How To Find Free Flights With Credit Cards (Even When You Don’t Spend That Much Money In The First Place)

When I realized that there was a way to travel hack for free flights years ago by using credit cards, I thought it would be an instant game changer. But it ended up being a little more complicated than I thought. As a seasoned backpacker who once traveled across the US solo with just $300 and a bike, (no seriously, I did) I’m all about finding alternative ways of travel and making them work in unique situations. Here’s how I did just that with travel credit card fight points.

How To Get Free Flights With Credit Card Points

If you ever take a travel hacking class that teaches you how to get free flights with credit card points, you might quickly come to realize that this type of travel hacking is not for the low-income folks. Any talk that I’ve gone to on this subject has been by somewhat well-off travel influencers who are spending a lot upfront and there for reaping a lot of rewards. Most credit cards that offer substantial bonus flight points that could actually cover a your trip require you to spend a lot of money in a short amount of time. For the average person like myself, that can feel quite impossible.

The good news? There are ways around it if you’re willing to get creative and see it through for the long-game. Here’s how you do it.

Note: As of June 2024, 50% of credit cardholders carry credit card debt from month to month, according to Bankrate’s latest Credit Card Debt Survey. Please only open a travel credit card if you’re able to do so responsibly and pay it off in a timely manner.

1) Pick A Credit Card With An Appealing Travel Bonus

• Pick a credit card with an appealing bonus that has a spending marker that is somewhat realistic.

This page is a great resource for finding and comparing travel credit cards. If you’re looking to start with something smaller, I highly recommend checking out this card where you can get $200 back after spending $500 within the first 3 months. But my favorite travel credit card (ever!) has a signup bonus of 75,000 flight miles if you spend $4,000 within the first few months of opening the account. I typically make around $1,000 a month, so spending four times that within three months sounded like nothing I’d ever be able to do. So here’s what I did.

2) Open The Account Right Before A Big Purchase

• If you have large expense that comes annually (or even infrequently), timing is everything. Going to open a new business? To spend money on a vacation? To pay your phone bill for the year up-front? Getting a new laptop? In charge of booking the AirBnb for an upcoming weekend gathering? Be sure to put it on your credit card! When you see a big expense coming your way, try your best to put it on a new travel credit card.

Every year my partner and I go backpacking for at least a month, so I opened a travel credit card right before our trip and we put flights and all of our trip expenses on the card so that spendings stacked up quickly. Although my partner could have put their expenses on their regular credit card, we had a goal to hit and I paid them back after the trip.

3) Add An Authorized User To Your Account

• If you’ve got no big expenses coming up but have some trusted people in your life that are bigger spenders than you (or have some big expenses coming up themselves), ask them to become an authorized user on your account. It’s a way to double or even triple the amount of spending you might usually do to reach your goal and get free flights.

Be sure that whoever you add is someone you trust and will easily pay you back. Money can create chaos where there are rifts, so be selective about who you share an account with. Make sure that they understand you plan on using the bonus flight points for yourself (or hey, share it with them) in the end.

4) Make The Most Of Your Flight Points To Get Free Flights

After you have the credit card flight point bonus, do your best to stretch them as far as you can. If you try to search for and book flights from the credit card’s app or travel center, chances are you’ll be using all of your points for a one-way ticket. The flights that they offer can be ridiculously expensive and drain you dry in one go.

Instead, look up flights with Point.me. This flight finder allows you to enter in the amount of points you have and they’ll search the depths of flight deals to bring you back something better. For example, when looking at a flight from Tunisia, Africa to Asheville, North Carolina my credit card company only showed me flights that required more than 90,000 points (I started with 75,000), plus taxes and fees. The flights that they were offering were terrible overall: the travel time lasted way longer and each were made up of 4 different legs, including red-eye flights. Using Point.me I was able to find a flight for 23,500 points (plus taxes and fees) that was only one day of travel and 3 clean flights.

I’ll now be using my original 75,000 travel credit card points for a flight for me to Tunisia, a flight for my partner to the same place, and a roundtrip flight for myself to Costa Rica in 2025. Look before you book!

Note: If you’re not going to be booking flights frequently, Point.me offers a day pass for $5. It’s a great deal that will save you thousands and thousands of flight miles and dollars in the end. Sometimes a free flight costs a few bucks upfront.

Share Your Travel Credit Card Referral Link With Others

Once you sign up for a travel credit card, chances are you’ll get a custom referral link to share with others. When you do, it should look something like my referral link page here for the card with the 75,000 flight mile bonus. Getting friends and family members who are looking to score flights points to sign up for the card with your link will bring more flight bonuses your way. For example, if you sign up using the link I just shared, I’ll get 20,000 flight points added to my account! If you were to use my other referral link for the smaller card with a $200 cash back bonus, I’d receive $50 added to my account.

How To Get A Travel Credit Card When You Have Bad Credit

Not too long ago I got denied when trying to open a new travel credit card for the enticing bonus. My credit is great, so that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that I had opened too many credit cards in too short of time. Whoops! Instead of giving up, I asked friends and family members who trusted me if they would apply for the credit card and open it in their name. Finally, someone agreed to but decided that they wouldn’t spend anything on the card: that was all up to me.

With the card in their name and myself as an authorized user, I was able to hit the goal amount using the steps above and receive the flight bonus. I made sure to pay the credit card off in a timely manner so that no damage would be done to the person’s credit score who opened the account for me.

When booking flights with credit card flight points the name of the traveler doesn’t have to match the name of the person who owns the credit card. When using flight points, you can book for yourself or someone else, so that’s why spending as an authorized user and then collecting the bonus flight points works.

How To Steer Clear Of Extra Credit Card Costs

Credit card companies do not need your money to survive. I repeat: they do not need your money! They typically profit off of suffering around the world (and even go so far as to fund it), so using their resources to your advantage is something that you should absolutely do. In order to not end up owing them money, be sure to pay your balance on time and cancel before a year’s time if they have an annual fee and you don’t want to keep the card.

Bonus: Pursue Your Epic Adventure With The Ultimate Budget-Friendly Travel Hacks

Ready to expand your travels? The Art of Unruly Travel on a Budget helps readers everywhere travel longer, further, better, and more ethically, regardless of budget.

This isn’t another guide that robotically recommends just staying in hostels over hotels. Instead, this unique travel guide teaches you to navigate and find the essentials of life and travel with little money; tools, transportation, shelter, joy, and food. Grab a hard copy or eBook from our online store.