Is Travel Hacking Legal?

Is travel hacking legal? Surprisingly, the question gets asked all the time. Travel “hacking”, to some, sounds illegal. If you were to hack a bank’s computer for example, you could find yourself behind bars for a significant portion of your time on this planet. Obviously, when you’re trying to see the world ending up behind bars is not what I’m trying to do.

It’s the word “hacking” that throws people off. Some also think that travel hacking is nothing more but to organize your bag a certain way. I’d be happy to share my packing tips with you, but that has nothing to do with real travel hacking. Travel hacking is to take advantage of certain memberships, promotions and tactics to leverage the travel industry to get what you want, in a way that is a win-win for everyone.

What I teach in my travel hacking course is perfectly legal – and the travel industry loves me for it. I’ve often been upgraded to business class (for free or for a very minimal fee), and I can’t remember the last time I’…