Travel hacking, step-by-step, in one post!

[SmileAllDay]

Hey all!

As a full-time traveler, I've been trying to get 'into' travel hacking for a while. I trawled Youtube and online. Finally, I found this one post that breaks the entire process down into simple steps. With pictures ;).

Here it is: https://www.thewaystowealth.com/save-money/credit-card-reward-travel-101/

The article also includes rewards search engine sites for flights and hotels (AwardHacker and HotelHustle).

Anyways, I figured it would be a great starting point if, like me, you're ready to get started but don't know where to begin.

Happy hacking, and if you've any other recs please share. :)

[benstagram]

Thanks for sharing! I didn't know about HotelHustle, but it's now added to my favorites. A couple other good resources are ChooseFI podcast #9 (https://www.choosefi.com/all-articles/travel-rewards), and the travelmiles101.com free email course (https://www.travelmiles101.com).

For finding the best credit card bonuses https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/

[Gay Burqueño Dad]

That was a useful article with good links!

I have two questions:
1) Aside from the airline-branded ones, how do you figure out which airlines will honor which cards' points? For example, the CapitalOne VentureOne credit card materials say "over 12 leading travel loyalty programs" but I can't for the life of me find out which ones those are.

2) It seems like most of the credit cards, aside from $200-$750 in sign-up bonuses, offer 1-1.5 cents per dollar spent. Which is awfully similar to my existing cash-back card. So in switching to points, I just get points rather than money. Is travel hacking all about the sign-up bonuses? And if it is, has anybody calculated a rough hourly wage for:
-applying for cards
-activating cards
-Changing online accounts/etc. to pull from a new credit card
-closing cards (the ones that have annual fees at least)
-Re-changing online accounts/etc. to pull from an annual-fee-free credit card

?

[NotJen]

Is travel hacking all about the sign-up bonuses?

Yes.

And if it is, has anybody calculated a rough hourly wage for:
-applying for cards
-activating cards
-Changing online accounts/etc. to pull from a new credit card
-closing cards (the ones that have annual fees at least)
-Re-changing online accounts/etc. to pull from an annual-fee-free credit card

I spend maybe an hour a month at most on those things.  Usually less.  I keep a spreadsheet of what credit cards I currently have, cards I've closed, and cards I want - very easy to look up information when I need it, and it includes a reminder of when I need to close the card to avoid fees and things like that.  I do spend more time researching cards, but that's low-level, when I have time kind of thing - and I consider it "fun" to do the research.

I don't do auto-charges to credit cards if I can avoid it (I think my only 2 are Hulu and the gym).  The gym is hard to change, so I just keep it on one of my older, stable cards.  I do change Hulu if I need to, nbd.  Everything else I pay online each month when the bill comes, so it doesn't really matter if I'm using a new card or an old card.

[Gay Burqueño Dad]

Thanks @NotJen !

[aloevera]

1) Aside from the airline-branded ones, how do you figure out which airlines will honor which cards' points? For example, the CapitalOne VentureOne credit card materials say "over 12 leading travel loyalty programs" but I can't for the life of me find out which ones those are.

I have  the card. I usually just buy great cash fares when I see them (air, hotel, uber - anything)  then "erase" the purchase, but there are 14 or 15 transfer partners:


Aeromexico - Club Premier

1000 Capital One Miles = 750 Premier Points


Air Canada - Aeroplan

1000 Capital One Miles = 750 Aeroplan Miles


Air France KLM - Flying Blue

1000 Capital One Miles = 750 Flying Blue Miles


Alitalia - MilleMiglia Program

1000 Capital One Miles = 750 MilleMiglia miles


Asia Miles

1000 Capital One Miles = 750 Asia Miles


Avianca LifeMiles

1000 Capital One Miles = 750 LifeMiles


Emirates - Emirates Skywards

1000 Capital One Miles = 500 Skywards Miles


Etihad Airways - Etihad Guest

1000 Capital One Miles = 750 Etihad Guest Miles


EVA Air - Infinity MileageLands

1000 Capital One Miles = 750 Infinity MileageLands Miles


Finnair - Finnair Plus

1000 Capital One Miles = 750 Finnair Plus Award Points


Hainan Airlines - Fortune Wings Club

1000 Capital One Miles = 750 Fortune Wings Club Points


JetBlue - TrueBlue

1000 Capital One Miles = 500 TrueBlue points


Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

1000 Capital One Miles = 750 Qantas Points


Qatar Airways - Privilege Club

1000 Capital One Miles = 750 Qmiles


Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer

1000 Capital One Miles = 500 KrisFlyer miles

[Gay Burqueño Dad]

Thanks @aloevera !