godzen

Hey guys,
New here to the forum and point travels in general. Have been reading up as much as possible but it does get overwhelming at time. So far, the closest I've come to fly anywhere with points is via southwest w/ companion to costa rica and mexico. However, wife really wants to go to Maldives especially with the Chase hyatt cc 2 free nights which we can combine for 4. My problem is planning how to get there with two little ones (<2 yo and 5yo). I know it's tough but we have good little flyers. We each have about 200k ultimate reward points. We will be flying out of Seattle. I'm really lost on how to utilize these points and the best route to take to get there. Should I look into SEA --> singapore--> Male? If so, what is the most efficient way for me to go about doing this? Use Ultimate points via EVA to singapore? Singapore airline to Maldives?

We also want to stay 2 nights in singapore for the little ones to rest up and would pay for this though I'm looking into ways to stay there with points.

Also, are the points enough to fly wife first class/business class? I figure it'd be easier on the 2 yo especially on the long flight

Any suggestions will help.

Yoshi212

SQ saver roundtrip is 180,000 miles. Availability is king in this situation and getting availability on such a route is going to be difficult.

You may want to look into other routes. Such as via TK or LH.

Another option is traveling to a city, such as SIN, and then taking a short/cheap flight to MLE. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahi...tional_Airport

Thunderroad

I don't want to rain on your parade, but you're looking at taking your very young kids on an very long trip to a very expensive location (even taking your four free Hyatt nights into account), including an additional, costly plane and/or boat ride even after you get to the Maldives capital, Male. If you're only going for the four free nights, you'll just about be over your jet lag by the time you start your return back home.

Perhaps scale it back to some easier-to-reach destination, such as Europe or SE Asia?

If you still want to go, more power to you. ^ But know what you're getting into.

godzen

Yeah thunderroad, thanks for the heads-up. Have pretty much read all the articles out their on the trip to male. I think we'll be OK if we just chill back a couple of nights in Singapore before flying to male. I'm also looking at stopover at dubai but either way, we're staying two nights before hopping over to the final destination.

I was quote via the united website for a RT of 160k/per business class from SEA-SIN
I might just pay for direct flights from sin - male as it is only 4.5 hrs like Yoshi mentioned. Redeeming points from SEA-SIN-MLE seems to take up too much time flying around.

Anyone recommend a place to stay in sin or dubai for a couple of nights? with points if possible.

Productivity

I'm going to agree, even with resting either way, the Maldives aren't great with four nights. The local plane then the boat take a bunch of time, plus unless you pay additional premiums you're staying in the base on land villas at the Hyatt.

My wife and I have been there - I wouldn't recommend doing just the four nights.

LondonElite

You're going halfway around the world with two young kids for four nights? Crazy.

Understand that you don't have enough to points to go there and back in business class for all of you, that you will have to pay cash for the flight from Male to the island, that you will have significant extra charges once you are there, and that the first and last days are basically taken up with arrival and departure. Unless you are willing to pay for a few additional nights and are not concerned about dropping a few thousand in all the incidentals, I would not recommend this.

JDiver

Four days? Your cost per day, including transportation costs, will be astronomical, and with local transport etc. you won't even have four full days - more like two and a half. I also believe your children are not yet at the age where they will get the most out of this lengthy travel - the two year OKC won't enjoy at all, but require considerable attention.

Enjoy somewhere closer to home, such as Guanacaste in Costa Rica, while you build miles, points and vacation time so you can spend a week or ten days in Maldives..

babern38

Unfortunately I have to agree with the numerous other posters above.

The maldives is an amazingly special place and worth spending 1 week minimum. While you obviously know your children, I feel they (primarily 2 year old) would be better served if you saved the money and took them when they are old enough to remember.

Maybe it would be cheaper to higher a nanny for a week so you and the wife could go for longer and cut down on costs?

nineworldseries

Somebody's been reading too many blogs!

godzen

Have to start from somewhere *roll eyes*

Thanks everyone else for your opinion. We've decided against this. Kids def would suffer. We've decided to travel somewhere a little "closer." Maybe just spend 10 days in either maui or Moorea. Both seems chill plus flying from the west coast is a breeze compare to Maldives

On a separate note, since we live in seattle and most international departure originate from lax, what's the most efficient way to fly down there? Trip is less than 700 miles. I would guess using avios points?

84fiero

There are non-stops to OGG from SEA or also to HNL and connect to OGG. You could use UR points to redeem with FlyingBlue on DL for example. My kid loved Maui when she was little.

FlyingBlue is also a potential option for Moorea as AF operates LAX-PPT.

beachmouse

It's often a $160-$170 round trip fare between those cities, so if you don't want to just use cash, Southwest points might be the best value for that kind of thing.