Reader success story: Using points and miles to visit 8 countries in 3 years

At TPG, one of our main missions is to teach our readers how to use points and miles to secure dream trips they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford. Often, we don’t hear about the trips that our readers end up taking, but every now and again, we’re gifted with tales of special experiences.

Recently, a longtime reader of TPG, Doug M., came to us with just that. He took us through his journey with points and miles, highlighting how they allowed him and his fiancee (now wife) to travel worldwide. Here are the highlights of his globe-trotting and the advice he wishes to pass on to readers looking to use points and miles for aspirational travel.

Related: How I strategize my award redemptions

How TPG helped this reader take his first big international trip

Doug was once in the shoes of many beginners, wanting to see the world but not sure how to do it with just cash. Through TPG, Doug learned how to use points and miles to afford the trips he wanted to take. All of his time spent combing TPG articles for information paid off when he booked his first major international trip to the Swiss Alps and London in 2022.

Doug earned American Express Membership Rewards points with his American Express® Gold Card and The Platinum Card® from American Express. By transferring approximately 124,000 Membership Rewards points to Emirates, Doug was able to book two business-class tickets for himself and his fiancee from New York City to Milan.

Doug also transferred 35,000 Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic, so he and his partner could fly in premium economy from London to New York City. Doug estimated that these two flights would have cost him $13,000, meaning he secured a fantastic deal. Note that redemption rates for these flights vary.

The welcome offers on the Amex Gold and Amex Platinum can help you quickly acquire Membership Rewards points so you can take trips like Doug’s. Currently, the Amex Gold offers 60,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $6,000 in the first six months of card membership.

The Amex Platinum offers 80,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $8,000 in the first six months of card membership. Note that you could be targeted for a 125,000-point or 150,000-point welcome bonus by using the CardMatch tool. However, these offers are subject to change at any time.

Based on TPG’s July 2024 valuations, these welcome offers are worth $1,200 and $1,600, respectively.

Related: These apps and websites make award redemptions easier to find

A dream trip to New Zealand and Australia using points and miles

Doug’s trip to the Swiss Alps and London with points and miles opened Pandora’s box. He and his fiancee had a dream trip in mind: New Zealand and Australia. With the aid of points and miles, they were able to turn this dream into a reality in 2023. By quickly taking advantage of an award-booking opportunity, Doug and his fiancee secured two business-class tickets from Houston to Auckland with a combination of Capital One miles and Amex Membership Rewards points. Doug transferred these 175,000 points and miles to Air Canada’s Aeroplan to book a fellow Star Alliance partner, Air New Zealand.

That wasn’t the only redemption they used to help them get the trip they’d always envisioned. Taking advantage of Air Canada’s stopover feature, they nabbed a flight from Christchurch, New Zealand, to Sydney on Emirates for an additional 5,000 points per person.

In Australia, they were able to get a flight from Sydney to Cairns to see the Great Barrier Reef using Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Since Doug’s fiancee (now wife) has the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, she transferred points to her United Airlines MileagePlus account to book the trip. Their journey home saw Doug transfer Amex points to Virgin Atlantic; plus, they added a one-day stopover in Honolulu on their path to Houston from Sydney, allowing him and his partner to check off yet another destination.

Doug estimated that this dream vacation would have cost him an extra $12,500 without the help of points and miles, proving that booking his dream trip was no fluke. With the right planning and execution, vacations to global destinations are possible without spending tens of thousands of dollars. Business-class international flights don’t have to be exclusively for the ultrarich.

Related: How to potentially save miles by flying first class instead of economy

Where points and miles are taking this reader next

Since he started exploring points and miles, Doug has visited a total of eight countries — Switzerland, the U.K., Italy, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, as well as Bermuda. He and his wife are already planning their next big trip: Japan in cherry blossom season. They’ve booked round-trip tickets in Japan Airlines’ new A350-1000 business-class seats using Cathay Pacific Asia Miles.

They knew these luxurious seats would be tough to get because Japan Airlines typically releases only two business-class seats per flight, and they definitely wanted to fly together. They also knew Cathay Pacific would release award seats 360 days in advance at midnight Hong Kong time. Almost a full year before his trip, Doug hopped on the phone with the Cathay Pacific rewards desk.

He managed to find two award seats on a flight from Dallas Forth Worth International Airport (DFW) to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport (HND) for 178,000 miles per person. He transferred about half of the required miles from Capital One (he’d accrued plenty by using his Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card to earn 2 miles per dollar spent on wedding expenses); he transferred the rest from Amex Membership Rewards. Once the trip to Tokyo was booked, he repeated the process a few days later for the trip home.

Related: Cathay Pacific business-class award availability in 2025

This reader’s advice to points and miles beginners

Start with transferable points

Doug recommends starting with a card that earns transferable points rather than a cobranded airline or hotel card. He and his wife have gotten a ton of value from cards with transferable currencies, like the Amex Gold and Platinum, Capital One Venture Rewards Card, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Bilt Mastercard® (see rates and fees; TPG founder Brian Kelly is a Bilt adviser and investor).

“My first card was a cobranded card because I didn’t know any better and listened to one of the ads on the plane,” Doug tells TPG, adding, “Don’t be me!” Instead, he says, you can get much more value by earning transferable points and transferring them to travel partners.

Related: No-annual-fee credit cards that earn transferable points

Be flexible

Doug also stresses the importance of patience and flexibility, especially if you’re after business- or first-class award seats. Instead of choosing a flight and then looking for a way to book it with points or miles, he recommends keeping an open mind — and calendar — while searching for award availability.

“Let the flights tell you when to travel, not the other way around, especially if you want to unlock great value with hard-to-find business- and first-class seats,” he says.

Refer your friends

Many cards offer bonus points to cardholders who refer others to the card. This means that if your friend applies for a card through your personal referral link and gets approved, you’ll earn extra points, though the amount varies widely by card and often changes over time.

For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve are currently offering 10,000 bonus points for each person you refer, and Bilt has been known to offer 25,000 bonus points for every five referrals. Some rewards come in the form of increased earning rates rather than a chunk of points, like when select Amex cards offered an additional 5 points per dollar spent on supermarket purchases for referring a friend.

Doug and his wife have earned roughly 10 referral bonuses, some of them as high as 20,000 points each — without spending a dime. Plus, he’s shared his passion with loved ones and helped them dip their toes into points and miles.

Related: Capital One Refer a Friend: What you need to know about this generous program

Bottom line

The world of points and miles can seem daunting to beginners. But the good news is there are many easy ways to get started, and you can take it at your own pace. Doug went from having no knowledge of points, miles or credit cards to seeing eight countries (plus Bermuda) in three years, as well as booking a trip to Japan using rewards. Doug credits TPG for helping him build the knowledge needed to make these trips happen, and he strongly encourages others to give it a try.

Do you have a points and miles success story you’d like to share? Email us at questions@thepointsguy.com for a chance to be featured on TPG.

Related: Reader success story: How this couple used travel rewards to cover an epic $50,000 anniversary trip to Asia

For rates and fees of the Bilt Mastercard, click here.
For rewards and benefits of the Bilt Mastercard, click here.