Where 100,000 Points Can Take You: First Class Seats, Five-Star Suites and VIP Upgrades

Sally, you know those icebreaker questions that are like, what would you do with a million dollars? What if we asked, what would you do with 100,000 points? That would be way more fitting for our show and fitting, Megan, to have an icebreaker because we have a guest on our show today. And I am guessing he has some good answers to that icebreaker question.
After the news, we'll be joined by our colleague Benjamin Dinn. I think he would describe himself as a proud aviation geek.
And when it comes to redeeming points, he really knows his stuff. I have to say, every time I read about his airline redemptions, I'm like, can you please show me your ways, Ben? That's why I asked him to come on the show.
Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Megan Coyle.
And I'm Sally French. And we're the travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip.
We have asked our colleague, Benjamin Din, to join us to talk about what to do with six figures worth of credit card points. But first, the news.
Before we get there, you should drop our usual disclaimer, Sally. Yes, we will talk about a few credit card companies that are NerdBullet partners in this episode, but that does not influence how we discuss them.
The benefits, terms, and fees mentioned were accurate at the time of this posting, but things can change. Some offers may have expired by the time you're listening, so for the latest details, follow the links in the episode description.
First up, Built Rewards is adding Southwest Airlines as its newest transfer partner. That means you can now transfer your Built points to Southwest Rapid Rewards at a one-to-one ratio.
Now, Megan, I know you love Bilt. I do, and I think the listeners know it too.
And they know that you are quickly falling out of love with Southwest. I am, and I'm especially salty that they're adding back an expiration date to Southwest flight credits.
Bummer, but if you still stand by Southwest, then just know you've got another option transferring your built points to them.

According to our valuations, which we just updated when Southwest switched to dynamic pricing, another boo-hoo. Southwest points are worth about 1.3 cents per point now.
So it's better than the one cent per point as a baseline that we're always talking about, but not that much more amazing. Okay, so I'm glad we talked last episode all about transfer partners

because there was actually a ton of news about transfer partners last week. In addition to Southwest becoming a transfer partner of Built, Citi announced that they are going to change the transfer ratios to some of their partners.
One of them is Emirates Skywards, and the transfer ratio is different depending on what card you have. So for the City Strata Premier, instead of a one-to-one transfer ratio, City thank you points will now transfer at a five to four ratio.
So you'll get about 20% fewer miles than if you transfer now. That's like a thousand thank you points will turn into 800 Emirates Skywards miles.
Womp. This seems to be the trend lately.
Luckily, you have some time. The change doesn't kick in until July 27th, so city thank you members have a couple of months to transfer at the current more favorable transfer ratio.
Okay, maybe worth thinking about doing now. In other news, did you see JetBlue added the ability to redeem JetBlue points for Japan Airlines? Yes, that's great.
Japan Airlines is consistently ranked one of the best airlines in the world. And the food is just amazing.
I flew business class back to LA once from Japan and the Japanese meal is served in this bento box and there's a tiny bite of everything. And you know, I love small plates.
I still need to go to Japan, one of the top places that I have not been to. And especially because it's such a popular destination this year, I think any other ways to book flights on points to and from Japan is a win for consumers.
Okay, good deal. Moving over to our sea-loving listeners.
You broke some news for NerdWallet last week, and that's that cruises show up on Chase's travel portal now. Yes, this is great news for cruise fans who have Chase cards.
Previously, you had to call a number to find cruises available through something called Voyages by Chase. Now, people like me who are afraid of picking up the phone, you can just go to Chase's travel portal, see what cruise itineraries are available.
Unfortunately, though, you still have to call their number to actually complete the booking, but this makes it easier to browse and compare prices. When you book one of those cruises as a Chase card member, if it's a Voyages by Chase cruise, you get benefits.
It'll be things like specialty dining or free onboard Starbucks. Starbucks, count me in.
Megan, we will make sure your next cruise has a Starbucks on board so you can get your chai latte. We'll put a link to your story, Sally, including the phone number in the show notes.
Good luck with calling. I will throw in one more thing.
Even if you don't have enough Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book a cruise, you can also pay for your cruise on a Chase card to earn points. Good call out.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred earns five points per dollar on purchases made through Chase Travel, which of course includes these cruises. You know, Megan, I'm thinking this is a sign.
Next week, we should definitely just talk about cruises for the entire episode. I think we can do that.
All right. Hint, hint, wink, wink.
Let's do it. Moving right along to your other big beat besides cruises, and that's Disney.
Yes. So I also wrote about a deal for families going on vacation at Disney World in 2026.
Here's a good deal. If you buy a Disney dining plan to go along with your family's stay at a Disney Resort Collection Hotel, kids in your party ages 3 to 9 will all get the dining plan for free.
Kids eat free. I like the sound of that.
But for people who aren't familiar, what is the Disney dining plan? The Disney dining plan is a prepaid meal program at Walt Disney World where you pay up front and then you get a set amount of meal credits that you can redeem throughout your trip. Now, whether or not it's a good deal is actually kind of up for debate.
The Disney Quick Service Dining Plan costs about $60 per adult per day. That covers two quick service restaurants plus a snack.
You also get a refillable drink credit. There's another more expensive tier that's the standard Disney dining plan.
That one includes one table service meal in lieu of one of those quick service restaurants. That one costs about $100 per adult per day.
So basically, you'd have to spend more than $60 or $100 per day per person on food to make it worth it. Right.
And while Disney food is expensive, it's usually not that expensive. You just end up getting so much food.
A lot of people say they can't even eat it all. So what they find is that a lot of people don't actually see huge savings.
It seems to be more of a budgeting mechanism. You sort of prepay for your food and then you don't have to budget for that later.
Yes. So there are some deals where it's like free dining plan, but you cannot combine it with other discounts.
So I would say just do the other discounts for most people. But unlike past deals, this deal is actually good because it is stackable with other discounts.
So now you're getting that kids eat free. You can also combine this with other discounts like the hotel room rate.
All right. That's the news for now.
On with the show. Let's get Ben in here.
For a lot of people with a travel credit card, I think one part they get a little intimidated by is deciding what to do with their points. You know, Megan, I think there are a lot of people who are saving their points for some dream trip that they might never actually take.
And then they end up with tens of thousands or maybe even 100,000 points just laying around. It sounds like a high number, but actually 100,000 points is not that wild if you've earned a big sign-up bonus or you haven't used your points in a year or two.
So if you need ideas for how to spend your points, we got you. We also invited another travel nerd to help us out.
Okay, Ben, say hi. Hey, everyone.
Excited to be here. Ben is a fellow writer on the travel rewards team at NerdWallet.
He wrote a great article about what to do with 100,000 points, so he's perfect for this episode. We'll link to that in the episode description.
Ben, since it's your first time on the podcast, tell us more about your travel style. Where do you like to go and what do you like to spend your points on? So I like traveling to places I've never been.
And last year, I flew over 100 flights across six continents. Whoa.
So that means I spend a ton of time on planes and in airport lounges.

So I really try to maximize my air travel experience whenever I can,

whether that's using points to book a premium cabin or using points to upgrade my flight.

I'm also a United Premier 1K, so I really love chasing a weed status.

And I'm also on my way to becoming a million miler with United. I like that we're adding a United flyer in the mix.
You probably know Megan is an American Airlines elite. I am a recovering Southwest loyalist.
We need to find you a new airline, Sally. We do.
Maybe United. Yeah.
Okay. So for this episode, I asked everyone to do some homework.
I gave everyone a certain credit card rewards program and asked them to find three things they would recommend doing with 100,000 points in that program. Of course, I don't think anyone's going to stick to the three things, but that's okay.
Which programs did you guys do? So I am doing American Express. And I'm doing Chase Ultimate Rewards.
And I did Capital One. And just a reminder, there might be some overlap because some airline or hotel companies are transfer partners of one, two, or all three of the credit card rewards programs we're covering today.
Right. So Ben, what are your priorities when it comes to redeeming 100,000 points? So when I redeem my points, I really like to spend them on hotels because I feel like that's where people can get the most value.
While it's really fun to fly in business class, you're actually probably going to spend more time in your hotel room than on the plane. Also, I often find that whether I love my hotel room or hate it can also really play a huge role in determining the vibe of the trip.
Plus, hotels are expensive, especially if you're staying for multiple nights. So really, if you use points on hotels, you could be saving a lot of money.
You know, it's so funny you say that, especially because you've done so many flights. I expected you to save flights, but honestly, I use points on hotels pretty much for the same reasons that you do.
I will say Amex, which Megan assigned me, is not the best with hotel transfers. Hilton and Marriott are only meh as hotel transfer partners with Amex.
So this is a fun challenge. I am going to throw a fun Amex hotel zinger in my list.
I'm excited for that one. I kind of go with the flow when I'm looking to redeem my points.
And I just look at the hotels or flights for my next trip and see if there's a way I can use my points to book for at least 1.5 cents per point. But I'm not necessarily trying to maximize the value and go above and beyond that.
And I don't really mind whether I use it on a flight or a hotel. I just want to save on my next trip.
That's my style. All right, let's have our guest nerd go first.
Ben, you're up. I want to start off with Chase.
They have a really great transfer partner in Hyatt Hotels. Oh, yes, Ben.
I know we brought you on the show for a good reason. They are one of our favorite transfer partners.
And Ben, I hope you heard my wedding episode where I said I was booking my wedding hotel on Hyatt Points. That's even rather than using my actual hotel room block.
You know what, Sally? I did hear that, and I wasn't surprised by it at all. Yes, thank you.
I love Hyatt as a transfer partner because they're one of the few programs that still have an award chart. And plus, their rates are very reasonable.
So even if you're looking to book the highest hotel category, which is category eight, the most points you'll ever need to book a standard room is 45,000 points per night. Contrast that with Mary at Bonvoy, where I've seen hotel rooms go for more than 200,000 points a night.
Yes, the difficult thing is sometimes finding the availability though. Like I booked the Hyatt Alila Ventana in Big Sur back in September for March of this year, but it was so far ahead I ended up having to move the date and I called on January 1st to move it.
And the next weekend availability wasn't until December. Wow.
So check back then and see if I actually got to go. Well, I'm super excited to hear about your trip, Megan, because that's a very in-demand property with only 54 rooms and suites.
Plus, they're not all available on points every day. So it's really not surprising to me that the availability is so low.
But Hyatt actually has a ton of all-inclusive options. They've got Ziva, Zalara, Zoetree Wellness and Spa Resorts, Secrets Resorts and Spas, and also Miraval.
So if I had 100,000 points, I definitely start looking there.

And I'll also pile on to the Hyatt love. One of my best hotel redemptions to date was booking

the Andaz Maui at Wailea back when it was just a Category 4. It opened in 2013, which was close

to when I went. I think they priced it so low just because no one knew about it.
True hidden

gem property. I will say the word has gotten out.
Now it is a Category 8. I still love it I still love it.
I loved it way more as a category four. All right, my turn.
I'll stick with the hotel theme. For Capital One points, I wouldn't sleep on transferring points to choice privileges.
It's the loyalty program that includes brands like Comfort, Quality Inn, Radisson, Cambria Hotels, and some of those extended stay hotels like Everhome Suites. There are some super affordable nights.
I found this one boutique hotel in Oslo, Norway. I think it's pronounced Hotel Christiania Tierter.
It's an Ascend hotel collection, and it's only 15,000 points per night. But that same night cost $240 at the time we recorded this.
That's US dollars. So that would make that redemption worth about 1.6 cents per point, which is double NerdWallet's valuation of choice points.
Amazing. And 15,000 points means you could stay there for six nights based on our 100k criteria.
Yeah. And if you want to stay stateside, there are also plenty of nights that are priced at 15,000 points or lower at brands like Baldy Inn and Suites and Comfort Inn in the U.S.
I found that those aren't quite as good value for your points, but if you do want an extended stay somewhere, 100,000 points will go a long way towards a six-night stay at one of those properties. Choice is also a transfer partner of American Express.
I could have used that one on my list. So tell me, where could you get the best value for Choice points? The best one I found was at Radisson Blue Hotels, which is the high-end Radisson brand.
The Radisson Blue in Aruba is 30,000 points a night, but could be as much as $533 a night in cash. So again, that's about 1.8 cents per point.
My turn, Amex time. So I said I didn't want to talk about hotel transfer partners, but this actually isn't a transfer redemption, just a great hotel redemption.
So I'm going to share it anyway. If you have an Amex Platinum, you need to look into the Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts.
These are usually really high-end hotels, but when you book one of these participating hotels through Amex Travel, you get a bunch of other perks, things like early check-in, late checkout, room upgrades, complimentary breakfast for two. Usually they throw in an $100 resort credit.
So if you're counting all those perks, you can get great value for your points. Amex Platinum cardholders also get a $200 credit toward bookings with fine hotels and resorts.
So you can actually pay with a combination of cash and points, and then you'll get the $200 reimbursement as a statement credit and all those perks and your points will be worth one cent per point. This is kind of a fun way to use your points and also get extra perks along with your hotel booking.
That cash and points split is really nice. I find a lot of these hotels are so expensive that even the $200 credit you get with that card barely puts a dent in it.
But if you can use points, that does help out a lot. I will say one of my favorite redemptions with the Fine Hotels and Resorts collection is over at some of the Universal Studios hotels.
You guys know I'm a huge theme park fan. And I actually wrote an article on NerdWallet about this.
We will link to it in the show description. But there are a bunch of Universal-owned hotels that participate, and when you book at a Universal-owned hotel, you get benefits like early admission to the parks.
Some of them even give you a free front-of-the-line pass as part of your stay, plus the new Universal Epic Universe Park is opening next month, so I definitely think I will be spending some of my points there myself. As a theme park lover, I definitely want to use my Amex hotel credit for that one.
You have to. Okay, let's take a quick break.
And when we get back, we'll talk about using points for flights. Stay with us.
Okay, Ben, you're up again. What do you say we cover some flights? There are a lot of options here if you have chase points.
One that I've done is fly Lufthansa First Class. You can actually book that by transferring your credit card points to Air Canada's Aeroplan program.
So you would book your flights through Aeroplan because Air Canada and Lufthansa are partners. In terms of pricing, a one-way flight from the East Coast to Europe would cost you 90,000 points, and a West Coast flight would be 100,000.
This is definitely an aspirational redemption. Keep in mind that one-way international flights are often more expensive than round trips, but a one-way from San Francisco to Frankfurt can cost more than $11,000 in first class.
That's a whopping redemption value of more than 11 cents per point. Ben, I'm glad we brought you on the show to bring us these great redemptions.
Air Canada really is a transfer partner of a bunch of the major programs, Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles, and then also a program that I know Megan is a huge fan of, but we're not going to go too much in depth today on, is Built Rewards. Definitely.
Air Canada miles are super accessible. But let me just talk a little bit more about what it's like to fly in first class because it is such a cool experience.
I flew to Boston from Frankfurt where Lufthansa has an entire terminal just for first class passengers. Wow, so exclusive.
Yeah, there was a private check-in area, sleeping rooms, sit-down dining, and when it was time to board, there was even a car to drive me to the plane. Oh my gosh, that's so cool.
First class definitely blows business class out of the water. The food is tastier and the bed is so much bigger.
Now, this is a little silly, but my favorite part about flying Lufthansa first class is getting a rubber duck from the lounge as a souvenir. That's so cute.
Yeah, it's a really fun thing that Lufthansa does. And some people will actually time their trips during certain holidays or events like the Olympics to get a limited edition duck.
I love when they have little souvenirs like that. Like I really wanted to take the salt and pepper shakers from my next redemption I'm going to talk about.
For Capital One, I'm going to choose a pretty common transfer partner. It's either Virgin Red or Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
So it's a little complicated, but Virgin Red is the loyalty program for a bunch of different Virgin owned businesses and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is the loyalty program for the airline specifically. But you can link those two accounts and use your Virgin Red points for Virgin Atlantic flights.
I've flown their upper class for just 49,000 points because I found a really cheap flight during a transfer bonus, which we've talked about in a previous episode. But basically, it's when a credit card program or sometimes the airline will offer extra points when you transfer your credit card points to that program.
So they have some really great deals, even when there aren't transfer bonuses going in economy or premium economy, too. I booked two other flights during another transfer bonus, and I got two 11,000 point flights for my boyfriend and I one way from LA to Italy.
So where did the salt and pepper shakers come in? Oh, those come in if you're flying upper class and you're served meals. They have these adorable little airplane salt and pepper shakers.
They're not really for you to take, but man, I really thought about just slipping one in my carry on, you know? I feel like you could probably find one on eBay. You know, Megan, I've actually heard that on the bottom of those salt and pepper shakers, it says nicked from Virgin Atlantic.
Did you see that? I did see that, and I was like, is this me? Am I going to be one of the people who nicks one of these? I think next time, if you're on that flight, I think they do that to encourage you to take them because it's so fun. Okay.
I'm definitely taking it next time. I did take the jams and I still have the little jam jars in my apartment.
Wow. I had no idea salt and pepper shakers were the thing.
I learned something today. Yeah.
Understand that transfer bonuses change a lot. So those 11,000 point flights are not super common, but you can definitely find some itineraries between the US and Europe for 15,000 points each way.
So that would be round trip for three people if you had 100,000 points. Just be careful because the fees can be a little bit high.
That is a good reminder about the fees. I'm up next.
So I have a similar flight one with American Express. I would transfer to Flying Blue.
That's the loyalty program of Air France, KLM. They are another common airline partner.
They have flights to or from Europe for less than 20,000 miles when you can book it as part of a Flying Blue monthly promo. Again, this could be a great trip for you to book for you and a friend to fly a round trip to Europe for that 100,000 points.
And those would be economy flights, right, Sally? Yes, yes. But you know, I'm an economy girl.
I don't need these first class flights with the salt and pepper shakers. For sure.
This is getting very Europe-centric. So let me throw in an Asia redemption that you can book with chase points.
Last year, I flew ANA first class to Tokyo, which was an incredible experience.

Oh, I'm so jealous.

The food was amazing and there were so many courses, plus the service was really great.

And actually, the best way to book those flights is through Virgin Atlantic again,

which partners with ANA. One-way flights from the West Coast will cost 72,500 points,

and East Coast flights are 85,000 points each. You could also fly business class

Thank you. One-way flights from the West Coast will cost 72,500 points, and East Coast flights are 85,000 points each.
You could also fly business class for 52,500 points from the West Coast or 60,000 points from the East Coast. Honestly, for redemptions, it really doesn't get much better than that.
Okay, one that I'll throw in there for Capital One is one that I just learned about. It's vacation rentals in case you're not hotel or flight people.
There are some vacation rentals that you can book on points through Capital One. And if it's one of the lifestyle collection or premier collection properties, you'll also get a $50 or $100 on-property credit.
I haven't done this, but I'm interested just as another option. Okay, we'll have to try it out.
And for American Express cardholders, I do want to shout out Delta here. It can be super expensive to book Delta flights on Delta SkyMiles, but there are some good deals if you can find them, especially internationally or even throughout the US.
So I did see LA to Seattle for just 10,000 roundtrip SkyMiles on their SkyMiles deals page or 30,000 roundtrip to Detroit. We can link to our article on Delta SkyMiles maximization in the episode notes.
You could definitely take your whole family with some of those deals. All right, last round, make it good.
Okay. Okay, so for ultimate rewards, I'd say don't sleep on Iberia, which is Spain's flagship airline.
For routes under 4,000 miles, which includes flying from the East Coast to Madrid, you could fly in business class for as little as 34,000 points each way. That's an excellent redemption.
For mine, Capital One, I would choose British Airways as my last one. This is another airline that gets a bad rap for fuel surcharges.
But I just booked my sister some short flights within Europe because she's going to school in the UK right now. And the surcharge on a one-way flight was $2 in some instances.
Nice. And I was getting almost two cents per point with the redemption.
So for short haul flights within Europe, or actually just short haul flights anywhere with a British Airways partner, British Airways is a good program to book with. And also if you need British Airways points, you can also get them by transferring from Amex membership rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Ben, always here with the good tips. All right, Ben, I like you, but I will say you stole my last one.
I wanted to do an Air Canada transfer partner, but instead for Amex, I'll go with transfers to Hawaiian Airlines. So in September 2024, Hawaiian Airlines joined Alaska Airlines.
So Hawaiian miles can transfer to the Alaska Airlines mileage plan program. That means there are now so many sweet spots.
Short haul flights on American Airlines for 4,500 miles. Flights to and from Hawaii for 10,000 miles.
Those are, of course, as I said, economy class girly. But you could also do business class on Japan Airlines for 75,000 miles.
Sounds like 100,000 points can go a long way. We hope this episode gave you some ideas.
You can transfer your points to get multiple nights at certain brands that charge 20,000 points or less per room. Or you could use all of those points for a first-class international flight with caviar and a ride to the airplane.
So if you're sitting on those points, use them. And also we should add those ducks and salt and pepper shakers, depending on the airline.
All right, let's move on to some listener questions. This one is from Curtis.
He says, my wife and I are new to the travel miles game. I was wondering if my wife and I both separately opened up a Citi American Airlines MasterCard in our individual names only.
Could we both receive the miles from the signup offer if we both spent the required amount in the first few months? Obviously, we both have to pay the annual fees. Thanks for asking this one, Curtis.
So yes, easy answer. If you both open up a card in your individual names, you could both receive the signup bonus.
You just have to make sure you both meet the minimum spending requirements on these cards. That's also some smart travel, Curtis.
A two-player credit card strategy can be really effective because you've got double the spending power and you can earn two signup bonuses at once. Just make sure you're not overspending to get there.
I love when couples play two-player mode. All right, time for hot take-offs time.
I think since we have a guest, let's ask Ben for his hot take-off. So my hot take-off is that Southwest's decision to allow third-party sites like Google Flights and Expedia to show their prices might backfire on them.
Oh, here to hate on Southwest. Tell us more.
So those platforms make it really easy to compare prices across airlines. But personally, I found that Southwest isn't the cheapest option.
So why would I fly Southwest? Especially now that they charge for the bags and all that. Yeah, I was about to say they're taking away everything that made them unique.
And now they're doing everything like all the other airlines. So I love this hot take because it's like the more it becomes like the other airlines, the less people want to fly them.
Yeah. But on the one hand, it was a smart move on Southwest part because those platforms give Southwest access to a broader audience.
But on the flip side, it's really a curse because now you can easily see how much Southwest prices cost compared to other airlines. Yeah, really not that much cheaper.
I will say the only benefit is if you have that companion pass, at least you can kind of half the price that way. But even still, I actually don't really think Southwest is always that much cheaper.
And Ben, didn't you fly Southwest recently? What was your experience? So I flew Southwest a few weeks ago, going from New York to Las Vegas, and I actually didn't have that great of an experience. There's no NC power, they don't give you the full can of drink.
I feel like I was wanting a lot. But one thing that I will say that I enjoyed, but probably Southwest doesn't enjoy is that the planes were super empty.
So it was actually really spacious because I often found that I either had an empty middle seat or the whole row to myself. That's the best when you get the whole row.
As I said, do not fly first class, but if you can just lay down on all three seats, that's better. That's kind of scary though.
That might be a sign that Southwest fares might come down if they're not having as strong of demand. But of course, that's just one flight.
We don't know. We'll see what happens in May once they start charging for bags and seats.
So Ben, thanks for the hot take and thank you for joining us today. No problem.
See you all next time. If you are not already doing it, you can follow the show on your favorite podcast app, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeartRadio to automatically download new episodes.
And if you're listening on Spotify, drop us a comment to let us know what you think of the episode or what you want us to talk about next. This episode was produced by Hilary Georgie, Claire Sosi helped with fact-checking, and a big thank you to Nick Karisimi for editing our audio.
And of course, our brief disclaimer, we are not financial or investment advisors. This info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances.

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