Putting It All Together

I followed the recommended card order on the 10xTravel website and currently have a Chase Sapphire and a couple of Ink cards. My wife and I have referred each other, allowing us to accumulate enough points for a decent redemption. We always pay our statement balances in full each month (after statement closes) and keep our cards open for at least a year. If a card no longer provides value when the annual fee hits, we cancel it, often getting the fee reversed.

Our family loved our trip to Japan, but we felt we missed out on a lot due to the extreme summer heat. So, we decided to give it another go—this time in the winter!

Planning the Flights

With our goal set, I printed out the list of Chase’s airline transfer partners and began searching for award flights from Seattle to Tokyo. This process was slow since I had to create accounts for various airlines. While 10xTravel offers this service for a fee, I opted to save money and do it myself. Another approach was using Google Flights or Kayak to see which airlines operated the route. I found that JAL, ANA, and Delta all offered direct flights.

At the time, Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) was offering a 25% transfer bonus to Air France’s Flying Blue program, which partners with Delta. I created a Flying Blue account and found four economy flights for 33,000 points each. With the transfer bonus, that meant only 26,400 UR points per ticket. I confirmed the availability, transferred the points, and booked two tickets while my wife booked the other two to keep our mileage balances equal.

I booked each leg individually for flexibility. However, finding return flights was trickier. Flying Blue didn’t have ideal return options, but I discovered that JAL flights could be booked using Alaska Airlines miles. I didn’t have enough Alaska miles, but since Alaska had recently merged with Hawaiian Airlines, I could transfer American Express Membership Rewards (MR) points to Hawaiian, then to Alaska. A quick Google search confirmed the process, and I successfully booked our return flights for 40,000 miles each.

Adjusting for My Son’s Schedule

Just when I thought we were set, my 16-year-old son dropped a bomb—he didn’t want to miss a week of school. After making sure he was feeling well (and jokingly considering a paternity test), I was proud of him for prioritizing academics. However, this meant reworking our flights.

Since we were traveling during winter break, leaving on a Tuesday wouldn’t make sense. I needed flights for the Friday before break started. Again, I used the Amex-to-Hawaiian-to-Alaska trick and found economy preferred seats on JAL for an additional 10,000 miles each. After confirming what the upgraded seats included, we were all in for the extra comfort on a 10-hour flight.

For my son’s return, I read about a trick to book ANA business class through Virgin Atlantic by first checking availability on United’s website. While I didn’t find business class seats, I did find an economy flight for the exact date my son needed. After confirming ANA’s policy on minors flying alone, I called Virgin Atlantic to book the award flight. Virgin was offering a 40% transfer bonus from Chase, so instead of 30,000 points, I only needed to transfer 22,000. My son’s flight was booked!

Booking Lodging

Hyatt had recently opened a Hyatt House in Shibuya, Tokyo, which was receiving great reviews. It was my top choice, but when I searched, I found no availability for four guests. Reducing the search to two guests showed availability—meaning I needed to book two rooms. I checked each night individually and found a five-night stretch available. At 13,200 points per night per room, I transferred 132,000 Chase points to Hyatt and secured our stay.

For the first leg of our trip, since we were flying into Narita (an hour east of Tokyo), I decided we should start in Tokyo Bay, near Disneyland. The Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay was a steal at 9,000 points per night, and for just 3,000 extra points, I booked a club access room. Club access includes breakfast, hors d’oeuvres, free drinks (including alcohol), and sometimes full dinners. The breakfast at this property was incredible—one of the best spreads I’ve ever seen. If you have the club option here, BOOK IT! Especially if you have a teenager—it saves so much money.

For a traditional experience, we wanted to stay in a ryokan with a private onsen. Since no major hotel chains had properties in the area, I used the Capital One travel portal. Normally, I avoid the portal because the redemption rate is poor (1 cent per point), but I used my $300 Capital One Venture travel credit and covered the rest with points. While the redemption wasn’t great, the experience made it worthwhile. Plus, saving money here allowed us to enjoy activities like TeamLab, Sanrio Puroland, and Tokyo DisneySea.

A Last-Minute Upgrade

Flexibility is key in points travel, and following @maxmilespoints on Instagram paid off. A few months before the trip, they posted that JAL had released business class award seats. While there were no seats to Seattle, there were to San Francisco—a repositioning flight. After checking partner availability, British Airways offered the best redemption: 50,000 Avios plus $500 in taxes for a $2,000 ticket. That’s a solid 3-cent-per-point redemption. We booked the JAL business class lie-flat seats for our 9-hour return flight!

To get home, we used an Amex airline credit to book a short flight from San Francisco to Seattle. Additionally, we used the $300 Amex Platinum luxury hotel credit to stay at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco for a night. This stay came with a $100 food credit, free breakfast, early check-in, and late checkout (which was a lifesaver due to jet lag).

Final Notes

• Our economy preferred seats on JAL came with lounge access at SeaTac, which was fantastic. My son went back for fourths.

• Our JAL business class seats on the return gave us access to the first-class lounge in Tokyo—an incredibly classy experience.

• The Priority Pass lounge in San Francisco (included with our Chase card) was underwhelming.

Conclusion

This trip was an unforgettable experience, made possible through strategic points redemptions. I hope you find equally amazing travel opportunities in this hobby. Happy hunting!