How is everyone affording all of this international travel?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have mastered the points game. In the last three years and through summer 2026, I have taken myself and two kids to Amsterdam, London, Turkey, Morocco, Scandinavia, Colombia, Italy and Peru. Free flights everywhere, free hotels some places. It turned out well worth it for my family.

So am I correct in thinking that three people for eight return trips at 30-40k points each way means 1.4-1.9 million points in three years? How did you accumulate those?

Others have answered, but for most it's churning credit card bonuses. Amex has 250k bonuses now for one card. Do 3 of those a year and you are at 2
2 million in 3 years.

You make it sound easy! Where do you find those offers? At the moment Platinum is offering a SUB 80k and Gold is offering a SUB 60k. Are you talking about targeted deals not available to everyone? Also, if they offer SUBs of 250k. Are you incurring a $900 fee and a $15,000 min spend for each card every 4 mths?

Business platinum, and yes the spend is big, there are ways to do it. Annual fees you can cover through the various benefits (2 years worth since they reset each calendar year), and who cares if you are getting $3k worth of points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have mastered the points game. In the last three years and through summer 2026, I have taken myself and two kids to Amsterdam, London, Turkey, Morocco, Scandinavia, Colombia, Italy and Peru. Free flights everywhere, free hotels some places. It turned out well worth it for my family.

So am I correct in thinking that three people for eight return trips at 30-40k points each way means 1.4-1.9 million points in three years? How did you accumulate those?

Others have answered, but for most it's churning credit card bonuses. Amex has 250k bonuses now for one card. Do 3 of those a year and you are at 2
2 million in 3 years.

You make it sound easy! Where do you find those offers? At the moment Platinum is offering a SUB 80k and Gold is offering a SUB 60k. Are you talking about targeted deals not available to everyone? Also, if they offer SUBs of 250k. Are you incurring a $900 fee and a $15,000 min spend for each card every 4 mths?

Not every 4 months, but every year is feasible depending on how attractive the offer is. I have 2 golds and 2 platinums. 80k for platinum is measly.

If you have no Amex cards, get a green one first. Then you will be able to see better offers. Then get a gold, then a platinum. Biz gold, biz platinum. Retention bonuses. Additional user cards etc. then another round. It adds up.

So you pay about $2,500 in annual fees each year? I don’t think I could use enough of the benefits on multiple cards to offset the cost. Plus not eligible for biz cards.

That's why it's called churning. You keep the card for just a year, don't pay a second annual fee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone mentioning points always neglect that there's always taxes and fees you still have to pay, especially for flights. 12,000 points plus $400 in tax and fees is typical for a cheap points ticket on economy to London using British Airways and Virgin as examples. Using one cent to the point, it's marginally cheaper than booking with cash. So the 50,000 points plus $200 in taxes and fees if flying to Paris or Amsterdam on KLM also isn't as great of a deal either (all assuming you use cash back as the alternative use for points).

But points can get you good deals on hotels.

OP, I have always traveled even when a broke grad student. I make a good income now but I still travel frugally. It's easy to travel cheaply in Europe while still having a good trip. The cost of living is so high in the US that a two week in Europe is partially offset by savings on consumption in the US during those two weeks. Most people traveling internationally are paying for it out of income, not family money or whatever. It’s a blend of salary and budgets. To be in the top 10% of wage earners in the US you need a salary of around $165k, and anyone making $100k+ can make an international trip happen, so assume at least 20% of Americans can afford to travel overseas. That is a lot of people.

Last but not least, flights have never been as cheap as they are now. I can buy round trip tickets to Europe slightly off season for $550 if booking far enough in advance. That is what we were paying for tickets to London 30 years ago!

I just booked round trip business from the US to New Zealand/Australia and the taxes were $75 per per person per leg, so $300 total. Cash value was ~$6500 a ticket. No one is using CPP on economy tickets.

And how many points was it? You conveniently left that off. And then compare the points + fees with the cost of an economy ticket, as that is the starting point for most people.

I'm glancing at the points calculators, business tickets to Europe typically have tax/fees starting at 500 each way. On top of 150k points. One airline seems to buck the trend and that is United, with much lower fees both economy and business, but much higher points required too. So it's a wash. Because if you're being honest, what you're probably doing is paying the cost of an economy ticket to fly business.

You can get better deals if booking much further out, 12 months, instead of six or so, but it does mean significant commitment long in advance.

It was 166k each round trip. No one is paying $400 in taxes and fees to flying to Europe unless you’re flying business with Flying Blue. Book a flight through a partner that doesn’t pass along fuel charges. I’ve never paid more than ~$70 per person per leg to fly business Europe.

I am looking at reward calculators. Virgin round trip to London from DC in March is 12k points plus $440. For economy. Upper class is well over a thousand. FlyBlue is over $600 for Amsterdam or Paris in business plus 300k+ points.

United is 305k points round trip plus $384 in business. For economy it is 71k points plus $214.

Virgin and Flying Blue pass along fuel surcharges. Here are a bunch of random upcoming business class flights I just found. DCA-JFK-LHR on AA for 70k+$5.60. IAD to DUB on Aer Lingus Via Alaska for 45k+$19. IAD to MUC On Lufthansa via Air Canada for 70k+$56. Maybe if you spent less time being smug and more time learning the hobby you'd understand how wrong you are.

You are quite hostile and rude. I looked at the reward booking options across multiple airlines and still can't find these amazing flight deals. You mentioned AA, and random midweek dates in March is still showing me 115k points plus $1,889 for business class. Next July is 410k points though taxes and fees is only $427. You didn't tell us the dates you're using so I'm guessing those are a year out?

I have spent hours plotting and strategizing these possible flights and am just not seeing these fabulous deals.

NP and I find AA miles really hard to use, especially for international travel and with multiple people. I inadvertently let my last 40k AAdvantage miles expire from inactivity and don't have the energy to call to try to find some way to earn them back, it just doesn't seem worth it. IIRC you can sometimes have better success calling them to book because not all of the eligible partner airlines are available for online booking, unless that's changed.

In general international business travel is a hard way to use points IME. It’s the goal for most people but I guess that’s why it’s so hard - demand has gotten a lot higher and most flights only have 6-8 business seats that release at the “saver” points price.

I do love AA for domestic points though. We can fly to AZ or CA for 7500-10k points each way. We’ve flown to see family in VT for 5500 points each way. I keep trying to use AA points for the Caribbean but unless you want crazy bad layovers the points prices are very high.

I agree, but so many posters are claiming on here that that is how they are able to travel so much internationally, by using points.

I have used points to travel internationally in J/F at least once a year every single year since 2014. It might be difficult for some people but it isn’t for everyone.

During peak school break periods with 4 or more seats? I highly doubt it. If it’s true, then either share how you do it, or keep it to yourself if you aren’t willing to share.

Not that PP, but we have flown business 4 times to Europe using miles in summer in the last 10 years, with a family of 4. Use credit card bonuses. We have gone business outbound on the overnight, and economy on the daytime returns.

1. First one was on American, it was 110k/person originally, and then 4 days before departure, savers for 58k/person opened up on the same flights, had to pay around $300 to change, but saved 200k miles.

2. Second one was on American, in November of the year before they opened up a massive amount of business saver inventory for the upcoming summer for about 2 days. Booked an okay itinerary, and then a few months later got an itinerary change and moved to a better itinerary- later departure to maximize sleep.

3. Third one was in summer 2022, booked 9 months before, when travel was still pretty iffy, young kids hadn't had shots yet, you still needed to test negative to board a flight back to the US. Flew Virgin to London, booked through Air France (lower fees) for 60k+$200/person, there was a transfer bonus from Amex so it was only 50k Amex points per person. This was a matter of good timing, got lucky that demand was still pretty low in late 2021, so there was good availability. By June 2022 they removed the testing requirement so that made things a lot easier for the trip.

4. Last one was booked at schedule open, a full 11.5 months in advance, Air France but cost 90k/person+ $200. Usually best you can get on AF is 60k one way for business, but that's really hard to find, and I knew 90k was good and probably wasn't gonna get any better. I kept checking later and it never went below 130k/person.

Those are all one way mileage costs, we got econ awards back for usually around 30k/person.

It's getting harder every year, and definitely takes work and knowing how it all works.

You did well to do those flights in the last 10 years, but unfortunately that wouldn’t be possible going forward. Point inflation has been terrible.

Actually, I think these rates aren't even particularly low, assuming they are one way. AF still has 60K business class availability. 90K is high for me, to Europe, and 110K is way high. It's challenging to find 4 seats together, yes. But the rates this poster referenced are neither low nor unusual. But good job finding blocks of 4!! That's very good!!

What are your tips for using points on Air France? Do you book through Air France or through a partner airline? Which credit cards work best to accumulate points? Are there particular destinations that are good value and have good availability? So many questions!

My #1 tip for booking AF with points is staying flexible. When you log in and search for award tickets, leave the date field open. This will open a monthly calendar view, and you will see pricing on every day of that month with low saver rates marked in green. You can click through the entire year to see the dates far out. Virgin has an award seat checker that likewise shows pricing a year out every month. There are a bunch of tools like these but obviously you have to like doing it. Some people don't!

I find Amex to be the most generous with points offers if you can stomach their annual fees and meet the spend. Right now there is a targeted offer for a business gold amex for 200,000 points with a 15K spend in 3 months. I can't spend that much that quickly so will have to let that go, tearfully.

Chase has the same partner airlines as Amex, much lower bonuses, but it has a crown jewel Amex doesn't: Hyatt, with its ridiculously low point rates. Still good to get a bunch of Chase cards, just space out your Inks six months or so apart, they've been getting stingy.

Shop on Rakuten and opt to receive your cashback in Amex points. They pay out on a quarterly basis and for instance, in November I will get 45K points I accumulated just from regular shopping (watch for 10X and 15X days).

If I transfer Chase points now, they have a 30% bonus for Air France and I would have 240k points. What are good destinations in Europe for AF? Do they all involve connections?

Well yes every Air France flight goes through Paris, by definition since that's their hub. So if you are going somewhere other than Paris you will have to connect. You can also add a train connection at CDG, to a number of French cities as well as Brussels.

Air France has a very extensive network in Europe, they fly to pretty much every airport of any substantive size from Paris.

And North Africa priced the same as Europe, meaning you can fly to Marrakesh for 19k points. Add a free stopover in Paris and you got yourself a very nice vacation.

How would Marrakech be for a solo 55yo woman on a budget?

Stay in a cheap riad in the medina. Fill up with their breakfast. Eat a cheap dinner out or grab a sandwich made to order from a butcher. Enjoy!!!

[Anonymous]

I follow some family travel bloggers on Instagram and these seem to be some reoccuring themes when they post about how they afford it:

- play the credit card game
- a second job to fund travel
- renting out their own house when they travel
- willing to be VERY flexible to score a cheap flight- e.g., 15+ layovers, sleeping at airports (with kids!!), willingness to be bumped to get the travel credit
- travelling out of season, so they homeschool/flexi-school or simply pull their kids out

We like to travel, but are not willing to make these kind of sacrifices and devote this much effort, lol. Pre-kids we took a few fun international trips, generally getting our tickets with points, but had a lot more flexibility to go whenever. We've got a nice stash of Chase points that we will probably use to fund a trip in the next couple of years now that my youngest is a better traveller.

[Anonymous]

There are also low budget travel companies that put together package deals (yes, even over the holidays). We've done this several times and all has worked out for us. And, you can adjust them without increasing cost too much. We've added days to existing packages and sometimes asked to change carriers (will fly TAP but not Spirit for example).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I follow some family travel bloggers on Instagram and these seem to be some reoccuring themes when they post about how they afford it:

- play the credit card game
- a second job to fund travel
- renting out their own house when they travel
- willing to be VERY flexible to score a cheap flight- e.g., 15+ layovers, sleeping at airports (with kids!!), willingness to be bumped to get the travel credit
- travelling out of season, so they homeschool/flexi-school or simply pull their kids out

We like to travel, but are not willing to make these kind of sacrifices and devote this much effort, lol. Pre-kids we took a few fun international trips, generally getting our tickets with points, but had a lot more flexibility to go whenever. We've got a nice stash of Chase points that we will probably use to fund a trip in the next couple of years now that my youngest is a better traveller.

I wouldn't take a flight with 15+ layovers, but I found cheap business class tickets to Lima on points from JFK, and decided it was worth it to take a short flight or bus ride to NYC to get that. There were none out of IAD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I follow some family travel bloggers on Instagram and these seem to be some reoccuring themes when they post about how they afford it:

- play the credit card game
- a second job to fund travel
- renting out their own house when they travel
- willing to be VERY flexible to score a cheap flight- e.g., 15+ layovers, sleeping at airports (with kids!!), willingness to be bumped to get the travel credit
- travelling out of season, so they homeschool/flexi-school or simply pull their kids out

We like to travel, but are not willing to make these kind of sacrifices and devote this much effort, lol. Pre-kids we took a few fun international trips, generally getting our tickets with points, but had a lot more flexibility to go whenever. We've got a nice stash of Chase points that we will probably use to fund a trip in the next couple of years now that my youngest is a better traveller.

I wouldn't take a flight with 15+ layovers, but I found cheap business class tickets to Lima on points from JFK, and decided it was worth it to take a short flight or bus ride to NYC to get that. There were none out of IAD.

15 hour layover - depends the city. Could be a good chance to add in another stop/city on a trip in a place you otherwise wouldn't visit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I follow some family travel bloggers on Instagram and these seem to be some reoccuring themes when they post about how they afford it:

- play the credit card game
- a second job to fund travel
- renting out their own house when they travel
- willing to be VERY flexible to score a cheap flight- e.g., 15+ layovers, sleeping at airports (with kids!!), willingness to be bumped to get the travel credit
- travelling out of season, so they homeschool/flexi-school or simply pull their kids out

We like to travel, but are not willing to make these kind of sacrifices and devote this much effort, lol. Pre-kids we took a few fun international trips, generally getting our tickets with points, but had a lot more flexibility to go whenever. We've got a nice stash of Chase points that we will probably use to fund a trip in the next couple of years now that my youngest is a better traveller.

I wouldn't take a flight with 15+ layovers, but I found cheap business class tickets to Lima on points from JFK, and decided it was worth it to take a short flight or bus ride to NYC to get that. There were none out of IAD.

15 hour layover - depends the city. Could be a good chance to add in another stop/city on a trip in a place you otherwise wouldn't visit.

Yes! We flew to Scandinavia this past summer, and the flight went via LHR with a layover between 6 am - 5 pm. We went to town and spent a nice day in central London near the river. Made for a long day and we were tuckered out but better than sitting in the airport!

[Anonymous]

Credit card points, flexibility with airports. For example we’re flying out of jfk to London then using the train to get to your places in Europe. Much cheaper the flying out of dc.

[Anonymous]

We’re normally frugal throughout the year. Then spend a bit on travel. I like to prepay a little at a time so the trip is mostly paid for by the time we leave, except for meals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I follow some family travel bloggers on Instagram and these seem to be some reoccuring themes when they post about how they afford it:

- play the credit card game
- a second job to fund travel
- renting out their own house when they travel
- willing to be VERY flexible to score a cheap flight- e.g., 15+ layovers, sleeping at airports (with kids!!), willingness to be bumped to get the travel credit
- travelling out of season, so they homeschool/flexi-school or simply pull their kids out

We like to travel, but are not willing to make these kind of sacrifices and devote this much effort, lol. Pre-kids we took a few fun international trips, generally getting our tickets with points, but had a lot more flexibility to go whenever. We've got a nice stash of Chase points that we will probably use to fund a trip in the next couple of years now that my youngest is a better traveller.

I wouldn't take a flight with 15+ layovers, but I found cheap business class tickets to Lima on points from JFK, and decided it was worth it to take a short flight or bus ride to NYC to get that. There were none out of IAD.

15 hour layover - depends the city. Could be a good chance to add in another stop/city on a trip in a place you otherwise wouldn't visit.

+1. One time, years ago, we saved a bunch of money on a ticket to Rome with a 17 hour layover in Berlin. Liked that stop so well that we ended up scheduling a subsequent vacation for 5 or 6 days in Berlin.

[Anonymous]

I’ve travelled, briefly, with a person obsessed with being able to use points or miles for air travel (preferably first class) and 4-5 star hotels.

They will spend hours on the phone during a vacation to rebook a flight. I’d rather be enjoying my vacation. Yes I’ll use miles but only if convenient enough. And l prioritize time over class - so would take flights at a more convenient time with less layovers in economy over first class. Both my at home time and my vacation time are too valuable to hunt for first class flights and hotels l can use miles on. Spending so much time and effort that way is the opposite of luxury.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve travelled, briefly, with a person obsessed with being able to use points or miles for air travel (preferably first class) and 4-5 star hotels.

They will spend hours on the phone during a vacation to rebook a flight. I’d rather be enjoying my vacation. Yes I’ll use miles but only if convenient enough. And l prioritize time over class - so would take flights at a more convenient time with less layovers in economy over first class. Both my at home time and my vacation time are too valuable to hunt for first class flights and hotels l can use miles on. Spending so much time and effort that way is the opposite of luxury.

Trust me you can be into points/miles and favor nonstop flights in economy (especially daytime flights) and not be on the phone for hours during vacation. Have certainly spent some time on the phone taking advantage of nuances in the system (like moving to better flights when I get a schedule change), but would never do it during vacation!

[Anonymous]

Most of the people maximizing points/miles ALSO have money. It's like anything else - it's expensive to be poor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve travelled, briefly, with a person obsessed with being able to use points or miles for air travel (preferably first class) and 4-5 star hotels.

They will spend hours on the phone during a vacation to rebook a flight. I’d rather be enjoying my vacation. Yes I’ll use miles but only if convenient enough. And l prioritize time over class - so would take flights at a more convenient time with less layovers in economy over first class. Both my at home time and my vacation time are too valuable to hunt for first class flights and hotels l can use miles on. Spending so much time and effort that way is the opposite of luxury.

Trust me you can be into points/miles and favor nonstop flights in economy (especially daytime flights) and not be on the phone for hours during vacation. Have certainly spent some time on the phone taking advantage of nuances in the system (like moving to better flights when I get a schedule change), but would never do it during vacation!

Usually the best availability is last-minute, so I get the desire to keep an eye on options and rebook to better ones. But it shouldn't get in the way of the trip itself.