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Sean & Leigh discuss credit card points, airline rewards programs, and how they all work together. Leigh also starts explaining to Sean what he’s gotten himself into with their trip to Japan.

Credit card companies are very profitable. They make money a few ways; interest on unpaid balances, late payment fees, fees for exceeding your credit limit, balance transfer fees, cash withdrawal fees, annual fees and revenues from transactions. So even if you pay your bill on time, in full every month, the credit card company is still making 2% – 2.6% on every purchase YOU make. These bonuses are not going away anytime soon. So let’s start trip hacking! We suggest that you START your trip hacking with United Airlines or Southwest Airlines.

How many points do I need?

United Airlines has a great interactive awards chart. Select your origin and destination

Economy Class Saver Award is 35,000 points one way.

Southwest

Southwest does not have a standard award chart, rather their points fluctuate with ticket prices. The best way to get an idea of how many points you will need, is to build an actual itinerary. You don’t need to log in! just go to: Southwest awards. Enter your departure and arrival city. Select dates within the month(s) you plan to travel. Select points. Search.

Click on ‘flexible dates? Search the low fare calendar’

From here, you can see what dates have the best points or you can see how many points are required for your specific dates. You can easily look at other months.

Click on any day of the month to select a departing date and returning date. All the flights will display for that date.

Choose your flights and hit continue.

One (non-stop) Round trip ticket from Buffalo to Las Vegas in this example is 25,851 points and $11.20!

Your homework assignment is to decide where you want to go. Sounds easy? For me this is the hardest part. Leave a comment on where your dream destination lies.