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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

#91

Post by fweespeech »

Nicholas_C wrote: post #83
fweespeech wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'd advise getting any loan(s) you need in the next 2 years first, then doing this if you are going to.

https://www.creditkarma.com/article/hard_inquiries_and_soft_...

Hard inquiries when you open the new credit cards. A number of companies have a threshold where it triggers a denial.

Its a bit more complex than the credit score itself, for instance:

http://milestomemories.boardingarea.com/chase-credit-card-ch...

> The 5 cards across all banks rule generally applies to authorized user accounts as well.

So yeah, there are things in place to knock you down a peg if you do stuff like this. But so far, at 4 cards per year, I don't really run into issues.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#93

Post by icelancer »

roflmyeggo wrote: post #92

These type of communities tend to remind me of the "extreme couponing" crowd and the like. Sure you can get some free stuff, but at what price? What if you took that time and invested it in bettering your skill sets, etc.?

Trust me, FlyerTalk and the like are exactly that bad. Even worse since FF programs have been gutted over the last 2-3 years - fortunately some airlines have made changes that favor the actual business-class customer and have cut out annoying mile-runners.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#94

Post by ghaff »

ethbro wrote: post #61
sbuccini wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any recommendations on how to get started?

If you have steady business spending (eg you travel and are reimbursed for your expenses) with flexibility to make some of your own decisions (hotel, flight, etc etc), then I think that's the lowest barrier of entry. Play by the same rules as the stock market: it's not about picking winners a low percent of the time but rather avoiding losing anything and running a reasonable risk profile. If you've got a bit of busi…

And frankly, if you're in the situation posited at the top of your comment, you may be better off just taking 1% Amazon points or whatever. (Or even a higher % for travel-related expenses on some credit cards.) It's often a lower exchange in theory but it's a lot more fungible and easier to spend than miles.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#95

Post by ngoel36 »

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…

Also - stay organized. Every credit card should be accompanied with a spreadsheet entry with all details (un/pw, bonus, etc.), entry into Mint, auto-pay, and calendar reminders (end of free annual fee, etc.). Very easy to slip and forget, or not keep track of getting your actual bonus.

Of course - do not do this if you don't intend to pay your balance immediately. Any interest charges quickly undo the ROI.

Just got back from a completely free trip to Japan (flights, hotels). So worth it.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#97

Post by ngoel36 »

verbatim wrote: post #51

> United offered coupons to passengers worth $200 or $400. I'd be pretty surprised to see that now. On my last long United flight, which was 6-7 hours overseas, my in-flight entertainment system was broken, and they gave me a $25 voucher. I was not impressed.

The amount of comp you get for small shit (e.g. broken light, no recline, no IFE/wifi) is largely dependent on your status. A no-status member might maybe get 500 miles on United, where as a Global Service might get up to 10K+ (depending on severity)

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#98

Post by sliverstorm »

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…

I'm half-curious about the whole thing, and I would be good at it- I enjoy the finance maze- but I have always felt like churning was rather dishonest. I'll do it for fifty bucks to cover the "last mile" on this or that promotion, but churning five figures worth...

There's a variety of justifications, such as "banks are evil anyway" or invoking Plunkitt, but they just never really sat with me.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#99

Post by rasz_pl »

roflmyeggo wrote: post #92

These type of communities tend to remind me of the "extreme couponing" crowd and the like. Sure you can get some free stuff, but at what price? What if you took that time and invested it in bettering your skill sets, etc.?

Like couponing its a hobby for people with limited skill-set.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#100

Post by saryant »

ghaff wrote: post #94
ethbro wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have steady business spending (eg you travel and are reimbursed for your expenses) with flexibility to make some of your own decisions (hotel, flight, etc etc), then I think that's the lowest barrier of entry. Play by the same rules as the stock market: it's not about picking winners a low percent of the time but rather avoiding losing anything and running a reasonable risk profile. If you've got a bit of busi…

And frankly, if you're in the situation posited at the top of your comment, you may be better off just taking 1% Amazon points or whatever. (Or even a higher % for travel-related expenses on some credit cards.) It's often a lower exchange in theory but it's a lot more fungible and easier to spend than miles.

If you're in that situation, you're probably best off earning one of the flexible currencies like Chase's Ultimate Rewards or Amex's Membership Rewards. You can redeem for a statement balance or transfer to one of their partners.

If you do just want cashback, Fidelity has a straight-up 2% cashback card.

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