The Secret to Visiting Exotic Locations Every Year…
Free!
by Tim McMahon, editor
Hike up a dormant Volcano on the Caribbean Island of
St. Vincent and peer over the edge into its crater...
Or, drive to a frozen lake... North of Anchorage,
Alaska...and see no sign of civilization as far as the
eye can see, except the road you came on.
How about visiting London’s Buckingham Palace for the
Queen’s birthday?
Perhaps ride a Jet boat like James Bond from Hong
Kong to Macao?
I’ve done all of these and you can, too.
Growing up, my dad worked for an airline, and it was wonderful!
As a teenager I had a special credit card that was issued
by the airline that allowed me to hop on any of their planes
that had a seat available. It was great! At the time I lived
in New York and when I had a vacation I would ride to work
with Dad and hop on a plane to Dallas or Miami or even Anchorage
or St. Vincent! Those were the days! So, I got used to flying!
Unfortunately, after I graduated from college I was
no longer eligible for the family “perks” so I thought
my world traveling days were over. Then one day about 7
or 8 years ago, I realized that there was a way to be
able to do almost the same thing! Not quite to the same
extent, but almost!
This plan is available to everyone and if you work it
right, you can earn one flight a year, maybe more.
Perhaps you have figured out by now that I am talking
about frequent flier miles.
But don’t you have to fly to get miles, you might
ask? The answer is NO! You don’t actually have to fly at
all to get a free ticket.
These days you can get miles for almost anything,
from sending flowers to your sweetheart, to booking
hotel rooms and renting cars. I recently got 5000 miles
for switching my long distance service! By constantly
watching for deals offering miles, you would be amazed
at how many miles you can rack up.
The best way to rack up miles, however, is with a
credit card. No, I don't mean buy miles with your credit
card (although you can do that, too).
Almost every airline has a credit card that will get
you miles. Generally, they give you one mile for every
dollar you spend, but some only give you one mile for
every two dollars. Another thing to watch out for is how
many miles it takes to get a ticket. Some airlines
require 20,000 miles for a domestic ticket while others
require 30,000 or even 35,000.
You can get some credit cards that aren’t affiliated with
a specific airline. They have no blackout dates, and you can
use any airline. Actually, what happens is the credit card
company contacts a travel agent for you. The problem with
this system is that they usually require many more miles to
get a trip, so usually it isn’t worth it.
Does spending enough to get 25,000 miles seem like a lot
to you? Well, to get you started most cards give you miles
just for signing up for their card. You also often get miles
for joining the frequent flier program. Usually about 3,000
miles for joining and another 3000 for getting a card (sometimes
more) so you have at least 6,000 miles right off the bat.
To make this work you must make sure you pay off the card
every month (so you don’t accrue any interest charges) and
you charge absolutely everything you buy, groceries, gas,
food, tires, a new toaster, everything! If you make more than
$25,000 per year and make most of your purchases on the card,
you will have enough for one trip every year! Then instead
of spending $2,000 on a vacation, you can add that money to
your savings program!
You can get really creative and rack up even more miles.
How about offering to pay for lunch for a group of people.
Everyone who is paying cash just gives you the cash and you
put it all on your credit card! Guess who gets the miles?
I recently got 200 miles this way!
By carefully watching for every opportunity to get
miles I was able to get a ticket to Thailand this year.
And I will be going to Florida in January (also on
frequent flier miles) and I recently took my wife to
Vancouver. You guessed it—on frequent flier miles!
So frequent flier miles are a great way to get a free
trip. If you own your own business you absolutely have
it made! I first started using a frequent flier credit
card when I owned a computer store. I charged all of my
inventory on a credit card! I could easily rack up
200,000 miles a year! The only problem was, I would
often have to completely pay my credit card off twice a
month because I reached the limit!
You can go a lot of places on 200,000 miles!
One of my favorite frequent flier programs is with
Northwest Airlines. They are the ones I flew with to
Thailand. The nice thing about their program is that you
can also fly on Continental and British Air using
Northwest miles. Between the three airlines you can go
almost everywhere. At the moment, I only have 23,496
miles in my Northwest WorldPerks account (not enough for
a 25,000 mile domestic ticket). Travel to Asia will set
you back 60,000 miles, although sometimes there are
other deals available.
If you go to
Northwest's enrollment page you can enroll in the Northwest
WorldPerks frequent flier program. They have different bonuses
for signing up. At the moment the bonus is 6000 miles, but
there are some conditions attached. It doesn’t cost anything
to enroll. Once you are enrolled you can even help me get
some more miles (and in return you will get some more too)!
Through the end of February 2004, Northwest Airlines is having
a “refer a friend” program for their credit card. So if you
follow three simple steps you will be on your way to a free
ticket.
1) Go to the enrollment link above and sign up for the frequent
flier program (6000 miles?)
2) Go to Northwest's
Visa Page and apply for one of the three credit cards,
either personal (3000 miles), business (3000 miles) or a check
card (4000 miles). or even all of them! (Be
sure to read the fine print on the check card about how it
works).
3) Then send me your name, address and newly assigned WorldPerks
number (using the form below) and I will add you to my friends
list. If you are approved you will get an additional 5000
miles and I will get 2500 miles! Yeah! So if you want to start
getting free travel like I do (and help me toward my next
trip at the same time) go to
Northwest's enrollment page and sign up for your frequent
flier account.
On Northwest's
bonus page you will find a bunch of ways you can
earn bonus miles. 1000 miles here, 1000 miles there and
before you know it you are on the beach in Hawaii!
Just to put your mind at ease, I won’t be given any of your
credit information or even get notified of who is approved
for a credit card. Miles will just magically appear in my
account from people on my friends list if you are approved.
I’d like to get at least 10 people to sign up so I can get
another 25,000 miles and take my wife someplace nice again
this year!
So just follow the 3 steps above and get as many as 14,000
miles if you apply for one card (you will be more than half
way to a trip!) with all three cards you would actually have
21,000 miles!
Don't forget to fill in the form below to get your extra
5000 miles, if forget my wife will sure be disappointed when
I have to go to Hawaii alone!
Happy Traveling! Maybe we’ll meet on a flight
somewhere!
Tim McMahon, Editor
WorldPerks Friends Form
(get 5000 extra miles)
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