If there’s one trip that’s hard to book on points, it’s Umrah travel — the spiritual pilgrimage that, for a family like mine, always seems to land during the most expensive times to travel. But planning ahead and staying in a points-earning mode makes Umrah travel on points possible, even with five of us. In 2024, I booked an Umrah trip for just $500 out-of-pocket, and I just booked another one for next spring. Sure, our out-of-pocket costs are higher this time, but points and miles are still making this trip feasible in a costly season of life.

Booking Umrah Flights on Points

I’m based in Dallas, and live in a city with a major airport – DFW.  In 2024, we flew from Dallas to Istanbul, on American Airlines.  For our spring 2027 trip, we’re flying the same route.

Flying through Istanbul is common, and can be efficient in both points and cash.  To be honest, I had American Airlines miles to work with.  I liked this route last time, and because we like to stop in Istanbul for a few nights, prior to heading to Jeddah, this works well for us.

That’s 22,500 American Airlines miles + $81.20 in taxes, per person, one-way.  Not bad at all.

In 2024, I booked this route – but round-trip for 45k miles, per person, for 4 people.  (We had left our youngest home with family at that time.)  This time around, I didn’t have enough American Airlines so I booked a one-way flight, as I wanted to secure spring break availability.

There are multiple options for earning American Airlines miles:

• Co-branded American Airlines cards
• Citi cards as Citi ThankYou points transfer to American Airlines at a 1:1 ratio

I’d jump on card offers when they are elevated, which is what I did between my husband and me to earn American Airlines miles.

I booked this flight the end of April, for spring break 2027 travel – yes, nearly 11 months out.  Even then I was struggling to find 5 award seats for the dates we needed, because it’s spring break.

Another reason I’m inclined to book with a major carrier (as opposed to earning flexible bank points, transferring to another airline carrier, and then redeeming), is because my husband holds Gold status with American Airlines that allows him 1 free checked bag.  We normally always do a backpack + carryon per person, but if we needed to check in anything, at least there’s no cost there.

Istanbul Hotel: Booked on Points

We’re spending two nights in Istanbul, as we did previously.  We normally use this time to rest up before the journey ahead, and of course check out the local food scene (how could we not?).

Last time, we stayed in Grand Hyatt Istanbul.  I’d stay here again just for the breakfast buffet.

This time, we’re staying at a different property, Hyatt Regency Istanbul Atakoy:

We have two rooms at this property, so our total points cost for 2 nights is 48,000 points.

This time around, I chose this property as I found a lower award/night, and I didn’t mind trying a new property.

You have multiple options to earn Hyatt points:

• Co-branded Hyatt cards
• Chase Sapphire products
• Chase Ink Business cards

Remember, only the Chase Sapphire Reserve now maintains the 1:1 points transfer ratio to Hyatt.  So while you can earn points across multiple Chase cards, combine them into your Reserve card, and then transfer them to World of Hyatt.

*You can transfer points to World of Hyatt through your Chase Sapphire Preferred, but that transfer ratio is 4:3.*

Award bookings with Hyatt don’t incur taxes or fees.  So you can come out with a $0 stay (if breakfast is covered with Globalist status or awards).  Our stays last trip in Istanbul and Makkah, cost me $0 as breakfast was covered for all of us through my Globalist status – and I’m aiming for the same this time around!

Again, this was booked the same week in April after I confirmed flights to Istanbul – 11 months out.

Istanbul to Jeddah: Booking This Leg on Points

I booked a one-way flight from Istanbul to Jeddah, on Virgin Atlantic:

I had to make 2 separate bookings based on where points were, but the cost per person was 10k Virgin Points + €24.83. 

My total points cost for 5 people was 50k Virgin Points + €124.15.

I transferred Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic; all 4 major banks transfer to Virgin.

This is how one-way cash rates were looking when I searched earlier this spring:

I like saving my Chase points for Hyatt award stays, but this was a hard pass.

I booked this one-way flight from Istanbul to Jeddah for the 5 of us, the first week of May (2026), for March 2027 travel.

Makkah Hotel: Booked on Points

We’ll be staying again at Jabal Omar Hyatt Regency Makkah.  This time though, award rates are higher – close to double what they were in the fall of 2024!

But I’ll take a free stay.  I had to book two rooms, so this is for one room:

My total points cost for 2 rooms, 2 nights, is 60,000 points.  Yes, this hits hard as it was 36,000, total, in 2024.  But inflation affects points and miles too folks.

(Note how to earn Hyatt points above.)

Madinah Hotel: A Cash + Points Strategy

I’m excited to try a new property, Diyar Ajwa, Tapestry Collection By Hilton.  We’ll be staying 6 nights in Madinah, and I couldn’t be more excited.

Now, we haven’t paid for this property yet.  We have a room reserved, and we’ll pay when we arrive.

Taking out Hilton cards to earn points didn’t seem worth it to me, as award rates are high, and 1 card bonus, for example, would barely cover 1-2 nights, for just 1 room.  We found a suite that would work well for us during a recent search:

This is a new property that opened in the winter of 2025.  Again, I did not use points to book this room, and haven’t paid for it in cash either.  I booked directly through the Hilton site, and will pay (in cash, in full) when we checkout.

My plan is to use Capital One miles to help cover this stay, as I did for our 2024 Madinah stay.  Now, between my husband and me we’ve already gotten the Capital One Venture Rewards and Capital One Venture X Rewards credit cards.  I’m eyeing some Capital One business cards, so have time to strategize.

Select Capital One cards have a perk where you can use miles to cover travel-related expenses.  You have 90 days from the date of expense to cover an eligible, travel-related expense such as a flight, hotel, car rental, vacation rental, theme park tickets, etc.  This means that I have 90 days from when we checkout in March 2027 to cover this hotel expense.  This allows me enough time to figure out which cards to get between the two of us that will help me cover this stay next year, ideally in full (and that means, a lot of Capital One miles).

This is not the most ideal way to use these miles, but my goal is as minimal out-of-pocket as possible.  There are multiple expenses associated with family Umrah travel, and I want to cover what I can in points and miles.

Flying Home: Maximizing Points on a Cash Booking

Our flights home were a points-earning expense.  I did not want to wait until I had enough points to book 5 tickets home, and needed to be back home by a certain day due to our kids’ school schedules.  That would take time, and I could risk not finding award availability for the day I needed, even after earning the points.

I booked our one-way flight home from Madinah, through Chase Travel, using my Chase Sapphire Reserve.  By doing so, I earned 8x the points for this flight home:

If I’m going to book flights in cash, I’m going to make sure I maximize my points-earning potential for that travel expense!

Tips for Booking Umrah Travel on Points

• I started booking flights, followed by hotel stays, 11 months out – from when we wanted to go.  This means I started earning the points and miles – between my husband and me – over a year out.  I started booking in April 2026, for March 2027 travel.
• Note that when booking in bank travel portals, you are not booking direct.  This goes for flights and/or hotel stays.  It’s considered a 3rd-party booking, so note the change/cancellation policies.  Booking a flight directly with an airline or hotel loyalty program, will generally always be easier – especially if you did need to make changes.
• For flights, search and book one-ways if needed.  This may offer you options and flexibility, especially when searching for multiple award seats.  It’s ok to fly one airline to your destination, and a different one on the route home.
• When booking hotel rooms, add additional requests such as connecting rooms, or a rollaway, prior to arrival.  I’ve already called World of Hyatt, and done this for both our Istanbul and Makkah stays.  You don’t have to do this, but I like checking again, closer to our travel dates.
• There is no right or wrong way to book flights and/or hotel stays, and this goes for any trip you take!  I’m sharing how I booked to show that is very much possible to book some, or even all, flights and hotel stays using points and miles.  (In 2024, I covered train travel between Makkah and Madinah too, and I’m planning to do the same this time!)
• I can’t reiterate enough to plan at least a year out if you would like to book travel in points and miles, maybe even more.  Spring break and Thanksgiving break tend to be popular times for Umrah travel.  This means award availability does, and will go fast!

Umrah travel is expensive, and with a family it can easily come with a hefty price tag. While our out-of-pocket costs will be higher for our 2027 trip, Insha’Allah, booking 50-75% of it on points is exactly what makes Umrah travel on points so worth the planning. Check out more posts here on how to book Umrah travel on points and miles.

Remember, while a lot has changed in the award travel space over the last couple of years, the principles of earning and redeeming points remain the same.

 

*Tips, strategies, and card offers are best for those based in, and traveling from, the U.S.*