STEVE & PAT'S FREE TRAVEL ARTICLE
Greetings from Steve and Patty the 'Travelin' Tanenbaums
Authors of;
The Cheapskate's Guide to Cruises and The Cheapskate's Guide to Vacations and Steve & Pat's Cheap Travel Newsletter (CTN)
(c) Tanenbaum 2000-2009
This blog, seeks to share tales and tips of FREE global travel with those who share our love of travel. In response to many requests for details of our 'free travel' strategies we wrote the following in-depth 'article.' This article offers a good starting point for those interested in 'Better than Cheap....Free Travel'
Recent CTN issues:
Winter '09 edition:http://ctnwinter09.blogspot.com
Fall '08 CTN: http://ctnfall2008.blog.com/
Summer 2008 CTN:http://ctnsummer08.blog.com
Spring '08 CTN Newsletter: http://CTNspring08.blog.com
Winter '08 CTN: http://ctnwinter08.blog.com
Better than Cheap.....FREE TRAVEL!
From 1999 through 2005 we have had the time of our lives, glob trotting planet Earth on average six months per year. After a bit of a rest we again hit the travel 'road' in May 2007 for three months to Paris, Barcelona and London. This Summer, May- July 2009 finds us returning to our favorite foreign city PARIS for a one month visit and re-visiting fabulous Barcelona for a one month visit. En route home we shall be stopping in NYC for a short visit. As always, ALL our flights on this trip will be FREE!
We have always believed that our readers should likewise be enjoying the benefits of free airline travel to both domestic and exotic foreign destinations.To this noble end here is our abbreviated ‘Primer’ on Free air travel.
Caveat: When is Free really Free? Ex. I ask you to pay me ten dollars on condition that I will then immediately give you $50 back. You give me $10 and I give you a crisp $50 bill in return. IF you agree you have just been given a free gift of $40 then read on....
FREE TRAVEL FOR YOU
Our primary means of free travel is by using our favorite airline free travel program which is American AAdvantage. Over the years we have amassed hundreds of thousands of program miles. Best of all, we obtain at least 95% of these miles from sources other than airline flights. With this said we also have FREE frequent flyer accounts with other less favorite airlines BECAUSE once in a while they issue super promotions that should not be passed up.
Following are my recommendations for entering the world of free airline travel:
1) YOU MUST DO THIS ASAP: Call American Airlines AAdvantage department and open a ‘free’ frequent airline account. Call American at: 800-882-8880 or go to www.aa.com Note: Every adult in the household should open their own free account. Then, while you are at it also Google and then call United Airlines, Delta Airlines, US Airways and British Airways and open similar free frequent airline accounts with each of them. Open a folder for each airline which will contain your frequent flyer account number.
2) Start reaping FREE MILES NOW! Let your fingers RUN not walk to our most recent CTN newsletter found at: http://ctnwinter09.blogspot.com/
The first article of the newsletter discloses Citibank's current awesome FREE miles (which means FREE travel) give-a-way. With a few clicks on the keyboard anyone may instantly receive at the very least sufficient American Airline frequent flyer miles to obtain a FREE round trip ticket to Maui or any other Hawaiian island or FREE travel to Mexico or Central America. AND these tickets are 100% FREE. The article contains all the needed details and LINKS.
SUPER TIP: American and some other airlines offer SECOND and THIRD FREE flights when you book your free award flight. This is NOT advertised, so you must request the EXTRA FREE flights when making your reservation. The airlines call these free 'stopovers.' In the case of domestic awards one may request a FREE second flight to any lower 48 U.S. city. When traveling abroad, for example in Europe, one may request a second free flight to most any European city and ALSO a third FREE flight to any U.S. 'gateway' city when reutrning. Gateway cities include N.Y., L.A, S.F., Dallas, Chicago and Miami.
SECOND AND EVEN THIRD FREE FLIGHTS ON INTERNATIONAL AWARDS: American (and possibly other airlines) will give you a second FREE flight. Ex. You book a FREE flight to Paris and ask for and are given a second FREE flight in Europe to Athens plus your flight home. On most international flights you are also given, IF YOU ASK, a third FREE stop at any of the above referenced U.S. gateway city.
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Example #1: We booked a FREE 70,000 miles flight to Australia, then requested and received a second ‘open jaw’ free flight from Sydney to Christchurch New Zealand and then requested and received another stop at the ‘first U.S. Gateway’ in the U.S. which was HAWAII. So that our simple FREE flight to Australia also included FREE flights to New Zealand and Hawaii before flying home.
International Example #2: We flew free to Paris, then 2nd European free flight to Athens, then a free first U.S. Gateway flight to Miami before returning home to San Francisco. We love American.
REMEMBER: Our favored frequent flyer program is American AAdvantage which is linked to ALL the Citibank cards listed our CTN article. The Citibank card must mention American AAdvantage on its face. Use any one of the Citibank cards as YOUR MAIN CARD FOR ALL PURCHASES. That is the card you will keep even after the first free year. Since Mastercard seems the most popular card these days you should select a Citibank Mastercard as your MAIN permanent card to use henceforth.
3) Forget using checks. Instead use your MAIN Citibank card for making all spendable income purchases, where ever and whenever possible. The only exception involves credit card abusers. If you can not handle the responsible use of a credit card then chuck this entire concept, it is not for you.
All others should, as we do, use our MAIN Citibank card, whether Visa or Mastercard, for ALL PURCHASES you would otherwise be making using cash or personal checks including such as market shopping, gifts, home construction (big bucks), major home furnishings, school payments, donations, cell phone bills, education, health and doctor related bills etc. Every time you must make a payment ask yourself and ask the person or company involved if they accept your Citibank card. Consider that the average family spends at least $150 per week on basic necessaries. Also, most of you take regular vacations whether a weekend getaway, cruise or other vacation. These vacations are themselves a great source of more free miles. Simply pay for all hotel, car rental, end our cruise bills etc. on your Citibank card.
4) Realize the value of ‘buying’ program air miles. Let us use a NY to SF flight priced conservatively at $400 round trip on American Airlines. For the moment we are so conservative that I will not consider the ‘second free flight..’ At 25,000 miles for this award we find that each mile is worth 1.6 cents. Example: Sadly, my recent dentist visit cost $1,000. The dentist accepts Mastercard but offers a 5% ($50) discount for cash. Using this formula we know that the 1,000 program miles are worth about $16. Another words I would have to pay $50 in order to receive $16 worth of airline miles. Not worth it...so I paid by check. This is an exception to the ‘ use your Citibank for all purchases rule.’
5) Optional: Buy (apply for) a Diners Club MasterCard. Diners Charge card gives you one mile for every dollar spent, similar to other airline frequent flyer related charge cards. This investment will cost you a whopping $95 for the first year. You may or may not wish to cancel at years end to avoid the $95 renewal fee. In return, you will receive a first year BONUS of 12,000 program miles usable on Diners 20 partner airlines including American, Delta, British Airways, Hawaiian, Alaska and many other foreign and smaller airlines. Two simple rules to this one. You will receive 1,000 miles per month for 12 months. Second, you must make at least one monthly purchase, any amount $1 or more will suffice. Transferring miles from Diners to any of these airline programs takes only one phone call to Diners Club and payment of a small transfer fee (95 cents per 1,000 miles).
Contacts: Call 800-2DINERS to CONFIRM the 12,000 BONUS offer is still in effect AND that your DINERS CLUB Mastercard will give you ONE MILE FOR EACH DOLLAR SPENT. In the past Diners Club issued some cards that did NOT offer one mile per dollar spent.
Using our above formula the 12,000 miles is worth $192 in free airline travel. Another words for $95 you are receiving virtually one half of a fly anywhere in the U.S. award PLUS American will let you take that SECOND FREE flight before you final return flight.
Note: At renewal time Diners will, if you call them, offer you up to 5,000 miles (10,000 points*)to renew. If they do I suggest you take the deal since the 5,000 free air miles roughly equals the second year fee and Diners often sends you great ‘more miles’ deals during the year.
* We should note that Diners Club and their monthly statements talk in terms of Diners Club POINTS rather than miles. The math is simple. Every two Diners Club points equals one airline program mile.
Diners Bonus Example: For three of the past three years, in August, Diners permitted members to transfer some or all their miles to British Airways for a 50% BONUS. This year we transferred 14,000 Diners miles which became 21,000 British Airways miles. All told, we now have over 350,000 British Airway miles sitting out there most of which was accumulated using these and other free miles bonus offers. AND British Airways permits a family to pool their miles so that if husband has 15,000 miles and wife has 5,000 miles they can combine the amounts and get two free round trip tickets between any European cities. You must request such a family account be set up.
6) Junk Mail we LOVE: Keep a sharp eye for Free airline travel deals and other ‘Free miles’ deals such as the common MCI bonus of thousands of miles for new home service customers. Recently, we replied to ‘junk’ seeming mail over two weeks soliciting new Visa/Mastercards or upgrades of excising cards. Last year, prior to the current Citibank NO FEE card deals, we spent a whopping $200 in annual fees on three new credit cards.
Why you may be asking? In return, we received a total of 50,000 bonus miles. Using our handy dandy formula these miles are worth at least $800 which is a $600 free airline travel PROFIT.
Example: A 35,000 mile American award is good for off peak free round trip travel to Hawaii from any U.S. destination Plus an extra free flight to any major U.S. city before returning home. We recently flew from Maui to Buffalo/Niagara Falls and also received tickets for Free return flights back to San Francisco. All of this using an American Airlines 35,000 mile Hawaii award. An off season round trip ticket to Europe is only 40,000 miles so you should be agreeing that such an outlay of $200 for the three credit cards was indeed the means of ‘purchasing’ free airline trips we shall enjoy taking down the road.
Example: A 35,000 mile American award is good for off peak free round trip travel to Hawaii from any U.S. destination Plus an extra free flight to any major U.S. city before returning home. We recently flew from Maui to Buffalo/Niagara Falls and also received tickets for Free return flights back to San Francisco. All of this using an American Airlines 35,000 mile Hawaii award. An off season round trip ticket to Europe is only 40,000 miles so you should be agreeing that such an outlay of $200 for the three credit cards was indeed the means of ‘purchasing’ free airline trips we shall enjoy taking down the road.
Example: walking through Honolulu terminal we spotted a desk. Seems Hawaiian Airlines was soliciting, you guessed it, their Visa/Mastercard. For the $50 yearly fee they offered 10,000 air program miles which happens to equal an inter-island round trip flight. Such flights were once inexpensive but sadly now cost about $90 one way or almost $200 round trip.
7) Special promotions: Keep an eye out for these bonus miles offers. Kellogs and other products periodically offer free miles certificates when purchasing their products. Some years ago Healthy Choice issued such a promotion. Every ten or so UPC codes from their products was good for free miles. The first month they DOUBLED all submissions. Some, like Patty and myself, found bargain stores that sold single servings of their chocolate pudding at just 25 cents each and EACH HAD A UPC code. We bought $600 of pudding, removed the UPC codes, donated the pudding to charity (yes, this was also a tax write-off) and collected, are you ready......265,000 American Airline miles! A gentlemen, written up by the Wall Street Journal and appearing on the Today Show spent thousands on pudding and obtained a record 1,250,000 miles! I should note we spread the word as to our pudding supplier so that family members and close friends also obtained an average of about 75,000 miles each.
SWAPPING CARDS: For two or three years the two of us used our Citibank and spouse cards to amass miles. By spouse card we refer to the fact that Citibank and other banks will usually give you (and you should request it) a FREE second spouse card. Since most Airlines like American Airlines do NOT permit husbands and wives to combine accounts there may be times that one or the other spouse needs more miles.
EXAMPLE: Patty may have 26,000 miles sufficient for a free SF to NY flight but my account has only 23,000. I give Patty my second Citibank Mastercard, the free spouse card with her name on it and we use both these cards to quickly get my account up to the needed 25,000 miles.
EXAMPLE: Patty may have 26,000 miles sufficient for a free SF to NY flight but my account has only 23,000. I give Patty my second Citibank Mastercard, the free spouse card with her name on it and we use both these cards to quickly get my account up to the needed 25,000 miles.
HOW EASY IS ALL THIS: PRETTY DARN EASY. We never make a time consuming career of all this. Mostly we dutifully make our mileage related credit card purchases using our favorite MAIN Citibank or Diners Club card and simply keep an eye out for special offers look for ‘junk mail we love.’ I should add that unlike some others we PAY OUR CREDIT CARD BILLS IN FULL EACH MONTH thereby avoiding all interest charges. For this reason we are not concerned with our credit cards interest rates.
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THE NEW Diners Club Mastercard
We have steadfastly touted American AAdvantage as the absolute best Free travel airline program and we use the related Citibank AAdvantage Mastercard to make most of our spendable income purchases. This has been the easiest way to amass miles needed for Free domestic and global travel. We use this card because our ‘favorite’ Free travel credit card, Diners Club, is not generally accepted outside of restaurant use in the U.S.
In Spring 2006 Diners Club and Citibank Mastercard entered into a groundbreaking alliance.
THE GOOD NEWS: Diners Club Cards, previously accepted in only limited venues in the U.S., may now be used at more than 22 million locations worldwide where Mastercard credit cards are welcome. Also, the Diners 'CHARGE' card which required full payment each month still gives holders one mile per dollar spent.
THE BAD NEWS: There has been a major trade-off. In summary, some major airlines have refused to renew the contracts with Diners Club so that Diners lost major airline partners including United, Continental and US Airways.
Diners New Ticket Purchase Option: Diners Club now offers to BUY YOUR TICKET FOR YOU ON ANY AIRLINE Ex. If you need a $400 United Airlines ticket (remember United is no longer a Partner) Diners will now cash out Diners point and buy you the needed ticket. Cash out price is 100 points per $1.25 of ticket price so that your $400 United ticket will cost you 32,000 points/miles which is NOT as good a deal as any airlines 25,000 miles domestic round trip award.
For more information on the "NEW" Diners Club read these helpful articles:
http://www.smartertravel.com/advice/ed/advice.php?id=284495
MY COMMENT: First time card holders still WIN by earning 12,000 miles for the first year membership since these miles are still transferable to our favorite American AAdvantage frequent flyer program. Once again this year, ending in August, there is a super BONUS for transferring Diners miles to British Airways. By using these yearly Bonus Transfer Miles offers over past years we have amassed over 300,000 British Airways without flying on British Airways.
Additionally, we are using FREE BONUS miles offers on both Delta and Hawaiian and then will use Diners Club miles to top off these accounts to either 35,000 miles for a Hawaii Award and 50,000 miles for Europe Awards.
Whether to renew after year one is a decision each person will have to make. For the time being we are continuing to keep our Diners Club CHARGE card.
NOTE: Once you have received "NO FIRST YEAR FEE" cards, used them at least once and received your FREE BONUS MILES you are never required to renew the cards. If you decide to renew remember to call Diners and request BONUS miles in exchange for your renewal.
Please DO IT and enjoy the world of free airline travel!
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