[Around the World] It was too hard for a beginner... Points to note for family travel using miles! - 9 pitfalls

◾️My debut using miles for airline tickets!

I'm haruka, a
liberal arts-loving freedom-oriented education mom
who loves travel and learning.

Today, for the first time in a while, I'm talking about
a family trip around the world!

With the trip coming up in six months,

“I tried booking airline tickets with miles for the first time and had a massive disaster
😇”

I'm sharing a real-life failure story with you🥹

*By the way, the flights departing from and arriving in Japan were already purchased with a credit card.

Specifically:

☑️Couldn't get the ideal flights
by booking six months in advance☑️Couldn't book for the whole family at once
due to miles being scattered mysteriously☑️Ended up
buying more because I didn't have enough miles☑️The desperation of trying to book the same aircraft through different airlines

I don't think there are many people as foolish as me🤣🤣

That's exactly why
I was able to gather valuable failure data
🥹🥹🎣

Overseas travel using miles that you see everywhere on social media✈️

The required miles increase
Family travel
was harder than I imagined😂

For those planning their first
family trip using miles
or those who feel that mile travel is unknown!

Or conversely, for mile experts who
want to chuckle while watching
a beginner's common mistakes

Please use this as a reference
and enjoy reading it🤣

By the way, first of all,
here are the9 lessonsfrom this time
that I will write down

✅Don't be swayed by campaigns!
✅Figure out the required miles quickly!
✅Securing seats for two or more people half a year in advance is too late!
✅Don't be lazy about registering as a member!
✅Don't jump at the lowest miles!
✅The first mile exchange takes time!
✅Fuel surcharges can be brutal depending on the country!
✅Don't easily buy extra miles!
✅Thoroughly double-check everything!

That is all, and it is all a lecture to myself this time.
(Please understand)

◾️How to save miles | Using credit card payments as the source for points

▶︎Even if it's not an ANA or JAL card

First of all

For this mile exchange,
I utilized
credit card points!

In short, the system was not about
earning miles by flying,



but about earning points
that can be converted into miles
through everyday shopping payments.

I mainly utilized theAmerican Express
(hereinafter, Amex)
Gold Preferred

Although it costs a high annual fee,
you can exchange them for miles at a
favorable rate of 0.8 to 1 mile
per approximately 100 yen,

and what's more,you can exchange them for miles
of multiple airlines.

With ANA cards or JAL cards,
you tend to be restricted to
that airline or partner airline tickets.

In that regard, the Gold Preferred
has theadvantage of high flexibility.

On top of that, there are no
expiration dates for exchanges, so

I was diligently saving them
for a trip around the world someday.

However, that is where it happened.

◾️ 9 consecutive pitfalls!

[Pitfall 1] The fool who dances to 'great mileage campaigns'

Even though I had been
diligently saving up
a 'great campaign'caught my eye and
blinded me 😭

This autumn, I carelessly
converted about 40,000 miles
into ANA miles 😭

You fool!!!!!!!!

If it weren't for that,
I would have had nearly 100,000 points
in my Gold Preferred account by nowand

I should have been able to cover
any distance for a family of three.

From Gold Preferred,
you can only convert
up to 40,000 ANA miles
per year.

Because of this, I can no longer
cover the cost for a family of three
with the same miles.

You fool!!!!!!!!!!

Once you convert points to miles,
you cannot change them back.

And, the miles you have exchanged
with miles from other airlines
cannot be combined.

I ended up wasting the
substantial amount of points
I had worked so hard to save by splitting them up 😭

Oh, why on earth
did I do that...

[Pitfall 2] Not knowing the required miles

The fundamental cause of my failure was
that I acted without knowing"how many miles are needed" to cover the whole family.
I moved forward without grasping that.

Understanding the required miles is difficult,
and that is exactly why it tends to be a chore.

If you are aiming for the optimal flight,
the airline will change depending on the schedule,
and you also have to compare the rates.

But in the first place,
I didn't even know how to check
the miles needed for a flight or
which airlines I could use for the flight...

Because of all this,
Ihad been putting off the crucial step of
figuring out the number of miles required for the flight.

[Pitfall 3] Redeeming miles too late

However, for any reason,
it is essential to redeem your miles early!

Because you cannot
book all seats
with tickets
exchanged for miles (hereinafter referred to as award tickets).

In other words,

there is a limit to the seats
that can be secured with miles.

When it comes to family trips,
you want to get seats together.

If so,
you need to secure
the tickets while there are
still seats available.

In fact, yesterday we also
tried to make a reservation,
but the flight that was available a few days ago
was no longer available.😭

Award tickets
can be booked about a year in advance.

If you want a flight on a specific date and time,
book your tickets as soon as
your plans are finalized!

~A Brief Digression: Let's Use ChatGPT!~

So, specifically, how should you
check the required number of miles?

When I'm in trouble, I tend to rely on
ChatGPTfor everything.

I tell ChatGPT:

After conveying the above,

I have it list these out, and then
from there, I check the actual mileage
required for the airlines I'm interested in.

ChatGPT's information is
not always correct,



but it's easier on the mind
to have some rough material to consider
than to research from absolute zero!

[Pitfall 4] It's a hassle to register for multiple mileage memberships

Let's get back to the topic!

Yes, regarding the actual miles required,
be sure to check
on the official website!

Information from ChatGPT is
just a guideline.

When you actually check,
it might be a bit different!
That kind of thing happens all the time.

In some cases,
you may not be able to check the mileage
unless you become a member of the airline's mileage program,but

all they ask for is
your email address and address,
and registration is free, so
you shouldn't be lazy about that!!

There is no need to
register for every single
mileage program,
but

at the very least, isn't it worth
checking for yourself the airline
that ChatGPT recommended first?

I'm saying this while acting all high and mighty, but

I was the one who found it a hassle to become a mileage member,
and ended up rushing to register
right before purchasing.

[Pitfall 5] Using the lowest mileage as a standard

There are a few things to keep in mind
when checking miles.

First of all, the number of miles required
can change even within the same day.
Depending on the time of day, it may increase or decrease,
so be careful.

Furthermore, even for the same flight,

some options like "Basic Economy"
that show the lowest mileage
cannot be cancelled or changed,
or may charge for checked baggage.

Don't jump at them easily;
read the conditions carefully!

[Pitfall 6] Thinking that mile exchanges are reflected immediately

If it is your very first time
exchanging points for miles,
it may take nearly two weeks
to complete the exchange.

Given these circumstances,
figure out the required miles early
and start the exchange process early 😭

[Pitfall 7] Thinking that everything can be covered by miles

This refers to fuel surcharges,
airport usage fees,
and various taxes.

By the way, it seems they are exceptionally high when departing from the UK, and our family paid nearly 40,000 per person
separately from the airfare.

As an aside,
United Airlines
does not charge fuel surcharges,
so you tend to have fewer out-of-pocket expenses.

[Pitfall 8] Thinking you can just buy more miles if you are short

When you finally go to redeem them,
compared to when you did your research,
the required miles have increased!
That kind of thing might happen.

It would be great if you could cover that amount
with the miles you have on hand,

but if you are short,
taking the plunge and buying the ticket with cashis also
an option.

This is becausebuying miles is
quite expensive😭

If the price required to buy additional miles
reaches a level that is no different
from the regular purchase price,

there is no longer any benefit
to getting your ticket with miles, is there? 🥹

"You can buy extra miles cheaply for a limited time!"
Even if you receive such an offer,

whether it is more efficient to save miles and points normally
or to just buy the amount you are short,
is something you should
check with ChatGPT or similar.

[Pitfall 9] Settings get messed up right before purchase

Once you've come this far,
it's finally time for the last click,

sometimes while you are
redoing the same things
over and over,
the settings or search criteriaget messed up.

For example, unexpected errors or issues might occur,
and while you're thinking about it,
you end up having to start over from the beginning,

and before you know it, the number of people is wrongor
you've added unnecessary servicesor something like that,
all sorts of things happen
(I'd like to think it's not just my family)

Since our exchange was complicated enough as it was,
I had my husband join me
to click through the purchase.

Even then, we still made various mistakes,
(Seriously!)

If you're not used to this kind of task,
I think it's best to involve your family,
as it fosters a sense of shared responsibility
and deepens the bond for the trip.
(I don't know for sure, though)

◾️So, what did our family end up doing?

That's all for the pitfalls that
mileage beginners often fall into,
which I've written about at length!

I will say it again

✅Don't get swayed by campaigns!
✅Figure out the required miles quickly!
✅Booking seats for two or more people half a year in advance is too late!
✅Don't be lazy about registering as a member!
✅Don't jump at the lowest mileage offer!
✅Your first mileage redemption will take time!
✅Fuel surcharges can be brutal depending on the country!
✅Don't easily buy extra miles!
✅Do a thorough final check!

Mileage beginners like us
should definitely be careful 😭

Now, as for what happened to our family
after stepping on these landmines,
here is the result

☑️Couldn't get the ideal flight by booking half a year in advance
☑️Couldn't book for the whole family at once due to mysterious mileage fragmentation
☑️Ended up needing to buy extra miles because I didn't have enough
☑️The desperation of trying to get the same aircraft on different airlines

That was it (a recap of the beginning).

This time, miraculously,
with United Airlines,
which is in the same Star Alliance as ANA,I had nearly 70,000 points saved up, so

Husband: From my ANA miles
Me and my daughter: From United Airlines

In other words,we got flights on the same aircraft
via Air Canada,
which is in the same Star Alliance,
from two different routes!

Since code-share flights are limited,
even if you find a good flight
on the ANA mileage search screen,
it might not be listed on United

Even though the departure and arrival times were the same,
the aircraft used were subtly different,and
the number of things to check increased more than necessary,

which made me incredibly tired...

Moreover, because I bought extra miles,

I realized later, to my dismay,
that it would have been more cost-effective
to just buy them normallyinstead of topping them up. 🥲

To everyone who has read this far,
now that you have stepped over my corpse,
please, I beg you, do not make the same mistakes...

Please see here
for a summary regarding airline tickets.

That is all, thank you so much
for reading
this long post!

"I read it to the end!"
"Don't worry about the miles!"
"It was helpful!"
"It made me laugh!"

If you could press the 'Like' button
as a gesture of support,
it would be a huge comfort to me. 🥹

I plan to continue writing not only about my trip around the world,
but also light educational essays
and travel information,
so I hope you'll stay tuned.

↓↓↓ Past Articles ↓↓↓

If you feel like we might get along,
I would be
so happy if you could follow me
and keep an eye on my journey!

Well then,
thank you very much!