How to stack credit card rewards and fly anywhere in the world for free

It never ceases to both stun and sadden me when I meet people who view international travel as an expensive luxury that's out of reach for the average middle-class American... because it's not. That's a limiting belief designed to keep the little worker bees in their bee hives, churning out widgets, going about their days printing money for the corporate machine. Or worse yet, it's a limiting belief that's causing those worker bees to pay for flights they don't have to.

I just landed in New Zealand, notching my 4th continent (or 5th, depending on how you count them) and 22nd country. New Zealand is about as close to the other side of the world as you can get from Colorado, requiring a 3-flight combination to get here from Durango. So how much do you think it cost me to fly to the other side of the planet?

Yes, that's right: it didn't cost me a damn thing. (Ok, technically, I had to pay the taxes on the airfare.)

I've already covered the basics of travel hacking and how you can earn a free international trip every year, but what if you want to fly somewhere truly exotic? Or what if you want to splurge a little bit and book yourself a coveted first-class seat?

Well, it's still possible to earn enough points for more expensive and exotic flights, but to do so, you may need to employ a strategy that I call "credit card stacking."

In the previous how-to guides, I showed you how to use sign-up bonuses to earn free flights, lodging, and more across a diaspora of different cards. But by using the right combination of cards, you can earn mega points, all in one big pot.

Here's an example scenario.

Card #1: Chase Sapphire Preferred

As I've detailed before, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is widely considered one of the best travel rewards cards in the industry, and it can form the base of your credit card stacking pyramid. This card's sign-up bonus fluctuates up and down, sometimes peaking as high as 100,000 points, but not usually dropping below 60,000 points. For this example, we'll split the difference and use an 80,000-point sign-up bonus

Now, not all points programs are created equal. Websites like NerdWallet and ThePointsGuy analyze different rewards programs and assign points a value based on transfer options, redemption charts, and more. ThePointsGuy considers Chase Ultimate Rewards points to be worth roughly 2 cents per point. Earning an 80,000-point bonus valued at 2 cents per point equates to roughly a $1,600 value. You'll also have spent at least $4,000 to earn that reward, and at roughly 1 point per dollar spent, that will bring you up to 84,000 points.

But what if you want to continue earning more points?

The Chase Sapphire Preferred currently offers 3x points per dollar on dining, 2x on all travel purchases, and 5x on travel purchased through the Chase portal. Those redemptions are solid in those few categories, but in other categories, the card only earns 1 point per dollar.

Enter the Chase Freedom Unlimited.

Card #2: Chase Freedom Unlimited

If you open the Chase Freedom Unlimited card with the same Chase account that you used to open the Sapphire Preferred, you'll then be able to transfer points earned by the Freedom Unlimited to your Sapphire Preferred, thereby pooling your points. While the Freedom Unlimited rarely offers a sign-up bonus, it does allow you to earn 1.5x points per dollar on all purchases.

In a previous article, I wrote about the Citi Double Cash, which gives 2% cashback on all purchases. On the surface, the Double Cash sounds like a better deal. However, remember that Ultimate Rewards points are valued at around 2 cents per point, which means the Freedom Unlimited effectively provides a 3% value per dollar spent, beating out the Double Cash.

This means that once you've earned your sign-up bonus on the Sapphire Preferred, you'll use the Freedom Unlimited for all of your day-to-day spending. So if you spend $3,000 on credit cards per month (as an example), you'll earn 4,500 points per month. For this scenario, let's say that you complete 6 months of spending on the Freedom Unlimited before you book your trip for 27,000 points. Combined with the Chase Sapphire Preferred, that's a total of 111,000 points.

As an added bonus, the Freedom Unlimited does not have an annual fee, but it does have foreign transaction fees, so don't use it overseas.

Card #3: United MileagePlus

One of the superpowers of Chase Ultimate Rewards Points is that they can be transferred to a bevy of airlines and then used for more powerful redemptions through those airlines. So while we're going to use United in this example, bear in mind that this strategy can be utilized with a number of other airlines.

I highlight United here because A) it is a transfer partner with Chase Ultimate Rewards, and B) as a member of the Star Alliance, it's easy to get just about anywhere in the world from the USA by booking a flight on United. You may not be able to get the full 2 cents per point valuation from a United redemption, but United offers a truly massive flight map and high flexibility.

United's cards also have sign-up bonuses that rise and fall, and they also offer a suite of cards with different sign-up bonuses depending on the annual fee. Bonuses on United cards range from 30,000 miles on the United Gateway to 90,000 miles on the United Club Infinite. For this example, we'll consider the United Explorer card, which provides a 60,000-mile sign-up bonus with a $0 annual fee in the first year, and $95 per year after that.

Considering that you earn an additional ~3,000 miles while earning the sign-up bonus, this card would earn a total of 63,000 miles, bringing us to a total of 174,000 miles (after transferring in the Chase Ultimate Rewards Points).

But wait! There's more...

Card #4: Chase Ink Business Preferred

If you happen to own a business (including a small business, like a sole propietorship), you can qualify for business credit cards, which includes the Chase Ink Business Preferred. After spending $8,000 in the first 3 months, you can earn a 90,000-point sign-up bonus (plus 8,000 points for the money spent to earn it). This will bring our grand total up to 272,000 United Miles earned from these 4 credit cards stacked together.

Where can 272,000 United Miles take you? Literally anywhere in the world — and probably anywhere in the world a few times over.

Even if you don't qualify for a small business card, the 174,000 miles from the first three cards can get you just about anywhere as well (but maybe not in first class).

An ongoing strategy.

For my current trip to New Zealand, I actually only needed the first two cards to gain enough points to get to this dream destination. With those two cards, I had more than enough points to book my round-trip flight — and even plenty left to use when I had to change one of my flights at the last minute.

For one of my next big flights, I plan to continue using the Freedom Unlimited to earn points over the upcoming year. Then, by opening the United Mileageplus Explorer, I'll earn that sign-up bonus, and together, stacking these cards should result in at least one more big international trip.

And that's just round #2.

Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer to 14 different airline and hotel partners. If you investigate the list of partners (link here to the 2024 list, which does change over time), you'll undoubtedly find many airline rewards programs where you can repeat this strategy in tandem with an airline-specific card.

Furthermore, Capital One, Citi, and Amex all have their own rewards programs with transferable points—often with different transfer partners than Chase. This means that the cards outlined here are form just one example of a broader strategy that can enable you to continue flying all around the world for free for the forseeable future.

The future of travel is bright, and it doesn't have to cost you a cent! Where are you off to next?!