Studying Abroad and Miles/Points

Studying abroad, during college, is extremely popular among the millennial generation. According to the Institute of International Education, 273,996 students studied abroad in 2010 academic year. Compare that to 10 years earlier where only 154,168 went aboard to study. Europe is still the preferred choice of place to study with Asia quickly gaining ground.

Institute of International Education

In 2005, I made the decision to study abroad in Brussels, Belgium. For me, the decision was easy. I had never left the United States and I wanted to explore the world. My time abroad gave me the opportunity to visit over 15+ countries and gave infected me with the travel bug.

One of the biggest expenses of studying abroad is the plane ticket. There are a few reasons for the high price of the airline ticket. First, the time frame that you have to book the tickets. Typically, you find out that you are studying abroad only about five months prior to the program starting. Second, the fix dates of the program.  Many programs have set times when the program starts and ends. Arrive early or stay late the additional cost of lodging is on the student.

For my semester in Brussels, I had only $2,500 in spending money. I had work all the previous summer and banked every possible dollar. However, I was having a very hard time finding a cheap airline ticket. We had to arrive in Brussels on Labor Day and exit our housing a week before Christmas. Not the easiest times to get cheap tickets. Luckily, I found a $550 roundtrip airfare via StudentUniverse.com. I flew JFK to Zurich to Brussels on American and Swiss Airlines. Coming home, I flew the reverse all on Swiss. However, I spent a little over 20% of my budget to study abroad meaning I had less to spend over there. Saving $300 or $400 on my ticket would have allowed me to take one more weekend trip to another country.

I wish I had miles back then to defray some of the costs of my airline ticket.  The ability to spend 50,000 miles on an economy ticket would have been bank. Yes, I know spending 50,000 miles on a $500 is not always a great value, but $500 was a lot of money for me back then.

If you or your child is studying abroad, spending miles on airfare is a great idea. For instance, you decided to study abroad in London next semester. The program starts on January 13 and ends on May 16th. Currently, the cheapest airfare flying on January 12th and May 17th is $1,013. Ouch!

For me, this would have eaten 40% of my budget. United's cheapest ticket is closer to $1,200.

The same itinerary on United using points would cost you 60,000 or 30,000 miles each way.

Looking at those travel dates, I see over 15+ different itineraries currently available.

                        

 


For the direct flight from Los Angles to London, the price would be 60,000 miles plus $192.20 in taxes.

Is 60,000 miles worth $1,000? That's a personal choice, but I am leaning towards yes!

Now the harder question, how do I get 60,000 miles? Great question!

First, go to my recap on 31 ways to earn United miles. There are tons of points to be earned. Complete a few of these offers and you will make major progress.

Next, talk to your parents. Why? The easiest way to earn a boat load of point is apply for a points earning credit card. However, if you are under 21, the Dodd-Frank act requires you to prove you have sufficient income/assets or have a co-signor. If you are anything like me, when I was in college, your income is limited. I think my annual income was around $5,000 from a summer job and my work study. Most likely not enough income to be approved for a credit card.

Side Note: Getting a credit card is a major responsibility. I believe everyone should have one, if they can make the payments on time. If this will be your first credit card, get one with a small credit limit. Start small. Before you apply, I highly recommend you read my article Young People and The Chains of Credit Card Debt.

Afraid to ask your parents to co-sign a credit card for you. If I was going to have this conversation with my mom, I would start like this:

Me: Mom do you want to help me save $1,000?
Mom: What's the catch?
Me: You know that I am going to London next semester to study abroad.
Mom: Yes
Me: Well, I was searching for airline tickets to get to London and they cost $1,200.
Mom: Wow, that's expensive.
Me: I was thinking of using miles instead of cash to pay for the airline ticket.
Mom: Isn't it going to cost like 100,000 miles for a ticket to London?
Me: No, only 60,000.
Mom: How are you going to earn 60,000 miles?
Me: This is how you can help. If you co-sign for the {United, AA, Us Airways} credit card for me, I can earn 40,000 miles after spending $1,000 within 3 months.
Mom: Do you have a $1,000 to spend?
Me: If you don't trust me, we could make you an authorized user and you could spend the $1,000 and pay it off.

Do you see how I started the conversation on how to save money, then went into the ask, and then moved to addressing her apprehensions? If you explain it in such a way that they or you will be saving money by opening the credit card and completing the small spend, you are more likely for them to agree.

Opening the credit card will only earn you 41,000 miles (40,000 for the sign-up and 1,000 for the spending $1,000 to earn the bonus). However, you need 60,000 for the round trip.

To earn the last 19,000 mile, you need to be strategic. My first recommendation is to see what frequent flyer accounts do you have miles in already. Have 10,000 miles in AA, then you should focus your time/effort only on earning AA miles. My next recommendation is to see how many miles you need to earn the ticket and work backwards. Need 15,000, come up with a strategy to earn those miles (1,000 from dining rewards, 2,000 from eRewards, 500 from eMile etc.) Coming up with a strategy will make the goal seem within reach.

What happens if you can't earn more than 40,000 miles from the credit card? That still works. Some airlines allow you to purchase one way award tickets at half the price of a round-trip award ticket. In the United Airlines situation, you could use miles for the flight to London and purchase the return in cash. Even in this situation, you will save money.

Looking back, I wish I would have found the miles/points community before I studied abroad. It would have save me a ton of money. If you or your child are studying abroad in the near future, think about using miles to help reduce the cost.

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