Before having kids, my husband and I loved to travel. When our family grew, we agreed that we wanted to continue to prioritize exploring the world as much as we could. Unlike it may seem on Instagram, no one comes with a magic wand and whisks us away on vacation — we make sacrifices to design these experiences, and we work hard to make them happen.
Now that we’re paying for four, credit cards play a major role in our ability to swing our travel, but perhaps not in the way you might think. We don’t rack up debt, and because we pay our bills in full each month, we don’t pay any interest. Instead, we rely heavily on the points and miles that we largely earn from credit card rewards. And with the national average domestic airline itinerary fare hovering just below $400 in the fourth quarter of last year, according to the Department of Transportation, every bit we can defray helps.
Here are some of the ways that credit cards help make our family’s travel dreams a reality — for a fraction of the out-of-pocket cost.
(Nearly) free flights
The rewards we earn from the many credit cards we hold help fly our family for almost free. Some cards are branded to a particular airline and earn frequent flyer miles that can be used for flights on that airline and its partners. Other credit cards earn rewards that aren’t locked into one brand and offer more flexibility. You can transfer those rewards to several partner airlines, which allows you to shop around to find the best flight options for your family. If you have enough miles to cover the flights, you’ll just pay a nominal charge for taxes and fees out of pocket: They start at $5.60 one way per person if you’re traveling in the U.S.
When I tell inquiring friends how our rewards pay for flights, I’m often met with skeptical stares. “Don’t they charge so many miles? I’ll never earn enough.” Though the cost of award flights in miles can seem outrageous many times, there are still values to be found….
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