Best Travel Credit Cards

Travel Hacking: Pluses and Pitfalls

Published June 19, 2018 | By Clark Norton

Is Guadeloupe on your radar? You might be able to travel hack your way there. Photo by Catharine Norton.

Today’s guest post, by writer Anna Kucirkova, lays out the basics of “travel hacking.” If you aren’t familiar with the concept, read on — it may help to inspire you to invest the effort it takes to start seeing the world for free, or at least less.

Baby boomers with the time to devote to forming a comprehensive strategy and with credit scores sufficiently high to become accomplished hackers may use these methods to land free flights, hotel rooms, and other travel perks.

Hacking is really no more than capitalizing on money you might spend anyway to take full advantage of all those enticing credit card offers you see on TV — and seeking out others as well.

But be sure to heed Anna’s warnings about common travel hacking mistakes. If… Continue reading →

Are These the Best Travel Credit Cards?

Published October 10, 2017 | By Clark Norton

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card got WalletHub’s top mark for best initial bonus.

While I don’t usually wade into the credit card wars — too much fine print and peeking behind the promotional curtains can quickly turn great-sounding offers into not-so-hot — the personal-finance website WalletHub has done its homework in determining what it calls Winter 2017’s Best Travel Credit Cards.

With holiday travel season approaching, this might be a good time to take a look at the offers on hand. Applying for certain cards now will give you enough time to earn up to $625 in “free” travel — at least if you’re willing to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars first.

Note that they all come with annual fees, so these cards are ones you’ll want to use if you successfully apply for them. (And they all require good-to-excellent credit.)

Be sure you have definite… Continue reading →

Posted in Baby boomer travel, travel costs | Tagged Barclaycard Arrival Plus, Best Travel Credit Cards, Chase Sapphire Preferred card, Club Carlson Premier Rewards, Frontier Airlines Credit Card, WalletHub | Leave a comment

According to government and private surveys:

Leading-edge baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1955) and seniors account for four out of every five dollars spent on luxury travel today.
Roughly half the consumer spending money in the U.S.--more than $2 trillion--is in the hands of leading-edge baby boomers and seniors.
Baby boomers (born 1946-1964) travel more than any other age group.
When asked what they would most like to spend their money on, baby boomers answered “travel” more than any other category, including improving their health or finances.