Sometimes a trip works because of one perfect award redemption. This was not one of those trips.

I needed four round-trip tickets from Miami to Tel Aviv. The cash price was about $2,000 per person, or roughly $8,000 total. Award availability did not line up neatly for every seat in both directions, so I split the itinerary between a partner award and Chase portal bookings.

The result: about 562,000 transferable points and $30 in fees, instead of $8,000 in cash airfare.

Three outbound seats through Virgin Atlantic

For the flight to Tel Aviv, I found three seats through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club for 70,000 points per person.

That was 210,000 Virgin points total. I transferred American Express Membership Rewards during a 30% transfer bonus, so I needed to move about 162,000 Membership Rewards points to receive enough Virgin points for the booking.

The taxes and fees were just $10 per ticket, or $30 total for the three award seats.

That did not solve the whole outbound. There was only award space for three people, so I booked the fourth seat another way rather than trying to make the itinerary fit an award that was not there.

One outbound seat and all four return seats through Chase

There was no award availability for the flight home. Between that return and the one remaining outbound seat, I had five one-way tickets to book.

Those tickets were about $5,000 total in the Chase portal. I used Chase Ultimate Rewards at my grandfathered 1.25 cents per point rate, which came to 400,000 Chase points.

These were revenue tickets, not award tickets, so they should also earn Delta SkyMiles. That is not a reason to overpay with points, but it is a real advantage when the portal price and the value of the points line up.

The math

Booking Points used Cash paid
Three outbound seats via Virgin Atlantic ~162,000 Membership Rewards points after the 30% transfer bonus $30
One remaining outbound seat plus four return seats through Chase 400,000 Ultimate Rewards points at 1.25¢ each $0

The total was approximately:

  • 562,000 transferable points
  • $30 in taxes and fees
  • $8,000 in cash airfare avoided

The Virgin booking alone replaced about $3,000 of airfare with roughly 162,000 Membership Rewards points, a return of about 1.85 cents per Membership Rewards point. The Chase tickets used the fixed 1.25-cent portal value, covering the other $5,000 of airfare.

Across the full trip, the $8,000 cash price divided by roughly 562,000 points works out to about 1.42 cents per point, before counting the $30 in fees.

What I would actually call the savings

There are two honest ways to describe the result:

  • Cash out of pocket: $30 instead of about $8,000, so the booking avoided $7,970 in immediate airfare expense.
  • One-cent-per-point baseline: 562,000 points have a simple $5,620 baseline value, plus $30 in fees. On that basis, the itinerary came in about $2,350 below the cash price.

Points are not free, so I would not call the whole $8,000 “saved” without mentioning the points. But this was still a very good use of balances I had: the Amex transfer bonus improved the three award seats, and the grandfathered Chase portal rate gave me a reliable answer when award space disappeared.

The lesson: do not force every seat into one program

For a group of four, the hardest part is often not finding a deal. It is finding the same deal four times.

I got three seats through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, used Chase points for the seat that did not fit, and used the portal again when no award seats were available on the way home. It was not the tidiest booking, but it was the right one for this trip.

Want help booking your next trip?

If you have a specific itinerary and want a second set of eyes on the points, cash fares, and transfer options, book a 30-minute call. We can work through the best way to book the trip you actually want to take.

Award prices, partner availability, transfer bonuses, and card benefits can change. This is a record of one booking, not a promise that the same redemption will be available for another itinerary.