Travel Point Guru - A Guide To Getting More Points, Faster and Cheaper

We are two travelers who love to travel for free. Right now you are probably doing things that you could be earning valuable travel points and not getting any credit. On our site we will do our best to help you make the most of what your are already doing. While many travel point website provide a lot of way to get points, chasing points for the sake of chasing points is the wrong approach. Airlines and Hotels want you to chase miles at any cost. While it might seem like a good idea, it's not actually a good deal for a lot of people.

Here is our basic philosophy, you should get points for things you do every day, nothing more nothing less.

In posts we will discuss whether certain means are good for you. For example, credit cards with annual fees are only beneficial if the benefit of the card exceeds the annual fee. Also chasing elite status is not for everyone, so we will give you straight talk on how to approach what is best for you.

Just for starters, everyone should be a member of all major Airline Frequent Flyer programs. Even if you have not flow an airline, you should still be a member. Here is why, you can only get credit for miles flown after you originally enrolled. So lets say you took a flight on Delta in July, then signed up in August, you get zero miles even though you paid for them.

Here are the Airline Frequent Flyer programs. We have broken them down by alliance, since if you are a member of one program in the alliance, there is no need to join another since the miles are usually not transferable between programs. You should have one program per alliance, to maximize your earnings.

One World

-American Airlines AAdvantage Program 
You earn one mile for every mile flown on American, American Eagle and American Connection flights. Miles expire after 18 months of last activity (earning or redeeming miles).
Non-US One World Members (British Airways, Cathay Pacific,  Air Berlin, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Royal Jordanian, and S7 Airlines)

Star Alliance

-United Airlines Mileage Plus
1 mile per mile flown on United and United Express; miles expire after 18 months of last activity (earning or redeeming miles).
-US Airways Dividend Miles
1 mile per mile flown on US Airways and US Airways Express; miles expire after 18 months of last activity (earning or redeeming miles).
Non-US Star Alliance Members (Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Avianca, Brussels Airlines. Copa Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR ,Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, SWISS, TAM Airlines, TAP Portugal, THAI, Turkish Airlines.)

Sky Team

- Delta Sky Miles
1 mile per every mile flown on Delta, and unlike other airline program your miles NEVER expire.
Non-US SkyTeam Members (Aeroflot, Aeromexico, Air Europa, Air France, Alitalia, China Eastern, China Southern, Czech Airlines, Kenya Airways, KLM, Korean Air, TAROM, Vietnam Airlines).

Non-Alliance 

Southwest Rapid Rewards
Earn points based on the cost of the airfare, points expire after 24 months of inactivity. 

JetBlue TrueBlue 
3 points per dollar spent on JetBlue airfire or 6pts/$1 on jetblue.com , miles NEVER expire!

Once you are signed up you make sure you will earn valuable points.