Are you looking to score free plane tickets? We have eight strategies you can try out. Some of these strategies need a certain degree of luck, while some need some form of investment on your part. Nevertheless, all these tips we have for you are all doable. But do take note that these approaches do not assure 100% success. As they say in the airline industry, “your mileage may vary”. Read on to find out more.
Get your free tickets by:
1. Asking For It as a Gift
Tell your friends and family to give you a plane ticket for Christmas instead of a knitted sweater. This should be easy enough to do, but the results are spotty at best. You should consider yourself lucky if you ever get a ticket as a gift.
2. Winning A Contest
If you need a lot of luck when asking for a plane ticket as a gift, then winning a contest is like finding a four-leaf clover. But if you do indeed win in a contest that rewards you with free travel, you can expect the ticket to come free. We wish you the best of luck on this one.
3. Becoming an Airline Employee
That’s right; airline employees get free plane tickets as part of their benefits. This also works for children of airline employees, as dependents get free tickets as well. Almost all airlines give this benefit out in the form of a standby ticket (but free nonetheless). Most airlines limit the number of free tickets given out per year. Should the employee consumes all free tickets, he needs to pay for his succeeding tickets with a discount.
4. Looking for Mistakes and Complaining About It
If you can find legitimate errors made by the airline, then you should raise hell and complain about it. Let them know how their mistake ruined your travel experience and ask to be compensated with another ticket free of charge. A lot of airlines will “comp” a ticket just to appease a highly-irate passenger. But you have to make sure your complaint is legitimate and serious enough to warrant a free ticket.
5. Getting Bumped Off Your Flight (Voluntarily)
Airlines tend to overbook during busy season. As a result, they get passengers with no seats in the airplane. This means they need to bump someone off. You can volunteer to be the “bumpee” and they will happily reward you for your trouble with a free ticket. Take note that this strategy will cause you further delays. Don’t employ this trick if you’re in a hurry to get to your destination.
6. Applying for Credit Cards, Brokerage Accounts or Mortgages
Financial institutions, especially banks, are eager to reward their new clients with airline tickets. Case in point: American Express’s Delta Skymiles Card, Chase Bank, and TD Ameritrade all offer thousands of frequent flyer miles if you sign up with them. These miles are substantial enough to get you a free ticket. A word of caution: Don’t just sign up for these if all you’re after is the free ticket. Remember, you’re taking on debt with your free ticket.
7. Redeeming Your Frequent Flyer Miles
Join a frequent flyer program that rewards you for every dollar you spend. The Chase and Capital One credit cards are the perfect tools for this strategy. They reward you a mile for every dollar billed to you. The more you spend, the more miles you earn. Once you have enough miles, you can go to your airline of choice and exchange the for a free plane ticket.
8. Working as an Air Courier
An air courier is a person hired by a courier company to hand-carry shipping documents on international flights. They do this because they save more time and money with a personal air courier, rather than declare those documents as air cargo. By becoming an international air courier, the courier company will pay a part of your plane ticket. If you do this long enough, then they might just shoulder the total cost of your ticket.
With these 8 suggestions for you to get free plane tickets, you can try and see if they will work for you. Do you have other ways to get free plane tickets? Share with us by leaving a comment below.
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