Author Topic: Free trip started!  (Read 2539 times)

Gin1984

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Free trip started!
« on: December 29, 2015, 08:54:09 AM »
I have a wedding back home (San Jose) in September and I could just go there by myself but my husband would like to go see family so we started looking around for deals.  I found some airline deals that we could cover two of us, but not my daughter.  Well, I kept looking and found a 50,000 AMEX miles for $1000 which can be transferred to Delta which has round trips for 25,000-30,000.  Both DH and I applied and got them (I can't get chase, too many other cards).  I have a IHG card and plan to use this deal:http://dealswelike.boardingarea.com/2015/11/02/spend-46-and-earn-at-least-47000-ihg-points/ to get 47000 point which added to my current points will give us 2-3 nights.  DH is going to get another IHG card for 60,000 points for another 2-3 nights.  So between the two completely free trip except for food. 

arebelspy

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Re: Free trip started!
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2015, 04:57:46 PM »
Awesome.  Well done!
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
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kpd905

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Re: Free trip started!
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2015, 06:04:29 PM »
Good stuff.  My wife and I are both going to do that IHG deal, but we have yet to start filling out the index cards. 

bigalsmith101

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Re: Free trip started!
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2015, 11:58:18 PM »
I've completed the following roundtrip flights for "free" (minus taxes) using my Southwest airlines card along with companion pass within the last 12 months.

Seattle, WA --> Ontario, CA ($300 value)
Seattle --> Denver ($204 value)
Seattle --> LA (with companion) ($520 value)
Seattle --> Cancun, MX (with companion) ($1250 value)

Future Bookings:
Seattle --> Denver (with companion) ($408)
Seattle --> San Jose, Costa Rica (with companion) ($1700 value)
Seattle --> Somewhere else awesome (with companion)  ($1500'ish)

If I don't accumulate anymore points from here on, I will have utilized $5882 worth of "free" flights. I was able to draw out about $3900 worth of flights from the bonus/companion pass deal alone.

Dicey

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Re: Free trip started!
« Reply #4 on: December 30, 2015, 01:09:46 AM »
OMG! Thanks for posting this Gin! I am Spire Elite with IHG and have already registered and stayed using this promotion. I am so going to do this too! I am a total points junkie.

Since we're on the subject, another cool feature of their program (not just this promotion) is the Points + Cash option. Say you want a room that's going for $100 a night. Chose Reward Nights and look for a P+C option. Typically, you can pay $40 plus 10,000 points. Here's what happens: Your $40 actually buys the additional points needed to cover the cost of your night. There are no additional fees incurred, including taxes! If you're an Elite member, you even get some of those points rebated to your account. Plus you can decline the welcome gift and get an additional 500 points back. Score.

They say the room is non-refundable, but if you cancel the reservation, the points you just bought get deposited into your account. I haven't tried it, but this could even be a good way to buy extra points on the cheap. I have a lot of points, as does DH, so I've never tried this, but we use P+C as often as we can. It doesn't always make sense, but more often than not it does. And man, I just love circumventing those exorbitant room taxes.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!