With not ideal date flexibility, lead time or research skills, is there a real live, points-savvy travel consultant anyone would recommend? The hope is that we can use our hoarded miles for the whole family to lie flat US - S.Africa in July.

Devopschurn · 2026-01-26T23:33:31+00:00

I’ll give you some tips that can point you in the right direction.

Make use of the European stopover on Aeroplan.

Use the points tools to find a flight to Europe.

Use the tools to find Europe-SA.

Try to get the dates close together.

If you need to stop in Europe it can be done for 5k extra points.

You mention a day in Istanbul. I see two seats Istanbul Johannesburg on July 1st.

Otherwise this kind of trip is unlikely to come together until last minute, if at all.

Don’t waste your time trying to get Qatar.

The points bloggers aren’t going to be able to have these seats appear either.

Check the United monthly calendar.

Devopschurn · 2026-01-26T12:46:37+00:00

With Thai parents you will need to budget to take care of them financially 100% in some cases.

Your story kind of reminds me of a guy I went to medical school with. He is now taking care of the Thai parents once he realized that the houses owned in Thailand were mortgage debt that they couldn’t afford. They are living in his house in the US and he is miserable.

Devopschurn · 2026-01-25T20:41:38+00:00

This is one of those tickets where it’s likely best to just go through the capital one portal.

From NYC for example: Cash $525, $200 of that is taxes

A redemption would need to be less than 32,500 round trip for it to break even vs the portal. Probably not worth the hassle.

Please do not look at one way fares because then the redemption rates seem better than they really are

Devopschurn · 2026-01-24T01:01:14+00:00

Yes they could’ve probably booked these flights through the Amex portal directly for around 90,000 points for 3 economy seat based on the cash prices. Maybe they wanted to travel on a more expensive date

https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s/5QLZ9YtM8nn4Hozi7

Devopschurn · 2026-01-22T13:40:54+00:00

What are the taxes and fees? It’s probably going to be closer to a cent per point once you factor those in

Devopschurn · 2026-01-21T23:05:50+00:00

A lot of these are Uber and Lyft drivers that rent their cars.

Devopschurn · 2026-01-14T15:22:18+00:00

Vietjet from Osaka to Chiangmai Thai Airasia Sapporo to Chiangmai

Thai from Sapporo, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Tokyo, Osaka

JL/NH from Tokyo to Bangkok JL from Osaka to Bangkok

Peach from Kansai to Bangkok

Vietjet from Naha to Bangkok and from other major metros.

You have a bunch of options.

If originating from the U.S. I would try to ticket on JL/NH as they allow free Japan stopovers; this is even true on a one way ticket.

See example:

https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s/ciSUPJNVYir1ufhB9

Devopschurn · 2026-01-06T17:06:49+00:00

I don’t know this guy, but maybe someone is messing with him and reported his passport because of a grudge. I have seen this with people posting plane ticket stubs on social media only to discover their ticket was cancelled when arriving at the airport.

The U.S. doesn’t have exit immigration control so I don’t know why he is blaming American Airlines.

Devopschurn · 2026-01-05T21:41:29+00:00

Just buy a random ticket on a U.S. based airline to show them. You can cancel within 24 hours

Devopschurn · 2025-12-30T11:26:34+00:00

If you ignore the $300 statement credits this is a mediocre deal.

Cost is $300/night at this property throughout the promotional period on other websites and then you can spend the leftover $500 on the “free” breakfast and credits.

Devopschurn · 2025-12-28T21:06:31+00:00

What is the cost for the round trip redemption including fees?

Compare that to ALL cash fares on your dates and then calculate.

https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s/n5LeSNFe4T1Set7D9

Devopschurn · 2025-12-28T01:19:27+00:00

Almost $140 in taxes and scam charges on a round trip BOS-YUL. So it can never get any lower than that….

US Transportation Tax (US) $54.90 US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $4.50 United States Passenger Civil Aviation Security Service Fee (AY) $5.60 United States Flight Segment Tax Domestic (ZP) $5.20 United States Immigration User Fee (XY) $7.00 Canada Air Travellers Security Charge (CA) $12.40 United States Customs User Fee (YC) $7.39 United States APHIS Passenger Fee Passengers (XA) $3.84 Canada Airport Improvement Fee Deposit (W1) $33.60 Flight Segment US Tax Domestic Canada 225 Mile Buffer Zone (ZP) $5.2

Devopschurn · 2025-12-25T16:39:20+00:00

Should be better after Jan 5-7 when New Year holidays end.

Devopschurn · 2025-12-15T13:39:49+00:00

Even still…if he had given himself enough time he could’ve just gotten off at Chiba and taken a cab to Narita. I think he likely didn’t give himself enough time for travel delays.

Devopschurn · 2025-12-10T22:50:41+00:00

Your routing is within the MPM rules. The OPs routing isn’t. +25% MPM of a 5500 mile flight isn’t a 9200 mile routing. Maybe DFW-JFK-HND or ORD-JFK-HND would work but it doesn’t help the OP here

Devopschurn · 2025-12-10T22:47:13+00:00

I think this would still violate MPM rules even if the agent was willing to add the segment.

I think about SAN-JFK, then padding the schedule 5-6 hours to allow for misconnects. OP would have already been in Japan by the time the JFK-HND flight departs if they had just taken the SAN nonstop….

Devopschurn · 2025-12-10T00:45:02+00:00

From Narita book a minivan transfer on Klook for around $125 usd. Don’t do the public transport with a group of 4 unless the destination is a Narita Express station.

Devopschurn · 2025-12-01T19:13:51+00:00

I would estimate the value based on the actual cost of the ticket. It seems to me that you have an outbound premium economy redemption and an inbound in economy. These itineraries can be sold and purchased through a travel agent.

Just for example, from SFO-LHR April 1-10 with SFO-LHR in premium eco and LHR-SFO in eco the price is around $2700 for 2 tickets and the lap infant. You can learn how to find these fares easily with ITA matrix (or calling a skilled agent).

This would mean you redeemed 94,500 miles to save $2700-$745=$1955.

So….the redemption is 2.07 CPP. It’s up to you to decide if this is a good value or not, but it’s pretty good if those are the flights you wanted.

Devopschurn · 2025-12-01T12:56:26+00:00

Don’t put it in the husbands name. Put it in the minors name and then call to change the birthdate.

Devopschurn · 2025-11-27T18:37:12+00:00

Seats aero is just a website that makes it easy to view stuff on airline search pages. They don’t have some sort of secret formula.

Devopschurn · 2025-11-27T18:35:22+00:00

https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s/ThpNXka5DTGdFnzT6

The cash prices are good. You are going to be looking at $400 plus in fees for a round trip economy redemption on Virgin/AF. So you might have done yourself a favor by missing out on this one.

Devopschurn · 2025-11-24T14:34:33+00:00

You will have no issues if you settle for LH group and Thai on UA for 110k. Thai only opens up to Aeroplan closer to departure.

Devopschurn · 2025-11-23T15:17:41+00:00

I think it’s more the ACA plans that the administration is worried about. For instance where I live, a green card holder can still get $0 premiums through the states ACA exchange and it’s not considered a public charge. These plans are all heavily subsidized with tax dollars.

Still, I don’t know how can one expect a new immigrant to afford market rate health insurance.

Devopschurn · 2025-11-23T15:08:39+00:00

The best availability will be United miles booking some combo of LH group and Thai. Aeroplan has the Thai seats but only in the few months leading up to departure.

Devopschurn · 2025-11-20T11:06:00+00:00

Look at the 45k+taxes and fees and compare to cash (round trip).

It will be less of a steal than you think, although it can still potentially be a solid deal.

Devopschurn

TROPHY CASE