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After marrying your forever partner, what better way to kick off the next chapter of your life together than with the journey of a lifetime? Whether your dream honeymoon destination is in South Beach or the Southern Hemisphere, spending time with the love of your life right after exchanging your vows is a great decision.
But, we don’t need to tell you that your dream honeymoon can be expensive. And, if you’re planning on splurging – and really, what better time to splurge than on your honeymoon? – the price of your trip can easily run into the thousands of dollars. Between flights, hotels, transportation, food and more, honeymoons can be a huge expense. Luckily, travel rewards can help you save hundreds, if not thousands, on your honeymoon.
I can speak from experience. My husband and I got married last month, and in the midst of all the wedding planning before our big day, we knew we wanted to go somewhere special for our honeymoon. We settled in Southeast Asia for our once-in-a-lifetime madness trip. And rather than paying for our flights, we use our travel rewards.
Now that we are back from our honeymoon, we can confirm that our crazy trip was the right decision. In fact, our flights were so fantastic that we didn’t even want to get off the planes. Think a bed in the sky, food you’d love to eat in a good restaurant on the ground, and great service. Here’s how we booked our $18,584 honeymoon flights for less than $175 — and how, with a little effort, flexibility, and homework, you can do the same.
To begin our Southeast Asia adventure, we flew from New York to Singapore. At 9,537 miles and 18 hours and 50 minutes of flight time, Singapore Airlines’ nonstop flight from New York-Kennedy (JFK) to Singapore (SIN) is currently the longest flight in the world.
Since it was our honeymoon, we decided to splurge on business class, especially since it’s an almost 19 hour trip. While we could have chosen to fly with a stopover in Frankfurt en route (and potentially even fly Singapore Suites first class on the A380), we flew nonstop. And, after experiencing delicious food, amazing service, and a super comfy bed in the sky, we’re so glad we did.
For a one-way business class seat on this route, Singapore Airlines charges between $3,600 and nearly $10,000. On the date we flew, the airline was charging $6,516 per person for a business class seat, or $13,032 for the two of us. To state the obvious, it is far from our budget. Instead, we used travel rewards and paid just $11.20 out of pocket. Yes, you read that right – just over $11 in total.
This is because we have chosen to redeem Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles for the flight. A one-way trip between New York and Singapore costs just 99,000 Singapore KrisFlyer miles and $5.60 in business class taxes and fees, provided you can find Saver Rewards availability. (Singapore Airlines does not offer Singapore Suites on the nonstop flight between New York and Singapore.)
Now, most Americans — including myself — don’t have a reserve of Singapore KrisFlyer miles sitting around. But luckily, miles are incredibly easy to earn because the airline partners with all major credit card points programs in the United States. In other words, you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One miles and Citi ThankYou Rewards to Singapore Airlines.
I had accumulated a large amount of American Express Membership Rewards points on my American Express Platinum Card® and on my American Express® Gold Card. By transferring these points, I had more than enough to cover the 198,000 KrisFlyer miles needed for my husband and I.
Currently, the Amex Platinum – a card we consider one of the best for luxury travel – offers a welcome bonus of 100,000 bonus points after spending $6,000 within the first six months of opening. Account. This welcome bonus offer alone is enough to get a one-way business class ticket from New York to Singapore.
Meanwhile, the Amex Gold card currently offers new card members 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 within the first six months of account opening. If you are able to secure the Amex Platinum and Amex Gold welcome bonus offers, you will be within reach of a one-way trip to Singapore in business class for you and your new spouse.
Learn more about the Platinum Card from American Express.
Learn more about the American Express Gold Card.
Keep in mind that points are not always transferred instantly to Singapore Airlines – it can take up to 48 hours in some cases. You will therefore want to plan ahead if you plan to transfer points to your account in Singapore.
How we saved nearly $5,400 on a business class flight from Thailand to New York
After spending a few weeks in Southeast Asia, it was (unfortunately) time for us to return to New York. We ended our honeymoon in Thailand, so when booking we looked at options for traveling from Bangkok (BKK) to New York (JFK). And, we were able to find another deal using travel rewards.
Etihad Airways operates this route with a stopover in Abu Dhabi (AUH) en route. The airline charges around $3,000 per person for a one-way business class seat. In fact, on the date of our trip, the airline was charging $2,776 per person, which would have made a total of $5,552 for the two of us. Again, this would have simply been out of our budget.
Instead, we were able to find business class award availability, and since Etihad Airways is an Air Canada partner, we were able to redeem Air Canada Aeroplan points to discount this flight at a fraction of the cost. Specifically, we redeemed 85,000 Aeroplan points per person – 170,000 points in total – and paid approximately $162 in taxes and fees between the two of us. In other words, we got this $5,552 business class itinerary for just $162 out of pocket.
Just like Singapore’s KrisFlyer miles, it’s also incredibly easy to earn Aeroplan Miles from Air Canada, even if you never board an Air Canada plane. Indeed, the Aeroplan program is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards and Capital One miles. In other words, you can transfer points from any of these three programs to Aeroplan and redeem them for flights with Air Canada – or one of its partners, like Etihad or dozens of others.
I used a combination of American Express Membership Rewards points and Chase Ultimate Rewards points to redeem for this 170,000 point theft. You can easily get part of the points for this redemption with the current sign-up bonus on the Chase Sapphire Preferred® card. The current bonus of 60,000 points after spending $4,000 on the card in the first three months is 25,000 points insufficient to redeem for this one-way business class jaunt from Asia to North America for a person. When you also consider the Chase Sapphire Preferred to be a solid investment well beyond its sign-up bonus – we even consider it the best travel credit card for beginners – take the card extra of all these bonus points is a no brainer.
If you combine the 60,000 points earned with the Chase Sapphire Preferred with the 100,000 bonus points earned from the welcome offer on the Amex Platinum and transfer both to Air Canada Aeroplan, you will have almost enough points for the same exchange that we did – once you take into consideration the points earned from the minimum spend requirement on each card.
Ultimately, using travel rewards helped my husband and I afford the ultimate luxury in the sky on our honeymoon – something that would have otherwise been unattainable. By rethinking our credit card strategy and putting the right travel credit cards in our wallets, we were able to afford two wonderful flight experiences for just $173 out of pocket. Instead, we were able to spend our honeymoon budget on great hotels and delicious food throughout our two week trip – what could be better than that?
Learn more about the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
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