Success Story: Flying 35,000 miles for $418 USD!

I stumbled onto this article from a friend on twitter. It is a story of a guy who booked flights totaling 35,000 miles of travel for only $418 out of pocket. He used all sorts of travel hacks, tools, and creativity to make it happen.

How did he do it?

HE USED MILES!

The $418 he spent was the taxes for the flights. He booked it through American Airlines using his miles. He earned them without ever setting foot on an airplane: AA Rewards credit card. He gamed the system to get bonus points and miles to get the number he needed to book his ticket.

This is exactly what I intend to do someday just on a much larger scale. I am banking miles now for use later. Steve in the article above used 140,000 miles to book his trip around the world for 12 months. I intend to do something like this for multiple years in a row. I am going for 1 million miles!

This is a great example of what I plan to do when I leave the full time work force. This guy hits the nail on the head on what I aim for every time I am booking a vacation. The goal is to have the best experience possible by gaming the systems to have the lowest cash outlay. I wish him happy travels and the best of luck!