Let's just say I'm not obsessed by playing the credit card points game. I always look into it, but it's way too time consuming and confusing. If I wanted my points to offset the cost of flying, the airlines make their system so confusing that I just give up. I also, don't believe I am really saving that much money and will discuss why below.
During the pandemic I watched lots of YouTube videos about how to maximize the credit card points you have. A quick YouTube or internet search on how to use your points will garner tons of post such as "How I traveled to the Maldives on points" or "How I flew around the world in first class on points only", etc.
Then I start to dream on how I can also do that. And then I need to stop myself and get back to reality. I personally really enjoy watching videos or reading blogs on The Prince of Travel, TripSavvy or The Points Guys. They all add value, but they are influencers and their goal is to go viral in the travel market. I will say, The Points Guys provide some good information. Even in pre-pandemic times, I would be on The Points Guys' website because I feel they have some great reviews on airlines and credit cards. But to travel the world on points? Hmm...that's not so easy.
Here's a quote from from TripSavvy on traveling the world on points:
"Right now, somewhere 30,000 feet above, there's a burger flipper savoring caviar with a porcelain spoon. Or a liquor store employee downing bottles of $300 Champagne. They're flying international first class on Cathay Pacific, Emirates, or one of a handful of other airlines that take service seriously, and they paid just a few hundred dollars for the privilege. Read on to see how you, too, can jet to Europe or the South Pacific for less than the cost of a family outing at Red Lobster."
THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS
Although the above scenario may be possible, the devil is in the details. Let's just say I am a liquor store employee, as in the example above. I have excellent credit and I want to travel the world on first class flights. First I have to find a credit card that gives rewards for travel. I'll use Capital One as an example. Right now, if I apply for the Capital One Venture card, it's a $95 annual fee (not bad, but that's subjective). I earn 2 miles for every dollar spent, which is nice. But I would have to also spend $4,000 in the first 3 months to get the 75,000 bonus miles. Although anybody can easily spend $4,000 on things they want within the first 3 months, you also need to have the discipline to pay it all off at once. If you don't, your APR is between 20%-28% as of this article, which defeats the purpose of traveling for "free" or "cheap". Lets say I know I can't pay off $4,000 all at once. So, I opened a Discover credit card prior to opening my Venture card. Discover currently has a cash back credit card that provides a 15 month 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers. Whew! Okay, now I can rack up my Venture card to $4,000 and then do a balance transfer to Discover. I can pay that $4,000 payment off in monthly payments of $270 over the 15 months assuming I don't rack up more charges. First hurdle completed.
PUTTING YOUR MILES TO WORK
After a couple of billing cycles, my 75,000 points has been applied to my Venture card and I am making my monthly payment of $270 to my 0% APR Discover card. Now where do I want to fly and which airlines? TripSavvy mentioned Cathay Pacific or Emirates. Personally, those are both airlines I've also dreamed about and hope I can fly someday as well, in either First or Business class. Let’s use Emirates as an example and and see what my points can get me.
Emirates doesn't fly to a lot of European cities I looked up when using points. Okay so forget Europe, let's go to Tokyo and go during an off season. Maybe it'll use fewer points. I will also fly midweek.
A full price ticket for one way from LAX to TYO is currently $14,325! Wow! Well, good thing I plan to use points. I've only spent $4,000 to get my introduction bonus miles so I'm already ahead by $10,000 if I'm able to book this flight with points. Emirates uses Skywards as their reward program and good thing you can transfer your Capital One points to Skywards for a 1:1 transfer. You decide to create a Skywards account and begin your search. But don't transfer your points until you can confirm for sure you'll be able to use them on Emirates. Keep them in your Capital One account until you are positive it's safe transfer.
So how many points or miles does it take to fly from Los Angeles to Tokyo? Emirates does not publish their awards chart, but you can use their mileage calculator. Emirates also has 4 Skyward status. Blue, Silver, Gold, Platinum. In order to move up in status, you'll need a certain number of tier miles. For example, in order to get to Gold status, you'll need 50,000 tier miles or have had 50 flights. I have no idea which status you belong to if you are transferring miles for the first time. So, now I have to do a search on what the hell tier miles are and if they are different that Skyward miles. After searching what Emirates tier miles are, it looks like you can only qualify for tier miles after certain number of flights with Emirates or flydubai or have a Emirates Skyward cobranded credit card.
Okay so I don't think transferring your 75,000 Capital One Venture points qualifies you for a higher status, so you're considered in the Blue status. Now let's finally run the mileage calculator.
It'll cost you 206,250 miles to fly first class from Los Angeles to Tokyo! That ain't going to work! Let's look at Business class then.
Business class will cost you 175,000 miles. Remember, you just spent $4,000 to get 75,000 points. So you don't want to fly economy even if you can get there by point, because a one-way economy ticket from Los Angeles to Tokyo wouldn't cost $4,000.
75,000 miles seems to be worthless. What happened to sitting in first class and flying around the world on points as a liquor store employee???!!!
This sucks. Okay, let's go onto Capital One's website and look for another partner airline I can transfer my points to. There are multiple airlines I can look at.
What about British Airways? Maybe go to London? So, you create another account on BA because as mentioned earlier, airlines do not like to publish their points online. Now you have an account with Emirates and BA. British Airway reward points are called Avios. Remember, your goal is to fly First or Business. That's why you opened your Capital One Venture card.
You plug in your departure and arrival airport along with the date you want to fly. I kept the date the same as my earlier search with Emirates. Don't forget the drop down menu for "Class" and select "First".
Click "Get Flight" at the bottom of the page and see what happens.
And...your search came up null. Keep in mind, if you purchased your flight with cash instead of using points, the results will be different. You'll see lots of options for flights paid by cash, but airlines only release so many seats to those using points.
Okay, let's broaden the parameters to see what's available. After clicking on the "Find availability with British Airways on other dates" a calendar appears and you'll have to search through it. Looks like March 7th is the furthest out. Let's spin the wheel and see what results show up after clicking on March 7th.
Looks like First Class is not available, but Business Class is. But it's 90,000 points plus $881.20 in carrier imposed fees. So, not only do you not have enough points, but will have to pay an additional $881!
By this point, you should be feeling like you've been scammed a bit. But you are persistent in using your points. So, let's try one last thing. BA is part of OneWorld, which is a partnership with multiple airlines. Other airlines that participate in OneWorld are Alaska, American, Cathay, Finnair, Iberia, Japan, Malaysia, Qatar to name a few. Maybe we can check how many points it takes to fly from Los Angeles to London on Alaska's website? The one good thing about Alaska's website is you do not need to create an account to search for flights using points. You will need to create an account if you are going to use points.
Looks like we actually have a hit! You can combine your flight by using Alaska and BA for only 65,000 points and $267 charge. This is the closes you have gotten so far.
You click on the flight and now see this.
This itinerary is not entirely in Business Class?!?! What?!?! Okay, fine, so only one leg of your flight is in Business Class. The other will be in Economy. You click "Continue" and it takes you to your flight summary. At this point you'll need to create an account to continue.
But wait, Capital One doesn't allow you to transfer your miles to Alaska. So, your options are to transfer your points to one of Capital One's partner airlines and make sure the partner airline is also part of OneWorld. Since British Airways fits both criteria, you take a chance and transfer your 75,000 miles to BA. Once the transfer is complete, you'll have to go back to the Alaska website to finish the booking. If you feel you are not able to use your miles to book this trip on Alaska, then you will need to book this flight the old fashioned way. You'll need to pick up the phone and call Alaska's customer service representative.
Now, there's another hurdle you have to deal with. How are you going to get back??? And how much is that going to cost???
IT'S NEVER AS EASY AS IT SEEMS
But here the other thing. If you search just the first leg of the flight, from LAX to IAD you'll notice it only cost between $159-$199.
Let's now search BA's website and hope the second leg from IAD to LON is worth more than $4,000.
And looks like it is! So all is not lost. But was all this worth getting a credit card to try and fly in first or business class for 7 hours? Each person is different, but this goes to show you that those introductory offers don't get you as much as you think. If you used points, this flight from LAX to LON cost you 65,000 points. What are you going to do with the remainder 10,000 points? They're worthless unless you keep using your credit card, make sure you pay off your balance in full each month and build up your points again. But you would need at least 100,000 points to actually enjoy an overseas flight in Business Class. Capital One gives you 2points for every $1 spent, so you will have to spend $50,000 to get those points.
Between trying to meet the initial spending requirements to get your bonus miles, to trying find flights to use your mileage and then finding out there's a thing called carrier imposed surcharges, flying around the world by points really isn't as easy as it is made out to be.
And, if you were to purchase your one-way Business class trip from Los Angeles to London with cash instead of points, you'll see that the price isn't that much different than the $4,000 you spent to get your points.
So, is playing the points or miles game really worth it? I think maybe in certain situations you might come out ahead. I personally, haven't had much luck, but as I mentioned at the top of this article, airlines do not make it easy for you to redeem your points. And the amount of research it takes to try and come out ahead is simply way too time consuming. If time is money, think how much your time is worth. Nothing against the YouTubers or bloggers teaching you travel hacks, but they skip a lot details. I still watch them and go on their sites because it's 1. entertaining and 2. I do learn things. But the devil is in the details and I hope I have been able to show you how complicated this process can be. Let me know if you disagree or even agree with this.
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