Hot Tips: Maximizing Points and Miles to Slash College Costs

It's that time of the year, time to visit college campuses. If you are like me, you may be visiting campuses all over the country. This trek can cost thousands of dollars if you pay for hotels, flights, food and the car rental. Or you can save thousands by using points and miles. And since college tuition is closing in on $100,000, every penny saved is worth it. 

I just returned from a two week mega college campus visit and I'm going to break it down so you can see how I used points and miles to save. 

We started by flying Southwest Airlines exclusively because I earned the companion pass last year. This alone can make a huge difference. The Southwest Companion Pass is the best value around. BOGO for any flight, anytime for up to two years on Southwest Airlines. You can read about how I earned the pass here. 

My daughter and I flew from San Diego to New York to Nashville to Providence, Rhode Island and back to San Diego. Four flights paid for with Southwest points and my daughter aka my companion flew for FREE. The value on the flights alone was approximately $1,200. 

Now, let's talk about hotels. This was the Wyndham hotel we stayed at in Vermont. It was probably the nicest Wyndham I have ever seen. Two nights, one night I actually paid for because I wanted to earn a few more Wyndham points for my next trip. The second night was FREE with my Capital One travel credit. Here's the breakdown of where we stayed for the rest of the trip and how we paid for the hotels each night. 

• 3 nights in New York - We stayed at a Marriott Residence Inn with an expiring FREE hotel night certificate and 40,000 Bonvoy points
• 2 nights in Vermont - paid for one night at the Wyndham, used the Capital One travel credit for the second night.  
• 2 nights in Nashville - 24,000 points transferred from Chase to stay at the Hyatt House for two nights
• 1 night in Boston - stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites with a Hilton FREE night certificate 
• 1 night in Connecticut - used 23,000 IHG points to stay at a Holiday Inn Express
• 1 night in Washington DC - Holiday Inn Express booked through the Chase Travel Portal with 13,000 Chase points
• 1 night in Pittsburgh - 12,000 points transferred from Chase to Hyatt to stay at the Hyatt House 

10 nights in hotels cost me $170. The savings are approximately $1,800. And guess what, all the hotels included FREE breakfast. Another savings of approximately $200. 

We visited one Priority Pass lounge during our trip at the Pittsburgh Airport and ate at two restaurants included in the Priority Pass; The American Tap Room at Reagan National Airport in Washington DC and Providence Provisions at the Providence Theodore Francis Green Airport. Unfortunately, restaurants will be dropped from the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card in July 2024. 

These visits saved us another $100 in meals. 

The car rental was $700 for the two weeks. I paid for it with the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card so I earned 3x points and got great car rental insurance. If you had a lot of Capital One points, you could have paid for the car rental with that card and erased it. 

I paid for the gas with my Capital One Venture X card for 2x points. I paid for meals with my Chase FREEDOM Flex card which gets 5x points on restaurants this quarter due to the rotating bonus categories. 

We took a few Lyft here and there which I paid for with my Chase Sapphire Reserve for 10x points. 

So in summary, this trip could have cost approximately $5,000. 

• $1,200 for flights 
• $1,800 for hotels 
• $500 for meals 
• $700 for the car rental 
• $200 for gas 
• $100 for Lyft 

But with points and miles, this trip cost $1,200 and I earned thousand of points and miles to use on my next adventure. 

If you would like support with your own points and miles planning, join my travel coaching program. It's affordable and you get one on one support, a customized tracker, live group coaching forever and my points and miles video course. 

How to easily find available award space

 

In our travel coaching program, we are actually finding that most people are very good at earning points and miles. It's the spending that is hard. 

Trying to figure out how to use the points and miles gets overwhelming. 

Trying to figure out where the best deals are and how to transfer those flex points is difficult. 

But now there are several FREE services out there that can help. Joining our travel coaching program is another way to get support and you can read about that here. 

How to easily find available award space

We are going to focus on three FREE services: Roame, Points Path and Points Yeah.  Roame and Points Yeah have a paid membership level as well where you get more information. Points Path says a paid service is coming soon. 

Points Yeah and Roame are website platforms and Points Path is an extension that works with google.com/flights. I decided to test the different platforms by entering the same search criteria on all three platforms. I entered LAX to Rome in economy for 1 person departing around October 15th. 

Once you download the Points Path extension, it automatically shows results when you search with google flights. For this search, it found the lowest mile redemption as a Lufthansa/United flight for 43,900 and $45 which it classified as a "great deal".  Many airlines are not working with Points Path yet so it feels a bit limiting. 

Roame is a search tool. I entered the LAX to Rome flight and it gave me 5 possible flight redemptions. It found an American Airlines flight for 26,500 miles and $5.60 taxes. Pretty good deal! It also found United Airlines, Jet Blue, Delta and Alaska flights for varying numbers of miles. I also like that Roame displays the transfer partners like American Express, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy. But it is missing Bilt and Capital One. 

Points Yeah is the most interesting to me. It gave results for Flying Blue which we are finding has great deals right now. It also managed to find an American Airlines flight for just 19,000 miles and $5.60 in taxes. Wow. I actually thought this was a mistake, but Points Yeah prompted me to book the flight on the American Airlines website and there it was. 

I also like that Points Yeah includes Bilt and Capital One in its transfer list. It does not include Marriott Bonvoy though. 

How to easily find available award space

Bottom line, these three platforms can help you figure out how to spend your points and miles to get the best value. 

If you prefer personal and custom help reaching your travel goals, consider joining my travel coaching program and let's work together.  

 

New Southwest Mini Companion Pass Offer

 

The Southwest Companion pass is by far the best travel perk around. It's a BOGO plane ticket on any Southwest flight for up to two years. 

Did you hear me? 

BOGO on any Southwest flight anywhere Southwest flies. 

Costa Rica, yep. Belize, yep. No blackout dates. No blackout flights. All you do is pay the $5.60 for taxes. Amazing! 

I have had the Southwest Companion Pass for the past 6 years and it has saved me thousands of dollars. I have traveled to Cuba, Washington DC, Boston, New York City, Florida and a number of college visits, trips, family events and more and taken my companion with me for FREE.

You can even change your companion three times in a calendar year and your companion can be your spouse, child, sibling, cousin, friend, neighbor or whoever you want.  

New Southwest Mini Companion Pass Offer 

The way to earn the Southwest Companion Pass is to rack up 135,000 Southwest points in one calendar year. Once you do that, you earn the pass for the remainder of that year PLUS the following year. 

If you time it right, you could have the pass for almost two years. 

Right now, Southwest is offering a mini companion pass. All you have to do is buy a round trip or two one way Southwest flights by Wednesday and travel by May 22nd. Then you will earn a companion pass good for unlimited use for travel from August 5th through October 2nd. 

Watch the fine print though, you must register before you purchase the flights and you must purchase the flights, you cannot use points. Normally we prefer to use points for Southwest flights because it's easier to change flights, adjust flights to get points back and avoid those pesky credits. But if you can fly a companion for FREE, it might be worth paying cash. 

You can still change your companion up to three times during the promotional period so that's definitely a plus. If you prefer to earn the regular companion pass which is good for BOGO travel up to two years, read this article to see how to do it. 

As with all travel, if you want it almost FREE, you need to make a plan, plan early and be strategic. If you want help with this, join my Travel Coaching Program, it's affordable and I'll support you every step of the way so you can travel for almost FREE too. 

How to Witness the Northern Lights Using Points and Miles

 

If seeing the Northern Lights is on your bucket list, then you have come to the right place to find out how to use points and miles to make that dream happen. 

Recently, I went to Lapland Finland north of the Artic Circle in hopes of seeing the Aurora. Fortunately, we were able to see the lights twice during our 5 days in Lapland. 

The lights dance in the sky and the colors are barely visible with the naked eye. But their vibrant greens, reds and purples show themselves in the camera. 

So if this is on your bucket list, let's talk about how to use points and miles to get there. 

How to Witness the Northern Lights Using Points and Miles

First, the Northern Lights are visible in Alaska, Canada, Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Finland. Occasionally they are visible further south, but you can't count on it. And some people have actually seen them from the airplane, but again, you can't plan for that. You will also want to be in the area for at least 4-5 nights to have a good chance for clear skies. 

You can download the Aurora app which will notify you when there is a chance to see the lights in your area. 

The lights are visible from October through March. 

For our trip, we flew Finnair from LAX to Helsinki and then caught a second Finnair flight to Ivalo Airport in Lapland. You can also fly to Rovaniemi in Lapland. Finnair joined the Avios loyalty program in March 2024. Avios is the loyalty program for British Airways, Iberia, Qatar and Aer Lingus. Right now, you can apply for the Chase British Airways, Iberia or Aer Lingus credit cards and earn the 75,000 Avios bonus offer. But we have seen it as high as 100,000 Avios. 

Finnair is also a partner with American Airlines so you can book with American Airlines miles and a transfer partner with Capital One. 

The easiest way to earn American Airlines miles is by applying for the Barclays American Aviator Mastercard. It comes with a 50,000 American mile bonus after just one purchase and the $99 annual fee. I have seen this offer as high as a 70,000 bonus.  

How to Witness the Northern Lights Using Points and Miles

Of course, you can also fly to Fairbanks, Alaska to see the lights via Alaska Airlines, American and Delta. Bilt Rewards also offers transfers to American and Alaska Airlines. 

Once you are in the area, there are hotels built to see the lights featuring igloos like this one at the Northern Lights Village in Lapland so you can stay toasty warm and watch the lights dance outside. There are also Northern Lights tours. You could book this hotel through the Chase Travel Portal. A random check of rooms available April 12-14 would cost $316 per night or 46,312 Chase Ultimate Reward points with the Sapphire Reserve. Not too bad. 

If you head to Fairbanks, Alaska, you can find all the major hotel chains there including Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton and Wyndham. If you want the igloo experience, you can try the Borealis Base Camp for a pricey $990 per person for two nights. 

Other activities in Finland while you are waiting for the lights to appear include visiting a reindeer farm, snowshoe, sauna and driving a dog sled team. 

Seeing the Northern Lights is one of those bucket list experiences that is within reach with points and miles. As with all travel, if you want it almost FREE, you need to make a plan, plan early and be strategic. If you want help with this, join my Travel Coaching Program, it's affordable and I'll support you every step of the way so you can travel for almost FREE too. 

How You Can Earn 5x Chase Points on Amazon

 

Chase just announced the 5x points bonus categories for Q2. These rotating bonus categories are available with the Chase FREEDOM (not available) and FREEDOM FLEX credit cards. 

They are bringing back the popular Amazon, Hotels and Restaurants. Woohoo! 

Besides the Paypal category, Amazon is my fave. There are not many ways to get bonus points on Amazon purchases so the 5x points is huge! You can read here about why I love Chase Ultimate Reward points. 

You must register for the bonus by June 14th. You can do that here. If you do not have the FLEX card yet, it's a great no annual fee credit card. Right now, you can get a $200 or 20,000 point bonus for $500 minimum spend. 

Exciting! Almost FREE Family Travel featured On Global Podcast

 

So excited! Almost FREE Family Travel was featured on the global travel podcast "Why We Travel" to talk about why language schools are an affordable way to travel. 

Of course, we touched on using points and miles to travel and our new Travel Coaching Program. 

You can check out the episode here or it is available on 30 podcast channels, e.g. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast etc.

Huge thank you to Claus Lauter for inviting us onto the show. 

Another Success Story "FREE Honeymoon Flights To Italy"

 

"Thank you again! We are beyond grateful we get to have the honeymoon of our dreams without stressing at all!"

 That's the email I received yesterday from Mackenzie and Michael. 

The couple joined the Travel Coaching Program in November 2023 because they were planning a wedding. Lots of purchases and they wanted to know if and how they could get their honeymoon for FREE.

 They were great students: coachable, watched the video modules, took notes, met for the 1:1 and where we reviewed their points and miles and credit cards. 

Then the fun part, we looked at their travel goals of spending their honeymoon in Italy. 

And we made a plan! 

Another Success Story "FREE Honeymoon Flights To Italy"

Mackenzie and Michael followed their personal plan exactly. They opened a Capital One Venture credit card and a Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. They reached their minimum spends quickly with wedding purchases. And watched the bonuses deposit into their accounts. 

 

Then we looked at how to use the points and miles to get to Italy for their honeymoon. 

So how did we do it? We started by searching for the airlines that fly LAX to Italy using google.com/flights. Then using Google's Points Path, we found that Flying Blue, the loyalty program for Air France and KLM, offered one way flights for just 20,000 points. Woohoo! 

Another Success Story "FREE Honeymoon Flights To Italy"

Mackenzie and Michael were flexible with their dates and destination cities and were able to find round trip flights for just 40,000 points each. Wow! 

Since they had Capital One points and Chase Ultimate Reward points, they were able to transfer enough points to Flying Blue. 

And booked the flights! 

"Thank you so much for your guidance, time and encouragement! We booked our flights (and all with JUST the Venture points - 84,000 total)! WILD!"

Now it's onto hotels and tours! 

Stay tuned to see how many of those they can get using points and miles. 

If you would like help reaching your travel goals, join my travel coaching program and let me help you.