Using Points & Miles for a Europe Family Vacation

Disclaimer: Fancy Travel Hacker is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as Milevalue.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers.

The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of the offers mentioned may have expired.

Want to fly a family of 4 to Europe?
Here’s how to do it with 2 Players, each opening 2 cards…

HOW TO ACCUMULATE POINTS FOR THE TRIP

Focus on transferable miles. By this, I mean DO NOT get co-branded airline cards (Delta/United, etc).

• Player 1 (P1, YOU) learn how to apply forChase Sapphire Preferred® Card card. Sign up bonus is 60K Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points after spending $4K in 3 months.
• P1 generates a referral link for P2 to apply to the same card. P1 will get a 15K referral bonus when P2 is approved.
• P2 applies for card and meets minimum sign up bonus, resulting in 60K Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points.
• With minimum spend and bonuses, you’ll have 135K Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points

The above card is super important because you MUST have a Chase card that allows you to TRANSFER points and the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card does. There are many Chase cards that you can earn points with, but without a card that allows you to transfer them, they don’t do you nearly as much good.

More Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points…

• P1, learn how to apply for Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card . This card has $0 annual fee and because it’s a business card does not count against your 5/24. It has a 75K sign up bonus after spending $6K in 3 months. 
• P1 refers generates a referral link for P2 to apply for the same card. P1 gets a 40K referral bonus when P2 is approved.
• P2 applies for card and meets minimum sign up bonus, resulting in 75K Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points
• With minimum spend and bonuses, you’ll have 202K Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points.

Almost anyone can get approved for a business credit card. So many side hustles, little money makers count! Business credit cards are a really important part of your strategy because they don’t count against your 5/24. I have signed up for business cards as a sole proprietor that sells my son’s old clothes on Facebook marketplace. The most important item is HOW you fill out the application. You can see all the info here.

HOW TO BOOK FLIGHTS & HOTEL WITH YOUR POINTS

FLIGHTS – If you are flexible with your dates & departure/arrival airports, it’s not uncommon to get roundtrip to Europe in economy for 40K points per person. If there’s a transfer bonus or promo deal, you can get them for closer to 31K (roundtrip in economy!)

• Step 1: Sign up for an account with Flying Blue. This is Air France & KLMs frequent Flyer program. This is an excellent, low point way to fly your family to Europe. You need to create an account to Flying Blue so you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points to Flying Blue when you are ready to book a flight.
• Step 2: Sign up for a Virgin Atlantic Account. Virgin Atlantic & Air France/KLM are all part of the same alliance. Often you can get the SAME Air France/KLM flights on Virgin Atlantic for even LESS points (but usually more $ in taxes).
• Step 3: Check to see if there are any transfer bonuses. That is when a bank will give you extra points/miles just for transferring your points to a specific transfer partner. Frequent Miler keeps an ongoing list of all current transfer bonuses. So check here for that list.
• Step 4: Login to Air France (with your Flying Blue login). Do a search from your airport to your destination in Europe. Run this as a ONE WAY search for ONE person. Leave the DATE blank. Look at the calendar and see the cheapest dates. Nothing good? Is there another airport you could drive to? Try options leaving from that airport. No good? Think about destinations in Europe you could take a train to the final destination of your choice. Be flexible with dates, departure & arrival airports and you’ll have the best luck.
• Step 5: Once you find a flight that does have the amount of seats you want, check to see if Virgin Atlantic offers that same flight & if so, is it cheaper? BUT also factor in… Kids 11 and under get 25% off award tickets when you book on Air France/KLM’s site, so be sure to factor that in. Also factor in if there are any current transfer bonuses.
• Step 6: You’ve found your flight and are ready to book. It doesn’t hurt to call the airline you are booking it on and ask them to confirm the seats are available and if they can hold the tickets while you transfer the points. Transferring large amount of points is nerve wracking. This extra step ensures you aren’t seeing “phantom” space. I prefer to book ONE way flights. There is rarely a benefit to booking roundtrip when booking with points/miles.

HOTEL – After booking flights with your Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points, you’ll have about 177K – 200K Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points for your hotel nights…

• You have Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points which mean they can transfer to Hyatt. You’ll need to find Hyatts that offer rooms for 4 people or have bookable suites. I have seen suites in Paris that fit 4 for 27K points per night and suites in Rome to fit 4 for 24K points/night. If you can find Hyatt House options that accommodate 4, you can book those rooms for much lower points. Not sure how to transfer points? Here’s a step by step.
• You can also book directly in the Chase travel portal for hotels (be sure to check cancelation policy)
• Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points also transfer to IHG, so also check their options.

Questions? Don’t hesitate to reach out!

Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.