Trips

How to use miles to travel for free: definitive step by step to save!

Even if you don't usually travel by plane, there are other ways to earn miles that can bring you closer to fulfilling your dream of traveling. So, check here how to earn and exchange your miles so you can travel for free and save money!

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Traveling for free and using miles is possible, we'll teach you how!

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After all, how can you use miles to travel for free? Source: Pixabay.

Well, if you travel frequently, you should already know the air miles you can earn when you travel. However, there are other ways to earn miles in order to save money and make your dream of taking a plane trip come true. So, check out how to use miles to travel for free below and discover all the possibilities to earn them!

By the way, did you know that you don't need to travel by plane to collect your miles? That's right, there are other ways that will help you accumulate points and miles so that you can make your dream come true and take your trip! Continue reading and see our tips.

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What are miles and how to earn them?

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But, after all, what are miles? Source: Pixabay.

First of all, airline miles are basically an airline loyalty program. Initially, they were created to retain the company's customers and prevent them from buying from competitors. That way, they would be rewarded and could earn more miles when traveling with that airline multiple times.

Basically, the airline program works like a pizzeria, for example, where there is a loyalty card that offers you 1 free pizza for every 10 purchased at the restaurant. Therefore, miles are interesting for those who travel frequently, as you will be able to accumulate them much more quickly and use them before they expire.

However, currently there are other ways to accumulate miles, such as credit cards that offer points programs. In this sense, you accumulate points when making purchases with your card and, if you wish, you can exchange these points for discounts at partner establishments, products and even air miles.

Although, when buying airline tickets using your credit cards, you need to pay the boarding fees, the value is much cheaper than buying a ticket in cash. So, if you participate in a miles program, check out below how to use miles to travel for free and save your money! See the step by step.

How to buy a ticket with miles and travel for free? Step by step!

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So check out how to use miles to travel for free. Source: Pixabay.

First, if you have points or miles and want to use them to buy tickets, it's important to pay attention to the expiration date. That's right, the miles are not available for an unlimited time. Thus, most programs usually offer an average validity of 2 years for your miles. So, check out how to use miles to travel for free below!

Accumulate more points

As we've already explained, you can earn miles by traveling frequently through airlines. However, if you don't usually travel, you can accumulate it in another way, as is the case with credit cards. Thus, it is interesting that you concentrate your spending on one card to accumulate more and more points!

In this sense, when paying a bill or purchase using debit or cash, you are losing points. So, don't be afraid to use your card more and more and accumulate points! But remember that they have validity and it is important to transfer them to the programs you signed up for in order to extend their expiration date.

Choose a Miles Program

Now that you know how to accumulate points and miles, it is important that you register for a miles program. In fact, each company has a program and, when registering, you can transfer your points there. Therefore, it is important that you concentrate your miles on one or two programs at most!

In this way, you will avoid spreading the miles in different airline programs and, then, not having enough to buy tickets in any of them. Also, choose a good airline, preferably one that flies to your city or close to it, and register.

Incidentally, some of the programs available are Smiles, which issues tickets with Gol, Latam Pass, which issues Latam tickets and Tudo Azul, which issues Azul airline tickets. There are other programs that you can register too, such as Livelo, which is not linked to any specific company, which can be an advantage.

set a goal

So, the next step if you want to know how to use miles to travel for free is to set a destination goal! Well, you can access the chosen loyalty program website and check how many miles you need to travel to your dream destination. This way, you can get an idea of how much you need together monthly to reach your goal.

In addition, you can also plan to take smaller trips, thus avoiding losing miles before they expire. So, plan your monthly expenses well and try to save as much as possible so that you can reach your travel goal.

redeeming the miles

Well, now you've registered with the program, accumulated miles, defined where you want to go and it's time to redeem your miles on airline tickets. Don't worry, it's quite simple. First, you need to access the website of the loyalty program in which you are registered. Then, choose your travel dates and destination and issue tickets! Did you see how using miles to travel for free is simple?

However, it is important to inform that miles have a fluctuating value, as is the case with tickets purchased in cash. That is, it may be that, when accessing the program to issue tickets, they are costing more miles than the first time you saw them.

But do not worry! Even if this happens, you can try to issue tickets on another date or wait a few days for the value to drop. By the way, it's also important to keep an eye out for miles promotions because on these occasions you can pay even cheaper for tickets.

Finally, it is also important to inform you that you will still pay the boarding fees for the tickets. However, this amount is negligible compared to the total amount you would spend on flights. Also, want to see more tips on how to save when buying airline tickets? Then access our content below and see more!

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About the author  /  Samantha Scorbaioli

Passionate about living new experiences, cultures and always in search of knowledge and new challenges. He has experience in Hospitality and Tourism and has been working in the content production area for some years.

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