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9 trips TPG staffers have booked with points and miles for travel in 2023
Kyle Olsen is the former points and miles reporter at TPG. He specializes in maximizing points and miles, elite status and credit cards so readers travel more comfortably and at a lower cost.
January 15, 2023 • 11 min read
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By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
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Quick summary
TPG staffers share nine award trips booked for 2023, highlighting diverse destinations and redemption strategies using airline and hotel loyalty programs.
Examples include business-class flights to Buenos Aires, a family reunion in Austria, luxury travel in Southeast Asia and honeymoons with premium cabin seats.
Staffers leveraged transferable points, stopovers and companion fares to maximize value and flexibility for both simple and complex itineraries.
The article underscores the importance of redeeming points and miles efficiently due to ongoing program devaluations.
What to consider
Some award redemptions involve taxes and fees in addition to points or miles, which can vary by route and program.
Availability for premium cabins or specific routes may be limited, requiring flexibility or advance planning.
Certain points or miles purchases and transfers may be subject to promotions or bonuses, but these can change frequently.
What you'll miss from the article
Detailed examples of how experienced travelers combine loyalty programs, stopovers and hotel points for high-value trips across multiple continents.
Generated by AI with support from our editorial team.
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Like many TPG readers, some TPG staffers spend their free time searching for high-value hotel awards and flight award availability for their own travel. Here's a look at nine award trips TPG staffers have booked for travel in 2023.
Hola, Buenos Aires
Aeromexico business class seat on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. ANDREW KUNESH/THE POINTS GUY
Buenos Aires is one of my favorite cities. However, it's known for having limited business-class award flight options.
Luckily, this year I'm leveraging LifeMiles' lesser-known partnership with Aeromexico to travel on one of the few daytime flights to Argentina in business class from Mexico City International Airport (MEX) to Buenos Aires Ezeiza International Airport (EZE).
The one-way flight costs 52,500 miles and $95 in taxes and fees. Avianca LifeMiles routinely sells its miles with a generous bonus, so I purchased 52,800 LifeMiles for $726.This nine-hour business class flight will cost me a total of $821, while cash rates for the same seat cost $3,587 on Aeromexico's website.
I searched Singapore KrisFlyer and was happy to find Advantage space on the Frankfurt to New York route for 143,500 miles before Singapore pulls its A380 from the route in May. I transferred Amex Membership Rewards points to KrisFlyer for this booking.
With Aeroplan, you can add a stopover for an additional 5,000 points, so I decided to make Athens my stopover. I'll continue to Malta on Aegean Airlines after spending a few days in Athens.
I transferred 75,000 Amex Membership Rewards points to Aeroplan for this booking. I will likely either redeem miles or find an inexpensive cash one-way ticket from Malta to Frankfurt for the Singapore Airlines flight back to the U.S.
Also, since I live in Texas, I will likely redeem miles for my positioning flights to and from the New York City area.
My family is planning a reunion in Austria, so I spent some time over the holiday break arranging award flights. I was worried about finding availability since we are locked into a specific week in August due to everyone's schedules.
I was thrilled to use United MileagePlus miles and British Airways Avios to secure well-timed flight pairings for my nieces flying out of Washington, D.C. They'll fly Austrian Airlines in economy class to Vienna Airport (VIE) for 33,000 miles and $41.30 each. Aer Lingus will ferry them home for 27,500 Avios plus $211.55.
My husband and I opted to fly business class, and I was happy to score one-way flights (United and Austrian Airlines in one direction and Austrian and Lufthansa in the other) for 66,000 MileagePlus miles plus about $100 per person each way.
Now, I need to add my nieces as authorized users on The Platinum Card® from American Express so that they can gain lounge access during this trip. After all, it costs just $195 to add an authorized users on this card (see rates and fees).
EVA's newest business-class product on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. KYLE OLSEN/THE POINTS GUY
Over the new year, I booked a two-week trip to Japan and Vietnam, my first trip to Asia in over three years. I redeemed 65,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles for a one-way Japan Airlines business class flight to Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport (HAN).
On the way home, I'll fly EVA in business class from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA). I booked this using my favorite frequent flyer currency, 75,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points.
Room at the Hyatt Regency Bali in Indonesia. HYATT
My wife and I are headed on our honeymoon in 2023 to Hanoi, Bali and Singapore.
We transferred Amex points to Singapore KrisFlyer to book flights from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Hanoi via Singapore Changi Airport (SIN), flights from Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS) to Singapore and then flights from Singapore back to New York.
Best of all, our flights should all be in lie-flat business-class seats.
I've been planning a weeklong trip to Barbados with my husband for summer 2023 using points and miles I collected during the pandemic. This will be our first international trip since 2019.
I booked our Even More Space seats on JetBlue flights between JFK and Bridgetown's Grantley Adams International Airport (BGI) with a combination of TrueBlue points I'd earned by flying and Citi ThankYou points I earned with my Citi Premier® Card (see rates and fees).
We'll take Amtrak between New York and Washington, D.C. before and after our flights. However, to give us enough time, I booked one-night stays at a Marriott by JFK and a Kimpton by Penn Station using Marriott Bonvoy and IHG One Rewards points.
While we're in Barbados, we'll stay at the Fairmont. I plan to book this stay soon through Capital One Travel. To help pay for this stay, I'll redeem Capital One miles I've collected over the years from a no-annual-fee card and the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card I added to my wallet late last year.
Depending on how many more Capital One miles I'll earn in the next couple of months, I may also use some to pay myself back for our Amtrak tickets.
View from a Fiji Airways plane. RYAN SMITH/THE POINTS GUY
My schedule is packed with a wide variety of travel this year. One trip I'm especially excited about is New Zealand with a stopover in Fiji.
My husband and I redeemed 60,000 United miles plus $46.20 per person to fly Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) to George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in United domestic first, Houston to Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD) in United Polaris business and Sydney to Wellington International Airport (WLG) in Air New Zealand economy.
We're keeping our time in New Zealand flexible as we hope to snag an inexpensive RV rental to explore the country. However, we've booked freely cancellable hotels as a backup if we can't find a good campervan relocation rental.
For our return to the states, we redeemed 55,000 Alaska miles and $108.87 per person to fly from Auckland Airport (AKL) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Fiji Airways business with a stopover in Fiji.
While in Fiji, we'll stay in simple lodging booked through Airbnb on either side of a two-night stay at the Nanuku Resort (where we redeemed 30,000 Hyatt points plus a Category 1 through 7 free night certificate).
United Airlines economy class on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. KYLE OLSEN/THE POINTS GUY
While it's a simpler trip than many others discussed in this story, I redeemed United miles for a flight from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) to see the NHL Stadium Series game at Carter Finley Stadium.
Northern lights above a hotel. SMALL LUXURY HOTELS
My wife is still trying to see the northern lights for the first time. I've seen it twice, but we struck out on previous trips to Alaska and northern Sweden.
We had an Alaska Airlines companion fare expiring recently, so we used this to book another trip to Fairbanks, Alaska, in mid-March 2023, which we've read is peak viewing time for the aurora.
Points and miles inspire trips for many travelers, including many on the TPG staff.
Whether it's a complicated booking leveraging the best transferable points currencies to book premium-cabin seats on a partner airline with a free stopover or just a simple trip to a sporting match, each of us uses points and miles for what's important to us.
With frequent devaluations, points and miles are historically a bad long-term investment. We recommend keeping to an "earn it and burn it" philosophy. In other words, let 2023 be the year where you'll have lots of fun with your points and miles.
For rates and fees of the Amex Platinum Card, click here.
By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
