Travel Air travel or trips using points from credit cards

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lizmil

O.G.
Dec 30, 2007
5,527
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My credit card gives points which you can redeem for various things. Cash back against your bill. Cards to places like Target or the bookstore. I've been saving up points for a while. My daughter is a HS sophomore and we are planning a trip to Paris after she graduates HS.

Are these points for travel a good deal? Is it better to just take the money now & find a deal later?

recommendations?
 
It honestly depends. My family racks up mileage points for me to use when I go home from school since my air tickets always run about $1K & obviously using points is just better for me when I'm flying back & forth about 3 times a year. But if they're flying from Hawaii to California, then they'll just pay for the airfare instead since it's relatively cheaper anyways.

What's the rate of your points? Like 2 points for every $1 spent? Or just 1 point?

If you don't really NEED the cashback for gift cards to Target, etc., then I would keep accumulating points. Also, can you redeem all of your points & pay cash for a ticket if you don't have enough points? That's also important to consider because if your program doesn't allow that, you might want to redeem it for gift cards in the case that you know you don't use your credit card a lot.
 
Thanks Vinyl,

We would be going from the Midwest to Paris. I looked it up with fake dates just to get an idea, I put in 10 days and 2 people right now and it gives you about $600 each for tickets plus the amount I already have in points. Since I have two and a half years to go, I bet I could accumulate enough. If they don't expire --- I NEED to check that.

But I wonder if you do better just getting a package deal that you shop around for later....

The gift cards are $25 for $2500 spent. I'm not sure how the travel points accumulate. Up until now I just took the $25 & ran. I use my card for as much as I can so I get something back on bills, etc.

THX


It honestly depends. My family racks up mileage points for me to use when I go home from school since my air tickets always run about $1K & obviously using points is just better for me when I'm flying back & forth about 3 times a year. But if they're flying from Hawaii to California, then they'll just pay for the airfare instead since it's relatively cheaper anyways.

What's the rate of your points? Like 2 points for every $1 spent? Or just 1 point?

If you don't really NEED the cashback for gift cards to Target, etc., then I would keep accumulating points. Also, can you redeem all of your points & pay cash for a ticket if you don't have enough points? That's also important to consider because if your program doesn't allow that, you might want to redeem it for gift cards in the case that you know you don't use your credit card a lot.
 
Not sure where you are from in the midwest and not sure the exact dates you are looking at, but I have seen airfare from the midwest to Paris for $600-$700. If you are flying after June 15, that is the most expensive time to travel, over $1000 to Paris. If you go before June 1, I would probably save the points and just buy the plane tickets. Since your daughter is a student, studentuniverse has great deals, and I believe also offers refunds and low exchange fees.
 
Thanks, I didn't know that about the date difference --a week or two one way or the other will make a real difference. I'll check that student site too.

If you have any more tips, I'd love to know. We are in Michigan, could fly out of MI or Chicago or even CAnada.


Not sure where you are from in the midwest and not sure the exact dates you are looking at, but I have seen airfare from the midwest to Paris for $600-$700. If you are flying after June 15, that is the most expensive time to travel, over $1000 to Paris. If you go before June 1, I would probably save the points and just buy the plane tickets. Since your daughter is a student, studentuniverse has great deals, and I believe also offers refunds and low exchange fees.
 
Plane tickets are surprisingly inexpensive from Detroit because Northwest's hub is there. This may change because of the Delta merger though. Often it is even cheaper than Chicago.
 
I'd use the points on the airfare if you can. You spend $2500 for a $25 giftcard, but prolly could redeem 2500 points for more in airfare miles. That's been my experience at least!

Try to book through the actual company when you buy tickets, I booked through Orbitz last year and when it went down in price I didn't get a refund because someone didn't book my exact flight from US to london and paris to US, but I'm pretty sure that if I had booked through British Airways I wouldn't have had that problem. It really made me angry considering I bought tickets about 8 months in advance, and about a month before I was supposed to leave tickets were about $350 cheaper and if I had waited and decided to fly Air Canada I could have gotten the roundtrip fare for about $500, when I paid about 1100 ugh.
 
I say accumulate and use points to travel especially if you're traveling during peak seasons. It's the same amount of mileage/ points required irregardless of the travel season for most airlines so I find that a better deal. My mom and I did what you and your daughter is doing, about 2 years ago! We also used mileage (Vancouver to London with Air Canada), and we accumulated enough mileage to fly Business Class round-trip and only paid around $150 per person for airport taxes and fees. The thing with using mileage however... BOOK EARLY. I don't know how the mileage system works now with black-out days and limited seats and everything but it ups your chances of getting seats if you book months in advance (we booked it 8 months in advance and we were still waitlisted for 2 months)

Your daughter's so lucky to have a mom like you!