Jonathan Rowland, 36, and Maranda Po, 33, later last year. According to Rowland, Po was first ingested by him due to a specific photo on his dating app – in which Rowland introduced it to Giza’s Great Pyramid. “Our mutual love for the journey was established a year earlier,” Roland said.
The Baltimore-based pair again traveled to the world, often using points and miles for many of those trips, including their traveling November 2023 Venice, ItalyWhere they were engaged.
Now, with his napati behind him, he planned a lifetime holiday for January 2025. His honeymoon included several luxury hotels in South America, and long-halls, international flights booked using points. Here is how he redeemed the points for flights, which will cost $ 15,000.
In number
- Destination, Lima, Peru
- Flight cost, $ 15,000 (two, round-trip business class seats from New York to Lima)
- Points redeemed: 200,000 virgin points (transferred from American Express and Chase)
- Total expenditure, $ 111.60 in taxes and charges
How did they book flights
Rolland and Po wanted to travel sometimes in January, as it was a slow time for each of their work programs. They were flexible, but had two main priorities: to completely unplug the journey and they were never before.
Founder of Spencer Howard, a few months before his marriage At straight points-A prize-focused flight alert subscription service-A friend of the doubles, alerted Rowland and other newsletter customers about the availability of award for business class flights from New York to Peru. This proposal was with Latum, the largest airline South AmericaPrice? About $ 50 in one-way tickets, taxes and fees for 50,000 marks per person.
Neither Rolland nor Po had first visited South America, so the deal directed his decision to go to the honeymoon in which countries: Peru, Chile and Brazil.
Booking tip
Being flexible, whether with your travel destination, the time of the year you want to travel, or both, you can increase the chances of finding the best deal because it is related to points.
Long, roundtrip flights from New York to Peru were booked on the website of Virgin Atlantic. Like many other airlines, the virgin offers members the ability to capitalize on the partner carrier, including latums. The South American airline has nonstop services from the US to the hubs like Santiago, Chile; Sao Paolo, Brazil; Lima, Peru, and more.
While Rolland and Po did not have points with virgin, they took advantage of the power of transfer partners. Virgin Atlantic is a partner of most major transferable point programs (American Express Membership Awards, Chase ultimat rewards, Capital One Meal, City Thank You Rewards, and Built Rewards).
All these programs transfer the virgin in one-to-one ratio, and you can add digits from different accounts. In the case of Rowland, he transferred marks from both American Express And Chase Virgin Atlantic to maximize the awards.
He logged into his bank accounts, navigated into the respective travel classes, and selected the option to move the virgin. (For first-time, you will also need to enter your Virgin Flying Club information. Creating a virgin account is completely free.) Finally, since the points immediately transferred, Rolland logged into his Virgin account to book the Latum flight in his Virgin account.
How was the experience
John Cotty/Getty Images
As AVD passengers, the couple had earlier experienced some incredible business class products, which were introduced by Emirates and Singapore Airlines. However, he was not sure what to expect from Latum.
“We were overall surprised,” Rolland said. “One of the best features is his lounge access relationship with a delta; we were able to visit the new Delta One Lounge in JFK and enjoy ourselves.”
“The flight was also great,” he continued. “Catering was delicious and was friendly to the crew. It was with 1-2–1 layouts on 787-9 flights on their updated boing, so we arrived comfortably and were ready for our honeymoon and thanks to their comfortable lies.”
Rowland and Poe were able to allocate the money they spent on flying for luxury housing and experiences. It included several bellmond properties, including Meera Floors Park in Lima, Monsterio in Kusko and Rio Sangrado The Sacred Valley,
“We also loved us Belmond Hiram Bingham Train Experience with beautiful pullman-style vehicles just outside the Orient Express, “Rolland said.” On the ship, we enjoyed a delicious lunch, dinner and live music that was in front and back of Machu Pichu with our journey. ,
One point and mile tip for passengers
If you can, maximize the value of your points on business or first class flights. You can get better returns when booking dollars, airfare for dollars. If you consider yourself a novice with maximum marks, the Rowland points suggests to take advantage of online resources to help individuals in the community or reach out. “Many times, people are more happy than giving you suggestions and tricks about how to use your dots best.”
Finally, if you are absolutely new to use points, it can be difficult. It may be helpful to sign up for an email membership service or to follow loyalty influential people. “For people with busy programs like me, it could be a lot to search for the prize place on its own,” Rolland said.