Greling’s Corner of the Web

Skyview photo I snapped of the Grand Canyon while on a FREE plane trip back from New York

One thing I’d like to share is how I’ve been able to see many parts of the world, and I’ve been able to do it practically for free. Most people who’ve lived long enough know about airline credit cards, but it’s probably been a while since they’ve actually looked at what’s being offered in recent times. Now, first let me admit upfront that I’m not really the type of person to advocate opening a credit card just to get a stupid t-shirt, silly key fob, or anything frivolous like that. But, sometimes these deals are just too great to pass up. You’d be doing yourself a real disservice if you did not at least consider at least some of them.

Consider this. Common industry standard to get a free roundtrip plane ticket in airline frequent flyer programs is to collect 25,000 miles. Most airline credit cards give you 1 or 2 miles per dollar charged. This would mean that you’d normally have to charge between $12,500-$25,000 just to get your ticket. For those who charge just about everything to their card, this may easily come after two years or so, but for those of us who are credit card debt averse, we can’t see ourselves possibily racking up charges like that. But, that’s OK. Most airline credit cards are now so eager to get new customers that they are practically giving miles away to entice you.

An example is United Airlines’ credit cards which are offered by Chase. I recommend opening either a United Mileage Plus Visa Signature card, which will give you 25,000 miles upon your first purchase, or a United Mileage Plus Gold Class Visa card, which will give you 20,000 miles for your first purchase. Print out a copy of the offer page, just in case there is a screw up on their part, so you have proof and can still get the miles. The miles normally take 2-3 months to post to your United Airlines Mileage Plus account.

And you don’t have to charge much to get the miles. There is no minimum purchase amount. I charged just $1.50 buying something on eBay, kept my credit card statement as proof of the transaction, and the miles still arrived in my frequent flier account. Now, Chase does have some versions of this offer still floating out there where you have to charge $250 to get the miles, but if you read the fine print, a balance transfer check counts as a “purchase”. So, when I’m up against that, I simply write myself a balance transfer check for $250 and immediately deposit it in my bank account to be paid right back. Sure, there’s a 3% transaction fee, but that’s still only $7.50 when you look at it. You’re getting $600-$1000 in frequent flyer miles in exchange.

Yeah, these cards come with stiff annual fees. But, that’s OK, since they are waiving the annual fee for you the first year. Just remember to call in and close your card . You’ve got about a whole year to do so (I’d call it 10 months). But, if you’re a student or if you still like using the card to get miles, then I recommend against closing the card. You can instead call customer service and have them downgrade your card to one without an annual fee. Chase also has the United College Plus Visa card, which offers added perks for students, one of which is 10,000 miles for college graduation. They will give you the miles for each and every time you graduate. For example, I have one friend who went to community college and got his associate’s degree, he went on to get his bachelor’s and is now finishing his masters. So, that’s 10,000 miles for each time he graduated plus his initial bonus of 25,000 on the Visa Signature card, bringing his minimum total to 65,000 miles, which is enough to fly domestically first class and have 5,000 miles left over, or to Europe or Asia in a coach seat and still have 10,000 miles left over. Just look at this chart for the kind of travel awards that are available.

Still want more miles? Or, are you now already out of college or decided for some reason not to go there? So far, do you see yourself getting 20,000 to 25,000 miles at the most with their card? That’s still OK. You can still get to Europe, Asia, or Hawaii. How? Open a business version of the credit card. You don’t have to own a big company or anything like that, and it’s still possible. Use your Social Security number as the business’ Taxpayer Identification number and mark on your application that you are a sole proprietor. If you’ve ever sold something on eBay before or plan to in the future, congrats! You are now officially a retailer with a business line of credit! This is perfectly legit and the IRS and Chase OK with it. And, you don’t have to have any revenue. I put “$0″ down in the revenue box and still got approved.  Think about it. Business start-ups in their beginning stages typically have no revenue at all.

So, 65,000 miles plus 20,000 mile… That comes down to 85,000 miles, which is enough to go to Central Asia, Oceania or Africa. And to make things even better, United isn’t the only airline that is offering such great deals. Just about every airline is. You can find out more about these types of deals by visiting FlyerTalk, which is perhaps one of the most useful travel websites I’ve found on the web.

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