Our Family Christmas Adventure: London, Paris, and NYC on Points

Traveling with a family of six is always a challenge, both financially and logistically. However, with a bit of creativity and a lot of travel points, we managed to book an incredible trip to London, Paris, and New York City during the Christmas to New Year’s season without breaking the bank.

Quick Summary: Using 330,000 travel points, we booked flights for our family of six from Seattle to San Francisco, London, Paris, New York City, and back to Seattle, saving us around $17,000 in airfare. Additionally, we used 316,000 points for 12 nights of accommodation, which would have cost over $5,000, leaving us with a total out-of-pocket expense of under $2,500 for a trip worth approximately $22,000.

Step 1: Finding Affordable Flights to Europe
Our goal was to find flights from the West Coast to Europe for around 20,000 points per person, equivalent to about $200 in travel value. Typically, one-way tickets for this route cost at least $1,000. By repositioning to major travel hubs like San Francisco or Los Angeles, we found a flight on Air France from San Francisco to London for 20,000 points plus $84 in taxes per person on December 22nd. Another option we found was a direct flight on Virgin Atlantic from Seattle to London for 25,000 points and $230 in taxes(which would have meant more $ out of pocket), but we opted for the Air France flight.

Step 2: Flying Back from Europe
We plan to take the train from London to Paris and then fly from Paris to New York City on New Year’s Eve for 20,000 points and $84 in taxes per person. We found alternative flights from London or Seattle on Virgin Atlantic for 25,000 points and $230 in taxes, but we chose Paris since the boys hadn’t been there before. Plus, celebrating New Year’s in NYC with family was an added bonus.

Step 3: Domestic Flights
For the repositioning flights, we booked from Seattle to San Francisco on Alaska Airlines for only 5,000 miles and $5 in taxes per person. We used Alaska Airlines points and Transferred some points from our Bilt Credit Card points to cover these. For the return flight from NYC to Seattle on January 4th, we found Delta flights for $200 per person, using 10,000 Amex points and $96 out of pocket per ticket.

Step 4: Accommodation for Six
San Francisco: We booked a hotel at a Hyatt near SFO airport for 18,000 points in a suite that fit all six of us. This would have cost $414 without points.
London: Using Chase Sapphire Preferred points worth 1.25x in the Chase travel portal, we booked an apartment in Canary Wharf for 120,000 points for 4 nights, which would have cost $1,685. The condo had a full kitchen, saving us money on meals, and we can all be in the same unit.
Paris: We booked a place between Marais and the Louvre through the Chase travel portal for 124,000 points for 3 nights, worth $1,558. This apartment also had a full kitchen and in a pretty cool part of town.
New York City: We will stay at a Hyatt Place on Long Island for 54,000 points for 4 nights, which would have cost $1,427. This hotel included free breakfast and an ear shot to Manhattan.
Overall, our 12 nights in hotels would have cost over $5,084, but we paid $0 out of pocket thanks to travel points from Chase.

Tips for Big Family Travel
Repositioning to major airport hubs can unlock better flight deals. For our family of six, we used 330,000 travel points for airfare, saving us about $17,000, and 316,000 points for accommodations, saving over $5,000. This made our $22,000 trip cost under $2,500 out of pocket.

Earning Travel Points
Wondering how we accumulated over 600,000 travel points in less than a year? Check out this blog post on how I got 600K points through Chase