Frequent travelers are adept at spotting travel scams and fake deals, and several have gotten together to help those who hit the road less frequently to get the best deals possible and to learn some of take advantage of the best air travel hacks just like the pros.
First: Get to know hidden city ticketing.
Say you want to fly from New York to Los Angeles, but a ticket from New York to San Diego via Los Angeles is much cheaper. The daring traveler books the San Diego ticket, but only completes the Los Angeles leg of the trip," says CNN's Maureen O'Hare.
Another pro tip: Manufactured spending.
Blogger Alex Bachuwa has developed a method of earning air miles without actually flying them.
"I just apply for a lot of credit cards and I get a lot of points, and I use those points to go wherever I want to go," he tells O'Hare. But, Bachuwa doesn't just buy a lot of things to meet the minimum spend requirements of these cards. He uses manufactured spending.
"First get a credit card with rewards," writes O'Hare. "Then buy a gift card and use the gift card to purchase a money order. You deposit the money order into your bank account and then use it to pay off the credit card."
If you are getting lost in the ins and outs of travel hacks, fear not. There's a university for that.
[READMORE]READ MORE: How To Travel Just About Anywhere in the Country for Less than $50 [/READMORE]
"US-based Frequent Traveler University organizes regular seminars to teach would-be travel hackers the latest tips, tricks and methods that they say will help their students travel cheaper, better and more creatively," notes O'Hare.
For more hacks - and information on the very real drawbacks to using these hacks or screwing them up - get the full story here.
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