A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free • Hacker News Board

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#81

Post by misterbwong » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 10:46 PM UTC

robotresearcher wrote: post #72

I use miles to get flights a couple of times a year. A 'free' long-haul flight economy class costs me $700-800 in taxes, which can not be paid in points. How can these out-of-pocket charges be avoided?

Which program and what route are you flying? $7-800 is on the high side for economy taxes, which makes me think you are flying into LHR on BA or something similar.

If you really are flying into LHR from the US, one alternative is to fly into a different city in Europe and connect over.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#82

Post by ghaff » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 10:47 PM UTC

hobo_mark wrote: post #60

maaku wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can start using credit cards.

Not to pay rent, and I spend very little on anything else.

Then probably not. A lot (though not all) of this is predicated on meeting significant minimum spend levels on co-branded credit cards and gift cards. In fact, for many/most people, a lot of this makes sense only if a lot of reimbursed expenses flow through a personal credit card.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#83

Post by Nicholas_C » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 10:54 PM UTC

fweespeech wrote: post #58

saryant wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not quite sure these days. This hobby has gotten far more complicated than it was when I started. Ben's blog and The Points Guy are probably the best intros. I'm not a fan of TPG but he writes a lot of articles on the basics. I've been active on FlyerTalk for about five years—after being in that deep for so long, it's hard to step back and figure out where to guide a beginner. Plus, lots of it is based on your ow…

Honestly, I'd argue you are better off rotating through credit cards every 3 months for the sign up bonuses. 4 cards a year is few enough not to draw any real scrutiny, at least so far for me. I'm not sure how you'd get 25,000-50,000 points every 3 months unless your lifestyle is pretty expensive compared to mine. For example: https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/sapphire-preferre... -> http://www.capitalone.co…

>Just realize this tears up your credit score so don't go getting large 5-6 figure loans for cars/houses while doing this.

What part of this tears up your credit score? The hard inquiries or the opening of new accounts? I may be buying a car in the next few months and now I'm a little concerned about opening up a new account or two for points.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#84

Post by saryant » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 10:56 PM UTC

misterbwong wrote: post #79

saryant wrote: post #30

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 a…

Good to see another FT'er on HN. I've earned/burned about the same volume of points as you and can attest that this hobby is awesome, with some caveats. For the beginners out there: 1. Be sure to read as much about earning miles as redeeming them. Both sides are equally important and redeeming is actually getting much more difficult. 2. Don't let the newbie blogs lure you into hitting credit cards too hard. Banks are…

All of this is solid advice. There are countless stories on FT of people rushing in too fast (especially with MS!) and finding themselves burned. Blacklisted by banks, holding thousands in gift cards they can't liquidate, points in programs that aren't useful for them.

Take it slow.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#85

Post by Nicholas_C » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 10:58 PM UTC

saryant wrote: post #76

robotresearcher wrote: post #72

I use miles to get flights a couple of times a year. A 'free' long-haul flight economy class costs me $700-800 in taxes, which can not be paid in points. How can these out-of-pocket charges be avoided?

The charges aren't nearly as bad on other carriers. BA and Lufthansa are probably the worst. For instance, redeeming AA miles on Japan Airlines will generally cost Japan flight.

+1 on BA being horrible. My points for them only cut the fare to London in about half due to the surcharge that you can't pay with points. They make you pay for taxes (~$100 or so, which is understandable), fuel surcharges, and, what appears to me, to be a ton of complete BS charges.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#86

Post by swang » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 11:02 PM UTC

Doesn't this slam your credit rating by taking out so many credit cards? Or does he (and other people who do this) not care?

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#87

Post by saryant » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 11:05 PM UTC

swang wrote: post #86

Doesn't this slam your credit rating by taking out so many credit cards? Or does he (and other people who do this) not care?

In your early days, yes, you can take a hit from churning, but after a year or so your credit should stabilize (assuming you never miss a payment). I've been churning for a few years and my FICO is around 780.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#88

Post by saryant » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 11:06 PM UTC

Nicholas_C wrote: post #85

saryant wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The charges aren't nearly as bad on other carriers. BA and Lufthansa are probably the worst. For instance, redeeming AA miles on Japan Airlines will generally cost Japan flight.

+1 on BA being horrible. My points for them only cut the fare to London in about half due to the surcharge that you can't pay with points. They make you pay for taxes (~$100 or so, which is understandable), fuel surcharges, and, what appears to me, to be a ton of complete BS charges.

BA points are great... if you don't fly BA. I love using Avios for short-haul rewards around Asia that are otherwise expensive or would require inconvenient routings on the local LCCs.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#89

Post by swang » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 11:12 PM UTC

saryant wrote: post #87

swang wrote: post #86

Doesn't this slam your credit rating by taking out so many credit cards? Or does he (and other people who do this) not care?

In your early days, yes, you can take a hit from churning, but after a year or so your credit should stabilize (assuming you never miss a payment). I've been churning for a few years and my FICO is around 780.

And do you just never close the cards either?

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#90

Post by nogridbag » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 11:33 PM UTC

ngoel36 wrote: post #42

ljk wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

do you sometimes feel like you're spending more money in order to get the miles?

Not if you participate in manufactured spending - i.e., buying money...like purchasing Visa gift cards (must be done carefully at the right places / times)

I didn't know there was a term for it. I gave it a shot one or two years ago buying $500 gift cards at grocery stores with a 6% cash back card (amex cash preferred). With the activation fee and taxes, I think each gift card purchase essentially returned ~$22. Surely not the most efficient - but it was simple. Each time I bought a $500 visa gift card I had that uncomfortable feeling like I was doing something illegal - the cashier calls out some code on the intercom and the manager shows up 5 minutes later to allow the purchase to go through. It wasn't worth the hassle - at the end of the year I might have made $150 - whoopty doo. At least I made enough money to pay off the annual fee for the card ($75).