A Million Free Flights?

February 23, 2007

Roam4free reports that Ryanair is giving away a million free flights as part of a promotion for the 6 Nations Gaelic rugby games in Dublin. But only if Ireland beats England. This is so Irish fans can fly to England. The “free” flights are only one way, and passengers have to cover taxes and any other charges.

So “free” is a bit misleading. However, there are a number of ways to get free flights (or at least effectively free; you may have to pay up front.) Here are a few quick tips, which I’ll expand on in the future.

Airline miles.
Airline mile points for credit card purchases can add up to free flights. Of course, you’re really paying for that with the cost of purchases and your credit card interest. (Read about how you can make money with 0% APR credit card balance transfers.) But if you have to have a credit card and you like to travel, get an airlines rewards credit card.
Frequent flyer miles.
Go on a trip and earn points towards another trip. What could be simpler? Each country has its own such promotions, usually available directly through specific airlines.
Win tickets.
Radio or TV stations, or even magazines, have promotional contests where you get to fly somewhere and see some celebrity doing something supposedly important. Sometimes “free” tickets are part of a vacation package.
Through work.
If your company sends people all over the country/ world on work, you may be able to combine a bit of vacation time. Some companies have you get something like an American Express card in your own name. You pay upfront with your card but get reimbursed. So if you’re really lucky, you can get the resulting airline miles promo points assigned to your name.
As a globetrotting reporter.
Obviously, this isn’t without it’s dangers, but wherever you go on assignment, you won’t be paying for flights or accomodations. Watch the nightly news and you’ll notice that certain reporters always seem to be out of country. Whether that’s by choice or not, I don’t know, but I suspect mostly by choice.
As a travel writer.
Travel writing and photography can at least defray your vacation costs. If you get good at it and do it full-time, it could more than pay for your flights as well.
As a music writer.
This isn’t as true as in the past, but big music magazines such as Rolling Stone used to fly out their best writers to do the big interviews, sometimes outside of the United States. I never managed that when I published my old mag, Chaos Review, but Sony did give me a limo ride with Underworld as I accompanied them to their TV interviews.
As a travel blogger.
This seems to be a growing niche. Technorati lists over 21,000 weblogs having something to do with travel (even if it’s tenuous). Now unless you have an ultra popular travel blog, you probably won’t score free tickets, but if you turn it into a reasonable money maker, you might make enough each year to take a “free” trip.