How I Saved $500 on a Trip to New York City

I love to travel! But let’s face it – it gets really expensive.

Between airfare, hotels, getting around, entertainment and dining, the costs quickly add up. In fact, the average cost for a couple to go on vacation for a week can be close to $4,000!

That. Is. Crazy.

Luckily, there are a few awesome tips and tricks that can help trim down those expenses and make travel much more reasonable. Outside of bumming a couch wherever I visit, my favorite travel tip is using credit cards rewards. Each year, I save hundreds of dollars on travel by taking advantage of lucrative rewards without having to spend more than I ordinarily would.

On my most recent trip to New York City to spend the holidays with friends, I was able to shave $500 off of my travel expenses by strategically planning my trip and maximizing my credit card rewards. Here’s how I did it.

Step 1: Finding the Right Credit Card

I live in San Jose, so flying cross country to New York can get quite pricey. Finding the right credit card was the first and most important step to ensure that I would be able to save on my upcoming travel.

I had two main requirements for a new credit card: a big sign up bonus and flexible rewards. I ultimately decided on the Barclay Arrival Plus Card - a Birch favorite and one that is highly recommended by many travelers.

Barclays Arrival Plus

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There were a few reasons I decided on it.

• The card has a 40,000 miles signup bonus after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months - worth $400 when redeemed for travel
• The $89 annual fee is waived the first year, making the card free for the first 12 months.
• Barclay Arrival miles are flexible, which means I can book whatever travel I want and use my rewards to cover the cost. Because I was flying to New York for the holidays, I didn’t want to worry about dealing with blackout dates or overpriced award tickets with other cards
• It has chip & pin, which is useful when traveling internationally

I applied, got approved immedately and within a week my new card came in the mail. I was rockin' and rollin'!

Step 2: Planning My Trip

I always set a budget for every vacation I take, and this trip was no different. For this trip to New York City I only needed a flight, as I already had a couch lined up for the 4 days and didn’t need the luxury of a hotel.

4 day NYC Trip Budget:

Using credit card rewards to cover flights:

With most cards, in order to redeem your points or miles for award travel you need to spend the minimum to earn the bonus and then wait at least 4-6 weeks until after that statement posts to see the rewards posted in your account. That means that in the first 2-3 months after you open a new card, travel availability might change.

The Barclay Arrival Plus card is different. With this card, I can actually book whatever travel I want after opening the card and then redeem my rewards to cover those purchases after I meet the signup bonus and the miles post to my account at a later date.

I wasn't limited to a specific airline, so I just used a combination of Skyscanner and Google Flights to find the best deal - in my case, $469 roundtrip on United Airlines.

And because my card came in less than a week, I was able to purchase the flight in the screenshot above - before i earned the signup bonus. This purchase actually counted towards the $3,000/90 days spending requirement!

Step 3: Earning the Signup Bonus

Spending $3,000 in 3 months was doable for me. The Birch app showed me already that my average 3 month spend was around $7,000 (yay adulting!) so I knew that I would easily earn the signup bonus on this card.

As I mentioned before, my favorite part about this card is that I can simply purchase my travel right away and use my rewards towards the purchase at a later date.

It took me around 2 months after receiving the card to reach the spending requirement and my miles posted a few weeks after that statement was paid off. By that time, I already had my flight booked and when I checked prices, they were already $200 more than I had paid!

Step 4: Redeeming My Barclay Arrival Miles

Once my signup bonus posted, I had enough miles to redeem for travel in the Barclaycard website. With $3,653 in spending + the signup bonus, I actually had 47,306 miles, worth $473.06 in rewards, just more than the exact amount I needed (46,900 miles) to redeem for that flight.

There are two things to note about redeeming Barclay Arrival Miles:

1. You have to redeem for a travel purchase of at least $100. That means that a $20 Lyft ride wouldn’t count, but my United purchase for $469 definitely met that requirement
2. Barclay gives you 5% of your redeemed rewards back as a bonus when you redeem for travel. When I redeemed my 46,900 miles, I actually got 2,345 miles posted back to my account, worth $23.45. That makes my total value of this bonus $492.45.

After everything, I had 2,751 miles left in my account. Over the next several months I was able to spend at least $3,624 (some of that coming during my NYC trip), reaching 10,000 miles worth an additional $100.00 in rewards. Not bad!

Wrapping Up

Whether you’re new to credit card rewards or have cards but looking for a way to save some money on your next trip, the Barclay Arrival Plus is a fantastic card to add to your wallet. It earns really solid rewards, with no restrictions and a ton of flexibility unlike other cards that require you to jump through hoops.

I personally saved $500 just by signing up and strategically booking flights during one of the busiest times of the year.

This $450 trip should have costed me over $900 for 4 days, but between using these rewards and bumming a couch from family, I now have another $500 that I can put towards my next holiday.