Who doesn't wanna fly for free?

The Wood family plans to never pay cash for airline tickets ever again, and I'm here to tell you how.  I know this isn't for everyone.  In fact, there are things in my life that I know I could get for free or at least cheaper, but I'm not willing to do the work it takes.  Sometimes, time is more valuable than money.  For our family, this one is a no-brainer, but please feel no judgement from us if you'd truly rather just keep your finances the way they are and pay cash for those airline tickets.

So, here's how it works for us...  When Mr. Wood and I went to Italy, we flew Delta.  At that time, we found out about Delta's partnership with American Express.  For a yearly fee, we could get a Delta Skymiles American Express card.  Our first task was to determine whether or not the savings would be worth the yearly fee.  We decided that they would be...BUT we love to travel.  If you rarely travel, this might not be for you.  The Delta Skymiles card was having a promotion, and we could earn an introductory 70,000 sky miles if we put a certain amount on the card within the first few months.  We did the math and realized that we could each get our own card and put some charges on mine and some on Mr. Wood's, and we would both earn the introductory miles as well as the miles for every dollar charged.  We put everything on there...every bill we could, and every purchase down to the Q-Tips....  At the end of the few months, we had achieved our goal.  Now, I wouldn't suggest buying a bunch of extra things just to up the charges.  That's just silly.  But if your normal purchases and bills add up to the required amount, you are truly getting something for nothing.  We have the bottom rung "gold" card which includes a free checked bag on every flight (yay!)  Other cards have even more perks such as a companion flying free.

We currently have enough miles to fly anywhere we could ever want to go and to do it a few times.  We truly have not paid for airfare since we got the cards, and I don't know that we ever will.  It's a little bit magical.

At the time of this blog post {At the time of this blog edit}, Delta Skymiles American Express is having the same promotion.  You can follow this link and apply for the card.  You will receive 40,000 miles if you follow through on a few requirements (you can read about them at the link).  Full disclosure:  I also receive 15,000 miles if you use this link. ;)

Happy flying!!