Instead of thinking about how we’re not traveling right now, I started reminiscing about all the places we’ve been able to visit. If it wasn’t for points and miles we might not have ever been able to travel to these locations, or if we did, it certainly wouldn’t have been in the same seats that we were able to book with points.
Gathering points and miles is meaningless unless you do something with them. We saved for several years and managed to take a once in a lifetime trip…..and no, I didn’t actually pay $25,000 for the trip.
Here are the details of the best trip, at the time, that I ever planned (with some help). Prices in miles are from when we took the trip. Many of these flights now cost more miles than before.
I booked an open-jaw trip using Delta SkyMiles (Los Angeles to Australia and then Tokyo back to Los Angeles). An open-jaw trip means that you leave and return to the same city but have a gap between the destinations; thus the journey looks like an “Open Jaw.”
The first part of the trip was from Los Angeles to Cairns, Australia (via Sydney) on Virgin Australia in business class.
Total distance: 8,710 miles
Cost: 80,000 Delta Skymiles + $229 each (we paid extra to change tickets)
At almost 15 hours, this is by far the longest flight I’d ever been on. Being able to get a good 6 hours of sleep on a flatbed made it not so bad. For the rest of the flight we received two meals, watched plenty of movies and I even sat at the bar for several hours, talking with the other passengers. Yes, the plane has a bar with four seats.
We spent 2 weeks visiting Australia with Adventures by Disney and had a wonderful time. We can’t wait to go back (Sharon wants to eventually be in Sydney for New Year’s Eve. It’s become a bucket list item for her. And you know what that means…).
When we finished that part of the trip, we headed for Japan.
Our first flight was from Hobart to Melbourne on Qantas in coach
Total Distance: 384 miles
Cost: 4,500 British Airways Avios + $13.83 each
Then from Melbourne to Tokyo (via Bangkok) on Thai Airways Business Class.
Total Distance: 7,435 miles
Cost: 40,000 United MileagePlus miles + $67.70 each
These flights in total were almost as long as our flight to Australia. However, we did get to spend several hours at the Bangkok airport, whereas business class passengers we were entitled to get a 30-minute neck and shoulder massage at the Royal Orchid Spa.
We only spent a few days in Japan, as we had visited the country several times before. So this time we decided to go to visit our favorite part of Japan, Tokyo Disneyland.
I know, we went to Japan and stayed in Tokyo Disneyland the whole time. I offer no apology for this. Disney parks in Japan are the best in the world. For two huge Disney geeks at heart, it is the best place ever. We’ll revisit Japan and explore the country some more, but this was just a stopover.
After getting our Disney fix, it was time to head home.
This was the second part of the Open Jaw ticket I booked to start the trip. We flew from Tokyo to Los Angeles (via Taipei) on China Airlines Business Class.
Total Distance: 8,155 Miles
Cost: 70,000 Delta Skymiles + $229 each (we paid extra to change tickets)
Sorry, but by this time I was tired of taking pictures of planes (and didn’t know I would be writing a blog about our trip.) We did get to sit on the top deck of a 747 on the way home, which is always cool. I slept for a great deal of this flight, as by this time we were exhausted.
I know I priced the whole flight at the time but I can’t find it. Sorry.
Here are the prices of the flights when I last looked them up in 2017:
Los Angeles to Cairns (via Sydney): $5400 each
Hobart to Melbourne: $100 each
Melbourne to Tokyo: $2300 each
Tokyo to Los Angeles: $5060 each
So for a total of 389,000 miles and $621, we received over $25,000 worth of airfare.
Not bad. On average, that’s just over 6 cents of value per point.
Final Thoughts
When you think about value for your airline miles, using them for international business travel is the best way to get a bang for your buck (or point). The reason is that these seats are usually priced way over what most people would reasonably pay. I’ll tell you there is no way I’d pay over $5000 for any flight, no matter how long.
Points allowed us to fly in a way we would not have otherwise been able to. All the points I used were earned through sign up bonuses for credit cards, earnings for everyday spending as well as from flights, shopping portal bonuses, rental cars and other means. I only paid $621 to fly both of us halfway around the world, in style. Of the $621, $300 of that was a fee to Delta so we could change our tickets to better flights. I also paid a $250 fee to an award booking service to help me find flights that were best for us. Despite spending many hours of research on the trip, I still wasn’t able to find flights home from Japan by myself and I never would have thought to look at China Airlines, as at the time you could only book flights with them using Delta miles over the phone. I’m still learning all the tricks but I’m willing to go for help when I’m stumped. It’s worth the money for expert advice.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
