As Promised: The $10 flight to Hawaii

14.  That is how many $10 round-trips have been booked from the mainland to Hawaii (and vice-versa) since we've been here.  14 flights that we and our family members have made that cost next to nothing.   How?  Well, now I'll tell you.

 But first - I have a few conditions.

#1 - If you were ever a part of our Financial Peace University class, please stop reading.

#2 - If I was ever your high school Personal Finance teacher, please stop reading.

#3 - If you are currently in our Financial Peace University small group . . . . well, then you already live here so this probably isn't going to be beneficial to you.  Stop reading anyway.

#4 - Would someone please cover Dave Ramsey's ears?

The reason we have been able to fly for free (other than the military cargo plane thing), and people have come to visit us for free is by working the credit card system.  Turned off?  Keep reading.  You'll be surprised.

No.  We have never carried a balance over to the next month.  We have not paid a dime of interest.  We do not get phone calls from telemarketers, or an abundance of junk mail.

We do get free flights.  A lot.

Here's how it works.  You sign-up for a credit card that has a stellar miles bonus after your first purchase, or after you spend enough on the card in the first few months.  Then you wait for your miles to appear in your account.  Then you find a flight, and use the miles to pay for it.  Then you fly to Hawaii for free.  No, I'm not kidding.  No, I'm not getting royalties from any credit card companies.  It does work.

Where does the $10 come in?  The 9/11 security fee can't be paid for with miles.  Thus, the airlines pass this right along to you.  I'm thinking you won't mind.

Here's the card we like the best:

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

This is the card we love and will probably keep using for as long as we live here.  (Make sure it says "preferred" because there is a "Chase Sapphire Card" that isn't as good.)  The yearly fee is waived for the first year . . . and odds are you won't need to keep it open that long, anyway.  After spending $3,000 on the card in the first 3 months (Yes, I know that's a lot . . . we'll address that later) you receive 40,000 points.  These points go into your "Chase Ultimate Rewards" account.  From the account you can turn the points into miles on United (or use it for a number of other rewards).  The point transfer is straight forward.  1 point = 1 mile.  1 round-trip ticket to Hawaii from ANYWHERE in the continental US on United is 40,000 miles.  Now, if you and your spouse both sign up for a card, then you have a free round-trip for 2.

Here are some tips:

1.  Be flexible with your travel dates.  Even though they say that every seat is an award seat and there are no blackouts, this doesn't apply to flights to Hawaii.  When you're working online to book your award seat, play around with the calendar feature.  Some days on the calendar there won't be an award flight, and sometimes it will cost more than 40,000 points round-trip.  But you WILL find one for 20,000 each way if you keep trying.  Sometimes there won't be any when you check in the morning, and then there will be several if you check in the evening.  I don't know why, but it's good to know.  We flew home for Christmas on award flights . . . . so it IS possible.

2.  Start this process EARLY.  It will take up to a couple weeks for Chase to process your application and actually get around to mailing you your card.  Then you have to spend the $3,000.  Then you have to wait up to 6 weeks for your points to show-up in your account.  At that point you can immediately transfer the points into United miles and book a flight.  However, you'll have waaaaay more options if you're booking a few months out, rather than last-minute.

3.  If you currently have a Chase credit card that is linked to an Ultimate Rewards account (not all of them are), then you might get approved for the card, but they won't give you the 40,000 points.  However, if you close the Chase card you currently have before applying for this one then you will still get the points.

4.  Trying to figure out how you'll be able to spend $3,000 in the first 3 months?  Here are some tips:

• Time this process around a major purchase you know you'll have to make in the next few months.
• See if your church allows you to pay your tithe online.  (When we get to heaven we can all ask God if it was alright to earn airline miles off of our tithes.)
• Buy a Wal-Mart gift card for the amount you know you'll spend there, anyway.  Just make sure you can pay off the balance on your card at the end of the month.
• Ask a friend if they have any major purchases that they'll let you put on your card (and then pay you cash.)  Even swiping your card for their groceries will help!
• Donate money to your church or a charity.  You're getting a free trip to Hawaii.  Give a little back.  :)

What's the catch?

We haven't found one yet.

In fact, this is not even close to the only way to score free flights.  If you pay attention to what cards out there are offering by way of their sign-on bonuses you can score many free flights.  Each card changes their promotions every few months, so the deal I described above might go away at some point.  A few other cards to score free flights with?  Watch for these deals:

Southwest Rapid Rewards Visa (no, they don't fly to Hawaii, but this can still be a great deal) -  When I checked their site today they were only offering 25,000 miles as the sign-on bonus.  Wait until they offer 50,000.  As a point of reference, I flew from Kansas City to Sacramento (1-way) for about 6,000 points.

United Mileage Plus Explorer Card - Today they are offering 30,000 as a sign-on bonus.  Sometimes it's 40,000, and sometimes it's 55,000.  Typically to score the 55,000 offer you have to already have some United miles already.  So this is a good one to get AFTER the Chase Sapphire Preferred card above.  On United, it's 40,000 miles round-trip to Hawaii.

American Airlines AAdvantage Cards - This one is for the advanced mile-getter only, but it's a way to score BIG miles.  It's actually possible to apply for 2 cards at one time and earn the sign-on bonus twice.  Do a fair bit of research before trying the 2-card trick.  It's possible to earn as many as 100,000 miles this way.  On American, it's 35,000 miles to Hawaii.  Yeah.  We're talking almost 3 round-trips.  Like I said, do your homework first.  Or, you could just apply for one of them and settle for 50,000  miles . . . which is more than enough for a round trip - without the research - and still a fantastic deal.

That's $10 to get you here.  Accommodations?  Oh, come on.  You know the answer to that one.  Expenses once you're here?  We'll leave that for another blog on another day.  But come on.  If you're flying free and staying free, then how much does it matter?

On a completely unrelated note, it's about 2pm here now.  I really wish we had a Sonic . . .