1. Frequent Moves & Separation

Moving is synonymous with the military. Odds are good at some point in your family’s military experience you will live far from your family or friends. Even if you don’t enjoy traveling to new places, travel hacking can allow you to visit those you miss for free. Travel hacking can make exploring your new base more feasible with free hotel stays. After a big move, deployment or long TDY, we always love taking some time away to refocus on our family. Traveling for free allows us to do that even after big moving expenses. We’ve also been able to fly family out to help us during deployments or with a DITY move.

2. Last Minute Changes

Does your leave approval process seem to take forever? Do you find out you have the week of Christmas off after Thanksgiving? Last minute travel is so common in the military. Last minute travel is also very expensive. Weather your travel is for fun or for a family emergency, having points or travel credits can allow you to travel without derailing your savings goals or going into debt.

When booking with points many airlines and hotels offer way better refund policies, think cancelling up to the night before for free for hotels and up to take off time for airlines. When booking through travel portals you may have to use more points to book the best cancellation policy. I have found that the peace of mind is always worth it. There have been countless times where we’ve had to shift plans around because of the military changing their minds. A flight booked with points would make a great backup plan for Space A flights. If you make it on Space A you can cancel and get your points back. If Space A doesn’t work out, you can be sure to get where you want to go.

3. Better Government Travel

Credit card benefits like lounge access and hotel room upgrades can make mandatory travel a little better. You could end up with a better view, a larger room, free breakfast, welcome gifts, club access…and more just with your automatic hotel status. You can also use your points to upgrade your ling flights that are paid for by the military and arrive in style.

4. Save Money

No one knows the financial struggles of military families more intimately than military families. They estimate one in four families cannot afford their monthly groceries. Assuming more than a quarter of families are unable to afford vacations is probably pretty safe. You can also use credit card perks and benefits to reduce other expenses as well like streaming, dinning credits, grocery delivery and bank merchant offers.

5. You can use points for anything

You don’t have to travel; you can use your points for almost anything! Your Amex points can be used as money on Amazon. Chase points can be used to pay for things with PayPal. Citi & U.S. Bank allow you to use points for Gift Cards. You can use your points to pay off your cards. You can use your points to start a business, purchase schoolbooks. The possibilities are really endless. Who couldn’t use more money?