I used the points to book a (one-way) 9500 euro ticket
The game of reward travel is to travel using points. Points that can be accumulated by shopping, [...]
All Nippon Airways (ANA)
The game of reward travel is to travel using points. Points that can be accumulated by shopping for groceries, gasoline, and using credit cards on a daily basis. Sure it's a "job," but the important thing is to have clear goals and never miss an opportunity down the road.
In this article:
Then there is a strategy that involves the possibility of buying points, taking advantage of the frequent promotions of airlines and hotel chains, this is one of those situations.
Today I want to tell how, By buying points from Virgin Atlantic's loyalty program., I was able to realize one of my goals: to book a ticket to travel first class with All Nippon Airlines, in what for all intents and purposes is the most expensive ticket in the world.
When I bought the points
I took advantage last summer of the promotion that allowed you to get a bonus up to 70%, or of Receive 7 free points for every 10 bought.
Did you get your flight cancelled, miss your connection, land late?
You could get up to 600€ compensation per person
Before buying punt,i however, I spent a few hours meticulously searching for an available seat on one of the two European routes where the Japanese carrier offers its "The Suite," the world's best first class seat. In the end between London and Frankfurt, Europe's financial capital won.
How did I book the ticket
First of all, you have to find the vacant award places. There are several ways, the easiest is to be enrolled in ANA's loyalty program and search for seats directly from the Japanese carrier's platform. Of course, we are talking about finding a needle in a haystack.
Once I found the place, I contacted Virgin Atlantic's call center. In this pandemic period, talking on the phone with companies has become a challenge, which is why I decided to try the chance of chat via Whatsapp.
The whole discussion lasted almost 60 minutes. During which the company assistant helped me look for other vacancies on the dates I was interested in, all without the slightest stress.
In addition, I decided to buy points during the chat. First the attendant blocked my place and then I made the transaction. This is very important and is a basic rule of who wants to book an award ticket. NEVER transfer or buy points without being sure the ticket is available.
How many Flying Club points are needed for this ticket
Obviously, it is an expensive ticket, which is why being able to take advantage of the 70% bonus could save you so much money compared to operating without a bonus or with a less generous bonus.
The final cost of this ticket was 60 thousand Virgin points plus $171.60 in taxes
How much I actually spent
When I booked this ticket in my Flying Club program account I had only 4,000 points. The reason for these points was related to the rules of the loyalty program. In order to buy points the profile must be active and have recorded activities in the last 24 months. The simplest thing I did was to transfer of Marriott points To my VS account.
By doing so, I unlocked the ability to buy points.
So I decided to buy 70 thousand points for a cost of 1,200. Thanks to the bonus, I thus obtained a total of 105 thousand points. I could have bought even fewer points, but the 70k threshold triggered the 50% bonus, so on balance I was better off spending 180€ more to be able to have 31k more points in my pocket, enough for a London New York ticket.
The total expenditure was 1,350 €. for a ticket that, at the time of my purchase, It cost just under 9,500.
In the cost I put the entire expenditure, even though 40 thousand points are still in my account waiting to be spent.
In conclusion
This is the second first-class ticket I bought with points to travel in 2022. In the other case I used the points Membership Rewards to fly from Frankfurt to New York aboard Singapore Airlines' newest suite.
We have given many examples on our site of how the right point-buying strategy can lead to huge savings, for example over 6000$ for a fabulous stay in the Maldives.
Why do I always leave from Frankfurt? There is no specific motivation. In this case the reason is that ANA, which does not fly to Italy, offers The Suite in Europe only from London to Frankfurt. In Singapore's case is that the A380 to New York is the only European route that features The Suite first class.
