A friend once casually asked me: how can you buy US–China plane tickets cheaply? My first reaction was: play the credit card game—free flights are everywhere. Then I sent him this site and said, “Read through it and you’ll understand.” But for someone who knows nothing about US credit cards, it was basically impossible to follow. So I took a careful look at the articles on this site and realized they really were a bit too advanced for beginners. That gave me an idea: I should create a faster path so everyone can go from beginner to proficient as quickly as possible, and start enjoying the benefits and fun of credit cards right away. I hope this series will give you a quick understanding of the points-and-miles hobby and help you get started fast.

Basic Steps

  • Open a credit card that offers airline miles as a sign-up bonus
  • Meet the required conditions, such as making the required purchases or adding an authorized user
  • Receive the bonus miles
  • Use those miles on the airline’s website to book an award ticket
  • Enjoy your free flight

Example

Apply for the Chase MileagePlus Explorer credit card (30,000 United Airlines UA miles as a sign-up bonus, plus an extra 5,000 miles for adding an authorized user)

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  • When applying, remember to enter your MileagePlus Number
    • If you already have one, just fill it in
    • If you don’t have one yet, you can register first: official registration link
    • Not sure how to register? See this: UA guide
    • If you don’t want to register in advance, you can leave it blank and one will be assigned to you automatically later
  • When applying, add an Authorized User (you can list a family member; it doesn’t matter whether they are in the US or not)

Meet the requirements for the sign-up bonus

  • Use the card once within 3 months + add one authorized user — get 5,000 UA miles
    • If you forgot during the application, remember to add an authorized user within 3 months; you can do it by phone or online
    • The one purchase can be made on either the primary card or the authorized user card
  • Spend $1,000 on the card within 3 months — get 30,000 UA miles
    • Just use it for your everyday spending
    • Spending on both the primary card and the authorized user card counts toward the $1,000 requirement

Receive the sign-up bonus miles

Once you complete the spending requirement and the authorized user requirement, you should be able to see the bonus miles in your account on the United Airline website (united.com) after the next statement closes. Be sure to log in using the UA membership number and PIN you provided during the application.

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Use the bonus miles to book a flight from the US to China (Los Angeles to Shanghai Pudong)

  • Go to the UA website (United.com)
  • Log in to your member account
  • As shown below, select One Way and Award ticket, then enter Los Angeles (LAX), Shanghai (PVG), choose your date, and click search
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  • Review the search results
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  • Wow—it happens to cost exactly 35,000 UA miles, and it’s even nonstop, so let’s pick this one. A ticket worth $782.8, all from opening a credit card~
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  • Enjoy the free flight that came from this credit card~
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Exercises

Summary

Getting miles from a new credit card and redeeming them for a free ticket is actually quite easy. Of course, first you need to be able to get approved for the card, and second you need to learn how to search for award tickets. UA award tickets are relatively among the easiest award tickets to search, so I hope serious readers will complete the exercises above. That’s how you go from beginner to expert. Free flights are always out there—you just need to know how to claim them. Also, there are many other credit cards that offer miles, and we will introduce them one by one by category in future posts.