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A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

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Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#21

Post by mattzito »

lingben wrote: post #7
nkassis wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically the person in the article uses various tricks to game the airline and accumulate as many frequent flyer miles and fly around as much as he can (accumulating even more points it seems). He also writes a blog about it.

wait, you're saying that you accumulate FF points when you are flying on a ticket that you got by redeeming FF points? wouldn't removing this simple feature nullify what he's doing or at least a great deal of what he's able to accomplish?

Okay, I'm a frequent flyer, though not to the level of Ben (though I did once go LGA-ORD-DEL-ORD-LAX-JFK without leaving the airport in Delhi to get to Executive Platinum on AA).

Typically what Ben is doing is flying fares where the cost of the fare is lower than the equivalent value in miles, or where he can game the very complex rules associated with a frequent flyer ticket to add on a free leg or free flight.

So, for example, for my honeymooon I was able to snag round-trip tickets in business class from NYC to the Maldives. Once I had those tickets, I worked the frequent flyer system to move the dates around and add on a stop in Tokyo in First class for a couple of days for about $10 in extra taxes and fees - total retail cost of the tickets was close to $30k, our total cost was On top of that you have all of the points he's getting for using various branded credit cards, maximizing bonuses, giveaway offers, etc.

The only way I'm aware of to get FF points when you are flying on an award flight is when you get hit with IRROPS (irregular operations, usually due to weather and mechanical issues), and at the airport they rebook your award ticket to be a revenue ticket at no cost. It's something the airlines have discouraged their agents to do for obvious reasons, and they've tried to make it easier to rebook award tickets, but still if you're a top-tier elite, there's 50 people that need rebooking behind you, and you're on an award ticket, decent chance the computer will spit out a revenue ticket to replace the award ticket that is no longer valid.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#23

Post by CPLX »

lingben wrote: post #7
nkassis wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically the person in the article uses various tricks to game the airline and accumulate as many frequent flyer miles and fly around as much as he can (accumulating even more points it seems). He also writes a blog about it.

wait, you're saying that you accumulate FF points when you are flying on a ticket that you got by redeeming FF points? wouldn't removing this simple feature nullify what he's doing or at least a great deal of what he's able to accomplish?

> wait, you're saying that you accumulate FF points when you are flying on a ticket that you got by redeeming FF points?

No, that's typically not how it works.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#24

Post by imjk »

twblalock wrote: post #18
imjk wrote: post #14

Ben's only one of a growing number of high-profile frequent flyer bloggers: http://pointsbuzz.com/ . As most of the strategies they promote for amassing ff points revolves around gaming sing up bonuses for credit card fees, the bloggers make money from affiliate fees for credit cards they promote. The airlines don't mind because they sell their miles to cc companies and gain customer loyalty. The credit card companie…

There is also a subreddit for this: https://www.reddit.com/r/churning

Right, also as the article mentions, probably the biggest related online community is http://www.flyertalk.com/.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#27

Post by logfromblammo »

phn wrote: post #16
lingben wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wait, you're saying that you accumulate FF points when you are flying on a ticket that you got by redeeming FF points? wouldn't removing this simple feature nullify what he's doing or at least a great deal of what he's able to accomplish?

Well, the point of miles is to keep you flying on that same company, why not keep giving them? From an incentive point of view it makes sense, otherwise, spending all your miles would be an opportunity to jump to another airline. This particular abuse seems like an extreme case, and really, what is giving a seat to one guy who goes to extreme length compared to the returns on the general customer base?

Perhaps he buys a regular fare ticket at a deep discount, on a miles-rewarding credit card, upgrades it to first class using miles, then pays the cost of the original fare using some other mechanism that requires use of the miles to be remunerative. As the article mentions, finding anything wrong with the aircraft could be converted into a $200 or $400 credit.

By invoking certain rules or offers, you can actually get many more reward miles than the actual distance of the flight. That's why a large part of the practice is spending as much time in the air as possible.

Using those near-currency credits to bribe the airline employees with the airline's own stuff is likely another key part of the "fly free" strategy. The employees have some discretion in how strictly they enforce their employers' rules. Make friends there, and you have an easy flight. Make enemies, and you will have trouble.

There has to be some mechanism that makes this works for them, otherwise they wouldn't be doing it.

This article reminds me of one I read wherein a Chinese man bought a first class ticket for gratis access to the airport lounge, ate there for free, and re-booked his ticket for another day. Months worth of meals for the cost of one fully refundable first class fare, and he never explicitly broke a single airline rule.

This is just extreme couponing. This is the airline equivalent of walking into the checkout at your local grocery store with 3 carts full of stuff, and walking out after getting change back from your nickel.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#28

Post by saryant »

twblalock wrote: post #18
imjk wrote: post #14

Ben's only one of a growing number of high-profile frequent flyer bloggers: http://pointsbuzz.com/ . As most of the strategies they promote for amassing ff points revolves around gaming sing up bonuses for credit card fees, the bloggers make money from affiliate fees for credit cards they promote. The airlines don't mind because they sell their miles to cc companies and gain customer loyalty. The credit card companie…

There is also a subreddit for this: https://www.reddit.com/r/churning

/r/churning isn't a great resource, to be frank. Flyertalk is far and away superior.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#29

Post by biot »

imjk wrote: post #17
comrade1 wrote: post #3

This is a bad customer. I'm surprised the airlines just don't ban him.

It's actually a big circle jerk that benefits the airlines. Most of the strategies that Ben and his cohorts promote is "gaming" credit card signup bonuses. Basically, sign up for X credit card and get X number of of frequent flyer miles. The airlines sell the miles to the cc companies for much cheaper than a consumer could buy and in return get some revenue and customer loyalty. In the case of co-branded credit cards…

I'm surprised these guys haven't gone to the next level and started up their own credit card company. That might allow them to buy frequent flyer miles at the dirt-cheap levels and offer ridiculous signup bonuses for their card. For example, if 100K miles costs them $X, have an annual membership fee of $1.25X and you get 100K miles a year bonus. Or for $12.5X, get 1M miles a year bonus. The use of this as an actual credit card is purely optional. Or is this only financially viable due to the transaction fees the credit card companies get?

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#30

Post by saryant »

I spend more time than I should in the churning/FF communities (all of which are centered around FlyerTalk). It's fun. Ben's blog is one of the few I follow, most aren't that great. Frequent Miler is a solid resource, as is Wandering Aramean, but nothing beats being active on FlyerTalk itself.

In the last five years I've managed to earn and spend about 1.5 million miles and points, with maybe 50k airline miles from actual flying and ~400k points from actual Hilton stays. Between churning, manufactured spend and promotions I'm able to do 1-2 international trips a year in first class, staying at good hotels. I mostly travel to Asia and get great value out of free flights on Singapore, Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines.

It's an awesome hobby if you: a) have time to kill b) are single and c) have an insanely flexible schedule.

I used US and BA miles earlier this year to fly to Malaysia and Thailand for free (well, plus taxes) in first class, spending five weeks between Hong Kong, Penang, Koh Lanta, Beijing and Tokyo.

Drinking $300 champagne at 35,000 feet on a flight you didn't pay for is a rather fun feeling...

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