FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Last Minute November Trip with ~270K UR Points and No Itinerary - Suggestions?
Old Nov 3, 2019, 11:25 pm
  #9  
Happy
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,731
Originally Posted by Hyakku
Thanks for this, your post gave me some time to reflect. We actually found decent business class one ways on Lufthansa to Frankfurt for 70K one way each, but between weather and travel time, we opted against that, especially since we had been in Europe for a wedding recently.

After thinking about it, we decided to go to NZ. Neither of us have gone and weather/unique opportunities are more appealing.

Grabbed Econ saver non-stop one ways for 40K/ticket and buying the tickets back for about $515/ticket. I thought this was pretty good as no other non-stop combo came in under $1500-1800/ticket. United/Chase portal required a minimum of 95-115K points, and one way outs were the bulk of that in USD terms, so we were able to effectively about 2-2.3X on the one way while saving the rest that would’ve dragged that down.

My remaining plan is to sketch an itinerary and potentially use the portal for some experiences there, since we still get 1.5X with the reserve (I have the reserve and ink business preferred). Also figuring out hotel reward programs vs the portal in the next few days. With the extra MR, AA, and Alaska miles, I may also have some additional wiggle room on hotels, although I’m hesitant to spend Alaska and/or MR on hotels (AA seems to have lost more value recently) if I can optimize for UR. United’s points change has made UR much harder for me to justify on flights since that’s my primary airline and where I have status.
You will need a rental car to enjoy New Zealand - the beauty of the country is all about nature and outdoor. The popular lodging option in NZ is motor lodges - similar to the motels in US but most often carries kitchen and family oriented.

This NZ AA website should help you plan your trip. You can book the accommodations thru them without being a member. The site provides a wealth of travel information.

https://www.aa.co.nz/travel/
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