This Couple Booked Honeymoon Flights Value Extra Than $40,000 All On Factors—Right here’s How They Did It

Eric King, 33, and Sasha Slipak, 36, dated long-distance for the primary three years of their relationship. It wasn’t straightforward, however a rising devotion towards one another—and a ardour for journey—made it smoother than anticipated. 

“Throughout that span, we traveled to locations worldwide, spent holidays collectively, and met one another’s household and mates,” King stated. Then got here the second to lastly put down some roots. 

“In April 2023, we moved in collectively, made it via the method of integrating three cats, and made our house in Pennsylvania a house.” Greater than 4 years after their first date, in September, King, a VP of promoting, and Slipak, a surgeon, wed in an intimate ceremony outdoors of Philadelphia. 

For his or her honeymoon, the duo knew two issues: They needed to go someplace large, they usually needed to journey in late December. They in the end selected Australia for a couple of causes. First, neither had been to the continent earlier than, and it was additionally on King’s bucket checklist to see Sydney’s New Yr’s Eve fireworks. As for timing, December meant the beginning of the summer time season for Australia, which might be a pleasant escape from the Northeast winter, in keeping with King. 

Due to a big stash of bank card factors and airline miles, King and Slipak paid almost nothing for long-haul worldwide business- and first-class flights to and from Australia. In the event that they had paid in money, the tickets would’ve been greater than $40,000.

As an alternative, the couple’s out-of-pocket flight bills have been lower than $500, solely in taxes and charges. Right here’s how they made it occur. 

How They Booked It

About eight months previous to heading Down Underneath for 2 weeks, King and Slipak began the planning course of by securing their resort stays.

“We needed to make sure we may keep on the locations that we needed to, particularly throughout the vacation season,” King stated. With money, they booked accommodations—at Qualia Resort close to the Nice Barrier Reef, Park Hyatt Melbourne, Park Hyatt Sydney, and Hyatt Regency Sydney—as the muse for his or her Aussie itinerary. 

At this level, it was about discovering the suitable flights, on the suitable airways. 

“Given the gap, we knew we might wish to fly enterprise or first-class,” King famous. As an novice factors and miles fanatic, King adopted a handful of journey “hacking” accounts on Instagram. Certainly one of them, the web site Upgraded Factors, posted a deal in mid-2024 about Qantas first-class award availability from the U.S. to Australia. 

First-class on the Qantas Airbus A380 is a showy affair, outfitted with high-end champagne and meals, fancy amenity kits, and doting service. Nonetheless, it’s additionally notoriously troublesome to guide with factors and miles, because it tends to have a restricted availability of reward seats. 

King jumped on the uncommon alternative. He transferred 330,000 American Categorical Membership Rewards factors to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program and reserved two, one-way first-class seats from Los Angeles to Sydney. He additionally paid $300 in taxes and charges. The money worth for every ticket was $17,583—$35,166 for 2 folks.

For the return flight from Australia, on the time, no different first- or business-class seats have been out there at an inexpensive price utilizing factors and miles. As an alternative, King set an alert via awardtool.com, a service that mechanically sends customers an e-mail when particular award flights that you simply’re taken with turn out to be out there. (This instrument is just like how one can set Google alerts for upcoming flights.) 

A number of months later, simply weeks earlier than the honeymoon, King snagged a second factors and miles win: He acquired an alert that two one-way tickets from Sydney to Los Angeles in United Polaris enterprise class have been out there via the Avianca LifeMiles program. This can be a Colombian airline that has sturdy partnerships via the Star Alliance program.

He instantly transferred 160,000 Capital One factors to Avianca, touchdown him and his husband in United Polaris, the model’s top-tier class. Their long-haul flights have been secured—they usually have been set to fly in luxurious. 

What the Expertise Was Like

Whereas the accommodations have been unimaginable (King even known as the adults-only Qualia “undoubtedly among the best accommodations that I’ve ever stayed at”), as an aviation geek, he had a very fond reminiscence of the Qantas first-class expertise. 

“Eating proper throughout from one another at 35,000 toes was so particular,” King stated. “We performed playing cards collectively, and our flight attendant Carlene needed to have been some of the fantastic folks on the planet.” 

Qantas first-class has 14 seats onboard the Airbus A380, all organized in an ultra-private 1-1-1 configuration, with nice eating and plush bedding. It didn’t harm that the champagne by no means stopped being poured, and that they booked all the expertise on factors. 

For the return to the U.S., King and Slipak flew United Polaris enterprise class on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. These seats are additionally non-public, pod-like areas with lie-flat seats and Saks Fifth Avenue facilities. 

King famous that the United crew was additionally extraordinarily personable and doted on the couple. “After all, we beloved the privateness and alternative to sleep comfortably, nevertheless it was the service that basically set the expertise aside.” 

A Factors and Miles Tip for Vacationers

King’s one large tip can be to keep away from falling into the behavior of reserving flights straight away, until completely vital. As an alternative, depend on instruments that assist discover the very best deal for you. “It’s counterintuitive, however should you can wait, and there’s one thing on the market that you simply actually wish to fly, maintain out, set an alert or two, and constantly monitor for award availability,” King stated.  

Availability is dynamic and ever-changing, and by setting an alert, King was in a position to snag two one-way business-class seats months after reserving the preliminary outbound leg. 

Have a feel-good factors and miles story you wish to share with T+L readers? E mail me at thechrisdong@gmail.com.