Scott Keyes - How To Fly For Free: Practical Tips The Airlines Dont Want You To Know

INTRODUCTION: HOW TO FLY FOR FREE

I recently took a dream vacation to the Galapagos Islands. A friend of mine was living on the islands and I had some unused vacation days set to expire, so the timing was perfect. The only thing standing in the way of snorkeling with sea lions: a $1600 plane ticket.

And yet, with surprising ease, I was able to fly down for a grand total of $45 in processing fees. My tropical deliverer? Frequent flyer miles.

Nearly every time I tell people about my free trip, Im met with the same two-step reaction: amazement that I was able to fly to the Galapagos for free and disbelief that they could take a similar trip of their own without dipping into their savings. Their doubt soon turns into apathy, and before you know it theyre back to paying out-of-pocket for expensive flights (or complaining that they never go anywhere).

Swallowing the cost of these flights is easy when youre wealthy. To the rest of us, for whom a Google Image of giant tortoises is as close as well get to the Galapagos when ticket prices total $2000, reward travel remains a hugely underutilized third option.

Plenty of frequent flyer books promise to teach you how to get the cheapest airfare possible. Theyll give you 350 pages worth of tips like get an airlines credit card or try to fly the same carrier each time. These broad overviews are about as helpful as teaching someone to play soccer by instructing them to kick the ball towards the goal.

Most people dont want to take the time and effort to become an expert. They just want to take an awesome vacation for free!

Thats why I wrote How To Fly For Free: to give you hyper-practical tips on how to travel for free.

I dont do this for a living. I have a full-time job that requires some travel. I was skeptical of frequent flyer miles initially; it felt like a scam.

Years later, after taking free trips to Europe, South America, and elsewhere, I can say without reservation that I was wrong. If an amateur like me who is wholly disconnected from the airline industry can use the system to fly for free, anyone can.

Traveling around the world for free isnt difficult, but it isnt intuitive either. Its not a matter of just searching Orbitz or booking your flights on Tuesdays at 1pm. (That Tuesday tip is complete malarkey, by the way.) You need to know step-by-step how to find cheap flights, how to rack up thousands of frequent flyer miles easily, and how to piece it altogether for your dream vacation.

Heres a shorthand guide to getting the most from this book:

The first section of the book details how to easily earn hundreds of thousands of frequent flyer miles.

• In Chapter 1 I describe how I earned 885,000 miles and points over the past 18 months through a single source: credit card sign-up bonuses. It includes tips like which credit cards to apply for, how to get business cards, and sample scripts to help you get approved.
• In Chapter 2, I explain how credit scores are calculated and why having even 17 credit cards like I do wont drag down your score.
• Chapter 3 gives you three step-by-step guides for how to earn miles based on your comfort level: one for those just looking for a single dream vacation, one for people looking to take multiple trips, and one for aspiring mile-millionaires.
• Chapters 4-6 explain how to travel for free by increasing your odds of getting bumped, how to earn elite status with as little as one international flight, and how to score thousands of extra miles by complaining when anything in your flight goes wrong.
• In Chapter 7, you will learn how to get the Southwest Companion Pass, an extraordinarily valuable item that lets you bring someone else for free anytime you fly Southwest, for up to two years.

The second section explains how to use your miles for free flights.

• Chapter 8 details how to spend your miles wisely, including a list of the top 10 trips to get the most value from your miles.
• Chapter 9 tells you how to construct your itinerary to get free stopovers, letting you visit more places on your trip without paying anything extra.
• Chapter 10 details how partner airlines can let you fly anywhere in the world with your miles.

The third section walks you step-by-step through the free-flight planning process.

• In Chapter 11, I detail exactly how I would plan a free trip from start to finish.
• Finally, Chapter 12 explains how to find super-cheap airfare, including tips that helped me fly roundtrip to Costa Rica for $275 and roundtrip to Europe for $280.

In the end, the reason I wrote this book is because we all want to travel more. Two things usually stop us: time and money. I cant give you more time, but I can help you make traveling a lot less expensive. The worlds too beautiful a place to let expensive flights stop you from seeing it.

SECTION 1: HOW TO GET FREE FLIGHTS

CHAPTER 1: CREDIT CARD SIGN-UP BONUSES

Ive earned more than one million miles and points in the last 18 months. Nearly 90 percent of them came from a single source: credit cards.

The idea of credit cards makes some folks queasy. A lot of people just want to use cash because credit cards dont feel like real money to them. Some just want one debit card tied directly to their checking account because its the option with the least hassle.

I can empathize; I used to be like that, too. I was skeptical about how many points Id get, didnt want to have to keep track of everything, thought the fees wouldnt be worth it, and most of all, worried about my credit score.

Let me give you three numbers that changed my mind. 885,000, 138, and 93.

• 885,000: The number of miles and points Ive gotten from credit cards in the past 18 months.

• : The number of dollars Ive spent on credit card fees to earn those miles and points.

• : The number of points my credit card score has increased in the past 18 months.

Nearly all of the credit cards I signed up for were free; the two that werent cost $69 apiece. But, as I explain in Chapter 7, they were still worth it and then some. People who dont know personal finance will tell you theres no way you can sign up for a bunch of credit cards without ruining your credit score, but my score went up from 720 to 813 since I began seriously pursuing sign-up bonuses.

And the rewards are tremendous. Here are just a few examples of ways you could use 885,000 miles and points.

• With 180,000 American Airline miles, you can take a free round-the-world trip with 16 stops anywhere in the globe

• With 75,000 Delta miles, you can book a free roundtrip flight for yourself and a friend to Costa Rica

• With 40,000 US Airways miles, you can fly roundtrip to Europe for free

• With 100,000 Southwest miles, you can take as many as 10 free roundtrip domestic flights

• With 50,000 United miles, you can fly roundtrip to Jamaica for free

• With 20,000 SPG points, you can book a free roundtrip flight to Brazil

• With 150,000 American Express points, you can fly roundtrip to China for free

• With 50,000 Chase points, you can take a free roundtrip flight to Hawaii

TIP: Not everyone is comfortable signing up for a lot of new credit cards. Thats fine! Chapter 3 gives you three different step-by-step guides, depending on your comfort level.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Almost every airline offers credit cards that come with major bonus miles for signing up, as well as additional miles for every dollar you spend. There are also cards like American Express, Chase, and Starwood Preferred Group that give you points which you can convert to airline miles. I highly recommend using www.awardwallet.com, a free website that keeps track of all your various accounts, sparing you the hassle of trying to track down random login numbers and passwords.