My Points Trip for 2022(Part A)
With almost no travel in 2020 and only one international trip in 2021 I went all out for 2022. I booked a trip to the Maldives and Dubai for next year with 90% of the expenses coved using points.
There are a few background pieces of information to explain why I booked the trip this way. One was I wanted to experience and review Qatar Q-suites, We have had a goal of staying in an overwater room in the Maldives for years and I wanted to experience and Review Business Class on Emirates A380 the upper deck and bar.
As with most points bookings, the airfare is the hardest to lock in especially when booking business class. I needed to have some flexibility to make this happen. I had over 180k American Airlines Miles that I wanted to use for the flight to the Maldives on Qatar. Qatar is a member of One World so you can book Qatar flights using AA miles. Here is where things get challenging. When searching AA miles redemption it gives you the most options for British Airways through London(LHR). This would not be a big deal, but the fees for booking business class on BA through London can be astronomical making the redemption a horrible use of points.
Find a reward out of Charleston was very difficult and wanted to route me through many connections on airlines I was not wanting to fly this time. I then began searching the major East Coast cities. I found availability for 70K points per person on Qatar Airways, but the days were not lining up. I then started looking further west to Dallas and Houston. Knowing where Qatar flies direct from in the US helps narrow down the search. I found availability out of DFW, but it wanted to route me to Houston which made no sense adding an additional leg. I then search Houston and found a direct from Houston (IAH) to Doha (DOH) with a layover in Doha then connecting to Male, Maldives (MLE) all for 70K AA points per person.
I attempted to book the redemption online, but it would not go through. On the phone, I went. This is where having status helps. I am Platinum with American Airlines so I have a "Dedicated" phone line to call for assistance. I was not on hold long when an agent picked up and I described my situation. He was very helpful and quickly found the flights I wanted and verified that the award was available and booked the flights. This is where the Agent went above and beyond for service. My original plan was to book a one-way flight to Houston from Charleston as a relocation flight to then take the trip. The agent asked where my home airport was and I said Charleston and he looked at adding the leg from Charleston to Houston to the reservation. Quick Note: There are no direct flights to Houston from Charleston on AA. He booked us from Charleston to Charlotte on to Houston all in first-class for 70K points per person. This is a lot of legs on a trip, but part of using points is you have to have some flexibility. To re-cap: CHS to CLT first-class, CLT to IAH First class all on American Metal. IAH to DOH on Qatar in Q-suites. DOH to MLE on Qatar in Q-Suites all for 70K points per person. Depending on when you look this one-way trip would cost over 15K per person. That is redemption of .21 Center per point.