How to Fly for FREE

Victoria
Jun 2, 2023
5 min read

Updated: Feb 27, 2024

Thinking of travelling long term and not sure how to afford it? Read this to find out how we made 108 days of travelling with our baby happen.

One of the largest costs while travelling, especially if you need to fly anywhere is transportation. There are many budget airlines available now, but if you're going far, for a long time or to many places then it will still add up. Thanks to some savvy travel credit cards, we were able to save in this category.

** It is very important to note that you should only consider travel credit cards if you are responsible with your money. You do not want to carry a balance on these cards, or spend beyond your needs. **

There are two types of travel credit cards you can get; the first is one for if you travel often and want to experience more day to day perks. This can include things like lounge access, free luggage or upgraded seats. The second kind, which is what I choose to pursue is sign up bonuses. This means the financial institution will set out some parameters, and if you meet them you will get a large amount of points to redeem.

Typically there will be 3 credit card options or levels with a financial institute, the reward can often be better with the higher levels, but they will have more requirements.

ENTRY LEVEL: No fee, low points awarded, a few annual perks.
CORE LEVEL: No to low annual fee, moderate points awarded, a few annual perks.
PREMIUM LEVEL: High annual fee, high points awarded, lots of added perks, annual income requirement.

The first step in your free flights and points journey will be to figure out what your monthly credit card spend could be. I specifically say could and not is as the best way to maximize points is to put everything you possibly can onto your credit card. For this you'll want to add up your typical spending on every day things from gas and groceries to your cell phone bill and car insurance. If you usually have any of these payments set up as a pre-authorized debit, you will want to change them to go on your credit card instead. You need to think about every possible expense you have that can be paid by credit card, keep in mind you can't pay credit with credit and don't want to create unnecessary spending.

The next step is to choose the loyalty program you would like to earn towards. I focused on Aeroplan (Air Canada) points as they have a good redemption rate and multiple credit card options. There are a lot more options if you live in the US, but it is somewhat limited in Canada. Some of the other common loyalty programs to consider (& why I didn't choose them);

Air Miles (low points rewarded, poor redemption rate)
Avion (high fees, poor redemption rate, strict limits on redemptions)
Amex (high fees)
Scene (must redeem through Expedia)

Once you have looked at the different options for loyalty programs, make sure you look at what the redemption rates and sign up bonuses are. For example, RBC Avion will give you 35,000 sign up points with an annual fee of 120$ and they say this will fly you anywhere in North America. However, when you look at how to actually redeem the points - it needs to be a round trip and the points barely cover a flight within Canada.

Now that you have chosen a loyalty program (if you chose Aeroplan - read this post on how to maximize your earnings!), you should pick a points goal. If you are planning a specific trip, check how much the flights will cost in points. When we were preparing for our trip to Southeast Asia we knew that we would have to either fly into Tokyo or Seoul, so we looked at the required points for flights from Toronto to to those locations. Tokyo was averaging much cheaper in points, and was of more interest to us so we decided to aim for the 90,000 points we would need for that.

After picking the loyalty program and setting a goal, it's time to pick your cards! I will be transparent and say that when preparing for this trip, I didn't hit the annual income requirement for the majority of the premium cards and even some of the core cards. This limited me in what I could select and the points I could earn. Depending on your annual income, and if the fees are first year waivable, then a higher one could be a good fit for you. Your exact points awarded will vary depending on your monthly spending, which is why it is good to have an idea of what you could spend on the card to see what is possible to earn.

Some things to keep in mind:

It is important to finish with one card before you sign up for another.
Do not carry a balance on your card.
Most bonuses are for NEW clients.
Do not add your partner as an authorized user.

The cards we did to get free flights to Japan using 90,000 Aeroplan points:

American Express Aeroplan

Fee: 120$ (not usually waivable)

Points: 65,000 over 6 months. There were minimum monthly spends, and a sign up bonus Value: Over 1500$ in points to use on flights.

Perks: First checked bag free.

*I have not seen this high of a point reward again since I did it.

CIBC Aeroplan Visa

Fee: No

Points: 10,000 on first purchase. Value: 200$ in points to use on flights.

Perks: Auto Rental Insurance

TD Aeroplan Visa Platinum

Fee: 89$ (first year waivable)

Points: 20,000 over 3 months. Sign up bonus & monthly minimum spends. Value: 400$ in points to use on flights.

Perks: Travel Insurance

As you can see, I did pay an annual fee on my first card, however, it also rewarded me with the bulk of our points. Make sure to do your research to see if it is worth it in the long run. I paid 120$ to have around 2500$ in travel rewards, which is a fair trade to me. We were able to fly the three of us Toronto to Tokyo for only 200$.

In conclusion;