Travel Hacking and Maximizing Your Credit Card Rewards with Travel AF

Sneak Peek:

Austin:    00:00:00    Travel hacking itself is really one's ability to use credit card rewards to pay for travel, including flights and hotels that you would've otherwise paid for cash. So in October of last year, I took my first trip and it was like 30,000 Amex points round trip for me and my fiance, and it only costed about 25 bucks. So after that trip, I was hooked. I was like, this is exactly what I want to be doing. It's traveling for an incredibly affordable price. Since October, 2022, I have not paid for a flight outside of taxes and fees.  

Introduction: Welcome to Badass Digital Nomads, where we're pushing the boundaries of remote work and travel, all while staying grounded with a little bit of old school philosophy, self-development, and business advice from our guests.

Kristin Wilson, Host:    00:01:02    Hey there, Kristin Wilson from Traveling with Kristin here and welcome to episode 233 of Badass Digital Nomads. My guest today is Austin Riffe, who is quote your personal trainer for inexpensive yet luxurious award travel end quote. And Austin is the founder of Travel AF, and he is here today to share with you his credit card and travel hacking tips and expertise. And Austin is actually the brother of Chelsea Riffe, who we had on the podcast recently. That was an episode 229. So definitely make sure to check that episode out in case you missed it. And I'm so excited to jump into today's episode with you and share with you these great hacks and tips. Now, one of the cards that Austin brought up a couple of times that he said he really liked was the Chase card, and especially when you're using it as part of the Chase trifecta, and he will explain what that is.  

Kristin:    00:02:13    And so I am a long time holder of the Chase Sapphire travel card and I actually have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. And so I'll link to that card with my refer a friend link in the show notes and you can check it out and see if it's a good fit for you. You can get 60,000 bonus points when you sign up, which is worth $900 towards travel. And this is after you spend $4,000 in the first three months on the card. I love this card because it gives you a $300 per year annual travel credit, and that is so much fun because you just see the credits lining up in your account, whether it's for an Uber ride or anything travel related. They'll just automatically credit your account and refund you each transaction. And then you also earn five x points on flights, three x points on dining, and you get an extra 50% more value for your points when you redeem them for travel on the site.  

Kristin:    00:03:23    And so I will link to that card that I have down in the show notes. And then I'll also share with you the link to the Delta Sky Miles reserve card that I've been using through American Express since 2007. And for a limited time, you can receive up to 110,000 bonus miles on this card instead of the normal 70,000 bonus miles. So that's with spending at least $12,000 in qualifying purchases in the first six months that you have your cards, you can stretch out that spending over those six months. So you'll get a hundred thousand bonus miles there plus another 10,000 bonus miles after you make a Delta purchase with your card in the next six months. So if you are a fan of Delta Airlines or Sky Team Airlines and you're looking for a good airline card and you fly often with Delta, then I would recommend this one.  

Kristin:    00:04:27    As I said, I've had it since 2007 and I'll also share my link for that with you as well. I'll also give you some tips at the end of this episode if you are interested in learning travel hacking for yourself. When we stopped recording this podcast, Austin gave me some sources for you to get started that he didn't include in the show. So I'll give you those at the end and enjoy today's episode. I also wanna thank Creative Soul from Canada for leaving a five star review recently on Apple Podcast. They say thank you for always being an inspiration. As a Canadian, we have other challenges with foreign exchange and tax treaties, but I find that with all the tidbits that you share, my world is opening up and I can't wait for this journey to continue. I know that it's not just possible, but it will be.  

Kristin:    00:05:27    Thank you. Thank you Creative Soul for your review, and I'm so thankful for all of the 202 ratings and reviews that we have now on Apple Podcasts and more on Spotify and other platforms. So keep them coming guys. We love reading your reviews and it gives all of us here, uh, myself and Kayla and TJ and the editors and project managers a big boost when we see that you're listening and that you're liking what you hear. So without further ado, I am happy to introduce you to Austin and I'll see you on the other side.

Podcast Interview:

Kristin:  Well, welcome Austin to Badass Digital Nomads. Where are you joining us from today?  

Austin:    00:06:12    Hi Kristin. Thanks for having me on. I am located in Atlanta, Georgia.  

Kristin:    00:06:18    Oh, is that because you're close to such a big international airport?  

Austin:    00:06:22    I wish it was. The airport is definitely a hub. It's, it's fun to get around everywhere, international, domestic, but no, I actually, I recently purchased a home in September of last year, so I'm a new homeowner.  

Kristin:    00:06:36    Oh, congratulations. Which neighborhood are you in?  

Austin:    00:06:40    Thank you. Yeah, I'm located in Alpharetta, so it's a bit north of Atlanta, just outside of, uh, the city.  

Kristin:    00:06:47    Okay, okay. That sounds nice. Do you have family and friends over there or how did you choose that area?  

Austin:    00:06:52    Sure. So my family part of it is in North Georgia, but I'm actually here. My fiance had a job opportunity in Atlanta and I decided to move to kind of join her and then I ended up having a job as well. So we've been here since 2019, so about four years now. And you know, after renting for so long, I think we finally decided, hey, like we're ready to settle down here. We love it here, we're having a great time. So yeah, we decided to purchase.  

Kristin:    00:07:25    Congrats and congrats on your engagement as well.  

Austin:    00:07:28    Thank you. Thank you.  

Kristin:    00:07:29    So your bio, I love this, says that you are a personal trainer for travel hacking, basically a personal trainer for helping people get affordable, but luxurious award travel. So what does that mean and what were you doing before you were a travel hacker and travel credit card expert?  

Austin:    00:07:50    Yeah, so travel hacking itself is really one's ability to use credit card rewards to pay for travel, including flights and hotels that you would've otherwise paid for cash. So you can think of it kind of like, um, any credit card you have that transfers to an airline or hotel that is actually a currency and you can save money by using credit card rewards as a currency. So that's kind of like the backstory behind travel hacking itself. My story is that in October of last year, I took my first trip and it was like 30,000 Amex points round trip for me and my fiance, and it only costed about 25 bucks. So after that trip I was hooked. I was like, this is exactly what I want to be doing, is traveling for an incredibly affordable price. And the points that I had used were points I received from a signup bonus. So it was already free travel essentially because I got the bonus and then I ended up just spending 25 bucks. So I was hooked from the beginning and since October, 2022, I have not paid for a flight outside of taxes and fees. So it's pretty, it's been quite a ride and I'm excited to share that, uh, with your audience.  

Kristin:    00:09:17    Yeah. And where did you go on that first trip?  

Austin:    00:09:21    I think we ended up going to Montana. It was Atlanta to Bozeman and that flight was over 500 per person, so it, it'd been near a thousand or over a thousand bucks. And like I said, we only used 30,000 points, $25. So we saved, I mean over $900, what is that, $975 or so on just that trip. And that's immediately when I realized, oh, this is a real thing. And um, this can be done, you know, again and again.  

Kristin:    00:09:55    Yeah, that's amazing because I was gonna say that, that any flight to Montana is expensive, so that's a really good deal. And we're gonna get into some of the specifics of travel hacking, uh, in just a minute. But, uh, what was your job before you were doing travel hacking? Or are you still working full-time in a different type of job?  

Austin:    00:10:17    Yeah, that's a great question. So I have a healthcare tech and sales background. I was working at UKG Ultimate Kronos group for about eight months, which is a payroll and HR tech company. But I, before then I was actually a pharmaceutical sales rep, and in the past two years I've been in healthcare tech as a customer success manager. So software has been a huge part of my, I guess you could say my professional background in the past four years. And I think I transitioned into the travel hacking just because I, I knew I wanted to start something, I've been a lifelong learner, a personal finance, and I knew I wanted to do something in the space. So while I was working, I was taking different certifications. I ended up taking a certified financial training course, and that is where I learned some of the financial principles to help people with their personal goals.  

Austin:    00:11:21    So I was acting kind of as like a money coach or a certified financial trainer. And that was through the financial gym and through the financial gym. They kind of had, uh, they supported me along my coaching journey, but I realized while working, it's one thing to have a full-time job and a business, but I realized that I wanted to pivot into the travel hacking space because of that, honestly, that first trip. And I was, you know, I wasn't, um, as happy, I guess you could say with the health or the money coaching only because I think with money coaching and financial advising, things like that, there's a lot to it. Whereas travel hacking is something I was a little bit more passionate about. So I know that was a long answer. I guess in summary, um, I am working full-time, but I'm also doing the travel hacking business on the side. And I think one day would be awesome to make the travel hacking a full-time business.  

Kristin:    00:12:22    Yeah, definitely. I think everyone or a lot of people can relate to that to wanting to have a side hustle or a passion project that they're working on and then potentially making it their full-time job someday. But that's interesting that you have this background in personal finance and working as a coach. Now, I read online that you actually were in debt yourself and you started researching through finance podcasts and online of how to get yourself out of debt, and now you've become something of a financial expert here. So can you tell us a bit about your journey of getting into and out of debt and maybe passing on some of the key tips that helped you get out faster?  

Austin:    00:13:10    Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, the bio that I have and what I think has been so interesting about this journey is I, I think since college I've really just never been good with money. I, I feel like, unfortunately I didn't have the mentor or the coach or whatever you want to call it, to really help me with my personal finance. I was li living paycheck to paycheck. I was racking up student loan debt as well as credit card debt, things that I think most people can probably relate to. And I knew I needed to really take this upon myself to learn and understand what it is to improve my financial situation. So I got hooked on the Dave Ramsey podcast, and I dunno if you're aware of Dave Ramsey, but he is a, he's a financial guru himself and he really teaches the five, or I believe it's the Seven Baby Steps to Financial Freedom.  

Austin:    00:14:12    And one of the main things that he teaches is the debt-free principles. So you save a thousand dollars in your emergency fund and then you are to pay off all of your debt. And then step three is the savings, continuing your emergency fund. So I had been in that cycle where I had a thousand dollars saved and then I was paying off debt for probably, I would say it was eight and a half months that I finally became debt-free. So it was very quick and I thank Dave Ramsey for that fire lit under my butt to really pay off my debt. But I had been getting in the cycle of step three where I was saving for emergencies, something would come up and then I'd be back in debt saving for emergencies, something come up and back in debt. So I realized I, I needed something else.  

Austin:    00:15:05    And that's when I found Shannon McClays podcast and I decided to follow her principles and Ramit Sethi, I kind of took all these different financial gurus and figured out what worked better for me. And I realized Dave Ramsey was great for paying off debt, but he wasn't great for hitting my savings goals. And I think that's where, uh, Shannon McClay, um, her podcast really shared with me the goals based budgeting system where I realized, wait, I, I don't need to save every single dollar. I don't need to be paying off debt every single paycheck. I can kind of give myself some room to breathe so I have money for my groceries, I have money for my rent, things like that, and still enjoy my money as well. So one thing Dave Ramsey would say no to is a vacation. And, um, whereas you know, Shannon McClay, she's saying, Hey, you can take a vacation.  

Austin:    00:15:59    Just know it might take you longer to pay off that debt. So I think there's some, you know, going back and forth on these different, um, financial principles and you just figure out what works for you. And I think a piece of all of them have helped me get to where I am today. So I'm debt free, 8,900, I paid off in eight and a half months making $48,000. So it was, um, not that much income, but it was a ton of debt at the time. Almost $10,000 for me alone in student loans and credit cards. And like I said, I paid that off in less than a year.  

Kristin:    00:16:35    Yeah, that's amazing. You know, I think it's so strange the way that our educational system is where we don't learn any personal finance at all. I don't think. And I went through college majored in business and grad school. I mean, I was learning how to do accounting for Fortune 500 corporations, but yet no one had taught me anything about personal finance. So I think it's kind of the same for everyone. You need to seek out the answers to not just money, but all other sorts of buckets of life. Uh, I know Rich Dad, Poor Dad is a really popular book as well. Uh, what is Shannon's podcast called? Just so we can add it to the show notes? Sure.  

Austin:    00:17:17    It's Martinis and Your Money.  

Kristin:    00:17:20    Oh, Martinis and Your Money. Okay. I've seen that one. And what would you say was the biggest expense that you cut or lowered to be able to pay off that 10K in a year?  

Austin:    00:17:32    Yeah, so I think more than anything it wasn't one specific spending. I, I would say dining and drinks is a huge spend of mine. I love going out and having a good time with my friends. So there was that, but at the same time, I think it was just the behavior change of realizing, Hey, my priorities are to really pay off this debt and save my money. And I really got into this hyper-focused mindset. And that's what I think Dave Ramsey is so good at is motivating people to get in that mindset of nothing but debt repayment and saving. I think that's what led me to paying off that 8,900 in eight and a half months is is that that fire under my butt saying, okay, everything I get, I gotta pay it. Everything, you know, every little thing I earn I have to save or pay off my debt. And like I said, it was, it was better to start that way so that I had a fresh, clean slate. But I think as I matured and more costs came into the picture, I realized I don't wanna live in that scarcity mindset. I, I want something else. I want to enjoy my money as well. And that's when I found Martinis and Your Money podcast and followed that as well as Ramit Sethi and, and like you said, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, things like that have, have also influenced me as well.  

Kristin:    00:18:55    Yeah, it seems like these days expenses keep going up for different reasons, you know, because of inflation and because of oil prices and all of these things, but it's also the format that we're being charged for goods and services. It's no longer that you wanna buy something and you just buy it once you have to pay a subscription to use it. And so it's kind of like this death by a thousand cuts that I've noticed when I, especially looking at my business expenses, there's so many things that I need, but these are, you know, recurring monthly fees that add up a lot. And I know there's some services, I don't recall the names of them, you might know them actually. There's some that you can link your bank accounts and credit cards and they can find all of the subscriptions that you're paying for and help you cancel them. Have you used that service?  

Austin:    00:19:50    So I haven't, but I, I think what you might be mentioning is, I think it's like Rocket Money. Yeah. Might be one. I, I could be wrong, so don't quote me on that. But I think one of them was Rocket Money. I've actually never, thankfully I've never had to use that because I look at my bank just logging in and I'll kind of check it weekly or monthly, kind of depending how busy I am. And I'm with you a hundred percent. I had so many subscriptions to all the different streaming platforms. And I think over time, for me personally, it was just looking at my bank and and being like, Hey, do I need this? Yes, no, can I cancel it? And things like that. So it was just a checking in on the bank itself and seeing where, you know, where I could cut costs was definitely impactful. But like you said, there are apps out there that you can absolutely get to make it easier for you to find those places to cut some costs.  

Kristin:    00:20:47    I think it's also good to do it the old fashioned way because it allows you to go with a fine tooth comb through all of these expenses and as you mentioned, ask yourself that question. So rather than having software do it for you where you don't even remember all of those subscriptions or why you signed up for them. It's almost like the Marie Kondo method of discarding items. But you're discarding expenses and you come face-to-face with each one, whether it's a 299, you know, apple storage fee or a $500 a year recurring bill for something and you can just, you know, ask, do I need this? Yes, no. And make that decision on a per case basis so that you can reflect on, you know, why do I have this in the first place? Do I need it and can we cut it out? And so I think that's what I've been doing. I love it. And it seems like something you need to do on a, on an annual basis because these costs just creep back in. Yep. Somehow.  

Austin:    00:21:53    Yeah, it is crazy. I, I don't know exactly where I read this or what, you know, what source it was exactly. So don't quote me on this, but I've, I had read somewhere that it was like, income hasn't changed all that much, but costs have, you know, of course inflation and even just the housing during COVID has exploded, but our income is one thing that that hasn't changed drastically. Same with educational institutions, colleges, they have increased their prices for tuition, again, income still playing this, this role of, of not, um, increasing drastically compared to costs. And I thought that was pretty interesting 'cause I'm realizing, well hey, we need, we all need to be making some more money then. Um, so yeah, that's, um, part of uh, I guess not why I am here, but also for, I think as far as just income itself, I think it is something that everyone should be mindful of and, and absolutely look for other avenues if you can.  

Kristin:    00:22:57    Yeah. And for everyone who's, you know, saving money right now to travel or for a move overseas, things like that, these are all some good things to be thinking about as you curtail your expenses. But I do know what you're referring to with that quote. It was something about how expenses have changed and the way that we're charged for goods and services has changed. But most people still only have one income stream. Yes. And so if you can have multiple income streams to offset these multiple expenses, then it's like diversifying your income and just providing more revenue for you. And that's what I've been doing as well since I started working in my own business in, in 2018 with content. So I started my consulting company back in 2011 where I shifted from my main revenue stream being real estate and real estate commissions to my main revenue stream being consulting, but it was still one primary revenue stream until I started adding affiliate marketing and all sorts of other things.  

Kristin:    00:24:06    And it's just a lifestyle and a, a lifetime that you continue growing those streams and then sometimes things kind of reach their full potential and you move on to other things because if you're not spending attention on the revenue streams that you have, then those will shrink even if it's passive income, unless it's investing in which case, you know, you can just kind of set it and forget it. But, um, as you were mentioning with mindset, mindset is so important to really just focus on what is your goal right now? Is it increasing your income? Is it reducing your debt? Is it both? And just being really focused on that. And even if it's something else, if it's trying to get into shape or learn a new skill or learn a language, there's so many different things pulling at our attention right now, <laugh> in, in the world and in your personal lives and and in business and just your job.  

Kristin:    00:25:05    You know, whether you run your own business or if you work for yourself. There's just so many competing demands on our time and when you really look at the number of things that you do in a day and the number of responsibilities that you have over the course of a year, it's quite a lot. So I think we all should, you know, give ourselves a pat on the back, but also choose a singular focus for the year, for the month, for the quarter, for whatever makes sense to you. And then keep chipping away at that until you reach your goal. 'cause it's uh, kind kind of like a common human thing to have multiple projects that are ongoing and not finished. <laugh>.  

Austin:    00:25:47    Absolutely.  

Kristin:    00:25:47    Yeah. Yeah.  

Kristin's Amazon Store

Kristin:    00:25:52    Kristin here with Black Friday right around the corner. You are surely looking for some of the best deals of the year out there, but did you know that I have an Amazon store? You can go to amazon.com/shop/travelingwithKristin and check out all of my favorite tech remote office and travel tools, remote work accessories, podcast equipment, travel gear backpacks, health wellness, productivity journals, books and more. That's at amazon.com/shop/travelingwithKristin. And you can check out all of the great gear on my Amazon storefront and also take advantage of those Black Friday discounts and deals. I'll link to that store in the show notes at amazon.com/shop/travelingwithKristin or just Google Traveling with Kristin, Amazon and it will pop right up.

Kristin:  How did you get into travel hacking? Did you pay off your debt and then this piqued your interest or where did that come into the picture?  

Austin:    00:27:07    Yeah, so I think after the certified financial training course and working with people who had debt, I realized it just was making me feel very negative. Not in the sense of like, of course there were wins that we would, you know, hey, we paid off this much, let's celebrate. That's all great. But I think generally speaking, there was a part of the financial coaching that I felt wasn't as fun as travel hacking. And, and in October of 2022 when I took that first trip and I knew, okay, I want to be doing something in, in the financial space, but this personal coaching, it felt like it was almost taking a toll on me hearing some of these stories and, and um, hey, maybe I don't have the personality for it, who knows? But I just knew I really wanted to pivot into helping people with their finances, but in a specific sector, which would be credit cards.  

Austin:    00:28:09    And I knew I didn't wanna do counseling, I didn't really wanna be a credit card counselor, so I just realized well maybe I can make this credit card hacking thing into my own kind of sector of finance where it's the people who they are debt free, they're responsible with their credit cards, they pay 'em off every month, they have a good credit score, they're willing to learn a new skill. These are the types of people that I wanted to work with. And I realized, wait, this is the perfect audience that I've been looking for, is the people who are travel hacking because they are typically the ones who know how to use, uh, a credit card. They know how to pay it off, they know the financial implications. Um, things like that where I wasn't hearing that or wasn't getting much of that as a financial coach.  

Austin:    00:29:01    So I feel as though, hey, I could have done a better job as a financial coach. So I feel as though, hey, I could have done a better job as a fin financial coach, but I also think, um, I was more passionate about the other side of it, which was the vacations, the travel, things of that. And I know Kristin, probably you more than anyone loves to travel around the world, so I'm sure you also had the travel bug at one point, or maybe still do. And um, I think that that ultimately hit me was after that first trip, I'm like, yes, this is it. This is what I've been looking for, this is the audience I wanna work with. The communities online are are so fun, they're so helpful and everyone's trying to save money. So it, it's just been super fun.  

Kristin:    00:29:46    Do you think that they, we will keep getting more and more opportunities for travel hacking and loyalty programs and earning points? Or do you think that the travel industry and the, and the financial products industry will start curtailing these opportunities? So we've heard, uh, many of us about airlines devaluing their frequent flyer miles for example, but then it seems like in the credit card sphere that the bonuses keep growing and the perks keep growing. So what's your view on that? Do you think that it's because of all of the competition that people keep offering more and more? Or is it that uh, these companies are receiving such loyalty from their clients that they're making enough money anyway that it's worth it for them to keep offering additional incentives? How do you see that working out in the, in the future?  

Austin:    00:30:47    Yeah, you're absolutely right. There have been quite a few devaluations and for anyone who doesn't know a devaluation is really, it kind of is like inflation, right? The dollar is worth less now because the costs have gone up. Well, same goes for your points. Um, when a program like United Mileage Plan, for example, when they devalue their points, your points are worth less, therefore it is harder for you to travel on those points. So I think to answer your question in as short as possible, I can, I think there's a lot of speculation going around with legislation and banks and retailers about the credit card reward program world, the loyalty programs, all the things you've mentioned where they're looking to really devalue most of the points. But I just don't see that happening anytime soon only because there is such a big market with loyalty programs and credit cards themselves.  

Austin:    00:31:57    Um, I don't know when I read this, and it wasn't this year, so it could have changed, but I remember reading at one point in the last few years that airlines make most of their money off credit cards themselves. And you can imagine why it's, it's the people who might not be paying off their credit card every month and they're getting hit with a 20% interest and that's going, you know, that's going to the bank and the airlines as well. So a lot of their money is made through credit cards and a lot of people love the perks of credit cards. So I don't see it going away anytime soon, but like I said, there is legislation going around, there is talks of it and lots of rumors. So it's hard for me to say I'm not in, I'm not in politics. I'm not one of the top dogs, you know, making those calls, but all I can do is, is follow along, understand how it's working and strategize accordingly.  

Austin:    00:32:53    So I think with that said, more now than ever, it's been more important to strategize, to get the most amount of points within reason. And of course being responsible, paying off your cards, not opening up, uh, too many credit cards to where you're getting flagged, anything like that, right? We wanna avoid any of those flags, but um, like I said, I think it's more than anything strategizing to take advantage of those rewards while also being a hundred percent, um, on top of it and being responsible. And I guess when we hear from the political parties involved and the banks and the airlines, um, we'll have more information and we can always adjust when that time comes.  

Kristin:    00:33:37    All right. That was one of my questions for you. How many credit cards do you have at the same time and then how long do you keep those open?  

Austin:    00:33:46    Sure. So I have six total myself, my fiance has six. So in the credit card hacking world, there's a player one and a player two, I am player one, my fiance is player two. All that really means is that you have two people who can go for the different signup bonuses or different credit cards and they don't count on our credit card report. So if she gets a card, it doesn't count on mine. But we can still both use the card either, um, through the Apple Pay app or quite literally I just have her card and I can use it. Of course, you wanna be careful with authorized users. It depends on the bank whether that'll count towards your credit card score or not. Um, I'm pretty sure all authorized users are counted on your credit card score, but regardless, um, I have six, she has six, we are going for two more in the next coming months.  

Austin:    00:34:48    But I would say this is something that I have been doing for almost a year now and, and every month I'm researching and using a database to make sure that I have a good strategy in place and that I'm not, you know, I'm not putting myself at risk. I would say one of the worst things you can do is right before you buy a house or have a big loan, um, a car loan or something like that, you do not wanna be opening a bunch of credit cards and you wanna be very careful with your strategy. So there are different principles that you can follow. For example, one of them is one credit card every three months and nothing in between that, that's just one easier principle to follow. Of course, there's many more I can share that I, I can share with your audience via email or at a different time.  

Austin:    00:35:37    But I would say principles like that where you are putting a timeline on the credit cards, you're paying them off, you're making sure that um, it is a credit card that you want to keep long-term. If it's a zero annual fee card, which I think was part of your question there, you don't wanna cancel any zero annual fee card because you can just put a small spend on it once every six months or so to keep it open and it'll build your credit yet you're paying, you know, you're paying nothing to keep that card open. So I would say just as kind of a blanket statement, don't ever close a zero annual fee card unless you truly are just struggling to pay it off and, and you just are, um, you know, you don't know how to handle credit, then maybe it makes sense not to be having a credit card.  

Austin:    00:36:34    But that's typically not my audience. They're gonna be the more responsible people. I would say if it is an annual fee card and it's something you're not really using, you can call the bank issuer, you can call the back of the card and you can actually ask them to downgrade your credit card to a zero annual fee card. So there are times where the credit card does not have another variation where, um, or what's called a product change where it is a zero annual fee card. So you have to be mindful of that if you're getting an airline card, for example, like, um, I think it's the Delta Sky Miles, the gold is um, actually the one my fiance has. And we like the two check bags and it's, I think it's a $69 annual fee. Um, so for us that's okay. Delta or Atlanta is a huge hub for Delta, so it makes sense for us.  

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Austin:    00:37:33    But that's one example where they don't have a zero annual fee card, so you may have to cancel it if you're not seeing the benefits. However, you can transfer your credit line to another Amex card, assuming your Delta card is with Amex, you can call Amex and transfer that credit line to another Amex card you have so that your score is not affected very much at at that or significantly rather. So there are tricks like that where you can, yeah, either transfer the credit line to the bank or you can downgrade to a zero annual fee card or a third option when you call, you can ask for a retention bonus. So, or a retention offer, you can ask them, Hey, I'm, you know, I'm not seeing the value in this card. I would like to downgrade. And if they say that's not an option, you can say, well hey, is there, is there anything you can offer for me to actually retain this card? 'cause I'm looking at canceling it. More often than not, they will actually either waive the annual fee or they will give you free airline miles or credit card rewards to keep the card open. So those are some of the travel hacks or I guess credit card hacks that you can leverage. And I think more often than not, banks are, are trying to help you and they want you to keep the credit card. So those are, I would say three of the, the hacks that I could think of.  

Kristin:    00:39:05    Nice. Yeah, great tips there. And then what do you guys specifically look for in a rewards card? So how many of your cards can you share which cards you have with us? And then how many of those are airline? How many of those are just cashback cards or how many of those are general cards?  

Austin:    00:39:25    Yeah, absolutely. So I think part of the strategy here, and this is assuming, so I, I think just an overarching viewpoint here is this is assuming that you are trying to use your, or you're trying to save money on travel or you're interested in travel and maybe you don't wanna spend a thousand dollars to go to Montana or you don't wanna spend, you know, $1,500 to go to the Dominican Republic. There are ways that you can use, like I've mentioned the credit card reward system to act as a currency to pay for those flights and hotels. So this is, I just wanted to mention that as an overarching viewpoint is this is specific to travel. So all of my cards are more specific to travel. Um, I think it would be helpful, Kristin, if I kind of share the two credit card strategies when it comes to travel hacking and having people look and assess their own situation.  

Austin:    00:40:24    I would hate to give out a credit card and they immediately go to that card just because I've mentioned it. So I almost wanna educate any listeners to think of it in this way. So you have two strategies here. You can go for the signup bonuses responsibly, and that's mostly what I do and what I coach. And that is a more aggressive approach when it comes to travel hacking through credit card rewards. There's a second alternative. If you don't wanna have, you know, you don't wanna be having 12 credit cards, 20 credit cards, you don't wanna be following that kind of method. It, it might be overwhelming for you. Again, I still coach you through that process. So I would, I would help you through that and make it work. But if you're not interested in that, and I totally get it, I have friends who are like this, they want to keep it simple, they want a two three card strategy, then that's the second strategy is a more passive approach.  

Austin:    00:41:23    And that is based on your category spending. So if you think of it in terms of what do you spend the most of, uh, your money on and reverse that, look at what you're spending on and look at the credit cards for that spend. And then I would say just a second tip to that is make sure they're a transferrable program. So I covered the aggressive approach that's chasing signup bonus, I covered the passive approach, that's the category bonuses. And there's a third item that I wanna mention, which is the transferable currency. So I'll give an example of this. I think this is a great credit card strategy that any beginner can use if, if they don't wanna, again, they don't wanna have five, six cards, 12 cards, 20 cards and they don't wanna be so aggressive with it and fly all the time for free.  

Austin:    00:42:15    Maybe they just want, um, a basic two to three card strategy. I would look into the Chase trifecta. If you look up the Chase trifecta, it covers all of your categories spend, it includes the Chase Sapphire preferred card, which is three x on travel and it has the ability to transfer your points to airlines and hotels. And then you look at the Chase Unlimited card, Chase Freedom Unlimited and that is 1.5% cash back on everything. And I'll, I'll share a little pro tip on this in just a moment, but 1.5 x on everything or 1.5% on everything. And then there's the Chase Freedom Cash and that is the card that you can use, uh, rotating categories. So it's five x rotating categories or 5% on rotating categories so you can maximize your spend on any rotating categories. Uh, let's see how many times I can say that word <laugh>.  

Austin:    00:43:19    But um, regardless the Chase Sapphire Preferred, the Chase Unlimited and Chase Cash, those are three that are super low maintenance and they cover, uh, each one of your spend categories. And that's just a simple beginner one. The reason I mentioned the Chase Preferred and the reason there is a cashback involved is when you have a Chase Sapphire card, whether it's preferred or reserve, you actually open up the door to the transfer or the travel portal. So even though you have a cashback card like the unlimited, you're actually able to transfer those points to your preferred or your reserve card and transfer those to an airline or hotel. And that is how you get the most value out of your points is transferring to hotels or airlines directly instead of using the travel portal or using the cash back as um, you know, money straight, um, you'll get more value out of your points through transferring them to that airliner hotel.  

Austin:    00:44:29    So I wanted to share that three card strategy and that's a more passive strategy, but it's a very easy one and um, like I said, if you're interested in a more aggressive strategy, you have a big trip coming up, please let me know. I would be happy to help you. And I think it just, it's such a case by case Kristin, that I, I, again, I don't want to give out credit cards that, that everyone will just start applying for. I think it definitely depends on who you are, where you spend your money, where are you traveling, where you live. So is there a United Hub, is it a Delta hub, is it a Southwest hub? Maybe we should consider a Southwest card. Things of that nature all factor into your strategy.  

Kristin:    00:45:12    Yeah, exactly. I I have the Delta reserve card. My brother had that, but he flies more on American so he has that card. But yeah, I've definitely noticed, especially in the Chase portal and I've noticed this with Capital One Venture Card is that they put a premium on the prices of travel. If you book through the portal, so the same hotel, the same rental card, the same flights that you can get cheaper on other websites, you're paying 10% more, 20% more sometimes to book through there. And so that in itself they're saying, okay, your points are worth three times more or 10 times more if you book them on travel. But they're also marking up the prices of travel there. So how can people transfer those to other companies like airlines and hotels?  

Austin:    00:46:06    Yeah, absolutely. So a perfect example of this is Amex and Delta. So Amex has a partnership with Delta. So if you have for example an Amex Green card, Amex Gold, Amex Platinum, you can transfer your Amex membership rewards to Delta. And like you've mentioned, if you go through the Amex travel portal itself, you'll see that it might be 60 thou, I'm, I'll make it up just for the purpose of this, but I, I actually, I I can use a real example. So I have, let's see, let's look at this Tokyo trip. So the cash price of this Tokyo trip was, and you're gonna gas-- its $28,000 for a business class flight on ANA airlines from JFK to Tokyo. So you can you, yeah, you would be spending $28,000 if you booked this flight. Of course I don't expect anyone to really ever be booking something like that.  

Austin:    00:47:13    But we, I helped a client use 155,000 Amex membership rewards to book this and he only paid $75 cash to book that flight. So the way we did this, this is a real example, we used the Air Canada website and Air Canada has its own transfer partners. So we, we know that Amex transfers to Air Canada, they have a partnership as well. So we looked on Air Canada's website and we found that ANA had an option through Air Canada's website. So we ended up transferring Amex membership rewards the 155,000 to Air Canada's plan to book ANA the All Nippon Airways. So that's one example. Another one would be Amex to Delta to fly to Amsterdam. So an Amsterdam trip we actually did it was a $860 flight round trip. We booked it for 46,000 Amex membership rewards. So we saved over $800 on that flight.  

Austin:    00:48:25    The way we did that was we transferred Amex membership awards to Virgin Atlantic to fly Delta. So we know, I know it's a bit confusing, but just know that there are airline alliances, there are transfer partners, so Amex to Delta, Amex to Virgin Atlantic, Chase to United, Chase to Southwest, those are the transfer partners. But within United, within Delta, not Southwest, because Southwest is its own airline but within United and Delta they all operate in what's called an alliance. So they share planes, they share transfer codes and you can essentially use that to your advantage to fly for less points and save pretty much all of your money. So I hope that was helpful. I know that's a lot of information so I can always look at some more examples to provide. But I think the long story short is you have transfer bonuses, you have transfer airlines, you have airline alliances.  

Austin:    00:49:30    Just knowing that alone and doing your own research on each alliance, each transfer partner, things like that, you will find how inexpensive travel can be, assuming you know how to transfer those points. So you're absolutely right. The transfer portal does typically give you a premium price, like 60,000 points. But if you just looked at Delta's website instead of going to Amex you realize wait, it's 40,000 on Delta, it's 60,000 on Amex. Well obviously I'm gonna fly on Delta's uh, website if you take it one step further, which were some of the examples I was sharing. And you look at Virgin Atlantic who partners with Delta, that 40,000 on Delta might actually be 20,000 on Virgin Atlantic. So now you just transfer Amex to Virgin Atlantic for 20,000 instead of transferring to Delta, which was 40,000 and instead of using the Amex portal for 60,000, so you saved 40,000 points and you used cash just for taxes and fees.  

Austin:    00:50:39    Again Kristin, I know that was a lot of information and a lot of transfer portal, transfer bonus, all of that stuff. So if you're ever curious, just go to my website, I break down some of these terms for you, feel free to chat me on WhatsApp, feel free to dm me on Instagram. I would love to answer any questions you have about it. There are, I think at this point 20, 30 different examples that I could share with you that are real time flights that I've taken or helped with my clients. The Tokyo trip is one, the Amsterdam trip is another, but there's many more that I could share.  

Kristin:    00:51:14    Yeah, you make a a good point with checking the prices on other partners because you will find vastly different flight prices on different airlines originating in different cities and with different points, with Virgin points, with Delta points, with Amex points. And so, for people listening I think it, it's either a decision where you decide to take the plunge and become a travel hacker yourself and really understand this and wrap your head around it or you just hire someone to help you with it if you don't have time to learn about all of this and keeping track of it and everything. And how much do you charge to help someone plan a trip?  

Austin:    00:52:00    Sure. So I have what's called the point strategy plan. It's a one-time plan with a kickoff call. And then at that point we're just messaging over WhatsApp during your credit card hacking journey. So I charge currently $199 per plan and that's for up to two people in that plan. So we mentioned the player one, the player two. So I help you with that strategy, I go through all these concepts, the transfer bonuses, how to leverage them, how to save your points using the bonus, using the alliances, using the partners. And then I also offer what's called an Award Travel Concierge. So this is someone who maybe they don't actually need a plan, they already have a hundred thousand chase points and they're like Hey Austin, um, I wanna go to Amsterdam. You mentioned it in your in your podcast and I would love to learn how to do that.  

Austin:    00:52:54    Well that is the award travel concierge where I help you walk through that trip booking one-on-one in a Google meeting. And from that you usually can start to understand, oh okay this is how it works. I have the tools I need and I'll, I provide that all within that call. Its itself, that service is also at $199 and it's a one-time fee for your listeners Kristin, I'm offering a $50 discount on their first point strategy plan or their first award travel concierge. So they save $50 on either service for their first time using code, Kristin at checkout it. Of course we gotta have your name in the checkout <laugh>. Um, but those are the two services I currently offer and yeah, I'd be curious to hear what you think of that and what your audience thinks as well.  

Kristin:    00:53:45    Yeah, I need to use that as well because I'm already, I would say an intermediate travel hacker and I even did a, a live stream way back when I think where I was showing how I saved $10 or $15,000 a year with my credit cards. But I feel like there can be so much more, as you mentioned, just one business class flight's $30,000 or at least 15,000. And I haven't really leveraged my points in a way to get those business class flights. So I think I have something like 300,000 Amex points right now are delta reserve miles. So I need to know what to do with those. And I was even looking recently and I saw that someone got a really good flight on, I dunno if it was Singapore Airlines, there's just all these different airlines where if you transfer your points balance you can get so much more for your money. So I'll be hitting you up 'cause I need to know what to do with them so they, they don't expire but they do devalue.  

Austin:    00:54:49    Yeah and I think part of it is um, like you mentioned, I help you through that. I provide you spreadsheets, I'll provide you with the breakdown of each concept and kind of why it applies to your situation and when to apply and, and some of the application rules, there's a lot that goes into it, uh, believe it or not. And there is a way though to do it responsibly. Again, we're avoiding the consumer debt model. We're taking advantage of our rewards instead of having the credit card own us, you know, we're, we are owning the credit card. So that's a huge part of my process and my goal with each travel hacker I work with. But Kristin, I also wanted to mention because you brought up the Delta credit cards, that is a type of credit card that you are unfortunately stuck with the Delta skymiles program because it is a Delta skymile credit card in the same way that you get a Southwest credit card, you're stuck with Southwest.  

Austin:    00:55:50    However, Delta does partner with other airlines so you can book other airlines through Delta in your example. But I actually think one step better would be to get an Amex Gold and Amex green, something like that where Amex transfers to Delta but they also transfer to 20 other airlines. So now you're opening up your door to 20 other options to get you to Tokyo. And that's I think the key here is you wanna give yourself options, you wanna be flexible and that's the only negative part of having an airline specific card is you are stuck with that airline. Whereas if you get what's called a transferrable points card, like a Chase Sapphire Preferred and Amex Gold, Amex Platinum, a Citi Premier, those are all cards that you can transfer to 10 plus airlines. You're not actually stuck with any one airline. So I wanted to make that comment 'cause I do think it's very important to have a transferrable points card at least one in your portfolio to give yourself some options. Um, and then hey, maybe pick an airline card that you do like, like you said in your case, Delta I have one as well. I love the two, um, or the check bags we get for our each flight. But yeah, just wanted to shout that out. It, it is a huge benefit to have a, a transferable currency like that.  

Kristin:    00:57:21    Yeah, I agree. So I also have the Chase Sapphire reserve.  

Austin:    00:57:28    Okay, that's a great card. Yeah.

Kristin:    00:57:30    Yeah. Well we, we covered a lot today. Thank you so much Austin and we'll let's just wrap up some of the, the main points that you talked about. Sure, I like that you didn't recommend specific cards except if they were, you know, having these recommendations for having a general card that you can transfer the balance to other companies that that's a good tip. But for people listening, you wanna look for maybe a combination of two or three cards that are gonna meet your needs in different ways, whether it's free baggage on your favorite airline, whether that's Southwest or United or Delta. And then having a general card that's gonna give you good value and cash back and be able to transfer that. And then maybe another specialty card that maybe it's your favorite hotel chain and you're getting good bonuses with Marriott or IHG, something like that.  

Kristin:    00:58:23    But always to, you know, still spend the same amount you would be spending as if, you know, treat it as it as if it were a debit card coming straight out of your bank account so you're not paying that 20% interest. That's gonna totally negate all of the, the benefits you're getting from the free travel. So-

Austin:  Exactly.

Kristin:  Pay your cards off every month, you know, don't overspend just to get extra points and bonuses and um, get the card that's best for you and not necessarily the the next hot thing that's on the internet right now.  

Austin:    00:58:57    Absolutely.  

Kristin:    00:58:57    Great. Well thank you so much Austin. So where is your next trip planned?  

Austin:    00:59:03    I'm actually going to Orlando, Florida, and I just shared this on my Instagram as well. I paid $11.20 cents for an $810 trip. So I'm gonna be going to, um, Marriott in downtown Orlando for two nights. And then, then um, I think we're flying southwest, we have their companion pass, which by the way, we also got through credit card rewards. So we're flying southwest to Orlando and then we're staying at a Marriott for one of my best friend's weddings and that'll be coming up mid-October.  

Kristin:    00:59:38    Great. Do you also have access to any airport lounges on your cards?  

Austin:    00:59:45    I've actually not invested in any lounge cards yet. I know I'm behind on this. I should get the platinum or even a reserve, something like that. But I haven't been too keen of it because we really don't, we really don't have time when we're traveling to, to enjoy a lounge. We usually get there about two hours before, but even then it's not that much time to, uh, enjoy the lounge and we haven't had a long stop over yet. So Kristin, you are probably the expert when it comes to lounges. I would love to hear, uh, more about your take maybe offline about your favorite lounges, but at the moment I haven't taken up too many. I have many clients who have, I work with clients who do and they love it. And I, I still recommend some platinum or even a reserve if it's appropriate. And they do say, Hey, I want lounge access. Well then hey, maybe you should look at the reserve, the platinum, something like that. But yeah, Kristin, you're probably the expert when it comes to lounge access.  

Kristin:    01:00:47    I have the, uh, priority pass, which gets you into the most basic of lounges. You know, if you want sliced bimbo, white bread and processed cheese and stuff like that, <laugh>, it's not that. I love it. It's not that great. I think the biggest asset of having lounge access is having wifi if you're on a long layover. But I've been pretty strategic about when I'm using these lounges lately because if you're in a New York City airport during rush hour, there's gonna be a line to even get into the lounge. And it's just absurd these days that the lounge is, is less comfortable than being in the terminal itself. And so what I decided to do on my last trip was actually not to go in the lounge at JFK because the line was too long and I just actually bought a salad and ate it, you know, by sitting by the window and had a much better experience than being in the lounge with.  

Kristin:    01:01:49    You know, oftentimes there's lots of kids crying and, and there's lots of people that aren't using their headphones. They're playing music, they're playing videos, they're on Instagram, they're on Zoom calls, and no one's using headphones. So sometimes it can actually be louder and more uncomfortable in there. So definitely be strategic with what airports you're connecting in, how long your layovers are, and even if you have a long layover, then maybe try to go to a lounge that's on the other side of the airport that's in a less busy area because you can always change to a different terminal or a different branch of the, of the airport and try to find one that's that's more relaxing, let's put it that way. <laugh>.  

Austin:    01:02:33    So awesome. Yeah, that's great advice.  

Kristin:    01:02:35    Yeah, so that's my advice for you there. Well, thank you so much, Austin, for joining us today. We will link to everything that we talked about in the show notes and your discount offer as well. And happy traveling everyone.  

Austin:    01:02:48    Thank you, Kristin. Thank you for having me on.  

Kristin:    01:02:52    Hey there. Hope you enjoyed my conversation with Austin and that he  gave you a lot of tips to try out at home. Remember that you can check out the same main travel card that I have, which is the Chase Sapphire Reserve card linked down in the show notes with my refer a Friend link. And you can get 60,000 bonus points when you sign up, which is worth $900 toward travel. Now this card does have an annual fee, but it also gives you a $300 annual travel credit that is applied automatically to your statement. And so you can get a lot of that feedback. And there's also the regular Chase card with a lower fee as well. So we'll link to all those resources in the show notes. And also if you're thinking of becoming a travel and frequent flyer hacking expert yourself, then Austin recommends the All the Hacks podcast.  

Kristin:    01:03:51    He also recommends Frequent Miler, The Points Guy who we all know and love, and also Reddit. You can go to r/awardtravel and also r/creditcards. So we'll link to all of this in the show notes as well as the link to get a call with Austin and take advantage of that $50 discount. So if you type in Kristin, K-R-I-S-T-I-N, you can get a call for him to help you with your credit card strategy and travel hacking or even booking a flight or a trip using just your points. And that is $199, but you can get that $50 discount so it'll be only $149 for him to share his secrets with you and help you with your travel hacking strategy. So take advantage of that. Thanks for hanging out with me today, and I will see you again next week.