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For the uninitiated, airport lounges are sanctuaries inside of airports that offer amenities like free food and drinks, comfortable chairs, free showers and more. The best part, you don’t need to be flying in a premium cabin or spend thousands of dollars to obtain access to them. Anyone that downloaded Kara and Nate’s Ultimate Guide to Lounge Access, knows that the easiest way to gain airport lounge access is by getting a Priority Pass membership.

Priority Pass is a program that offers access to over 1,200 airport lounges around the world. Any time you transit through an airport with a lounge that is part of its network, you can access it — regardless of the airline or class of service you’re flying. Membership prices range from $89 – $386 per year (if you sign up using our 10% discount), but there are also several premium credit cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve® that come with free memberships (more on that in Kara and Nate’s guide). So, without further ado, here are the top 5 lounges you can access with your Priority Pass membership in the United States:

1. Turkish Airlines Lounge at IAD

Turkish Airlines is known for having spectacular lounges and its location at Washington-Dulles International Airport (IAD) is no exception. The lounge is beautifully furnished and has an impressive food and beverage selection — all free, of course. Best of all, since all terminals at IAD are connected airside, this lounge is also accessible by domestic passengers.

Location: In the B Concourse near Gate B43. After Security, take the stairs to the next level and turn right.

Hours: 6:00am – 11:00pm

2. KLM Crown Lounge at IAH

Despite its smaller size, The KLM Crown Lounge is well designed and has a decent selection of light bites. Like the Turkish Airlines Lounge at IAD, since Terminal D (where the lounge is located) is connected to the rest of the airport airside, you can access this lounge even when not traveling internationally.

Location: In Terminal D near Gate D8

Hours: 6:00am – 9:00pm

3. The Club at ATL

The Club at ATL is a pleasant retreat for anyone travelling through the world’s busiest airport, Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta Airport. It features an open layout with plenty of places to sit and abundant natural light. As with other “The Club” lounges, all drinks in the staffed bar are complimentary and there are snacks such as sandwiches and salads. There are also two large shower suites which make for a great place to freshen up.

Location: In the F Concourse on the mezzanine level, next to the Chapel

Hours: 6:00am – 10:30pm

4. Air France Lounge at JFK

Spread across two floors, the Air France lounge at JFK is massive. Moreover, it’s stylish and modern. The only caveat with this lounge — and the reason the lounge is not ranked higher on this list — is that the hours Priority Pass members can access it are quite limited.

Location: In Terminal 1 near Gate 1

Hours: 8:00am – 1:00pm and 11:00pm – 12:30am (Cardholders will not be admitted into the lounge outside these hours)

5. Art & Lounge at EWR

The Art & Lounge at EWR is unique in the fact that it is both an airport lounge and art gallery — as the name implies. While the lounge lacks natural light, as it’s on the interior of the airport, it is tastefully furnished with stylish (and comfortable) seating options. Note, this lounge is located before security so you need to allow enough time to leave the lounge, clear security and get to your gate.

Location: In Terminal 2, before security between B2 & B3 or Gates 50 & 60

Hours: 9:00am – 10:30pm Sunday – Friday, 1:30pm – 11:30pm Saturday

Honorable Mention 

While these are not exactly lounges per se, Capers Cafe Le Bar, Capers Market and House Spirits Distillery at PDX deserve a mention on this list. Priority Pass has been getting more creative recently and added these food and beverage establishments, among many others, to its network. All you need to do is present your Priority Pass card and you will receive around $28 per person off your final bill. These three establishments are a great trio since you can go to the tasting room for your pre-meal drinks, the restaurant for your meal and then the market for snacks and drinks for your flight. Just note that as of Aug. 1, 2019, those that receive their Priority Pass memberships through an American Express card, no longer get complimentary access to non-lounge airport experiences like these.

Bottom Line:

Relaxing in a lounge before your flight can truly enhance your travel experience. Today we looked at the five best Priority Pass lounges in the US, but there are over 1,200 more for you to choose from around the world. With a lounge in nearly every major airport, becoming a Priority Pass member should be a no-brainer. You can save 10% on your Priority Pass membership by signing up here. You can also download the Ultimate Guide to Lounge Access to learn how you can get a free membership by signing up for premium credit cards.

Here are some of our favorite credit cards that offer complimentary Priority Pass lounge visits:

• Chase Sapphire Reserve [Learn How to Apply]
• The Platinum Card® from American Express [Learn How to Apply]
• The Business Platinum Card® from American Express [Learn How to Apply]
• Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card [Learn How to Apply]
• The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card [Learn How to Apply]

Editorial Note – Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.

Whether or not your goal is to travel around the world together like Kara and Nate, you’ll need 2x the points and miles to travel with your spouse — pretty straightforward. But how exactly do you double up on your rewards? Fortunately, it’s quite simple as well.

Contrary to common belief, individuals can (and should) apply for the same credit cards as their spouses. Banks don’t care whether you’re married or not when reviewing credit card applications. What they do care about is your personal credit history and income. Fortunately for non-working individuals, people 21 and older can include income from a spouse or partner on a credit card application, so long as you have a reasonable expectation of access to it.

For example, if your spouse makes $60,000 per year, and you have reasonable expectation of access to the money, you could report $60,000 on the “gross income” section of your application.

Now you’re probably asking yourself why you can’t just add your spouse as an authorized user and save a ton on annual fees. Well, you can, BUT you’ll miss out on valuable credit card welcome bonuses if you do that. Since welcome bonuses are never limited to once per household, you’ll want to maximize them and earn them as many times as you can.

Here’s how:

Step 1: Pick a card and have one person sign up — our top credit card offers would be a good starting point if you need help finding a card. The reason only one person is signing up at first is because cards have minimum spend requirements for their sign-up bonuses, and you want to make sure you’re actually reaching them.

Step 2: Meet the minimum spend requirement to receive the welcome bonus.

Step 3: “Refer” your spouse to the card and have them sign up using your referral link — some cards offer bonuses for referring people to the card, but not all. For example, if you signed up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and you referred your spouse, you could currently earn a 10,000 point referral bonus!

Step 4: Combine your points. While only one US airline (JetBlue) allows you to pool your points with other members of your family, credit card rewards programs are a bit more lenient. Programs which allow you to transfer points to another member of your household include Citi ThankYou Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest. American Express Membership Rewards points cannot be transferred to another member’s Amex account, but there is a workaround. If you add your spouse as an authorized user on your account, you may transfer points to their frequent traveler programs, such as Delta SkyMiles.

Step 5 (optional): Once you’ve received the welcome bonus, it’s probably not worth it for both partners to continue paying the annual fee. At this point, it could be a good idea to downgrade one of the cards to another card from the same bank that doesn’t have an annual fee and add your spouse as an authorized user.

By doing this, you won’t need to pay a card’s annual fee twice and your spouse will be able to maintain benefits like their own Priority Pass membership for lounge access. You’ll want to stay away from canceling credit cards as that will most likely hurt your credit score.

By following these steps and tag-teaming on credit card offers with your spouse, you will earn double the rewards and be able to reach your travel goals quicker. Just remember to pay off all cards on time. Maintaining a spreadsheet with all of your and your spouse’s cards and important information like dates of when bills are due would be a great way to stay organized.

(Just so you know, there may be some affiliate links in this post, but we only recommend items that we believe in and think will benefit you on your travels.)

Last week, we went over the process of booking a round the world (RTW) ticket through airline alliances. In case you missed it, or need a quick refresher, you can read that post here. Today, we’ll be covering how you can book a RTW ticket through ticket brokers and low-cost carriers (LCCs).

Ticket Brokers

While RTW tickets through alliances are the best way of booking flexible tickets, if you’re confident that you won’t need to make any adjustments to your travel dates, you may be able to get a better deal by booking your RTW ticket through a ticket broker specialized in RTW tickets.

Here are links to a couple ticket brokers specialized in RTW tickets:

• Airtreks
• Tickets Round the World

The reason ticket brokers are able to save you money is because they mix and match flights from different airlines. To see how much money we could save by booking through a ticket broker rather than directly through an alliance, I requested a quote for the same itinerary as last week (New York – London – Paris – Madrid – Rome – Doha – Kuala Lumpur – Bangkok – Hanoi – Hong Kong – Tokyo – Los Angeles – New York) from Airtreks. The quote ended up being significantly less than the roughly $4,400 price tag Oneworld provided.

If we were to continue from this page, we would have to call AirTreks to complete the booking. However, if you’re the type of person that likes to plan everything on your own, you could also use AirTreks’ tool Indie which lets you pick out the flights yourself and complete the booking online.

Booking through ticket brokers comes with pros and cons. The biggest pro is the amount of both time spent researching itineraries and money you will save. Unlike alliances, they provide flexibility in routing — you can fly in any direction you want and there is no mileage limit. Moreover, ticket brokers are travel experts and will be able to give you guidance as you plan your itinerary — after requesting our quote, Airtreks recommended we add a stop in Singapore for no additional cost. However, the biggest con to booking through a ticket broker is that they won’t be able to provide the same flexibility in changing your travel dates as alliances do. Also, by mixing and matching flights from different airlines, you won’t be able to earn airline elite status as quickly.

Low-Cost Carriers (LCCs)

Another method of booking your RTW ticket is through LCCs such as Ryan Air, Spirit and WOW Air. While Norwegian was thinking about starting one, there is no real alliance between any LCCs yet. This means that you won’t have a large route network to take advantage of and will need to book all flights individually.

What you’ll want to do is use a site such as Skyscanner to search for flights and then you’ll be directed the airline’s website to complete your booking. Since you’ll be booking directly with the airline, you can earn 5x Membership Rewards per dollar spent by using the Platinum Card from American Express. Some ticket brokers include flights operated by LCCs in their itineraries, but these flights are typically cheapest when booked directly with the airline due to surcharges imposed onto the brokers. 

While your ticket will most likely be a lot cheaper than the one offered by alliances and ticket brokers, you’ll need to watch out for added fees such as for baggage and seat selection. Additionally, LCCs don’t offer the same onboard comfort or loyalty rewards programs as full-service carriers. If you choose to book your RTW ticket with LCCs, keep in mind that you’ll spend a lot of time searching for each individual flight and then researching the policies of each LCC airline.

For example, if we were going to book this one-way ticket from New York City to London with Norwegian for $150…

… We’d have to pay $65 per checked bag…

… $45 to reserve a seat…

… And cough up at least $50 for an onboard meal and beverage. 

You’ll need to make sure you carefully research all of the potential fees for each flight on your itinerary. If we stick to our original itinerary, our trip would come out to about $2,000 – not including any of the optional fees.

Here are some of the LCCs we may fly with our itinerary:

• Transatlantic portion: LEVEL, Norwegian, WOW Air
• Intra-Europe portion: easyJet, Ryanair, Vueling
• Intra-Asia portion: AirAsia, Scoot, Peach
• Domestic U.S. portion: Frontier, Spirit, Sun Country Airlines

Bottom Line:

Now that we’ve looked at three different ways to book RTW tickets, it’s time to decide which strategy is right for you.

Book through an airline alliance if you…

• Need schedule flexibility
• Value elite status
• Want to earn a lot of redeemable miles with one airline

Book with a ticket broker if you…

• Want flexibility in your routing
• Are confident that you won’t need to make any adjustments to your travel dates
• Are pressed for time and want someone else to do the legwork

Book with LCCs if you…

• Are looking for the cheapest price (assuming you won’t give in to the optional fees)
• Have the time to research and book each flight individually
• Don’t mind tight seats

Have you tried booking a RTW ticket? Please share your experiences below!

(Just so you know, there may be some affiliate links in this post, but we only recommend items that we believe in and think will benefit you on your travels.)

With Kara and Nate spending nearly two years now traveling around the world, have you ever wondered how you can book a trip like this yourself? It’s not as difficult or expensive as you may think — at least in regards to booking the airfare. In fact, it’s quite easy with something called a Round the World (RTW) ticket. As the name implies, RTW tickets are tickets that allow you to travel the world on one ticket. Today, we’ll cover how you can book your own RTW ticket through airline alliances.

The three big airlines alliances — Oneworld, Skyteam and Star Alliance — each offer their own RTW ticket options where you could essentially travel around the world with any of its member airlines. What’s great about RTW tickets booked through alliances, is that they offer free date and time changes, are valid for an entire year and still earn elite-qualifying miles.

Here are links to the three major alliances’ RTW programs:

• Oneworld
• Skyteam
• Star Alliance

Unless you’re loyal to a particular airline, you want to plot out your itinerary using every alliance’s interactive trip planner to compare costs and flight options. Regardless which alliance you decide to go with, you’ll be required to begin and end in the same country and cross the Atlantic and Pacific oceans once. For the sake of this article, we’ll be looking at Oneworld’s booking page.

Let’s imagine we were planning a trip with the following itinerary: New York – London – Paris – Madrid – Rome – Doha – Kuala Lumpur – Bangkok – Hanoi – Hong Kong – Tokyo – Los Angeles – New York.

Now that we have our cities picked out, it’s time to pick out our flights. Since we’re booking our ticket through an alliance, we can pick flights from any of its member airlines.

Assuming you’ll be traveling in Economy, your ticket will cost you somewhere between $3,000 to $5,000 depending on your point of origin and distance you plan on traveling — travel dates don’t matter. Each alliance has several possible maximum permitted mileage tiers for you to choose from.  Here’s a look at Oneworld’s four tiers:

As long as you are within the allotted number of stopovers — 16 for Oneworld, 15 for Star Alliance and 5 to 15 for Skyteam — the number of flights you take will not affect the cost. In other words, to get maximum value from your RTW ticket, you’ll want to optimize your itinerary to get as close to the maximum number of miles permitted as possible. Since our itinerary covers 23,000 miles, our fare would fall under Oneworld’s lowest tier and come out to $3,599 plus about $800 is taxes and fees.

While we won’t actually be purchasing this ticket today, once you have finalized your itinerary, the booking process is pretty straight-forward.

After filling out passenger information online, you’ll just need to call the first airline you’ll be flying with to complete payment. Remember, to maximize your rewards earnings, you’ll want to use the Platinum Card from American Express to earn 5x Membership Rewards per dollar spent on airfare purchased directly with the airline (with a spend cap of $500k).

If we were to book these same flights without a RTW ticket, we’d have to buy each of them as one-way tickets or break them down into several multi-city tickets — multi-city itineraries are restricted to a maximum of six segments. This would cost upwards $7,000 and would not provide any of the flexibility that comes with the RTW ticket bought through an alliance.

Bottom Line:

Booking a RTW ticket through an airline alliance is a good option for anyone who wants to travel the world with flexibility. Plus, it’s a great way of racking up on a ton of miles on one airline and earning elite status. The major drawback of a RTW ticket is that while you can change of travel, your entire route is pre-determined and you can’t make last minute changes to the cities on your itinerary. The other downside is that not every city is served by every alliance so you may find yourself having to book circuitous routes or even alternative methods of transportation to visit certain cities. While today’s RTW ticket through Oneworld was heck of a lot cheaper than booking each of these flights separately, you might be able save even more money if ticket flexibility and alliance loyalty is not important to you. Check back next to learn how you can book a RTW ticket with ticket brokers and low-cost carriers.

(Just so you know, there may be some affiliate links in this post, but we only recommend items that we believe in and think will benefit you on your travels.)

We’re all about redeeming points and miles for free hotel stays, but everyone runs out of points eventually and sometimes award redemptions are simply not worth it. While Kara and Nate use Booking.com and Agoda to book hotel stays, their go-to-site for booking accommodations is Airbnb. In case you don’t know, Airbnb is a website that allows you to rent houses, apartments, rooms, and other types of spaces (such as this yacht in Montenegro) from other people. Kara and Nate have used Airbnb in over 30 countries and had fantastic experiences (almost) every time. Today, we’ll be covering how you can use to save money on your first Airbnb.

1. Get a $40 Credit

As long as you sign up for Airbnb using our link, you’ll get a $40 credit added to your account. The credit will automatically apply to your first trip of $75 or more — no promo code needed!

2. Complete Your Profile

Once you have your account, take some time to fill out the rest of your profile. By doing this, hosts will get to know you better as a guest and may be more willing to offer discount. First, write a quick blurb about yourself and your travels.

Then, complete as many profile verifications as you can. Profile verifications are a way to connect your Airbnb profile to other information about you, such as, social media profiles and a government-issued ID. Note, information provided to Airbnb as a form of profile verification is never shared with hosts.

3. Politely Negotiate With Hosts

Now that you have a complete profile, you can try negotiating with hosts. Towards the bottom of every listing is a section about the host and a “Contact host” button.

When contacting hosts, you should start by introducing yourself, explaining the purpose of your visit, and then asking for a discount. Remember, you need to get creative when negotiating with your host. You can start by asking for $10, $20, or $30 off per night, but you can also ask to get fees such as the cleaning fee or extra guest charges waived.

4. Book Extra Nights

Most hosts on Airbnb offer discounts for long term stays. While the discounts vary based on the listing, sometimes, it’s cheaper to book more nights than you need. If you plan on making a booking for five or six nights, you should consider booking seven nights to receive the weekly discount. Likewise, if you plan on staying for 26 or 27 nights, you should consider booking 28 nights to receive the monthly discount.

Tip: Earn Delta SkyMiles on Airbnb Stays

If you book your stay by October 31, 2017 and complete your stay by October 31, 2018, you can earn 3 Delta SkyMiles per dollar spent on Airbnb.

All you have to do is go to this site, scroll down to the “Book Your Stay” section, and click the “Book Your Airbnb” button. You’ll be asked for your SkyMiles number and then redirected to Airbnb. As long as you book your stay using the page that opens, you will earn miles for your stay.

Bottom Line:

Airbnb is a great resource for booking accommodations. If you’re going to try it out for your first time, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t take advantage of these tips to save money on your stay. Remember, while the $40 credit only applies to your first stay, you can still use the other strategies to save on other stays.

Have you stayed in an Airbnb before? Share your experiences in the comments below!

(Just so you know, there may be some affiliate links in this post, but we only recommend items that we believe in and think will benefit you on your travels.)

Any travel hacker knows that the fastest way to rack up on miles and points is through credit card sign-up bonuses. However, there are many people who either can’t or simply don’t want to sign up for a new card. Here are nine ways anyone can earn miles and points without applying for credit cards:

1. Eat Out

Most airlines and hotels participate in dining rewards programs where members can earn miles dining within their network of restaurants. This is probably the easiest way to earn miles without much time and effort.

By becoming an “online member” of the American Airlines dining program (which is as simple as signing up for the program and connecting a credit card) you automatically earn 3 AAdvantage miles for every dollar spent at participating restaurants. So, if you were to spend $50 at a participating restaurant you could earn an easy 150 miles just by signing up. Note, each credit can only be registered to one airline’s program.

Here are links to the three major airlines’ programs:

• American Airlines: The AAdvantage Dining Program
• Delta: SkyMiles Dining
• United: MileagePlus Dining

2. Shop Online

As with dining rewards programs, most airlines have shopping portals where you can earn miles by shopping online at select retails. While this is not as seamless as the dining rewards programs, the process of shopping through portals is quite easy. After signing up, all you need to do is search for a store…

…click “Shop now” to be directed to the store…

… and voila, as long as you complete the transaction from the page that opens, you will earn miles for your purchase. Every store has different earning rates and often times, there are promotion periods where earning rates are increased. For instance, if I were to place a $50 order from Macy’s through American’s portal with the promotion being offered at time of writing, I would earn 300 miles. If you’re strategic about your purchases, these bonuses can really add up. In the two years I’ve been a member of American’s shopping program, I’ve earned enough miles to redeem towards a free domestic flight.

Here are links to the three major airlines’ programs:

• American Airlines: AAdvantage eShopping Mall
• Delta: SkyMiles Shopping
• United: MileagePlus Shopping

3. Sign Up for Promotions

Airline and hotel reward programs often have promotions where you can earn bonus miles or points by completing certain tasks. Sometimes tasks are as easy as completing one flight or hotel stay at any destination while other times they can be more onerous. Among the promotions currently being offered are ones which don’t even require you to travel — Alaska Airlines has one where you can earn 3,000 miles just by participating in its dining program, shopping portal and Opinion Terminal.

Here are links to a few promotions currently being offered:

• Alaska Airlines: Take the Dash for Miles Challenge
• IHG: Accelerate Promotion
• JetBlue: Bonuses & Badges

4. Stay Up-To-Date on Social Media

Besides the general promotions airline and hotel reward programs typically offer, many also run special promotions exclusively via social media. For instance, Marriott will now give you up to 45,000 points per year by interacting with them on social media. You’ll earn 750 rewards points just by connecting your Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts.

If you earn the full 45,000 points, you would have enough points for three free nights at a Category 3 hotel such as the JW Marriott Hotel Chengdu or one night at a Category 9 (the highest category) hotel such as the JW Marriott Essex House New York. The best way to find out about promotions like this is to follow airlines and hotels on all social media platforms.

Here is the link to register for Marriott’s promotion:

• Marriott: #RewardsPoints

5. Use Lyft to Get Around

Delta has partnered up with Lyft allowing you to earn miles on every ride you take. All you have to do is link your SkyMiles and Lyft accounts and then you will automatically earn 3 miles per dollar on airport rides and 1 mile per dollar on all other rides. Depending on how much you spend on Lyft rides, this can significantly bump your mileage balance.

JetBlue also has a partnership with Lyft, but you can only earn miles on airport rides and it is limited to just 30 TrueBlue points.

You can only connect your Lyft account to one program so unless you’re really loyal to JetBlue, it would make more sense for you to connect your account with Delta. Also, if you’re new to Lyft, you can get $5 off your first ride by signing up here.

Here are the links you need to start earning miles on Lyft rides:

• Delta
• JetBlue

6. Rent Cars

Just about every major airline and hotel rewards program offer partnerships with car rental agencies.

Opting in to earn miles through car rentals is pretty easy — all you need to fill in your rewards preferences on your profile. For this example we looked at Avis, but typically you can always find this form by the “My Profile” page. You can earn anywhere between a few hundred to a few thousand award miles through car rentals — American Airlines AAdvantage members earn a flat 500 miles for every Avis rental.

7. Complete Surveys

If you’ve got some spare time, you can earn miles by sharing your opinions in online surveys. I’ve completed one survey through the Alaska Airlines Opinion Terminal since they offer a 400 mile bonus after completing your first survey and an additional 1,000 miles as a part of the Take the Dash for Miles Challenge previously discussed, but don’t see myself using this method again — unless there is another promotion being offered. Personally, I value the effort needed to complete the surveys more than the amount of miles you can earn, but it could make more sense for you if you are short a couple miles needed for an award and don’t want to spend anything out of pocket.

Here are links to several sites which award miles for completing surveys:

• Alaska Airlines: The Opinion Terminal
• JetBlue: Points For Surveys
• United: Opinion Miles Club

8. Make Donations

Another easy way of earning miles is by donating to charity. American Airlines will give you a generous 10 AAdvantage miles for every $1 you donate to any of its partners. Regardless how much you choose to give back, it will be a win-win!

Here are links to donate to the charities partnered with American:

• Susan G. Komen
• Stand Up To Cancer
• National Foundation for Cancer Research

9. Pay for Travel

The final and hopefully most obvious way of earning miles is through paid travel. Regardless how short or how cheap your flight is, you should never complete a booking without putting in your frequent traveler number. Be sure to check out last week’s post on mileage runs to learn how you can maximize your earnings through paid travel.

Bottom Line:

There are many ways to easily earn miles and points without signing up for credit cards. Keep in mind, you should try your best to avoid buying miles and points. Although airlines and hotels frequently offer sales and bonuses for buying them, more often than not, it’s not worth it. Only use this as a last resort when your account is just short for a redemption.

Do you have a different method of earning miles? Share your tips in the comments below!

(Just so you know, there may be some affiliate links in this post, but we only recommend items that we believe in and think will benefit you on your travels.)

If you’ve been following the vlog for a while, you’ll know that right before Kara and Nate left to travel full time, Nate went on the ultimate mileage run flying over 92,000 miles in just 15 days. While many think that Nate is crazy and do not understand why someone would put themselves through that, this in fact was a common practice of anyone into miles and points. Since then, airlines have changed their rewards earnings structures and consequently made it more difficult to justify mileage runs. That being said, they are still possible and can be just as lucrative as ever before. Before we dive into how you can book your own mileage run, I want to make sure everyone understands what they are and why people go on them.

What?

A mileage run is a trip you go on — often with the most circuitous routing possible — solely to earn miles and/or airline elite status. The destination is irrelevant because you will most likely have a quick turnaround and spend very little time on the ground.

Why?

There are three reasons why someone would go on a mileage run:

1. Earn Redeemable Miles For Cheap

Although many airlines implemented new revenue-based earning structures making it tougher to earn miles redeemable towards free flights, there are still ways to earn those miles for cheap through mileage runs (more on that later). In Nate’s case, he left his mileage run about 300,000 American Airlines miles richer — which Kara and Nate value at about $4,500 worth of free flights.

2. Earn Elite Status

In addition to earning award miles, flying also yields miles and dollars which count towards qualifying for elite status. While every airline’s program has its own name for these miles and dollars — American Airlines calls them EQMs and EQDs, Delta calls them MQMs and MQDs, United calls them PQMs and PQDs — elite qualifying miles are always earned based on the distance you travel per year. By the end of Nate’s mileage run, he had earned Executive Platinum status with American Airlines which comes with perks such as upgrades, priority boarding and most notably, access to first class lounges when traveling internationally. Kara and Nate would not have had access to five out of their seven favorite airport lounges if it weren’t for Nate’s Executive Platinum status.

3. For the Fun of it

While sitting in an aluminum tube for hours with no destination may sound like a nightmare for some, mileage runs can actually be a lot of fun — especially if you’re sitting in a premium cabin with lie-flat seats and are spoiled with an abundance of food. Although Nate basically lived on planes between three continents for two weeks, his business class seats made for a very comfortable trip. If nothing else, you’ll have a great story to share!

How?

As previously mentioned, many airlines have switched to revenue-based mileage accrual, meaning that you will earn award miles solely based on how much you spend. However, there are some loopholes…

1. Travel Portals

The first loophole is to book your flight through a travel portal such as Chase’s and Citi’s or as a part of a vacation package.

The reason we do this is because they typically code as bulk fares and earn both award miles and elite qualifying dollars based on distance. You can find the earning structures of bulk fares on airlines’ websites —  American Airlines refers to them as Special Fares, Delta as Exception Fares and United as Specialty Tickets.

For instance, if we book a $138 one way economy ticket from Los Angeles (LAX) to New York (JFK) directly through American Airlines without elite status, we would earn 580 award miles, 2,475 elite qualifying miles (EQMs) and 116 elite qualifying dollars (EQDs). On the other hand, if we booked the same flight as a special fare, we would earn 1,237 award miles, 2,475 EQMs and 247.50 EQDs.

That being said, simply booking a flight through one of the travel portals mentioned does not automatically mean that it will code as a bulk fare. You must always check the rules of the fare before booking. You do this by clicking “View Details,” then “View Rules and Policies,” and finally “See Airline Fare Rules.”

Once you’re there you do a quick search (using CTRL or Command F) for the word “wholesale.” If it’s there, you have successfully found yourself a bulk fare. In this case, by booking through the Chase travel portal, we would be earning over double the amount of award miles and over $100 EQDs than if we booked directly through the airline.

2. Partner Airlines

Alternatively, you can book your flight as you ordinarily would and just credit the miles to a partner airline. Besides the three U.S. legacy carriers, most partner airlines still have distance-based mileage accrual and any elite status earned with that airline would still be recognized throughout the airline’s alliance. When deciding where to credit your miles you should use a tool called Where to Credit. It’s free and easy to use — all you need to do is input the airline and booking class you are flying.

It then presents you with all your options. In our case, we would earn the most award miles by crediting our American Airlines “O” ticket to a partner such as Etihad or Finnair to earn 100% award miles per mile flown. That being said, crediting our flight to Etihad or Finnair wouldn’t automatically be the best option. For instance, it wouldn’t make sense if we don’t have any miles with the airlines yet and don’t have a plan for earning more with them in the future.

Bottom Line:

While airlines have changed their rewards earnings structures, mileage runs are not completely dead and anyone can still go on them. In order to really make them worth it, you should be booking a mistake fare or other great deal. Nate goes into full detail on mistake fares in his Mistake Fare Manual, but you can also find good deals and inspiration by following the Mileage Run Forum on FlyerTalk and Nate’s Flight Deal Notifications.

Did this article tempt you to go on a mileage run? Share your experiences below!

(Just so you know, there may be some affiliate links in this post, but we only recommend items that we believe in and think will benefit you on your travels.)

For most people, the biggest hassle of air travel is waiting in line for security. With passenger traffic rapidly increasing, the lines at TSA (Transportation Security Administration) and CBP (Customs and Border Protection) are becoming unbearably long. However, there are ways for you to reduce the time spent waiting in lines and instead spend that time relaxing in a lounge. With TSA PreCheck, you can have access to expedited security lanes where you don’t have to remove your shoes, belts, liquids, light jackets or laptops.

While you can pay $85 and apply for the program itself, you can also get it by joining Global Entry for $100. Global Entry allows you to fast-track through customs and comes with PreCheck, so the $15 premium should be a no-brainer. Best of all, it is very easy to get PreCheck and Global Entry for free — here are a handful of cards that will automatically reimburse your enrollment fee (due every five years):

Card	Credit Frequency
Chase Sapphire Reserve®	4 years
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card	4 years
Platinum Card From American Express®	4 years (plus authorized users)

We don’t recommend redeeming points to cover the fee, but you can do so with the following rewards programs:

Rewards Program	Cost
Club Carlson	65,000 points
Hilton HHonors	30,000 points
IHG Rewards Club	30,000 points
Marriott Rewards	25,000 points
United MileagePlus	10,000 miles

Worth mentioning, several rewards programs also award free PreCheck and Global Entry to its elites. If you’re a Delta Diamond Medallion or Platinum Medallion member, United Global Services, MileagePlus Premier 1K or MileagePlus Premier Platinum member or Orbitz Rewards Platinum member, you’re eligible.

Now that you know how you can get it for free, let’s take a closer look at how the two enrollment processes work. Note, you don’t need to submit two applications if you plan on applying for Global Entry.

1. Complete Application

The first step of applying for PreCheck is submitting an application either online or at an enrollment center.

The application asks for some basic biographical information and should not take more than five minutes to complete.

Completing the application for Global Entry is not as straight-forward and will take you about 15-20 minutes. First, you need to crease a Login.gov account and fill out your profile.

Once you have your profile, you can fill out the application. To complete the application, you’ll need documents such as a passport and driver’s license, as well as other information, such as, employment history and travel history.

2. Make an Appointment

The next step of the enrollment process is making an appointment at an application center. While you can make an appointment immediately after filling out the online application for PreCheck, you’ll need to wait for a conditional approval before you can schedule your appointment for Global Entry. Alternatively, since making appointments for Global Entry can take months, if you’ve been conditionally approved for the program, you can skip this step by enrolling on arrival into the United States.

3. Have Your Interview

Both programs require you to have a brief in-person interview at an application center. During the interview, you’ll be asked about your travel habits, have your picture taken and submit fingerprints. You’ll also need to bring certain documents like a copy of the conditional approval notification, your passport and proof of residency. Often times, you’ll find out on the spot if you’ve been approved for the program.

4. Store Your Known Traveler Number

If you’ve been approved for either program, your notification letter will come with a nine-digit Known Traveler Number. This number will be your key to expedited security so you want to make sure you don’t lose it. You’ll need to include it in every flight reservation to activate the PreCheck benefit. You can also attach the number to your frequent traveler profiles so that it is automatically added to all new reservations. Note, you don’t need to travel with your Global Entry card in order to use the expedited customs lanes — you can head straight to the designated kiosks with just your passport.

Can you tell how excited we were to be back in the USA? ? Still asleep from our overnight flight the customs officer asked me how long I had been gone….. "Um, January?" ???❤️?

A post shared by Kara And Nate ✈️ (@karaandnate13) on Jun 27, 2017 at 12:43pm PDT

Bottom Line:

Even if you’re just an occasional traveler, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t apply for PreCheck or Global Entry — especially because of how easy it is to get for free. Although both programs require an in-person interview to complete enrollment, each membership lasts for five years. On the long run, the convenience provided by the programs will definitely make up for the initial hassle of joining.

Do you use PreCheck or Global Entry? Please share your experiences below!