Just to give an example in support of Scott s credit score comments. I ve been monitoring my credit

This post is for people who haven t yet joined the miles movement like people who clicked over from today s New York Times article . If you re already a regular reader, forward this post to all your friends who are jealous of your travel to get them involved.
Travel is my single favorite hobby. It expands my mind, brightens my mood, and brings me in contact with new people and experiences. My love of travel comes down to novelty. Going to the grocery store down the street is an errand; going to the grocery store in Kampala, state department travel advisories Uganda is an adventure.
But travel is expensive. When I got back from six weeks in East Africa and all I could talk about was the month I d be spending in Eastern Europe watching the Euro Cup, my friends all reacted the same way.
The cheapest roundtrip from Los Angeles to Melbourne, Australia that I could find for New Year s 2013 was $1,759. But I went to New Zealand and Australia around New Year s to see the Australian Open, scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef, and Bungee Jump from 440 feet for only about $100 with both directions on flat beds in the front of the plane.
Another example: the cheapest roundtrip flight I can find from Los Angeles to Poland next summer is $1,006. state department travel advisories But I went to Poland and Ukraine last summer for about $100 with both ways on flat beds in business class.
I saved 90% on my flight bills by using frequent flyer miles. I didn t know much about them two years ago, but in the last two years, I ve earned and redeemed millions of miles to fly first class for free to every inhabited continent. Now I m trying to show as many people as possible how replicable what I ve done is.
The current best offer is to get two American Airlines cards from Citi at the same time to net 100,000 miles. I just talked my girlfriend into getting those two cards in November, and she now has 105,000 miles in her American Airlines account. state department travel advisories Or at least she did before she booked a roundtrip to Buenos Aires for 40,000 miles and $80. And she still has enough miles left for a roundtrip state department travel advisories to Europe or Asia. That s two international trips all for signing up for two cards at once.
If you ve heard any semblance of a personal-finance state department travel advisories talk, alarm bells are probably going off in your head. You re probably state department travel advisories thinking, Won t this hurt my credit score? No, it absolutely will not hurt your credit state department travel advisories score in the medium or long term. The facts are all online.
Only 10% of your credit score is based on inquiries derived from applying for new credit like credit cards. That 10% is swamped by other factors, all of which are helped by getting more credit cards!
Specifically, a big part of the 30% listed as Amounts owed is percentage of credit state department travel advisories utilized. A new credit card will come with a new credit state department travel advisories line, say $5,000. If your monthly spending on that card is just $500, then your credit utilization is only 10%. This will make you look like a good credit risk, causing your score to rise.
If you monitor state department travel advisories your credit score closely and you should whether you get involved with miles or not you will notice state department travel advisories a decline in your credit score from each new credit card application. I see my score fall 2-5 points state department travel advisories when I apply for a card. Then you will see your score rise slowly over time until you are at or above where you started.
I ve gotten more than a dozen cards in the last year, and my credit score is higher now than ever. Other people with longer histories of even more extreme credit card churning as we call it have similar stories of maintaining extremely state department travel advisories high credit. Here s a documented example of someone applying for 11 cards in a year and seeing his score rise.
If you ve seen Capital One commercials lately, they are trying to exploit the misconception that it s hard to use miles with their tag line: Double state department travel advisories miles you can actually use. (Side note: don t get a Capital One card. You don t earn two miles, you earn two cents per dollar toward future travel. Miles are more versatile.)
Finding a seat with miles is not always state department travel advisories simple. Award seats are capacity controlled, so if you want to go to Rio over Carnival or some other ultra-peak destination, you may be out of luck. But I ve managed to score some incredible peak awards like Europe in the summer, Hawaii over Christmas, Australia over New Year s, Argentina over its summer with planning and flexibility.
You can outsource the work of finding a ticket to a paid award booking service for $99. If you hire a booking service, you ll still be paying way less than people who are buying their tickets with cash.
Once you are familiar with miles, you ll realize that not only are they not hard to use, but they are way better than cash in a lot of ways. For instance on cash tickets, it s often difficult to cheaply build in stopovers to see multiple destinations on one trip. With awards, state department travel advisories it s easy to build in one or more stopovers.
With cash, good luck flying in style; international first class tickets can cost $10,000. With awards, the miles needed to fly in first class on a bed with stewardesses filling your glass with Dom can be obtained from one credit card. All my international trips in the last two years have been in business or first class, just by signing up for a few credit state department travel advisories cards.
1. You have an upcoming major loan application like a mortgage. Your score does drop slightly and briefly state department travel advisories when you open new cards; those effects state department travel advisories disappear in 24 months. Don t open up new credit cards if you want to get a mortgage in the next 24 months.
2. If you are in debt or can t control your spending on credit cards, don t apply for new ones. If you run a balance on your credit cards, the interest will cost you more than the miles are worth. Only open new cards if you can pay off their balances state department travel advisories every month, so you don t pay interest.
Hopefully I ve got your attention, and you re ready to start traveling better state department travel advisories than you thought state department travel advisories possible for cheaper than you thought possible. If so, subscribe to this blog on the left side of the page to wake up to one daily email with my latest posts. Or check back tomorrow morning when I will tell you exactly, step-by-step, how to earn 105,000 American Airlines miles in the next few weeks enough for 3 roundtrips to South America; 2 roundtrips to Europe, Hawaii, or Asia; or a roundtrip in business class to Europe.
shared your article. it s good sometimes to go back to the beginning to recruit new readers. I hope this helps some of my friends understand state department travel advisories how I can afford to fly a family of 4, two to three times a year to international destinations!
Just to give an example in support of Scott s credit score comments. I ve been monitoring my credit score through Credit Sesame. I had a score of 840, and then applied and received the United Explorer state department travel advisories Card for 50,000 miles and the Marriott Chase Card for 50,000 Marriott points back in early December. My score only dropped to 832.
I m looking to go from Boston to Thailand sometime in the distant future. When I search at aa.com with awards travel, it keeps coming state department travel advisories up There are currently no awards travel. How can one determine when AA will accept miles for its flights. I can t imagine I have to keep trying different dates until I find one aa will take miles for.
The airlines websites are not perfect. The AA website doesn t show award availability for Cathay Pacific state department travel advisories or Japan Airlines, the two most likely options when trying to get to Thailand. Try searching britishairways.com for award space. Then when you find it, write down all the info and call American to book using your AA miles. state department travel advisories Also, how far into the distant future are you talking? state department travel advisories They only book 11 months out.
AA.com only displays some of its partners, and not Cathay Pacific, which is most likely the partner you d want to fly. Either search for Cathay space on BA.com, ask an AA phone agent to search for it or contact my Award Booking Service.
It s an infomercial, but it s not for the award booking service. It s an infomercial for miles. I mentioned the award booking service because some people state department travel advisories might never want to learn how to redeem miles, and I want them to know it s still beneficial to get involved even if you don t learn how.
Inspirational, like a recruitment poster for frequent flyers. I like how you explained the myth of hurting your credit score in detail, with official information state department travel advisories and graphics. That s the No. 1 fear I hear when I talk about the points game to people who don t do it.
I don t understand why you don t like Capital One. It s MORE versatile, in that you can use the rewards for any trip on any airline, or hotel, or rental car. Plus, you don t have to plan ahead you can get reimbursed up to 90 days after travel. And 2% is twice as good as 1%. Why are miles that only work on one specific carrier better?
Plus, you are misunderstanding my advice. I don t consider 1 mile better than 2 cents. I am not recommending piling up spending on 1 mile/$ cards. I am recommending signing up for huge 50k sign up bonuses! That s how to get big miles. Also in many way, miles tickets are better than cash tickets. (Free stopovers, open jaws, premium cabins are affordable.)
I recently booked a fascinating award that shows just how simply you can turn a good itinerary into a great itinerary using the the concept I laid out in a post titled 7,500 Miles to Europe and Negative 7,500 Miles Continue state department travel advisories reading
This is the seventeenth post in a monthlong series that started here. Each post will take about two minutes to read and may include an action item that takes the reader another two minutes to complete. I am writing this for Continue reading
Chauffeur Service Pre-Departure Services and Emirates Club Auckland Emirates First: Suite, Seat, and Bed Emirates state department travel advisories First: Service and Food Emirates First: Shower Spa __________________________________________________ Emirates 413 Auckland (AKL) – Sydney (SYD) Depart: state department travel advisories 6:40 PM on Saturday, January state department travel advisories 12 Arrive: 8:05 Continue reading
This is the sixteenth post in a monthlong series that started here. Each post will take about two minutes to read and may include an a