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| Fly for less |
| by Brian Kelly |
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I’m planning a June trip to Paris, and shockingly, airfare to Europe is not turning out to be as sky-high as it has been in recent years.
The round-trip business-class fare I was looking at was $4,000 through Air France, but when I logged in to Amex Travel to look at the price in American Express’ International Airline Program, it was $2,900 for prime nonstop flights. That’s a savings of $1,100 right there.
When paying for airfare through Amex Travel, you can expect a value of 1 cent per point. Therefore, this $2,900 round-trip flight would cost me 290,000 points, which is almost half of what Delta is charging in SkyMiles. However, to push my savings even further, I stacked the Pay with Points perk that comes with my Business Platinum Card® from American Express to receive 35% of those points back when paying for first- or business-class tickets through Amex Travel (up to 1 million points per calendar year). With the Pay with Points perk, I was able to get an additional 101,5000 points off the 290,000-point round-trip ticket.
What started out as a $4,000 round-trip ticket to Paris ended up being just over 94,000 points each way by combining the discount from the International Airline Program and the 101,500 Amex points I got back with the Pay with Points perk.
Even better, because airlines treat Pay with Points tickets as cash bookings, you can use your credit card points and earn airline miles at the same time to speed up your progress toward elite status.
If you want to take advantage of a similar deal, the Amex Business Platinum is currently offering an elevated welcome bonus of 150,000 Amex bonus points when you spend $20,000 in the first three months of card membership.
But if you have more date and/or route flexibility than I did this time around, you might be able to do even better, as we’ve seen multiple ways to book flights to Europe this summer for just 45,000-50,000 miles in business class just this week.
All of this got me thinking about other ways to save on airfare, so here are a few ideas.
These programs could help you save money on airfare:
- Students can join Qatar Airways’ Student Club for free and receive discounts of 10%-20% on airfare, complimentary high-speed inflight Wi-Fi, free elite status as a graduation gift and more.
- United Airlines offers discounts to young adult travelers between the ages of 18 and 23. These discounts start at 5% but can be much more than that on certain routes and dates. Note that these discounts are only available in the United app.
- Save when flying United and JetBlue (5% on eligible flights) with a WeSalute membership (formerly Veterans Advantage). This membership is open to active duty, retired and veteran military members and their families.
- StudentUniverse is a free program for students and young adults that offers discount codes for flights, hotels and rental cars.
- An AARP membership can get you discounts of up to $200 per ticket on British Airways. This discount is great to stack when BA has reasonable business-class fares. It’s only $12 a year to join AARP, and you do not have to be over 50!
- Several carriers, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, offer senior citizen fares; however, there are rules and restrictions around them. The offers can vary by destination and you may have to call in order to book them.
- The FoundersCard is a members-only card (not a credit card) that offers significant discounts on multiple airlines, elite travel perks and benefits. It comes with a steep annual fee, so make sure the value of the perks outweighs the fee. Among other current deals, FoundersCard members can receive up to 10% off select British Airways flights and 15% off select Singapore Airlines flights.
Points and miles spotlight: Q&A with Ben’s Big Deal
For this month’s influencer spotlight, I talked to Ben Komenkul of Ben’s Big Deal — whom I follow and admire for the way he shares travel deals.
Brian: What’s been your best redemption lately?
Ben: Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, to Los Angeles for 10,000 American AAdvantage miles plus $74 per person. I was then able to use my AA status to upgrade my whole family to first class for free.
Brian: Share one loyalty program that’s overlooked.
Ben: It would have to be the Bilt Rewards. Most people know you can earn points from paying rent with a Bilt Mastercard®, but do you know that they also report on-time rent payments to help improve your credit? Some other companies charge you a fee to report your rent payments to the credit bureau, but Bilt helps you improve your credit while earning points for rent for free.
Brian: I love that, which is why I am an investor and adviser for Bilt. They continue to innovate. Now, tell our TPG readers — what’s your favorite travel perk?
Ben: The trip delay insurance benefit on my Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card — it’s primary insurance, and I have used it often. It has justified the annual fee so much.
Check out Ben’s Big Deal on Instagram and follow him to see his upcoming points and miles adventures!
Have a great weekend,
BK
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| Photo Credit: WYATT SMITH/THE POINTS GUY. |
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