Reader Success! $29,000+ Vacation to Greece on a First-Time Miles & Points Redemption!

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Welcome to another Reader Success Story where Million Mile Secrets Readers share how they booked a trip with miles & points! This interview has been edited for content and clarity.

Angel’s reader success story shows folks it’s possible to travel without spending a lot of money. If you would like to be inspired by more stories like this one, take a second to subscribe to our newsletter!

1. What’s your name and how long have you been involved in the miles & points hobby?

Hi, my name is Angel and I got started in the miles and points hobby in early 2018. I was listening to a podcast, heard something about how valuable miles and points could be, and the rest is history!

2. What was the goal of your trip?

I had MANY goals I wanted to accomplish with this trip! I wanted to book round-trip Business Class seats to Greece for our family of four. I also wanted to save cash and use Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book two separate rooms so that my husband and kids could have some more personal space.

The final goal I had was to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points to pay for anything else we could, like any other hotels, flights, and any activities that we might stumble upon.

3. How long did you collect miles and points for your trip?

I just started the miles and points hobby last year, so it took about eight months to earn enough points for this trip! And we have been really busy with the credit card applications and have opened these new cards:

• Ink Business Cash Credit Card
• Chase Freedom Unlimited
• Ink Business Preferred Credit Card
• Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

The information for the Chase Freedom card has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

If you aren’t familiar with how your credit score works, open multiple credit cards can seem scary. But if you have a smart application strategy and use cards wisely (don’t carry any balances), you can still maintain an excellent credit score.

4. Which points did you save to take your trip?

Because this was my very first redemption, I pretty much used all of my points. This included Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Marriott points.

5. Which cards would you recommend to open for a trip like yours?

Although we opened a lot of cards in the months leading up to this trip, you don’t need all of them if you’re looking to make a trip similar to ours. I’d say you would do just fine with the following four cards:

• Ink Business Cash Credit Card
• Chase Freedom Unlimited
• Ink Business Preferred Credit Card
• Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

6. How did you search and find the award flights?

We found out from a Facebook group that there was good availability on Air France Business Class award flights to Athens. From there, I looked up which cities Air France flies to. I narrowed down the dates to accommodate our kid’s school schedule, and began a search for cities close to our home airport, with the intent of booking four Business Class award seats.

The last step was basically finding the most affordable award seats based on the airports we wanted to fly to, also taking into consideration the connecting flights we’d have to make. Here we found some big differences. We found that if we didn’t do our due diligence, we could have possibly paid 312,000 points per ticket, instead of 53,000 points per ticket!

At the end of the day, four round-trip Business Class tickets cost us 456,000 Flying Blue miles. And luckily, Flying Blue, Air France’s frequent flyer program, is a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner!

I have a spreadsheet listing some of the costs for our trip, and we got $29,000 worth of travel thanks to miles and points!

7. How did you find your hotel accommodations?

We just searched for hotels through the Chase travel portal.

8. What was the most challenging part about planning your trip? How did you solve it?

Booking the trip wasn’t challenging because I was able to do everything online. But figuring out the logistics of how to get to the next airport or hotel was time-consuming. I spent hours researching, making the reservations, and then double-checking and confirming the reservations.

This being my first redemption, I also felt it was a bit challenging trying to get the most value out of our points.

9. Give us a few recommendations or tips for what to do at your destination. Parks, restaurants, hidden gems, etc.

If you’re looking to save money, you can always use Chase Ultimate Rewards points to pay for any tours you might go on because you can redeem points through the Chase travel portal for excursions in popular vacation destinations!

We really enjoyed the sunset in Oia, Santorini. Little Venice in Mykonos was also great for sightseeing and having lunch by the water. And if you want to see the Acropolis in Athens, make sure to purchase your tickets in advance because the lines can be very long.

10. What would you say to folks looking to plan a similar trip? Or to those who haven’t taken a miles & points trip yet!

I’d recommend reading the Million Mile Secrets Beginner’s Guide and joining various Facebook travel groups. There’s so much information out there and they can all help you figure out great ways to earn points based on your spending habits. For instance, my husband and I tend to have large business expenses, so by using some of the best business credit cards we were really able to maximize our earnings potential!

Want to Share Your Story?

If you’d like to be considered for our Reader Success Series, please send us a note! We would love to hear about how you travel with miles and points!

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