What Is Points Banking?
What Is Travel Hacking?
What, exactly, is travel hacking? Before we get too far down the road, it’s probably a good idea if we give it a definition.
In The Travel Hacking Cartel, we define it as “the democratization of free and low-cost travel.”
Travel: Affordable, Accessible, Fun
Our belief is that travel should be affordable, accessible, and—most of all—fun for everyone involved. Our primary goal is to make that a reality for you by doing all the work required to find great deals to help you travel affordably and presenting you with just the information you need to take advantage of these deals with as little effort as possible on your side.
The main way we accomplish this is through providing deal alerts you can find right inside THC or receive via email.
If you pay attention to and act on the deal alerts we regularly send, we guarantee you’ll earn at least 100,000 miles per year through various promotions. That we are confident of.
Earning and Redeeming Miles
One of the best ways to successfully travel hack is to find promotions that provide large amounts of miles or points all at once for little work. We’ll help you do that with our deal alerts.
But just as important as earning miles is redeeming them. Miles are much like money: they aren’t worth anything by themselves. Their value exists in what you can trade them for. In your case, that’s free and very-low-cost trips!
We’re going to help you rack up lots and lots of miles, but—through these tutorials—we’re also going to help you redeem them for meaningful travel.
Action point: Set a goal. Where do you want to go? Knowing this, you can put a plan together for how to get the miles or points you need to go there. Travel hacking is easier when you have a goal.
What else does travel hacking encompass?
Frequent flyer miles, while a major component, is just one piece of the travel hacking puzzle. Here in THC, we’re also going to help you take advantage of things like:
- Hotel loyalty points
- Deals on train fares
- Cheap car rental opportunities
- Airline glitch/mistake fares
- Airport lounge access
- Discount hotel stays
- Any other great deals we come across
There are many ways to make travel more affordable and accessible, and we’ll help you achieve all of them through our deal alerts and travel hacking education.
Is travel hacking ethical?
Once in awhile, the question is asked, “Is travel hacking ethical?” It’s understandable. With the amazing deals you get just by paying attention to what’s available, it almost feels like you’re “getting away” with something.
Fear not. Travel hacking is completely ethical, and the airlines, hotels, and other businesses that offer award programs are not just well aware of how travel hacking works, but actively encourage it with the deals they offer.
It’s important to note that frequent flyer and other loyalty programs are actually enormous profit centers for airlines and hotels. This is not something they do just to be nice! In fact, a lot of their strategy relies on making it easy to earn points, but difficult to redeem them.
Travel hacking is the art of actually using all the great deals that otherwise would go unused. You may travel hack with a clear conscience!
What accounts should you have?
Frequent flyer accounts are all completely free to have and maintain, so we recommend setting up as many as you’re comfortable doing, but the best way to get started is to just make sure you have one account with an airline in each of the three major airline alliances:
By having an account in each of the alliances, your travel and routing options will be very flexible and you’ll have access to the biggest networks of partner airlines, making it easier to redeem your miles for the travel that you want.
