For years I have been accumulating points on my credit cards and redeeming them for cash to pay on the credit card balance.
My daughter started looking into using the points for air travel, and over several years and research, she has been able to book some incrediible vacations. I won't go into details on her adventures but will mention the one time she gifted us for our trip.
She helped us find airline tickets from Columbus Ohio to Seoul South Korea where my son and family reside. The flights consisted of a short hop from Columbus to Chicago, 10-hour flight to Istanbul, then a 10-hour flight to Seoul. For Christmas, my daughter and her siblings split the cost and upgraded us to first class on the flights going to South Korea.
On our flight home, we flew to San Francisco to spend some time with our other daughter and family. We flew coach which still was ok, but we did experiece some jet lag since we could not stretch out our legs.
What a pampered experience!
We flew from Columbus to Chicago and booked an early flight because we did not want to miss our connecting flight. That was not the best experience because we were not allowed to enter the terminal until three hours before the flight. We had to sit in a holding area with minimal concessions for about five hours.
Once we got in to the terminal, we successfully completed the boarding process. We didn't board until around 9:30pm and since we had never flown on Turkish Airlines, we had no idea what to expect.
Soon after we were seated, we were offered non-alcholic drinks and warm hand-towels to freshen up, and warm nuts.
There were three chefs on board to prepare the meals which were delicious.
It was actually a three-course meal, I am showing just a sample of what we had. Did you notice the candle and the salt & pepper shakers?
After the meal, the stewardess had us stand up so she could fix our bed.
This was a 10-hour flight to Istanbul, then we had another 10-flight to Seoul and we had the same experience on that flight!
When we arrive to Seoul we are fresh and ready to go. We did not experiece jet lag even though there is a 13 hour difference.
This experience is what sparked an interest in discovering what credit cards points could do for our future travels.
Rather then using them as cash there may be a greater benifit using them for travel. It is time to start doing some research.