Unlocking savings on family travel with points presents a formidable puzzle for many. Navigating the maze of limited availability and exorbitant award ticket prices often feels like threading a needle blindfolded, particularly when syncing family vacations with school breaks and bustling schedules.

Yet, fear not. There exists a path that doesn’t deplete your savings or demand an unreasonable sum of miles for a delightful getaway. Armed with the right arsenal and tactics, you stand to slash flight expenses by a staggering 50%.

Here are five strategies to secure coveted award tickets and slash mileage expenditure on family travels.

1. Plan Your Expedition Well in Advance

Securing your journey ahead of time not only guarantees an abundance of award seats for your clan but also enables you to snag those seats with fewer miles. The golden rule to preserving your point reserves lies in capturing saver award space. Airlines segment award tickets into tiers, with saver space representing the thriftiest option (albeit with limited availability). Yet, this scarcity poses a hurdle when aiming to economize on multiple tickets.

The optimal workaround? Book your seats well in advance, particularly if your adventure coincides with peak seasons of heightened demand. Most airlines unveil award seat availability approximately 350 days before liftoff, rendering it an opportune moment to secure multiple tickets using your miles.

• Quick Pointer: Keep an eye on Lufthansa, renowned for releasing business and first-class award seats a mere fortnight before departure. This caters splendidly to last-minute planners or those lacking the luxury of scheduling travels almost a year in advance.

2. Acquire One or More Travel Companion Privileges

Companion passes from airlines provide an excellent opportunity to use fewer miles for family trips or to save money when award seats are scarce. Many airlines have companion passes applicable to both paid fares and award travel. Typically, these passes allow you to book a ticket for a companion at just the cost of award taxes and fees. For a family of two adults and two children, each adult can acquire a credit card that includes a companion pass, and then use those passes to cover their children’s airfare.

Southwest Airlines offers one of the most well-known companion passes. Normally, to obtain this pass, you must accumulate a specified number of miles or one-way flights to earn the Southwest Companion Pass®. However, certain Southwest credit cards sometimes include a Companion Pass as part of their sign-up bonuses.

Alaska Airlines also provides a valuable companion fare option through their Alaska Airlines Famous Companion Fare™. This benefit is available annually to holders of the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® and Alaska Airlines Visa® Business Credit Cards. Once you have the pass, it can be used for a companion ticket, with a payment of $122 (a $99 base fare plus taxes starting at $23). Although this fare is only valid for paid flights, it can be a great alternative when award flight prices are high, making a two-for-one airfare purchase more practical. This way, you save both money and miles on family trips.

3. Reserve Discounted Award Tickets

Several airlines regularly offer discounts on award travel, enabling you to use fewer miles when booking family trips. These offers often require flexibility in your travel dates, as the discounted rates are usually available during off-peak times and need to be booked promptly. For instance, the Air France/KLM Flying Blue program provides Promo rewards with discounts of up to 50%, which can result in significant savings for families traveling together.

Domestic airlines also offer similar deals. Delta Air Lines frequently updates its SkyMiles® Deals page with substantial discounts. By entering your home airport, you can view a list of routes currently available at reduced rates. These deals generally apply to specific dates (often about a month ahead), necessitating some flexibility in your travel schedule. Nevertheless, SkyMiles Deals can provide significant savings on award tickets, even during peak travel periods, if you’re looking for a budget-friendly option.

4. Utilize Transfer Promotions

For those with credit cards offering transferable rewards, you may have encountered occasional promotions that provide bonus points for transfers. Issuers sometimes grant 10-50% more points when moving them to a specific airline.

Key programs include:

• American Express Membership Rewards®

• Bilt Rewards

• Citi ThankYou® Points

• Chase Ultimate Rewards®

These transfer promotions can greatly enhance the value of your points, enabling you to use fewer miles for family trips. Look into top travel credit cards to find one that aligns with your spending patterns.

5. Explore Foreign Rewards Programs

Most travelers tend to accumulate miles with domestic airlines like American Airlines, Delta, and United. However, opting for an international partner airline can often result in lower mile requirements. Here are a few examples.

5.1 Nippon Airways and Turkish Airlines

United Airlines is part of the Star Alliance™, a network that includes over two dozen airlines operating globally across more than 1,200 airports. Unlike United, which no longer has an award chart and generally has high redemption rates for international travel, partners like All Nippon Airways and Turkish Airlines offer published award charts and more competitive redemption rates.

5.2 Hawaiian Vacations

A round trip to Honolulu might cost 40,000 United miles. In comparison, Turkish Airlines charges about 15,000 miles for the same journey. By choosing a foreign partner instead of United, a family of four could save 100,000 miles. The Miles&Smiles program from Turkish Airlines is a 1:1 transfer partner with Capital One, Citi ThankYou, American Express Membership Rewards, and Bilt Rewards, making these miles more attainable.

5.3 European Travel

All Nippon Airways (ANA) necessitates approximately 88,000 miles round-trip for business class awards to Europe, while United extracts a comparable toll for just the one-way voyage. For those pursuing minimized mile expenditures on a family European expedition, ANA presents an opening to slice the outlay nearly in half contrasted with United’s rates. ANA is a 1:1 transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, enabling straightforward access to their advantageous award stratifications.  

Final Thoughts

Accumulating sufficient travel points for family trips can be challenging, but with strategic planning, it can become more feasible. By planning ahead and taking advantage of transfer bonuses and promotions, you can save a substantial amount of money and miles. This strategy allows you to continue visiting amazing destinations with your family without exhausting your miles on the first trip.