I Saved Over $4,000 on Airfare With Travel Points. Here's How

When I first heard about travel rewards programs, I was immediately interested in the idea of using points to save on airfare. I read stories from bloggers who seemed to be living the dream. They'd fly internationally in business class or first class and pay for it with their travel points.

Since then, I've used travel credit cards to earn points and save big on travel expenses. Recently, I booked business-class airfare and saved over $4,000 thanks to my travel points. To demonstrate how you can do the same, I'm going to explain exactly how I did it.

How travel points saved me over $4,000

My wife and I are planning to spend the summer in Europe, starting in the South of France. To figure out how we'd get there, I used Google Flights to check out options from Colombia (where we live) to Montpellier.

I quickly found that, as you might expect, Air France was our best airline option. It had the most direct flight route and the shortest travel time overall, with service from Bogota to Paris, and then to Montpellier.

Flights weren't cheap, which was no surprise. The average airfare to Europe this summer is $1,167, according to Hopper. And I wanted to book business class tickets, so it was even more expensive. Business-class tickets were $2,325 per passenger at the time, for a total cost of $4,650.

The other option was to book with miles at 83,500 miles per passenger. For two passengers, the total cost was 167,000 miles plus $508.60 in taxes and fees.

Now, I didn't have 167,000 miles lying around. But I did have plenty of credit card points that I could transfer to Flying Blue, the joint frequent flyer program for Air France, KLM, and several other airlines. Fortunately, points from most of the major credit card rewards programs are transferable to Flying Blue. So, I did the following:

• Logged in to my account for my credit card rewards program.
• Selected the "Transfer to Travel Partners" option.
• Transferred 167,000 travel points to my Flying Blue account.
• Used those 167,000 miles to book the airfare I wanted.

How to go from zero to free trips with travel rewards

For many people, the hardest part of using travel rewards is getting started. It can feel like you're jumping into a complex world with all kinds of credit cards and rewards programs. Before you can start saving money this way, you need to find a travel credit card, earn points, and figure out how to use them.

None of this is that difficult; it just takes a little time. Here's a step-by-step look at what to do.

Choose a travel credit card

First, you're going to need at least one travel credit card. I recommend a card in one of the major credit card rewards programs:

• Chase Ultimate Rewards
• American Express Membership Rewards
• Capital One Venture Rewards
• Citi ThankYou Rewards

The reason cards in these programs are a good choice is because they earn transferable points. You can transfer your points to any airline or hotel partnered with that card issuer. That's how I was able to turn my points into miles that I could use with Air France.

Earn points

Travel cards usually have large sign-up bonuses. For example, a card may offer 60,000 bonus points for new cardholders who spend $4,000 in the first three months. Make sure to spend enough to earn the sign-up bonus, as this is one of the fastest ways to maximize your rewards.

In addition, use your travel card for all your bills and everyday expenses. Since you earn points on purchases, it makes sense to use your card for as many of your regular expenses as possible.

After you've had your card for at least six months or so, you may also want to consider opening another one. It's important to be careful about how many credit cards you open, because you'll have more to manage. But getting another travel card gives you the opportunity to earn another sign-up bonus.

Use your points to book a trip

Once you've accumulated enough points, see how you can use them for a travel booking. Research your redemption options to figure out the best way to save money with your points.

If you have a card with transferable points, transferring them to an airline is often a good option. Air travel bookings can help you save a lot of money, especially if you're booking expensive airfare, such as business class or first class.

There's definitely more of a learning curve to travel cards than there is to cash back credit cards. But if you travel often and you don't mind taking the time, this type of credit card can significantly cut your costs.