As much as I love to travel, I also hate blowing a ton of
money on flights. This fall Ben and I will be trekking across Europe for 2
weeks on free flights via United Airlines. The best part about this deal is
that you don’t need a blog or some other gimmick to get the same thing. All you
really need is to do 2 things: open up a United MileagePlus Explorer credit
card and meet the requirements to get your bonus points.
The credit card offers several different levels of bonus
points with the lowest bonus starting at 30,000 points and the highest being
65,000 points. At the time I opened my card, I was offered a 50,000 point
bonus. Once you sign up (link here) you don’t get the points until you meet the
spending minimum of $1000 within the first 3 months of opening the card. The
amount needed to be charged on the card may first seem like a lot, but over the
spread of 3 months you just need to charge $333 each month. It can be used to
pay for a variety of things that easily add up over time such as groceries,
gas, etc. I charged everything on my card when I first received it and effortlessly hit the minimum spending. Upon hitting the $1000 spending mark, your United MileagePlus account
will be credited with the bonus points during that billing cycle.
As the bonus point amount varies, this means being able to
afford different types of flights from the bonus alone. Being offered a 30K
bonus will get you at least a free round trip within the continental United
States (assuming you live in the US). The cost of a round trip within the US
starts at 24,000 points. Getting a 65K bonus means being able to buy an
international round trip plane ticket on United Airlines. In my case, I had collected 25,000
points from previous flights and had an additional 50,000 points added to my
account from my bonus, which allows me to go to Europe for free this year!
Despite the credit card offer being an awesome deal, there
are still a few things to look out for. There is an annual fee of $95 which is
waived the first year. Of course cancelling the card before the first year is
up is also another possibility to not have to pay for the annual fee. If taking
the route of canceling the card, be aware that the bonus points (if unspent)
can possibly be revoked. So make sure to get the flight and take it before
cancelling the card. Lastly, I now
believe the biggest question is where will you go on your free trip? Comment below with your ideas!
