How I saved hundreds on my honeymoon flights with factors and miles

After you marry your eternally companion, what higher solution to launch the subsequent chapter of your lives collectively than with the journey of a lifetime? Whether or not your dream honeymoon vacation spot is in South Seaside or the Southern Hemisphere, spending a while with the love of your life proper after exchanging your vows is a good transfer.

However, we don’t must let you know that your dream honeymoon can get costly. And, when you’re planning on splurging — and actually, what higher time to splurge than in your honeymoon? — the value tag of your journey can simply creep into the hundreds of {dollars}. Between flights, accommodations, transport, meals and extra, honeymoons is usually a large expense. Fortunately, journey rewards may also help you to avoid wasting a whole bunch — if not hundreds — in your honeymoon.

I can communicate from expertise. My husband and I acquired married final month, and amid the entire wedding ceremony planning within the lead-up to our huge day, we knew we needed to go someplace particular for our honeymoon. We settled on Southeast Asia for our splurge, once-in-a-lifetime journey. And slightly than pay for our flights, we put our journey rewards to make use of.

Now that we’re again from our honeymoon, we are able to affirm that our splurge journey was the correct transfer. In reality, our flights have been so implausible that we didn’t even wish to get off the planes. Consider a mattress within the sky, meals you’d be thrilled to eat at a pleasant restaurant on the bottom and terrific service. Right here’s how we booked our $18,584 honeymoon flights for lower than $175 — and the way, with some effort, flexibility and homework, you are able to do the identical.

To start out our Southeast Asia journey, we flew from New York to Singapore. At 9,537 miles and slotted at 18 hours and 50 minutes in flying time, Singapore Airways’ nonstop flight from New York-Kennedy (JFK) to Singapore (SIN) is at present the longest flight on the planet.

Because it was our honeymoon, we determined to splurge on enterprise class — particularly contemplating it’s almost a 19-hour journey. Whereas we might have elected to fly with a cease in Frankfurt alongside the best way (and probably even fly in Singapore Suites top notch on the A380), we flew nonstop. And, after having skilled scrumptious meals, wonderful service and a really snug lie-flat mattress within the sky, we’re glad we did.

For a one-way business-class seat on this route, Singapore Airways fees anyplace between $3,600 and almost $10,000. On the date we have been flying, the airline was charging $6,516 per individual for a seat in enterprise — that will be $13,032 for each of us. To state the apparent, that’s manner out of our funds. As an alternative, we used journey rewards and paid simply $11.20 out of pocket. Sure, you learn that proper — simply over $11 complete.

That’s as a result of we elected to redeem Singapore Airways KrisFlyer miles for the flight. A one-way journey between New York and Singapore prices simply 99,000 Singapore KrisFlyer miles and $5.60 in taxes and costs in enterprise class, supplied you’ll find Saver award availability. (Singapore Airways doesn’t supply Singapore Suites on the nonstop flight between New York and Singapore.)

Now, most Individuals — together with myself — don’t have a stash of Singapore KrisFlyer miles sitting round. However luckily, the miles are extremely straightforward to amass as a result of the airline companions with all the main US bank card transferable factors packages. In different phrases, you may switch Chase Final Rewards, American Specific Membership Rewards, Capital One miles and Citi ThankYou Rewards to Singapore Airways.

I had a big sum of American Specific Membership Rewards factors saved up from each my Platinum Card® from American Specific and my American Specific® Gold Card. By transferring these factors, I had greater than sufficient to cowl the 198,000 KrisFlyer miles wanted for each my husband and me.

Presently, the Amex Platinum — a card we think about among the best for luxurious journey perks — is providing a welcome bonus of 100,000 bonus factors after spending $6,000 within the first six months after opening the account. That welcome bonus supply alone is large enough to get a one-way business-class ticket from New York to Singapore.

In the meantime, the Amex Gold card is at present providing new card members 60,000 bonus factors after spending $4,000 within the first six months after opening the account. For those who’re capable of safe the welcome bonus affords from each the Amex Platinum and the Amex Gold, you’ll be inside attain of a one-way journey to Singapore in enterprise class for you and your new partner.

Study extra about The Platinum Card from American Specific.
Study extra concerning the American Specific Gold Card.

Understand that factors don’t all the time switch immediately to Singapore Airways — it could actually take as much as 48 hours in some circumstances. So that you’ll wish to plan forward when you’re considering of transferring factors into your Singapore account.

How we saved almost $5,400 flying from Thailand to New York in enterprise class

After spending a few weeks in Southeast Asia, it was (sadly) time for us to move again to New York. We wrapped up our honeymoon in Thailand, so when reserving, we checked out choices for touring from Bangkok (BKK) again to New York (JFK). And, we have been capable of finding one other steal of a deal utilizing journey rewards.

Etihad Airways flies this route with a cease in Abu Dhabi (AUH) on the best way. The airline fees round $3,000 per individual for a one-way business-class seat — in actual fact, on our journey date, the airline was charging $2,776 per individual, which might have come to a complete of $5,552 for each of us. Once more, this merely would have been out of our funds.

As an alternative, we have been capable of finding business-class award availability, and since Etihad Airways is companions with Air Canada, we have been capable of redeem Air Canada Aeroplan factors to deliver this flight right down to a fraction of the associated fee. Particularly, we redeemed 85,000 Aeroplan factors per individual — 170,000 factors in complete — and paid about $162 in taxes and costs between the 2 of us. In different phrases, we acquired this $5,552 business-class itinerary for simply $162 out of pocket.

Identical to Singapore KrisFlyer miles, it’s additionally extremely straightforward to amass Air Canada Aeroplan miles — even when you by no means step foot on an Air Canada aircraft. That’s as a result of the Aeroplan program is a switch companion of Chase Final Rewards, American Specific Membership Rewards and Capital One miles. In different phrases, you may switch factors from any of these three packages to Aeroplan and redeem for flights with Air Canada — or any of its companions, resembling Etihad or dozens of others.

I used a mix of American Specific Membership Rewards factors and Chase Final Rewards factors to redeem for this 170,000-point flight. You’ll be able to simply get a bit of factors in the direction of this redemption with the present sign-up bonus on the Chase Sapphire Most popular® Card. The present bonus of 60,000 factors after spending $4,000 on the cardboard throughout the first three months is 25,000 factors in need of sufficient to redeem for this one-way business-class jaunt from Asia to North America for one individual. When you think about, too, that the Chase Sapphire Most popular is a stable funding properly past its sign-up bonus — we even think about it to be the perfect journey bank card for newcomers — choosing up the cardboard along with all these bonus factors is a no brainer.

For those who pair the 60,000 factors earned from the Chase Sapphire Most popular with the 100,000 bonus factors earned from the welcome supply on the Amex Platinum and switch each to Air Canada Aeroplan, you’ll have almost sufficient factors for a similar redemption we made — when you take into accounts the factors earned from the minimal spend requirement on every card.

In the end, utilizing journey rewards helped my husband and me afford supreme luxurious within the sky on our honeymoon — one thing that will have in any other case been unachievable. By rethinking our bank card technique and placing the correct journey bank cards in our wallets, we have been capable of afford two magnificent flying experiences for simply $173 out of pocket. As an alternative, we have been capable of spend our honeymoon funds on terrific accommodations and scrumptious meals all through our two-week journey — what might be higher than that?

Study extra concerning the Chase Sapphire Most popular.

Searching for a journey bank card? Discover out which playing cards CNN Underscored selected as our greatest journey bank cards of 2022.