At first of every 12 months, I like to fireside up some browser tabs and try all my frequent-flier packages and loyalty subscriptions. It’s greater than only a New Yr ritual: final 12 months, I managed to notch greater than $1,000 in financial savings and perks due to memberships in packages — a lot of them free — which can be designed to make journey simpler and higher. 

Whereas I’m admittedly one thing of a factors fanatic, one of the best practices I’ve discovered over time may also help even informal vacationers maximize not solely financial savings but in addition the worth of each journey they take.

I’ll begin with three non-negotiables: Clear, Global Entry, and TSA PreCheck. They all value cash however I justify the expense by contemplating the time I save. World Entry lasts for 5 years — and contains free enrollment in PreCheck, which additionally lasts 5 years. Clear, in the meantime, wants an annual renewal.

I additionally discover one high-end journey card to be well worth the value: Chase Sapphire Reserve, which has a $550 annual price. Holders of the cardboard can recoup greater than half that quantity with a yearly assertion credit score of as much as $300 for any variety of journey bills, together with airfare, lodge stays, rental automobiles, and cruises. What’s extra, the cardboard gives fine-print advantages similar to mobile phone substitute insurance coverage; lost-luggage reimbursement; reductions on automotive leases with Avis, Hertz, and National; and complimentary enrollment in Lyft’s paid-membership program Pink, which nets customers discounted rides and precedence pickups. 

Airport lounges are one other money-saver hidden in plain sight. Some bank card issuers are constructing their very own lounge networks, however the annual price for top-tier playing cards will usually embody a subscription to Priority Pass, a world community of 1,600 lounges. This has been a sport changer for me, given the truth that costs at airport food-and-beverage shops have shot up in recent times. 

Free-to-join packages also can supply nice advantages. The SkyMiles program from Delta Air Traces, for instance, affords me free in-flight Wi-Fi and, as a result of I’ve linked it to my Starbucks Rewards account, bonus rewards on espresso on days that I’m flying with the service. (Starbucks additionally has a partnership with Marriott Bonvoy, the most important lodge loyalty program — enrollment through which nets friends preferential charges and free on-property Wi-Fi.) One other instance: as a result of I’ve Premier Gold standing with United Airways’ MileagePlus program, I routinely get preferential therapy by Avis Most well-liked.

One different freebie I take pleasure in is borrowing e-books, audiobooks, and magazines from my public library by utilizing the app Libby. I lately used it to obtain the audiobook model of Endurance: Shackleton’s Unimaginable Voyage, by Alfred Lansing, which I listened to on a voyage of my very own. To Atlanta.

A Free Various to World Entry

U.S. Customs and Border Safety gives a free service, Mobile Passport Control, that may usually assist U.S. vacationers skip lengthy strains when getting back from abroad. As soon as a well-kept secret, the app has grown in recognition to the purpose that arrival queues may be important — although nonetheless preferable to standing in the principle scrum. Cell Passport Management can also be a pleasant hack if you happen to’re a World Entry holder however touring with a companion who’s not: have them obtain it.

A model of this story first appeared within the February 2025 concern of Journey + Leisure below the headline «Tips on how to Maximize Your Loyalty Perks.»