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England Wedding Trip 2015: $20,000 for under $400!
- American Airlines economy LAX to SFO using Avios points
- Virigin Atlantic Clubhouse: San Francisco SFO
- Virgin Atlantic Upper Class – SFO to LHR using Delta points through an Amex transfer
- Grosvenor House JW Marriott with 45000 Marriott Rewards
- Conrad London St James with Hilton Gold benefits
- United Business Club London LHR
- United Global First Class Lounge London LHR
- United Global First LAX to SFO
Miles was very excited that he was invited to a traditional English wedding. But how on earth was he going to get there – times were a little tight!?! Good thing he had been planning and saving a variety of currencies. He was hoping to minimize cost as much as possible, but flying in and out of London always incurs some sort of fee. There was an option that was potentially on the table, and that was to add on a trip through Paris or another European city, thus eliminating the need to fly out of London, and avoiding the fees incurred. However, scheduling wouldn’t permit the trip add on so I was stuck flying out of London…
At the end of the day… Miles used:
4500 Avios + $5 – ~$200
62,500 Delta+ $5.60 – ~ $6900
80k United + $382.60 – ~$13000
45k Marriott + 0$- ~$800
In total I redeemed 192,000 points over a variety of different brands and programs. I got over 10 cents per point at the end of the day, very good indeed. If I would have been able to factor in a Parisian or other european holiday, I could have taken further advantage of avoiding British airline fees and taxes by utilizing Eurostar to exit the EU by train, and then flown back to the states sans London.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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