the Jebba Journal: Eighth Edition
Getting my parents to Spain using points + limited time discounts on flights to Europe
For this Edition, I wanted to give another real-life trip example of how using transferrable credit card points can save you (and just saved my parents) potentially thousands of dollars towards travel. Back in 2021, I convinced my dad to sign up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred when they had an unheard of 100,000 point sign-up bonus.
Other than using some points to cover a night at a Hyatt hotel, my parents haven’t spent any of their points and accumulated a nice stash over the past two years. Finally, it was time to put some of their points to use. Naturally they turned to their favorite son / pseudo-travel agent.
Make sure you read until the end to see how this month only, you can book a similar trip for 25% cheaper than my parents. Also how you can fly roundtrip to Europe for as little as 18,000 points over the next several months!
Convincing My Parents
Convincing my parents to go to Spain was actually a happy accident. One of the nurses I work with who reads this newsletter asked me about getting to Spain on points. Specifically to Bilbao airport, the closest airport to San Sebastian.
Like I mentioned in my previous newsletter, I think it’s fun to try and see where my points can take me. I had never heard of Bilbao airport, but have heard amazing things about San Sebastian and Basque Country in general, a place I’d love to visit.
So I started searching possible routes between SFO and Bilbao with no more than one layover. Turns out, KLM and Air France fly this route with a single, short layover in either Amsterdam or Paris. I’m a big fan of KLM and Air France because of how cheap they can make getting to Europe. Also because you can transfer points to them from the four major banks that have transferrable points (Capital One, Citi, Chase, and Amex).
Lo and behold, I found that KLM and Air France had several days in May and June for an absurdly low price. The cost per person would be 16,500 points one-way, so only 33,000 points plus about $200 in taxes and fees roundtrip. Conversely, to book this same flight using only cash would cost an insane $1,600 roundtrip!
Later that day when catching up with my dad, I mentioned this deal off hand since I know he appreciates a good deal. He actually thought this was such a good deal that he and my mom should jump on it.
Eventually, they decided against flying into Bilbao, but were sold on Spain, landing on visiting Madrid and Barcelona. Now it was on me to find the right itinerary and help them book their first trip to Europe together in over 20 years.
Finding Flights
Knowing the cities they wanted to travel to, it wasn’t difficult to find routes to/from SFO. I searched on Google Flights and saw Iberia (a transfer partner of Chase and Amex, and also Capital One through a roundabout method) flies non-stop between SFO and Madrid (MAD). Clicking on the “Date grid” button brought up a week’s worth of flights, showing this non-stop flight operates only three times per week.
There are also non-stop flights between SFO and Barcelona (BCN). This is supposedly on Iberia, but really it’s on Iberia’s budget airline called Level, aka Iberia for Level. These flights have smaller economy seats than true Iberia flights and are something I would recommend against unless you book premium economy seats (using Iberia points, of course).
Knowing I couldn’t send my parents home on Level airlines, I kept searching. I found flights on KLM / Air France from BCN to SFO with a short layover in either Amsterdam (AMS) or Paris (CDG). Now it was just a matter of finding flights that allow for my parents to spend 7 days in Spain while also not breaking the (points) bank.
Searching for availability on Iberia kind of sucks, and involved repeated searches changing the dates one day at a time to find a day with prices my parents were willing to pay.
Searching on KLM / Air France can also be frustrating, but there is a hidden trick to seeing an entire month at a time. When you search on their website and check the box that says “use miles,” just leave the departure date blank and hit “search flights.” This will bring up a monthly view listing the cheapest price for each day. Simply click on the day you want and it will show all flights available for that day.
Eventually I found flights that fit the 7-day itinerary and also happened to be the cheapest possible prices offered for each flight. The itinerary became:
May 28th: SFO to MAD nonstop - 25,500 points per person on Iberia (51,000 points total)
June 1st: MAD to BCN nonstop - 4,500 points per person on Iberia (9,000 points total)
June 5th: BCN to SFO with a short layover in Paris (CDG) - 20,000 points per person (40,000 points total)
The total cost came out to exactly 100,000 points plus close to $500 in taxes and fees, something unavoidable with certain international airline programs.
I think there is almost something poetic that the itinerary for my parents first trip using points came out to the exact amount of the original sign-up bonus they earned two years ago. And no, I’m not making this up even though it sounds almost *too* perfect.
Money Saved Using Points
Using cash to book these same flights would have cost $3,000 total, so in essence my parents saved about $1,500 cash by using their points for these flights vs. cashing out the 100,000 points for a $1,000 statement credit.
Had they used the Chase Travel Portal with the 25% points boost to book these same flights, it would have cost them a whopping 240,000 points. Again all of this is just to illustrate how beneficial it is to transfer points instead booking through the travel portal on Chase.
How You Can Book Something Similar for Cheaper
Right now, both American Express and Chase have “transfer bonuses” when transferring points to specific airlines. It just so happens Amex is offering a 25% bonus when transferring to KLM / Air France (Flying Blue), and Chase is offering a 30% bonus when transferring to Iberia/British Airways/Aer Lingus (Avios). Of course the Chase to Iberia bonus started after we already booked and both bonuses end on September 22nd.
So if you were to book this exact same itinerary and have both Amex and Chase points, it would only cost you 79,000 total points plus the taxes and fees!
47,000 x 1.3 (transfer bonus) transferred from Chase = 61,100 Iberia points
32,000 x 1.25 (transfer bonus) transferred from Amex = 40,000 Flying Blue points
The best part is, KLM / Air France and Iberia fly out of many airports across North America, so whether you want to go from Los Angeles, New York, or Boston, you can get there on the cheap.
How You Can Get to Europe For Even Cheaper Still!!!
Another reason why I love KLM / Air France is every month they release what are called “Promo Rewards.” These are discounted award flights between select cities, typically involving Amsterdam and Paris. Every month the select cities change, so you only have a month to decide if you want to book.
This month, the discount applies to flights taken between now and March 31st, 2024, you just have to book by September 30th. They are offering discounts to/from Europe and the following cities:
Boston (BOS)
Los Angeles (LAX)
Miami (MIA)
New York (JFK)
Ottawa (YOW)
Cancun (CUN)
Mexico City (MEX)
So right now, you can book a flight between BOS/JFK to CDG/AMS for only 11,250 points each way plus about $100 in taxes (only 22,500 points plus $200 roundtrip).
Want to spend two weeks in Paris for Christmas and you live in Los Angeles? No problem, that will be a mere 36,000 points plus $200 ROUNDTRIP. You can also go to Madrid (or any number of European cities) with a layover in in Amsterdam for that same price.
If you have Amex points and can take advantage of the current transfer bonus, this means your price will be reduced by 25%. LAX to CDG would go from 36,000 points down to 29,000, and BOS/JFK to AMS/CDG would go from 22,500 points to 18,000.
I don’t know about you, but I may have to book a spontaneous trip to Europe before the end of the month :)
If you want to take advantage of these transfer bonuses from Chase/Amex or book a Promo Award flight, leave a comment below!