You Can Still Book an Amazing Free Trip to Paris, Even if You Have Points Spread Over Many Accounts.

Trying to Book a Trip to Paris Using Only Points and Miles

I wanted to take a trip to Paris that was rather last minute. It was just a few weeks before my planned departure date that I started the booking process, normally a very tough time for booking award travel.

It has been my experience that trying to find flights and hotel rooms with points is the toughest between two and 30 days before departure. That is exactly when I was booking this trip.

But as luck would have it, I was able to turn two circumstances that often make booking award travel very difficult into something that made this trip possible. 

My Two Booking Challenges

The first being the challenge of booking last minute as mentioned above. Because I was booking rather late, I was unable to find the flights I wanted. What I wanted was round-trip business class using United miles. I had a stash of United miles, so I was willing to cash in 140,000 for a round-trip business class ticket on one of their fine European partner airlines.

But trying to find a ticket like this in the weeks before departure is usually challenging. This is where the second circumstance that is usually a problem turned out to be what made this trip possible.

That second circumstance is modest miles and points balances in a variety of accounts, none (other than the United account) large enough individually to use for a vacation.

Think Unconventionally

I know that it is natural to think that we need to have enough miles or points with a single loyalty program to take a trip. Or have enough airline miles with one airline and enough points with one hotel. But that is not the case at all. I encourage you to mix it up if that is what it takes to make your trip possible.

Combining Points From Various Accounts

As I mentioned, since I had a lot of United points I wanted to book a round trip business class flight with one of their partners. But given my late booking, there was no availability.

I had some American Airlines points also, but not enough for a round trip ticket in business class. But I did have enough for a one-way ticket in business class and I was able to find availability on American! Granted, when redeeming last minute award tickets, they don’t always give you the most desirable path.

For my ticket I have to fly from Los Angeles to Albuquerque. From there on to Chicago and from Chicago on to Paris. The whole trip will take about 4 hours longer than a nonstop LA to Paris flight.

But I got a good redemption. On the two domestic legs I have a first-class seat. And on the long, overnight flight from Chicago to Paris I have a great business-class sleeper seat on the 787 Dreamliner. It is this sleeper seat that was my main objective. Now when I land in Paris at 10:00 a.m. the next morning, I’ll be rested and ready to enjoy my trip, rather than jet lagged and in need of a nap.

Not only was I able to find this ticket on American, it only cost me 57,000 American miles. This is quite a bit less than the 70,000 miles United charges for a business class ticket on one of their partners.

Booking My Flight Home

Once I had this ticked and was assured of some good sleep on the overnight flight, I could then go ahead and book an economy flight on United for the trip home. Flying economy is much easier for me on the way home from Europe because it is a day flight and there is no expectation of needing to sleep overnight.

However, I will still see if any last-minute business-class seats pop up a day or two before my flight home and upgrade with miles if possible.

Now I had two flights on different airlines using miles from different loyalty programs. All perfectly fine and recommended if this kind of flexibility is needed to make your trip a reality. There is no rule saying you have to fly the same airline on both legs of your trip.

Combining Points for Hotel Stays

Now I needed to book my hotel. I had enough points in my Marriott account for three nights in a great Renaissance hotel near Le Marais neighborhood. The three nights I booked cost 105,000 Marriott points total. But I needed four nights for my trip.

Even though I was out of Marriott points, I had other points I could use to book a fourth night at the Renaissance hotel, like some of those United miles I didn’t end up using. But the hotel did not have any rooms available for the night I needed.

Not a problem. The United Airlines hotel search engine is powered by Hotels.com so there were literally dozens of hotel options available to me. I was able to find a great little hotel in the 8^th arrondissement, steps from the Champs Elysees with a balcony and city views for less than 33,000 united miles.

Booking from a Variety of Loyalty Programs

In the final analysis I had booked two different airlines and two different hotels using three different loyalty program points currencies. Normally that may not be your first instinct. But as I mentioned, if you have points and miles balances in various accounts, none of which are large enough for a whole trip, this kind of mix and match is a great way to utilize all of the miles available to you. It is also a great way to expand your flexibility when one loyalty program may not be able to provide you with what you need on the dates you want to travel.

How You Can Accumulate the Necessary Points and Miles

For this trip I used a combination of the following

• 57,000 American Airlines miles for 1 business class ticket LAX – CDG
• 45,000 United miles for one economy class ticket CDG – LAX (often available for as few as 30,000 miles)
• 105,000 Marriott points for three nights’ accommodations
• 33,000 United Miles for one night’s accommodations

Here are some travel awards cards with welcome bonuses that can get you on your way to a similar trip:

• Sapphire Preferred = 50,000 bonus points (transferable to United) after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening ($95 annual fee waived first year)
• United Explorer Card = 40,000 bonus miles after spending $2,000 in the first three months the account is opened ($95 annual fee waived first year)
• Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard = 50,000 bonus miles after spending $2,500 in first 3 months ($99 annual fee waived first year)
• Barclay’s AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard = 60,000 bonus miles after paying $95 annual fee and making one purchase

Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card = 75,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 in first 3 months ($95 annual fee)