Edited 9/6/2024]:  Please note that card offers do change from time to time.  The Chase Ink Business Unlimited® currently has an offer to earn $900 bonus cash back after spending $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.  This is a limited-time offer, and you can redeem points as opposed to cash back.

 

If you were like many other travel enthusiasts, you probably jumped on the increased bonus offers from Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card, or Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card credit cards.  Between my husband and I, we were able to jump on both these offers while they were increased, and earn referral points too!  So now you’re probably waiting to hear about the epic redemption we made/will be making from all those points?  Well, here it goes….and it’s probably not what you’re expecting.

Later this summer we’ll be visiting both of our extended families.  In mid-July we’ll be flying to L.A. to attend my husband’s cousin’s wedding.  After a few days there, we’ll fly to Portland, Washington for my cousins’ reunion.  No, we did not plan it this way – for two family events to be back-to-back.  While not ideal, as it increases travel costs, it just worked out this way.  I should add that points were earned from a mix of cards: regular spend from my Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, a small stash of points earned from my husband’s Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus® Credit Card, and bonus points earned after meeting the minimum spends on our Chase Ink cards.  (Reminder, points were earned over a couple of months, starting in the fall of 2022 – not all at once!)

Airfare

I generally book round-trip flights for our family, but this time I needed to book multiple one-way flights.  We’ll first fly from DFW to L.A (booked in February 2023).:

I’m free as my husband’s companion on Southwest Airlines, so total taxes paid for 5 people was $28 ($5.60 x 5).  I was also short on points at that time, so I made the decision to buy points.  Note – this isn’t always the best value, so you’ll need to assess what’s feasible for you (buying points or paying any differences in cash).  

I needed 48k points, but had just less than 40k.  So I had to buy 9k Southwest points:

Total out-of-pocket so far: $163

$135 – bought 9,000 points

$28 – taxes for 5 people

On to the next leg!  After a few days in L.A., we’ll fly to Portland (booked in early March 2023) :

Taxes paid for 5 people: $28

Total out-of-pocket so far: $191

Now let’s head home.  Here’s the flight leg from Portland to DFW, and here it gets a little interesting:

I didn’t have enough points for 4 people (remember, I’m free as my husband’s companion on Southwest Airlines).  So I paid for my teen’s one-way ticket home:

Taxes paid for 4 people: $22.40

Teen’s ticket in cash: $285.98

Yup, that was a painful purchase to make.  And when you book a minor’s ticket on Southwest Airlines, whether in points or in cash, you’ll need to book the adults first.  It will ask for associated reservations, assuming adults in the traveling party are already booked.  My daughter is booked under a separate reservation, but it’s linked to the reservation that the rest of us are on.

Total out-of-pocket so far: $499.38

Note that I booked the three sets of one-way flights separately, everytime I had enough points earned to do so.  And that’s just the flights.

Hotels:

In. L.A., we’ll be staying at the Hyatt Place Ontario/Rancho Cucamonga.  This Hyatt Place has free breakfast which will help us cut costs, and it’s in the area we need to stay in.  We have two rooms – I paid for the first room on points (one king bed).  It’s 8,000 points/night (x 4 nights):

For the second connecting room, I’m having to pay the full cash rate as the Hyatt Family Plan Discount Rate is not available during the dates that we will be there.

They didn’t have a room available with two double beds.  So the setup will be one room with a king bed (with a sofa bed) connecting to another room with a king bed (and sofa bed).

Cost for 2nd room x 5 nights: $835

Estimated total out-of-pocket costs: $1,334.38

(I say estimated as I will not be charged for the second room until check-in – which is in July.  There could be additional taxes/fees charged after our stay.)

In Portland, we’ll be staying in an Airbnb – the cost for a 5-night stay is $842.98.  Considering the 5 of us will be coming from L.A., may need to do laundry, and the fact that my sister will be joining us for this trip – an Airbnb was the most feasible choice.  (Plus she’ll be chipping in ;))

Don’t forget – when booking an Airbnb, you can earn Delta SkyMiles.  But you can’t do it retroactively!

———————Grand Total Out-of-Pocket Costs: $2,177.36———————————————————

It goes without saying I’ve been working on this redemption for some time – more importantly, working to keep out-of-pocket costs as minimal as possible.  The reality is that even with using points and miles, family travel costs can still add up very quickly.  We would not have been able to consider visiting two places back-to-back to see loved ones, if it wasn’t for points and miles – frankly speaking.

Lessons learned while booking this trip:

1- Be open to one-way flights.  Sometimes they can offer you more flexibility – especially when life just happens, and you need to figure out how to get to multiple places around the same time.

2 – Learn to maximize the cards you have.  When we aren’t working on a minimum spend, we are using my Chase Sapphire Preferred Card.  Any, and all expenses, get charged to that card as feasible.  We always need Chase Ultimate Rewards to transfer to Hyatt or Southwest Airlines for family travel.

3 – Always keep a travel budget.  As you can see this is just the cost for airfare and hotel/Airbnb stays.  Additionally, we’ll be needing to rent cars in both cities.  We also haven’t even talked about the costs here once we actually get to L.A.&  Portland.  Another reason why Hyatts with free breakfast – even if they may be old or outdated – are a win with a family!

Not every points & miles redemption will be amazing, or offer you the max value, but sometimes the goal is just being able to spend time with loved ones – and that is epic in itself <3

 

Picture: Tulum, Mexico – February 2023