How I flight hacked a Free flight to Iceland (and earned cash back)
Earlier this year I visited Iceland for the first time (and fell in love – here’s why)! It was an epic mix between a cityscape in Reykjavik and a solo winter road trip in the countryside.
The ‘icing on the cake’ so to speak was getting my flight over for FREE, plus even earning a little bit back! So how did I do it? I flight hacked!
How I flight hacked a FREE flight to Iceland:
I took advantage of a seat sale Wow Air was having at the time, and was able to use yet another credit card hack
Step #1: Find a Seat Sale
I prefer Skyscanner’s search engine because it allows you to search for airfare by MONTH to view the cheapest prices across time if your travel dates are flexible.
In my case, I searched Toronto –> Iceland for the entire month of February and then I was able to identify which dates had the lowest fares. Sometimes it can work out cheaper to buy two individual one-way flights this way instead of return airfare so I would recommend trying both!
Since I found a super cheap single fare, I booked them separately. There were return fares from as little as $80 CAD at the time and as high as $180. For the purpose of this post, I will just show you how I got the single one way ticket for free.
Step #2: Book with Cash Back Credit Card
Note: I am only suggesting to use a credit card if you can pay off the balance each month; the whole point of using credit cards for cash back or travel rewards is to reap the benefits, not get charged ridiculous interest rates.
Step #3: Reimburse Card Charge with Cash Back Balance
Once I purchased the flight on the cash back credit card, I requested the cash back balance to be applied to the card to pay the balance.
The math: Flight from Toronto to Reykjavik total was $119.99 – cash back balance of $141.56 = + $21.56.
Essentially, I flight hacked the one way flight for free and came out on top with an additional $21.56 credit applied to the card for future purchases!
Do you use credit card rewards for travel?
Let me know in the comments below!
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