I’ve booked some solid redemptions over the years, but this year has honestly been my proudest one yet. Oil prices are up, cash fares are crazy, and somehow we’ve still managed to piece together some unreal trips mostly on points.

I always see people posting “I have 500k points, what do I even do with them?” this post is for those people. 

February: Japan Trip

Washington DC / NYC → Tokyo

We decided on Japan pretty last minute, only about 2 months out.

Outbound

JFK → Tokyo on JAL Business Class (A350-1000)
Cost: 75k miles per person + $201

Not the 55k saver pricing, but still worth it for JAL’s new A350-1000 business class. We went from DC to NYC by train. Points came from Capital One during a 30% transfer bonus.

Return

Tokyo → ORD → DCA on ANA “The Room” Business Class (777-300ER)
Cost: 100k United miles + 50.43 per person

Booked literally 2 days before departure. 

August: Buenos Aires + Rio Trip

IAD → MIA on United Domestic Business

Paid $0 out of pocket using United TravelBank credits. My partner and I each used our Amex Platinum airline incidental credits over 2 years and built up the balance.

Long-Haul Outbound

MIA → EZE on LATAM Business Class (787-9)

Ticket 1:

• 95k Virgin Atlantic miles + $39.50
• Originally transferred during a 30% Amex bonus

Ticket 2 (same flight):

• 75k Finnair Avios  $39.
• Moved from British Airways Avios that came from a 20% Chase transfer bonus

Return

GIG → GRU → MIA → DCA on American Business

Cost: 57.5k AA miles +36.83 per person

Not ideal with 2 stops, but still a solid redemption.

December: Medellín for Christmas/New Year

Flying to Colombia during the holidays is usually crazy expensive. Even DC to MIA  Business flights get expensive during christmas. 

Outbound

DCA → MIA → MDE on American Business

Cost: 32.5k Alaska miles + $34 x 2. 

Return

MDE → DCA

Ticket 1:

• 32.5k AA miles + $111.73

Ticket 2:

• $120 cash used a $500 Chase Sapphire Reserve travel credit/perk we got from signup offers

March: Europe Ski Trip

This one’s special because I’d been promising my mom a big trip for a while, and she actually did an amazing job saving points.

My partner and I are flying from DC, my mom is flying from Bogotá, and we’re all meeting in Europe.

Our Outbound

IAD → MAD on Iberia Business (A321XLR)

Cost: 40k Avios per person + $126.40 x 2 

These Avios had been sitting in my account forever from a failed booking waiting for the right use.

Our Return

Milan → Vienna → DC on the new Austrian 787 Dreamliner Business

Passenger A:

• 70k Aeroplan points + $122.64
• Used a 5k Aeroplan reward certificate + 20% Chase transfer bonus
• Only had to transfer about 54k Chase points in the end

Passenger B:

•  Booked through united for 80k United miles + $70.93

Mom’s Flights

BOG → MAD on Iberia Business (A350)
Cost: 52k Avios + $193.70

PRG → MAD → BOG on Iberia Business (A350)
Cost: 67k Avios + $184.30

I used the May 1 Bilt Rent Day promo and got a 75% transfer bonus to Avios. For both of my mom’s long-haul flights combined (119k Avios total), I only needed to transfer about 68k Bilt points.

How we manared this: it was done entirely as a team with my partner through regular spend, paying taxes with CC, Rakuten earnings stacked through Amex MR, and a heavy hitting lineup of credit card sign-up bonuses over the last year. That included the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Capital One Venture X, the new Bilt Palladium card rollout, a double-play on two Citi AA Platinum cards and aggressive tracking of transfer bonus windows. I also made my mom take out the Chase sapphire preferred.