mode. Also, check for different one ways. If your city has multiple airports sometimes it may be cheaper to fly out of LGA vs round trip to JFK.
Victor Cheng (@travelhackvic): Use Google Flights Price Tracking Features
When it comes to buying airplane tickets, we are always wondering if we are overpaying. There is no way for us to know since the price of a plane ticket is always fluctuating. Personally I love using Google Flights to search for flights since it gives us options of many airlines. It is also a great way to compare prices to see if the tickets are high or low compared to normal prices. For certain routes, Google Flights even offers a lowest price guarantee, meaning Google will pay you if the price of the flight drops lower than what you pay for. Definitely take advantage of Google Flights if you want to travel for less.
