I had the privilege to work with a lovely family on a very special Alaska Cruise to celebrate a 50th wedding anniversary – isn’t that amazing?!  

​What a great way to honor such a landmark and truly inspirational example of working hard to preserve this sacred union. 🙂 

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Searching for Alaska Cruise Flights

While the cruise is still more than a year out and it’s too early to book flights, I decided to take a proactive peak at what the prevailing rates were so I could match my clients with a money-saving strategy that worked for them. 

​I quickly realized that Southwest Airlines does not fly into Anchorage, where their cruise will depart. However, my old stand by United Airlines sure does! 😉 

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How to Get Free Flights to Alaska on United Airlines ✨

As you can see below, I did a search paying with miles instead of money and there is potential for flights at just 15k + 5.60 taxes/fees. 🙂  

Since my client has 5 travelers, at 15k per person we need 75k miles or corresponding points to get them free flights from Nashville to Anchorage Alaska (BNA – ANC) for their Alaska Anniversary Cruise!

The United card is one I highly recommend, but in this case I recommended it along with an alternative (actually my top favorite travel card!) because there is a limited time offer of a 75,000 point sign up bonus with this card right now. It’s rare to see the bonus tip over 60k so this is perfect timing!

These universal travel points can be transferred to United at a 1:1 ratio. Meaning my clients have a very real potential of getting all 5 of their flights free if they choose to take advantage of this offer! 

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How Much My Clients Can Save

The cash price of these flights was $354 so multiply that by 5 people and my clients have the potential to save +/- $1770 on their flights one way! Of course they do have a flight home to think about. And guess what? They could take advantage of another bonus to cover that one too 😉 

This is a huge advantage of booking travel early. You have time to work the points and miles game of opportunities at a reasonable pace. 😉

This is also the advantage of booking with a travel agent who loves travel and can help you find out-of-the-box ways to save on your trip! 🙂

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Related Timeless Wisdom

If you’re considering using credit cards to earn a sign up bonus, these principles can really help.

• Who of you wanting to build a tower does not first sit down and calculate the expense to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, he might lay its foundation but not be able to finish it, and all the onlookers would start to ridicule him, saying: ‘This man started to build but was not able to finish.  (Proverbs 22:7)
  
• ​The borrower is slave to the lender. (Proverbs 21:17)

​Basically, taking advantage of these opportunities requires planning and responsible credit card use. If you cannot meet the threshold to receive the bonus, or you cannot pay the balance of your card each month then it’s not wise to try this because the amount of fees you will incur will far outweigh the “benefits”.

However, if you are in a position to leverage these opportunities financially it can really open up opportunities for you to enjoy both “a handful of rest” and display a “Here I Am! Send Me!” spirit. 😉 

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Other Top Travel Credit Cards to Consider

Our favorite travel credit cards can be found on our Best Travel Credit Cards page.

But when we aren’t eligible for those bonuses, we always have a Chase United Card because the miles go far internationally!

We would love to hear what your favorite travel credit card is or your favorite trip where you got free flights from a travel credit card! 🙂

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