How to travel hack with no credit card?

[XAlbertaWarriorWomenX]

I'm curious about dis thing called "TRAVEL HACKING", can somebody tell me more about it? I have shitty credit, so im not able to get a credit card and collect any points to travel. thanks.

 

[warlo]

no idea what travel hacking means, just a quick search returned tips for spending less on traveling. I dont know how to spend less while traveling, much less about having a credit card. but I do know how to spend nothing while traveling. Just hitchhike, dumpsterdive, camp or temporarily squat places and you will son forget why credit cards exist.

 

[OstrichJockey]

The website you are on is quite literally, almost entirely, about traveling with NO money.

Take a look around, there's some elite hackers around here.

 

[landpirate]

I think the issue of travel hacking is you need money in the first place to save money or collect air miles. It all seems to revolve around getting a credit card where you book flights on it and get air miles or frequent flyer points.

I'm sorry to say I don't think it's possible to do any of this without a credit card and even then they don't all offer these deals.

Like others have pointed out, a lot of travelling can be done for free. However, i'd imagine free flights are hard to come by.

 

[wizehop]

Man I tell you, if you what to go the points route and you have a credit card, get a job in the film bizz. The people who do the food, or book actors flights ext, usually put tens of thousands of dollars through their credit cards in a matter of a couple weeks. The points some of these kids wrack up is mental.

 

[Matt Derrick]

the short version is that you buy everything on credit cards that in turn give you miles for using on certain airlines. if your credit is fucked (like mine is) then just forget about it, you can't do it.

also, i work with a lot of travel bloggers, so I'm pretty familiar with the subject, and frankly, it's a tactic for yuppies. to realistically build miles you're looking at spending around 3,000 dollars a month or so on your credit cards, which i don't think there's a single member here on StP that is capable of doing that.

so in other words, forget the hype, it's all bullshit. it's such a prevalent topic in the travel blogger world that every time i see a new article about it it makes me want to fucking puke.

 

[Ray Lockwood]

I use a VISA debit card on hotels.com and get a free night for every 10 rooms I book. Visa debit requires no credit rating, it's linked to the funds in your chequing account. You can even rent a car with it (from certain agencies, Dollar is one) provided you have the funds for a deposit. Trust me, my credit is busted but it works for me!

 

[fruit is bad for you]

I use a VISA debit card on hotels.com and get a free night for every 10 rooms I book. Visa debit requires no credit rating, it's linked to the funds in your chequing account. You can even rent a car with it (from certain agencies, Dollar is one) provided you have the funds for a deposit. Trust me, my credit is busted but it works for me!

Yeah I do this, I also book accommodation for people at work racking up the free stays at a higher value than I'd ever spend on a room for myself.

 

[Ray Lockwood]

Yeah I do this, I also book accommodation for people at work racking up the free stays at a higher value than I'd ever spend on a room for myself.

Exactly! I rack up my bonus nights on my expense account at no cost to myself. I'll offer to book the rooms for other crews as well, sometimes getting double or triple the rewards in a single day, not to mention the free nights average of about $110, well above what I would pay if I were the one paying.