Back in March of 2023, fueled by boredom, I spent several hours looking for fun flight deals. As one does… It didn’t matter where or when, I was just enjoying the search. I wound up finding a great deal on business class award flights to Tokyo and back. On a whim, I booked them.
I was able to book these tickets on a whim for two reasons. First, I had over a 250,000 United miles that I got from the United credit cards offered by Chase.
Second, United offers free award flight cancellations and changes. I didn’t know if I’d actually go or not, but with cancellation being free, why not book them?
In this article I want to do two things:
- Provide a glimpse into what an $8,000 seat on one of the world’s best airlines looks like
- Share some important considerations when it comes to booking expensive flights with points
LUXURY FOR LESS: THE POINT PRICE
Not only did this trip happen, but I re-booked both of my tickets when I found even better deals. My new outbound flight cost 45,000 miles and $291, and my return flight cost 70,000 miles and $47.
By using points and putting in effort searching for award flights, I was able to get business class tickets for less than what economy costs!
My outbound flight was particularly exciting for two reasons. First, it was operated by All Nippon Airways (ANA), which arguably has the best business class product in the world. Second, the cash price for the exact seat that I booked with miles, was an astonishing $8165!
THE $8,000 ROOM IN THE SKY
First, let’s look at what a standard long haul business class seat looks like. Pictured below is a seat in United’s Polaris business class cabin.
Here are some of the highlights:
- The seat extends into a lie-flat bed
- Every seat has direct aisle access. The narrow passageway at the bottom of the picture leads directly to the aisle
- A reasonable amount of privacy for some seats
- Extra storage for personal belongings
Now let’s take a look at ANA’s “The Room”.
The seat, bed, and in-flight entertainment screen are bigger than what you would find in most first class cabins. Having a seat like this makes flying immeasurably more comfortable and enjoyable. Instead of dreading an 11.5 hour flight, I was excited to experience a terrific and luxurious product.
My favorite part of “The Room” is how incredibly private it can be. With the touch of some buttons, you can slide two doors closed and get your own mini room on a plane. What more could you ask for?
One of the great things about flying business class and having a lie-flat bed, is that it is a jet lag cheat code. On this 11.5 hour flight I got a solid 8 hours of sleep and still had time to have breakfast and coffee before landing. This effectively added a day to my vacation as I was well rested and ready to go when my flight landed in Tokyo at 5am.
CHALLENGES OF BOOKING WITH POINTS
$291 is nothing to pay for a flight across the Pacific, let alone an ultra-luxurious seat. So, what is going on here? What is the catch?
As mentioned above, this flight cost 45,000 miles in addition to the cash fee. We’ll put this aside for now as miles are not difficult to attain, and it is not the most important consideration. We’ll write about best practices for accumulating points and miles in other articles.
The “catch” is that booking big ticket award flights is not easy. The process can be complex and availability is limited. You have to invest time to learn how to book them, and search for availability. There are resources online to help you learn the process, and in-depth guides are currently in the works by the Life of Points team.
This is the reality of big ticket award flights. They will rarely be as easy to book as a traditional cash fare.
For those who want a quick and simple booking experience, or for those who don’t care about flying business, points still provide excellent opportunities for you. There are other ways to use points to make travel free or heavily discounted. This topic is not the focus of this article, but it will get its own, dedicated post in the future.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Premium travel experiences are attainable even for those without $8,000 to spend on a flight. Any type of traveler will benefit from racking up points, but those willing to put in a bit of research can unlock luxury travel experiences.
