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My weekend wedding trip to London: Trip Report
Who goes to London just the weekend? Wellllllll we did. My girlfriend has a very close friend who was going to have a big fat Greek wedding. There was no WAY we were missing it and so we put Miles to work. In the end we wound up with a really fun, adventurous, and quick weekend wedding trip to London. I have to say, every time I take a trip I get so inspired. This one was on a different level; I came back completely exhausted, but renewed and full of passion for life! Thanks points and travel!
The first problem was Econ pricing at $1500 r/t
Miles has both me and my girlfriend flush with points, but we wanted to make sure we were getting the most bang for point. Economy was running in excess of $1500 from LAX-LHR-LAX. SAY WHAT!? Obviously this is the shortest Itin we could book; however, what we ended up discovering is that a roundtrip from Dublin to Dublin ( Through London) in business class was only $300 more than that $1500 economy trip. BANG BANG!! Since I need to be back in London at the end of September, I figured I could just buy my return flight now, and figure out an alternate way of getting to the wedding on August 1st.
I mixed routings and used Points and Revenue fares
Here’s what I ended up booking for myself
- LAX-SFO-DUS-LHR ( Mix of AA first, Air Berlin, and BA club Europe 57,500 + $85
- LHR-DUB ( BA econ with a return to LHR late Sept) ~$150
- DUB-LHR-ORD-LAX-LHR-DUB ( mix of AA and BA) $1800
I ended up making use of AA’s 24 hour layover rule at SFO by flying in the night before my flight from SFO to DUS. This way, I could get a good night’s sleep, check out the new refurb on the Hyatt Regency, and then do a tour of lounges at SFO before hopping on the flight. The funny thing is I left more than 24 hours ahead of my girlfriend and she arrived 4 hours before me and flew direct from LAX to LHR. But, I loved every second.
As of now, I still don’t have a way home from Europe in October, but I’m not too worried. I might end up buying another Dub-Lax r/t, but in coach just to make sure I hit my Executive Platinum Status. Prices are barely over $500 r/t. A third of a one way price. Ridics.
Here’s a map of what I ended up booking
I have to say…I flipping loved this trip. It was such an adventure AND I got the chance to review so many different things: lounges, hotels, new cabins and products. If you have the means whether by points or cash I would HIGHLY recommend doing something like this. The combination of long flights, time differences, and all out exhaustion made every waking second at the wedding completely worth it. My adrenaline was kicked up to high and I have to say that it made so focused on every waking minute and conversation that I may just fly half way around the world for every wedding…even if it’s in America. 😉 The icing on the cake was witnessing a very love filled Greek ceremony that I’ll never forget.
My weekend wedding trip to London : The reviews
- Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport
- Cathay Pacific Business/First Lounge San Francisco SFO
- Centurion Lounge San Francisco
- Air France/KLM business class lounge
- Air Berlin Business Class SFO-DUS
- British Airways Club Europe
- Sopwell House
- Executive Lounge Dublin
- My Experience using Dublin for cheaper Business Class
- American Air Business Class 777-200 LHR – ORD
- Admirals Club Chicago Terminal 3 ORD
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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