There’s close to an endless stream of airline affiliated credit cards available and most of them come with a free domestic just for signing up.  While some are free, like the American Express card offered by Delta, others require a yearly fee that is sometimes waived for the first year.  Even if the card has a yearly fee of eighty five dollars that is not waived, that could mean a domestic ticket for eighty five dollars (plus whatever standard fees the card requires).

The true deals come into play if you’re willing to keep your eyes open for travel deals based on frequent flyer miles.  American Airlines and United both had deals running earlier this year that offered international tickets for sixty thousand frequent flyer miles.  With the credit card for United, you get thirty thousand frequent flyer miles for signing up (and paying the sixty dollar fee) and additional thirty thousand are available by getting two friends to sign up for the same card.  Even if you offered to pay the fee for these two friends, that could mean a ticket to Japan for one hundred eighty dollars.

In addition to deals based on signing up for these credit cards, there are some interesting ways of utilizing the cards to get massive quantities of miles.  One great example of this is how some people have used their credit cards to purchase gold one dollar coins.  These coins ship with free shipping and can be returned to the bank for cash.  So if you purchase a set of two hundred one dollar coins you have essentially gotten two hundred frequent flyer miles completely free.  There are even some stories online of people buying ten thousand coins for this deal.

So although your ideal destination might be an expensive flight away, keep in mind that with a little bit of research (and maybe a smaller bit of investment) you could soon be on your way to Japan to see a big Buddha.

Using a frequent flyer program is a good way to end up with cheap airplane tickets or even free tickets. The only problem with these programs is that you normally receive fewer points for traveling economy or when purchasing discounted tickets.

If you have purchased an RTW ticket for a long-term trip, frequent flyer programs often reward points for even flying with their sister airlines. This will allow you to earn points a lot faster and regardless of what part of the world you are flying in. This means that many times upon returning home from your RTW trip, you will have a free flight waiting for you for your next trip.

A downside of these programs is that points eventually expire. If you don’t use your existing points within a period of time they will expire, and also if you don’t use your card over a certain period of time your points will expire. This just gives you an excuse to travel more often!

Many programs also allow you to obtain points not just through flying. You can get points by using your card at participating hotels, car rentals, and restaurants. You can also get credit cards that allow you to obtain points through purchases made with the card. And, the more you fly in a year, the more benefits your program will grant you.

I was in this situation a few years ago, when I first attempted to redeem a lot of points I had on US Air.  My wife had always wanted to go to Aruba, and as it turned out, I had enough points to take the entire family to this Caribbean island for a few weeks vacation.  The first problem I found, was that it was impossible to book 5 seats on the same flight using my air miles.  It wasn’t that I wanted five seats together, it was just impossible to get five seats period.  As it was, I had left the booking too late.  We never got to take the trip that year.  But, I did learn a lesson for the next time.  The most important I can suggest when trying to book frequent flier miles is to book early.  Really early!  Basically, find out how far ahead you airline allows for booking flights.  In my case it was about 12 months.  So, call as early as possible right to the day.  This time things went a lot better, and I was able to five free seats for the entire family to what was to be the vacation of a lifetime.

Another thing to keep in mind, is to try and travel during non peak periods.  That doesn’t mean you have to fly to the Caribbean in the middle of summer, it may just mean avoiding Christmas, Thanksgiving, and spring break week in Daytona.  The airlines will black out those dates for pretty much everyone traveling on points.  When I first booked tickets this way, I was at the highest level of US Airs program, so blackout dates didn’t apply to me.  Over the last few years though, those privileges have dissipated.