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Trip Report: 10 days in England for a Christening
My girlfriend’s niece was being Christened in the north of England in late May and I wanted to be there. Tickets can be very expensive in business/first when they originate in the states. Of course, insane deals can be had, but as a general rule it’s much cheaper if you fly roundtrip from certain parts of Europe to the States than vice versa. This actually worked pretty well as I needed to be back in England at the end of August for a wedding so the return flight would serve a purpose. The resulting trip ended up being A LOT of fun ( aside from the severe food poisoning I think I contracted from Swiss Air Shrimp) and ultimately routed me through Stockholm on my trip back home. It was a beautiful ceremony and great time with loved ones.
The Trip, May 2017:
- Swiss Business Class Throne – LAX-ZRH-LHR
- Waldorf London
- British Airways Business Class Galleries Lounge Heathrow
- My funny Elemis Lounge experience
- Aurora Lounge Stockholm
- Hilton Stockholm
- British Airways Business Class “Club World” LHR-LAX on the A380
The Great Circle Map of my flights…
How did I book the flights?
*The Outbound – Swiss Business Class*
This one wasn’t really too complex aside from locking down the throne seat on Swiss Business Class without paying the $200 early reservation fee. I searched with United and booked with United. I utilized, what I’ve been told is a dead deal, a trick to avoid the fee for booking within 21 days of departure.
I had 60k-ish United miles needed for the biz seat ( 70k ) and transferred over what I needed to shore up the account from Chase Ultimate Rewards.
* The Inbound – ARN – LHR – LAX *
This one was a little trickier. I searched a bunch of different city combinations and found that Stockholm actually presented the best option for buying discounted business class tickets that routed through London. But, wait, Miles you’re already in England. Yeah…in order to save thousands of dollars ( which I wouldn’t spend in reality ) I flew from London to Stockholm to fly back to London =) I took this is a fun opportunity to check out Stockholm with my girlfriend for the night.
The Hotels :
I’ve stayed at a lot of hotels in London and wanted to try something different. I also have Hilton Diamond status that was extended for another year, a bunch of points from Hilton Surpass referrals, and thought staying off Covent Garden would be great. The Waldorf Hilton was great. The only problem, I got terrible food poisoning so my girlfriend and I never ventured into London to enjoy a couple romantic days together. Instead…I cuddled the toilet.
I used Cash + Points. 73000 and 90£
I stuck with the Hilton brand when we went to Stockholm. The location and views are amazing of the Hilton Stockholm.
I used 40k points. No cash. Got an amazing upgrade.
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
$300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + 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
- $300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel℠. Plus, get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel℠ purchases within your first year
- 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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