Go Somewhere: Volume 4

We’re back! Excited to keep inspiring you guys to BOOK TRIPS.

You’re not getting any younger.

You’ve got places to go.

Let’s book something!

This week’s newsletter has one great flight hack and one deep dive into a loyalty program.

Hack #1: The Middle East

For most Americans, the Middle East probably isn’t on the top of your travel list. I get it. But maybe think about it.

Have you ever looked at pictures of Dubai?

The whole UAE is really a marvel of engineering…

And for my many Christian subscribers - what’s in the Middle East? ISRAEL.

The birthplace of Jesus. Jesus’ tomb. The places where Jesus ministered!

I’m helping a client find flights on points to Israel (Tel Aviv) to visit the Holy Lands this winter and wanted to share a great deal with you all.

USA—> Israel for 64k points RT in economy on Turkish Airlines.

It’s not that much longer of a trip than Europe. And what a deal.

This was found through the Turkish Miles and Smiles loyalty program.

To book: simply create an account, find the flights you want, and then transfer your (transferable) points to Turkish!

I flew Turkish once - it was awesome.

Hack #2: Understanding the world’s largest airline

American Airlines is not the easiest airline to fly on points. More specifically, snagging points deals available on aa.com is difficult, because earning AA points is quite difficult.

As you can tell, I’m all about (family) travel for as FEW points as possible. There are plenty of hackers out there teaching you how to go to Asia in first class.

Not me. I’m trying to get my family of 3 to a beautiful beach and spend as few points as possible.

As I look at way too many flights, I keep finding good deals on the American Airlines AAdvantage program.

I was looking for flights for potential clients this week to Lithuania and Bonaire, two pretty different places… I found deals on AA significantly better than any other loyalty program I searched, with very low taxes + fees.

If you’re okay opening a couple of cards, I would never start with this AA card, but if the place you want to go is only serviced by American, it may be worth it.

It will be the best way to earn American points, other than your Bilt card.

I have a client who wants to go to Bonaire (a tiny island in the south Caribbean). It is SO hard to get to from the Midwest.

While flights are often $600-$1.5k, I found flights on aa.com for 28k points RT in February.

That’s an insane deal. Is it worth getting the AA card (50k bonus) to get you and the Mrs. to a super remote island? Yes.

Also, the annual fee is waived in the first year.

Remember, the only card that can transfer to American is Bilt. The only other way to earn American points is the AA card or the old-fashioned way… Actually spending money on American Airlines… ew.

If you’ve searched up and down for award flights and can’t find anything, try American.

They’re the largest airline in the world, they probably have a nice flight for you.

That’s it for this week.

Fun announcement: coming next week (or the week after), each newsletter will profile a couple/family who has recently travel hacked a trip. They’ll share the details of how they did it to inspire you to go somewhere!

Share this with your travel-hacking amigos. Until next week!