The Importance of Frequent Flyer Miles: Getting to your destination for FREE!

Timeshares are great for getting great accomodations for relatively little cost.  However, the cost to get to your destination should not be overlooked.  While there are plenty of opportunties to get great timeshare weeks for absurdly low prices, getting to those destinations can be really expensive. 

I am always suprised that when I speak to people while traveling, they are generally familiar with frequent flyer miles but don't focus on acquiring them since they do not travel a lot for work.  This is a very common misconception.

The truth is that I use to travel for work and accumulated a decent amount of miles but there are actually much, much better ways to accumulate miles that do not invovle traveling at all.  This may be very basic to some people but the vast amount of miles that I collect come from sources completely unrelated to flying.  

The easiest and best way to collect miles is through credit card sign up bonus.   Credit card companies offer tremendous bonuses in order to entice you to sign up for their credit card.  There are tons of great opportunities to gain tons of miles that allow you to get free flights, free hotels, upgrades, club access, free global entry and more. 

For example, one of the newest cards that is being offered by Chase is called the Chase Sapphire Reserve.  They are currently offering 100,000 bonus points to get the card.  The details are below.​

Chase Sapphire Reserve

This is just one example of some tremendous credit card sign up bonuses that are available.  100,000 bonus points can get you a minimum of  4 free domestic tickets (potentially even more with Southwest) or even more value through various transfer opportunities.  At the very least, you can redeem them for travel worth $1500.  There are better ways to redeem the points but they are essentially giving you $1500 of free travel just for getting the card. 

Yes, there is a $450 annual fee but they give you $300 annual credit for travel (essentially cash) and $100 for Global Entry.  The perks of this particular card actually justify the annual fee.  Other cards may not justify the annual fee so you need to make sure that you are getting sufficient value from these credit cards before you apply and pay annual fees. 

The goal of this blog is to show you how to travel in luxury for a fraction of the cost of retail purchases of vacations.  Timeshares can give you access to great accomodations that are simply out of budget for most people.  

Despite the poor reputation, timeshares are actually a hidden gem in travel.

However, as stated in many posts, the are not for everyone and can be difficult to understand the various programs and you need to plan ahead.  

The point of this post is that you need to accumulate frequent flyer miles in order to give you the additional flexibility to be able to use timeshares.  Frequent Flyer miles can be complex as well but they are very important in order to be able to travel for free or at least get to some wonderful destinations for a fraction of the airfare prices. 

Flexibility is key in planning timeshare vacations.  Additionally, one of the best things about using frequent flyer miles is that you can travel to exotic locations without worrying about the price of the ticket.  

Frequent flyer miles can give you the travel to places that are simply cost prohibitive.  

The combination of using timeshares and frequent flyer miles allows me to travel to wonderful destinations that would simply be unaffordable.  Travel is extremely expensive these days as airfares keep going up and hotel prices become exhorbinant. 

There are many ways to maximize timeshare ownership but in order to be able to truly maximize timeshare ownership, you need to have the ability to get to the final destination without breaking the bank.   If airfare is too expensive, the fact that you can stay a week in a caribbean destination for $500 becomes irrelevant.
  
The ability to get free airfare for my family through accumulating frequent flyer miles is an important tool and strategy to be able to travel .  

In other posts, we can explore additional ways to earn miles but there are tons of opportunities to get frequent flyer miles through non-travel.  

Traveling is actually one of the worst ways to quickly accumulate miles!

While this is not an extensive list, you can obtain frequent flyer miles through the following:

1. Credit Card Sign-Up Bonuses;
2. Credit Card use;
3. Rental Cars;
4. Hotel stays; 
5. Online shopping; 
6. Retail shopping; 
7. Dining out; 
8.  Signing up for TV, Satellite, Cell phones, etc. 

Again, the point of this blog is to show you how to maximize timeshare ownership but it also my goal to show you how to travel in luxury on a budget.  If you are unfamiliar with frequent flyer miles, now is the time to begin to learn the basics on how to acquire them and how to use them to your advantage. 

Timeshares and frequent flyer miles are complementary tools that can allow you to travel to awesome destinations without worrying about cost.

Stay tuned for additional posts on great ways to get frequent flyer miles and great ways to redeem them!