Freedom to Bring Along Family

My points and miles have allowed me to travel to many dream destinations. I now get to use some of my miles to bring my mother-in-law along with us on our next dream destination, Alaska.

As I was exploring the itinerary of our upcoming cruise, I realized that we would be sailing in the immediate area of my mother-in-law’s youth. She was born and raised on the west coast of Canada, so this is a return trip for her. I inquired with my wife if her mother might be interested in joining us with us taking care of her flights and lodging. She excitedly responded that she would indeed like to join us on this vacation. Now that I had opened my big mouth, it was time to deliver on the airfare and lodging.

My first concern was her return flight. There was little to no flexibility on her return flight, so I wanted to book that first. As is with most west to east flights, this would be a red-eye flight. Domestic flights typically have two classes of seats, coach and “first”. Domestic First is not a lay-flat seat, but is wider, provides more pitch, and reclines to 7.5 degrees. 

Not the greatest improvement upon coach, but certainly a differentiator on a redeye flight in most people’s attempts at getting a few hours of sleep onboard. 30K United miles and $5.60 later, her return flight was booked. 

Next up, her outbound flight. There were no saver award flights available around the days which she wanted to arrive. Sigh, sometimes one needs to book a standard award when no other options exist. Another 25K United miles and $5.60 later, her flights were booked. The final piece of the travel puzzle was her lodging for two nights in Vancouver. Thanks to Chase UR points I transferred 24K points to my Hyatt account and I had my two nights booked. The nightly rate at this property is $399 CAD or about $330 USD per night. 

For this redemption, I’m getting over 2.5 cpm value. Helps make up for the 1 cpm value on my flight redemptions.

The final tally:

79K United and Chase miles

Forever memories with Grandma/Mother/Mother-in-law = PRICELESS!