Take a Vacation

[USUC]

The wife and I have decided to take the family to Europe next year. Probably summer of 2024. My son will be 11 and my daughter 7. My son is obsessed with geography, history, and ancestry. He'll love it. My little girl is... 7. Don't want to exclude her just because she isn't engrossed like my boy.

We are thinking of just hitting the major areas over 10 to 14 days. But I have no idea the best way to do it. Any advice would be welcome. Are these packages that take care of most things worth it? Should I just get a Delta card now and start trying to get miles and put something together ourselves. Am I being naive?

[Pelado]

The wife and I have decided to take the family to Europe next year. Probably summer of 2024. My son will be 11 and my daughter 7. My son is obsessed with geography, history, and ancestry. He'll love it. My little girl is... 7. Don't want to exclude her just because she isn't engrossed like my boy.

We are thinking of just hitting the major areas over 10 to 14 days. But I have no idea the best way to do it. Any advice would be welcome. Are these packages that take care of most things worth it? Should I just get a Delta card now and start trying to get miles and put something together ourselves. Am I being naive?

That depends a lot on what you consider to be "the major areas". There's geography, history, and potentially ancestry all over Europe.

That said, I would not recommend getting a Delta card first. Delta SkyMiles only help you if you're booking through Delta. There could be much better redemption value by booking through a different carrier - which could still result in you getting Delta flights through their partner airlines' rewards program.

It's generally better to start with a travel card with transferrable points (like American Express Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards) because then you're not forced to book through a single (potentially disadvantageous) airline.

Here's a beginner's guide that was helpful for me when I first got started into point/mile accumulation: https://thepointsguy.com/credit-card...nes/beginners/

[Bo Diddley]

That's good advice. Do your homework on what will make the most sense. On factor to consider in the Delta card favor is they're giving out 90000 points thru next month when you get a card. They're normally 60000. Delta makes a lot of sense for us since SLC is one of their hubs. Mrs Diddley & I have pretty much exhausted all Delta card options with each of us getting each card.

[USUC]

That depends a lot on what you consider to be "the major areas". There's geography, history, and potentially ancestry all over Europe.

That said, I would not recommend getting a Delta card first. Delta SkyMiles only help you if you're booking through Delta. There could be much better redemption value by booking through a different carrier - which could still result in you getting Delta flights through their partner airlines' rewards program.

It's generally better to start with a travel card with transferrable points (like American Express Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards) because then you're not forced to book through a single (potentially disadvantageous) airline.

Here's a beginner's guide that was helpful for me when I first got started into point/mile accumulation: https://thepointsguy.com/credit-card...nes/beginners/

Perfect. Thank you for the info.

[USUC]

That's good advice. Do your homework on what will make the most sense. On factor to consider in the Delta card favor is they're giving out 90000 points thru next month when you get a card. They're normally 60000. Delta makes a lot of sense for us since SLC is one of their hubs. Mrs Diddley & I have pretty much exhausted all Delta card options with each of us getting each card.

Being in the SLC area is what made me think of using the Delta card. I have a co worker who recommended it specifically because SLC is a Delta hub.

[Bo Diddley]

Being in the SLC area is what made me think of using the Delta card. I have a co worker who recommended it specifically because SLC is a Delta hub.

This page outlines what you can get right now. If you decide to get one of the Amex cards, someone here should post a referral link.

[USUC]

This page outlines what you can get right now. If you decide to get one of the Amex cards, someone here should post a referral link.

Ha, my co worker also offered to give a referral. Is there a referral reward for existing customers?

[Bo Diddley]

Ha, my co worker also offered to give a referral. Is there a referral reward for existing customers?

Yes. I can't remember if it's 10000 or 15000 points.

[Moliere]

Being in the SLC area is what made me think of using the Delta card. I have a co worker who recommended it specifically because SLC is a Delta hub.

I live near a United hub but I have a delta card. We mostly fly to SLc or Europe and delta has the better options for those routes out of Houston. I also get status through it and usually get a ton of extra miles since we usually out more than $75k on it every year.

On Europe. Pick the places you want to visit. If it’s major cities, you might find trains to be easier but flights within Europe are super cheap. I definitely recommend Paris and I bet a seven year old would love the Eiffel Tower.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Maybe I am missing out, but I prefer to game my credit cards to get cash back instead of travel perks. I get between 2-5% back on all of my purchases. Are you guys doing better than that with your travel cards?

[Bo Diddley]

Maybe I am missing out, but I prefer to game my credit cards to get cash back instead of travel perks. I get between 2-5% back on all of my purchases. Are you guys doing better than that with your travel cards?

Yes. The trick is to keep opening cards and getting the bonus offer. I've gone through a ton of cards and some bonuses are no longer available. I find myself looking for the highest cash back options. Back in the day I spent everything on my Citibank Dividend Select that gave a minimum of 2% cash back.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Yes. The trick is to keep opening cards and getting the bonus offer. I've gone through a ton of cards and some bonuses are no longer available. I find myself looking for the highest cash back options. Back in the day I spent everything on my Citibank Dividend Select that gave a minimum of 2% cash back.

Oh, I don't have the time or energy to rotate cards. But gaming cards is fun so I get it.

[Pelado]

Maybe I am missing out, but I prefer to game my credit cards to get cash back instead of travel perks. I get between 2-5% back on all of my purchases. Are you guys doing better than that with your travel cards?

Yes.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Yes.

OK, how much are you getting?

[Pelado]

OK, how much are you getting?

The value of the redeemed award travel outstrips what I could have purchased with cash back rewards. If you don't have interest in redeeming the points for travel, then cash back probably makes a lot more sense.

My recent booking isn't a completely fair comparison because my goals in booking what I did revolved in large part around getting the best value for my points. That said, a comparison can still be instructive.

Combining my United and Southwest itineraries, I used under 284k reward points for the trip. If I had cashed out 284k Ultimate Rewards points, I would have had $2,840 to work with for a cash fare. Out of curiosity, before I booked the award flights, I looked up what the cash fare would be for the exact itinerary I had selected. It would have cost over $17,000. So, for that itinerary, using points was over $14,000 better than paying cash.

I just did a quick Expedia search and selected the least expensive flight for each leg of the journey. It came back at $11,591, so using the points was only about $8,751 less expensive. It does have the benefit of being more direct - fewer stops, shorter travel time - but I don't mind a couple extra stops or a little more time in the air if it saves me over $8k.

If I had been looking for the best value on a cash fare, it's unlikely that I would have selected that exact itinerary, but it is an example of how much better points can be than paying cash.