How I Flew Business Class to Southeast Asia for Free

One of the items that had been on my bucket list for quite a while since I started traveling was to fly business class. I just kind of figured it was never going to happen for me until I started learning more about traveling hacking. Check it out, here’s me in 2022 on my first business class flight in United Polaris and Thai Airways Royal Silk Class (business class)! It took an extremely long 4-leg flight from Florida to Bangkok and made it feel like one 2-hour flight. Let me tell you, everyone needs to experience flying business class.

Or actually…maybe don’t because then all you will want to do is fly business class for the rest of your life.

Let me show you how I flew business class from Florida to Bangkok for under 50 dollars by transferring points from my Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card to United Airlines. This will be step by step for this specific flight. Make sure you check below for some tips for traveling hacking and how to start learning more about how to fly for free (well, with the exception of paying for taxes).

1. I had a Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card.
When I signed up, there was a 100,000-point signup bonus for hitting the minimum spend (I believe 4,000 across 3 months at the time). This deal is changing always so make sure that you are checking for the most up-to-date information and signup bonus offers. So by the time I found this deal, I had about 140,000 points. If you’re not, you can get one by applying for this credit cards using this link.

• Disclaimer: I do earn bonus points through Chase if you apply for this credit cards using the above link and get approved for the card. You certainly don’t have to use this link, especially if you’re continuing your research on the right card for you, but it’s greatly appreciated if you do!

 2. I often fly United, so I already had a MileagePlus account.
This is important for being able to easily transfer over points when the time comes. See tip 2 below!

3. Check airlines for flight deals!
I had been checking different airlines that I knew flew from my home airport or an airport near me to Asia. I also had been scanning Facebook pages that I was a part of for anyone posting a good deal. This time, I just happened to see a post on Facebook for a one-way flight in business class from New York City to Bangkok for 60,000 points offered through United.

Originally, I was willing to pay for a flight to New York and take that flight but I figured I’d check my home airport and see if there was also a deal. And what would you know, one-way in business from Tampa, Florida to Bangkok, Thailand for 60,000 points! Typically, one way from Tampa to Bangkok is about 90,000 points just for an economy seat so this was a STEAL.

United will also often highlight good deals by highlighting the miles/price in green and they will write “saver award” under the mileage cost as well. 

4. I immediately went into my Chase Preferred Card to transfer my credit points to my MileagePlus account. I did this through the Chase application on my phone.  This time, I transferred about 56,000 points because I had some miles in my United account already and they were transferred in about a minute

Steps to transfer points in the portal:

• Login into your accountScroll down on the home page to the section labeled “rewards” and click your pointsUse the top corner to open the options menu and click “transfer to travel partners.”
• Scroll down to the airline that you would like to transfer your points to and click “transfer points”
  Enter in your frequent travel information for that airline program, and then you will be sent to a screen to select the number of points that you would like to transfer.
• Then you just need to wait for email confirmation that your points successfully transferred to the airline. At this point, they are available! The time on the points transferring will differ for different airlines and even between credit cards to the same airline. 

5. After points transfer over to United miles, you can book your flight using miles and you just pay the taxes on the flight! And also, buy trip insurance if you want. Double check your credit card that you are paying the leftover taxes with for travel insurance. Many travel credit cards offer travel insurance as a perk to the card owner. I used my Capital One Venture X to pay the taxes because it does have this perk, however, I was incredibly nervous about losing the deal and excited that I found it that I booked travel insurance without thinking. You can save yourself this expense if you have that perk!

6. Sit or lay back ;), snuggle into your Saks Fifth Avenue blanket, sip on a welcome glass of champagne (if you fancy) and enjoy flying in BUSINESS CLASS!!!!

TIPS

1. Make sure that you sign up for airline reward programs ahead of time. This makes it so much easier to transfer your points to the airline because they will ask for your airline reward/account information when transferring points. This makes it much quicker so that you don’t miss out on a deal!
2. Get a credit card that you can hit the signup bonus AKA SUB so that you have enough points available when you find a deal!
   1. These signup bonuses are how you rack up tons of points in a short amount of time. When I got my Chase Sapphire Preferred card, the signup bonus was 100,000 points — so just by meeting the minimum spend in the allotted time, I earned 100,000 points. Those points alone completely covered my tickets to Asia and back from America — INCLUDING one way being business class.
3. Use tools out there to teach yourself how to travel hack so that you can learn how to get the most out of your credit card(s).

• point.me is a new application that helps find flight deals using points from your airport to your destination. I have bought day passes on this to help my research and thought it was an absolutely amazing tool. Consider checking it out if you’d like to take some of the research leg-work out. There are a few different plans that are offered to you depending on how you would be using it, check out their website!
• Join Facebook groups that discuss how to fly using miles.
  • Some that I am a part of that helped me a lot: Capital One Venture X – Maximize Points & Travel, MilesTalk, Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) & Partners, Business Class & First Class. Deals & More, Travel on Point(s), Frequent Miler Insiders, and Award Travel 101.
    • Take a search online but there are tons of people posting in these groups on how they used their points and teaching others to do the same. I attended a few webinars offered by some of these groups that are incredibly helpful.
    • Read travel blogs that talk about travel hacking and travel credit cards to learn the ins and outs.
      • Some of my favorites: The Points Guy, Miles Talk, and Frequent Miler. However, there are tons of resources out there — do your research!
• YouTube channels, podcasts, Instagram, and TikTok are other ways to continue learning as well. I use all of these resources constantly to learn.
  • Check out @zacharyburrabel for some amazing content on Instagram and TikTok. He is incredibly informative and helpful. Plus, he serves some solid inspiration to your feed.