Go Somewhere: Volume 7

An underrated loyalty program, boomers & honeymoons, and one *cool* family.

October 27, 2023

I’m writing this newsletter on a Delta flight and the flight attendant was looking over my shoulder and asked for advice on how to do his honeymoon on points.

I love life.

I help families save thousands of vacations using the power of credit card points. This newsletter will help you do that. Subscribe, share, you know the drill.

I’m changing up the order this week - one hack, sharing a couple’s story, then the next hack. Don’t miss any of it.

Let’s get to it.

New loyalty program who dis?

What if a random South American airline provided one of the best ways to fly Star Alliance (United) flights?

Hi, Avianca Life Miles, great to meet you.

Stop scrolling: Avianca does not pass on fuel surcharges to Life Miles members.

So, you won’t face the same disappointment you feel when someone tells you how to book Virgin flights to London for, “Only 25k points,” but then the taxes + fees are enough to end world hunger.

➡️If you want to fly Star Alliance, this is one of the best programs to look at first. They consistently have low prices, often have massive sales to purchase points, and partner with most of the major banks (Not Chase) so points are quite easy to come by.

Here’s some fun ideas on how to redeem Avianca Life Miles.

  • Fly U.S to Europe on Lufthansa first class for 87k points + ~$60.

    • This is one of the most luxurious first-class products in the world. Check out Kara & Nate’s recent video where they got this flight. Just amazing.

    • You can also downgrade to business class for only 63k points one way.

  • Look out for transfer bonuses from Capital One, Citi, or Amex, to score a highly discounted flight deal!

  • Play around with the search tool on Life Miles’ website.

    • I found flights from Columbus to Cancun for just 14k points each way on United.

  • Fly to Poland from the U.S. on LOT Airlines for 63k points each way in business class!

  • I can pop down to South Florida on United/Air Canada for as low as 10k each way.

If you have Capital One points only, you can’t transfer to United. This is one of the best ways out there to fly United with Capital One points.

I encourage looking into this more! Don’t sleep on Avianca.

Real-life winners: Europe on points

➡️ Couple: Chris & Kim (they’re awesome).

➡️ Location: London + Paris

➡️ Occassion: Why not? It’s Europe.

➡️ Airline: Delta

➡️ Hotel: Hiltons (luxury)

Chris utilized the Delta & Hilton Amex cards to earn huge amounts of points for this trip!

The points/price breakdown:

Bro, where’d you get all these points?

“Used Delta Amex card perks and saved miles from work travel. We use Hilton’s Aspire Amex card for most monthly expenses and earn about 20-30K points a month. Also, I have probably 3-4 nights a month of work-paid hotel stays at Hiltons that net me another 20K pts a month or so. This card practically gives us one hotel night for free every month. With this practice, we've been Hilton diamond since 2012 and have not paid for a hotel from a personal bank account since 2012.”

Let’s hear the expert’s advice:

“Tailor the card based on your everyday life. If you travel for work, pick a hotel line card and stick to that line. You'll achieve status quickly. Same advice for airlines. Delta was my main airline when we lived in Memphis and flew through Atlanta on every trip. Now, we're in DFW and have switched over to American Airlines Advantage card and a Southwest card. When you get the new card that fits, make sure you take advantage of the sign up bonus points!”

A *wild* story from the trip:

“We happened to be in London during the royal wedding at Windsor Castle. We did NOT plan this around that event. But, since it was happening, we decided over breakfast to go join the chaos of the wedding day, so we grabbed a $40 uber ride out there. Walked a mile or two with the masses. We ended up getting a spot right on the road where the horse carriage came by with Harry and Megan. I threw Kim up on my shoulders and when they went by, we were right in the BBC camera shot that was viewed worldwide. My mother-in-law texted immediately, "I just saw you guys on TV at the wedding!"

You paid for your honeymoon? Ok, boomer.

Don’t pay for your honeymoon.

Your wedding should pay for your honeymoon. 

I’ve talked with 4 couples over the last couple of weeks who are getting married in 6-12 months and want help doing their honeymoon on points.

Recently engaged, folks, you have a massive opportunity to earn a ton of points.

Weddings often cost $20k+. Doesn’t matter who pays for the wedding, make sure all of the expenses go on a card in your name.

Here’s a game plan for a couple getting married in 6-12 months.

➡️ Get a Chase Sapphire Preferred card. Put lots of wedding expenses on it. Earn 60k bonus.

➡️ Refer your fiancee to the card, transition spending to the new card, get the bonus.

➡️ Pay for everything on these cards. Including paying me to plan your trip:)

➡️ Now you should have 120k from the bonuses, 15k from the referral, and ~20k from spending. We’ll round up to 160k total points.

Let’s honeymoon in the city of love.

Transfer points to Flying Blue and get two RT tickets for 60k points total + taxes and fees.

Now you have 100k points left. Let’s transfer to Hyatt for 6 nights in the Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile. Eiffel Tower view, of course.

How’s that sound for a honeymoon? I know people planning to drop thousands on a honeymoon…

Hey buddy, you dropped thousands on the wedding. Let that spending pay for your honeymoon (in Paris)!

There are literally unlimited options to earn & redeem points for a honeymoon - I’ll be writing more on this topic as many of you have requested more info.

People get crazy around weddings, don’t be like that. Book a call with me, let’s get your honeymoon figured out.

Fun fact: I honeymooned in the Smoky Mountains in TN.