Using credit card points to travel for backpacking

[Jeffrey H]

Feels like a decent strategy. Obviously, there are pitfalls but assuming I know how to pay my bills on time I’m just looking for recommendations of which cards may give the best flight/car rental perks or any other backpacking related perks I should be thinking about.

[David Thomas]

Alaska Airlines has a credit card with great benefits.  Between actual butt-in-seat miles, household and business spending on their cards, I struggle to keep my miles balance below 600,000.  Some cool round trips (like Adak) are only 15,000 miles, while more common destinations are 25k-50k miles depending on the season.  They also offer really high signing bonuses (worth a round trip or two once you’ve spent $3000), and you get an annual “companion fare” to bring someone else for only an additional $99 + taxes, regardless of the base fare (so it can be worth $200-$700, if you spend $6000/year).  With continued activity, the miles never expire.  And one’s first checked bag, for everyone in the party when purchased with the card, is free (on Alaska Airlines).

It’s got a $95 annual fee, but for my family, it’s worth many, many times that.  To the point that my wife and I each have another such card in addition to the shared household one.

Since you can often put your groceries, gas, power, phone, Internet, etc on such a card, it’s not hard to get a decent annual spend without buying anything new.

Locally, they’re almost universally used.  Like not stating your phone prefix is 907, it’s a given that your credit starts with 4147.  I figure on average, the mile earned per dollar spent returns 1.5 cents to me, so a 1.5%reward, but for a few trips, like Adak, the miles are worth more like 6-8 cents each.

[Mark Verber]

A lot depends on how much you fly and to/from where. There are a few websites like thepointsguy.com nerdwallet.com that rank/review cards.

A good friend is using United which has work out really well for him. Members of my family  went with SWA or Alaska Air. With SWA if you earn 130k miles in a year (flights or spending) you get a companion pass (a named person can join you on any flight for $50). This benefit lasts the rest of the calendar year you earned it and then the next full year. If you start the paperwork for a personal and business credit card in Dec they land in Jan giving you something like 110k points. Run some money through the credit cards and maybe take a couple of flights for work and you can qualify for the companion ticket.

Historically we have done cards with no annual fees.  The next few years we are doing a lot of travel. After calculating benefits vs costs, we picked up a Chase Sapphire Reserve last year which has an annual fee of something like $695/year?! Due to our current  activities we have already gotten more value back via points and their associated benefits than the fee. Access to the airport lounges was really helpful for several trips. One of the nice things is that points on the card can be directly transferred to several frequent flying programs (including the ones we are invested in)… and because we get 3-10x points per qualifying transactions, we are racking up points significantly faster than we would have natively.

[Aubrey W. Bogard]

As mentioned above, The Points Guy and other similar sites have some good intel on this topic, i.e., pros and cons of airline/hotel loyalty cards versus those like Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve that accumulate points that can be transferred to multiple airlines and hotel chains.

I went down a rabbit hole studying all of the different options. I learned some things that were counter-intuitive to me. Those that play the game advocated by The Points Guy and others will accumulate multiple credit cards chasing the initial bonuses and, over time, accumulate enough points/miles to fly around the world in business or first class and stay in expensive hotels all using points/miles. There are even services that will assist with how to get the most travel benefit for one’s points if one is willing to subscribe or pay for the assistance.

If you live near a hub for an airline like David, getting a card with their perks may make sense if you travel often enough. Airlines often have multiple cards, sometimes issued by more than one bank with different annual fees and perks. One criticism of some airline and hotel programs is that they have gone to dynamic pricing for their points/miles; i.e., the bonus that one gets with a card may not actually cover as much as one might think.

Travel costs have increased significantly post-pandemic, and the different loyalty programs are changing as a result. There is a pilot shortage, and pilot unions are negotiating significant pay increases that will have to be covered by higher ticket prices. Fuel costs are up. There are record numbers of flights and travelers because of the pent up travel demand.

[Jeffrey H]

Forgot to say thanks in advance. Good stuff.

[AK Granola]

Like David and others in  907 , I  use Alaska Air’s card. I also have to say, I’ve never ever in my lifetime of world travel, experienced another airline as customer-friendly as Alaska. Maybe Thai Air; I love those hot towels! When I’ve had to change plans, even last minute, the agents work with me and get me the best flight and seat at lowest cost they can. They’re just top notch. They’re not the cheapest flights sometimes, but they’re hands down the best. The one time my luggage went awry, they had it to Alaska the next day and offered me 5000 airline miles to pick it up myself from the airport (a 10 minute drive). And if I didn’t like that, they’d deliver it that day.

The card you choose to use really depends on where you live and where you’re going. Maybe look at the routes first, see what is covered and then the card deals.

[Worth Donaldson]

I’m in agreement with David. I usually acquire enough points every 2 years to fly two of us from the Mid-West to Alaska. Being a canoeist I usually find it cheaper to fly 1st class due to each of us having an extra free bag to accommodate the tandem Pakboat and food barrel vs mailing them to our destination as long a second smaller commercial air carrier is not in the picture. Their allotment for number of bags and weight limits are usually less.

[David Thomas]

Worth: Have you canoed the OTHER national wilderness canoeing area?  That one that isn’t Boundary Waters, but is here on the Kenai Peninsula.  If so, I’ve got a Mad River canoe that works well for two people on a long weekend week out on those canoe trails.  And have helped people set up a car shuttle if they opt to get flushed down the Swanson River after they’ve visited as many lakes as they wanted.

[Worth Donaldson]

David, all my paddling in Alaska has been in or near the Gates of the Arctic (Kokolik, John, Kobuk, Koyukuk). We are hoping to paddle the Lower Stikine next year. I’ll keep your offer in mind. Thank you!

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