I’ve been booking a lot of travel recently.  We’re heading to Europe in September for a biking trip and going back to Florida next winter.  Between those two big trips there are a few smaller trips in the midwest.

All together, I booked an amazing 91 nights away from home across the 4 trips. 

(71 of those were for our winter snowbird trip alone). 

I dipped into our airline miles to make things work better financially. We booked award travel (110K Delta Points) for our Florida flight – we’ll rent a car rather than drive down in our own vehicle.  We’ve reached the point that it’s more financially advantageous to drive the 26 hours down (and 26 hours back), but the free plane tickets at least keep the cost it close.

Since we were booking so many things with awards points, I decided I would check and see how our latest ‘travel hacking’ effort was paying off.  Since 3/1, we’ve collected about 115K Delta Sky Miles – almost exactly what I just cashed in. I’m going to call that a “victory”.

Related: https://mrfirestation.com/2023/03/06/taking-flight/

Of those miles, almost 80% (90K miles) were a one-time benefit from signing up for the Delta American Express Reserve card. Those points aren’t a repeatable benefit, but the card does come with a free “companion fare” each year, on renewal.  That’s not as valuable as the points, but it certainly helps.  

At some point, I realize we’re just going to have to start driving to Florida.  We’re up to almost 13 weeks there now and renting a car for that long (and paying for airfare) is getting pricey.

How are award miles playing into your travel plans this year?

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