
5 Easy-To-Do Hacks for the Modern Traveller
What I’ve Learned After Traveling Over 100,000 Miles/Year
Here are the 5 hacks I’ve discovered, that benefit the modern day traveling entrepreneur.
If you have a lot of spare time to get caught up in airports, and don’t care about traveling with more ease and comfort, this isn’t for you.
I’m a photographer that travels the world for brands and magazines. I spend my days photographing people of all types from top celebrities to kids in Africa. I tend to fly on average around 100,000 miles a year throughout the US and globally.
If you even rack up 50K–100K miles per year for business where you can accrue status yourself, I’m sure you’ll find this article helpful.
We are going to focus on airline status and credit cards.
This is for you if you’re at the income level where you can spend more than the cheapest ticket, but can’t afford to buy business class tickets.
I’m living in the US and choosing US based air carriers, but wherever you live you can find the air carriers that best suit this practice.

The Benefits of Airline Status
Airline status has a lot of benefits, but one of my favourites is getting free upgrades to Comfort+ and Business Class quite frequently.
Moreover, they treat you better as you spend more money with them and give them your loyalty.
This means they take care of you. Hence more priority when weather and other travel setbacks arise. You get rebooked and accommodated faster than those without status or lower status.
One of the other things I love, is the priority check-in lines, and boarding the plane first.
Boarding the plane first is important to me so that my precious bag of camera equipment gets a space in the overhead bin. I never let that get checked in under the plane.
All said and done, you get treated better the higher status you have and that makes your experience much more enjoyable.
Fly One Airline
The first step here is to choose and fly one airline. Every mile counts, so you’ll want to book all your travel with them. You may spend a little more on each ticket you buy, but the benefits pay off.
A few factors come into play when choosing.
In the US, the only three carriers that are worth accruing status are Delta, American Airlines, and United.
They all fly globally, and have global partnerships that your status carries over to. They all have their big hubs which is something to pay attention to as you may be based out of one or be closer to one which allows more direct flights. I’ve chosen Delta as my carrier of choice. For one thing, JFK is a big hub of theirs which is easy for me to get to.
I used to be with United, but their status program went downhill and stopped paying attention to their Top Tier status members. I started getting upgraded less and less. So I made the switch to Delta. They have a status match program where, with proof, they match your status from your current carrier. I’ve never tried American, I’ve heard negative things, but it also sounds like they’ve improved their program.
Delta really caters to their Medallion status members, and I’ve seen more of the benefits.

Accruing Status
Most of the carriers now have a certain number of actual flown miles, which are status qualifying miles. They have different names for each carrier. Delta calls theirs Medallion Qualifying Miles, referred to as MQMs. Again, I’ll speak to them as they’re my carrier of choice.
They have four status levels:
Gold (25K), Silver (50K), Platinum (75K) and Diamond (125K)
They all have an amount of dollars you have to spend in ticket purchases along with the flown miles requirements.
Every mile counts, so if you have the time, take a connecting flight even if there’s a direct flight to keep the status game going.
Get The Right Credit Card
This could almost be it’s own article, but I’ll focus this toward airline benefits. Credit cards are fantastic if you use them right. You’ll have to do the right research if you choose to go with another airline than Delta. If you spend over $30K per year in your business and you can spend it on your credit card, this is for you. The Delta Reserve credit card is a hefty $450 fee, but one of the few that lets you accrue status miles with. After the first $30K you spend on the card, they give you 15,000 MQMs toward your status. If you total $60,000 in the calendar year, you get another 15,000 MQMs. That makes it 30,000 MQMs for the year, which is automatic gold status. All the Delta Amex cards will waive the MQD spend when you spend $25K on the card. Having the Delta Reserve card also gives you an extra leg up in the priority of getting bumped up for an upgrade. If you can run all the expenses of your business on the card, then this is a huge win. I’ve even paid my taxes with it. You also get 2x redeemable miles on any purchases made with the airline.
If you spend more than $60,000 per year, you should get an American Express Business Platinum card. You can gain American Express points and use them to buy many different things. Once I hit a $60K spend on the Reserve card, I’ll switch my spending to the Platinum card, to keep racking up those points.
When you redeem your Amex points for reward flights, Amex actually purchases the flight from your airline. Hence when you take the flight, you still get your MQMs that count toward your status.
You also get a $200 credit toward the airline of your choice.
That will be credited back to you, for things like ticket change fees and such which makes the $450 credit card fee a bit less. They also pay for your $100 Global Entry fee, which is another bonus.
I definitely recommend being mindful with your credit cards and using them like a debit card. Only spending money that you have!
That’s just my philosophy.

Get Global Entry
Since I mentioned it above, I’ll tell you about it here.
If you’re a US citizen free of criminal history, this is a huge benefit if you travel a lot internationally. You have a quick interview and fingerprint scan and you’re on your way.
When you re-enter the US, you get to skip the gnarly customs lines. You just scan your fingerprints, and go right through.
This has saved me missing one of my close friend’s wedding which the lines wrapped around the customs floor.
With Global Entry you also get TSA pre-check, which allows you to go through security without taking off your shoes and pulling your laptop out. Even more convenient ease.
To Infinity and Beyond
Now it’s time to use the systems that have been put in place to your advantage.
If you care about having a more comfortable flying experience, then I hope this helps. Go forth and see travel.
The world is waiting!

I hope this article was helpful to you and I’d appreciate if you could “Recommend” it.
Also let me know your thoughts and share your personal experience below!

Nick Onken is a photographer, author, and creative entrepreneur. In NIONradiohe dives underneath the hood and into the mind of successful creative entrepreneurs, brilliant business minds, and other highly influential personalities. Discover how to make a living with your art, create your own creative lifestyle, and push past the fears that hold you back. Listen in to get inspired and unlock you inner creative.
