Traveling to Japan with Points & Miles with Chris Hutchins
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Hello and welcome to another episode of All The Hacks, a show about upgrading your life, money and travel.

I'm Chris Hutchins, and last week I had an amazing conversation with Brandon Presser about everything Japan. Where to go, what to see, planning your trip, the culture, and so much more. But I didn't have the time to cover one more thing I really wanted to get to, how to use your points and miles to fly there, and for hotels when you get there, and also some ways to increase those points balances, and a few other ways to save on a trip even if you're not using points. So I wanted to do an entire follow-up episode on that. But

But even if you're not planning a trip to Japan, a lot of what I'm going to talk about today will hopefully help you think about any trip you're taking or boosting miles and points that you might not know what you want to do with yet. If you haven't heard that episode yet, go back and have a listen because you might actually end up wanting to plan a trip to Japan sooner than you thought. In fact, I know a lot of you have already started planning your trip because I got so many amazing emails and DMs from you about the Japan episode.

Haven't gotten to respond to everyone yet, but I'm so happy you all enjoyed the episode. I'm excited for your trips to Japan, and I think I'll keep experimenting with having these country episodes every month or two with Italy coming next. So let's jump in and help you all start planning a trip right after this.

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Okay, let's start with flights. One of the best carriers you can fly to Japan is ANA. Their product, everything from economy to first class is amazing. One of the best ways to book it is on Virgin Atlantic, at least right now, and I'll explain in a bit. And you can do round trip from the West Coast for 60,000 miles in coach,

$90,000 in business and $110,000 in first. Again, that's round trip. So this is a really amazing deal. You can only book it round trip. But the taxes, unlike using Virgin Atlantic miles to fly across the ocean to Europe, are much more reasonable, about $300.

So a couple caveats here. You can't search for these flights on Virgin Atlantic. So search on United or Point.me or whatever other site you want within Star Alliance and you find the flights and then you need to call and book through Virgin Atlantic. But you can transfer to Virgin Atlantic from Amex, Cap One, Chase, Citi and Bilt. So it's a really great option.

The only catch here, though, is I don't know what will happen after March because Virgin Atlantic has announced that they're joining the Sky Team Alliance and ANA is in Star Alliance. So it's unclear whether they will continue partnering with some of these Star Alliance carriers. So if you're booking before March,

It's an amazing option. If you're booking after March or you don't want to use Virgin Atlantic points for whatever reason, you can book direct through ANA. It's actually a little cheaper, but a little more complicated. So you could do economy from the U.S. for anywhere from 40 to 50,000 miles round trip. You do business from 75 to 90,000. And then you can do first class at around 150,000 points round trip. So on the economy side and even the business side, it could be even cheaper.

Similar to Virgin Atlantic, you can only book round trip. Taxes are about $300, but you can only transfer to ANA from Amex.

And those transfers take a few days and you can very rarely get the agent from ANA on the phone to put something on hold. So it's a little bit of a risky proposition. So if you're really flexible on dates and you have Amex points, you could probably transfer them. And if in the couple days the transfer takes, those flights disappear and there's no more availability, well, you can always keep looking. But if you're really set on a specific set of dates and there isn't a lot of availability, it can be a little risky.

Obviously, if you could call and get them to put it on hold, I've heard some people have success doing that. I would certainly try before you transfer, but it's not something that they advertise as doing. Another great option is flying on JAL, Japan Airlines, another really great high-quality product. Notice that the...

Products from non-U.S. carriers tend to always be a little bit better than the U.S. carrier's products. Because JL is not a transfer partner of any of the credit card points programs, I'll focus on booking it from other airlines. So you can book it from Alaska at 35,000 miles each way in coach, 60,000 each way in business, and 70,000 to 80,000 each way in firsts.

And the taxes are pretty reasonable. They can be as low as $100 round trip. But Alaska is not a transfer partner of any of the major credit card programs. So unless you have a lot of Alaska points, or you sign up for the Alaska card, which currently has a 70,000 mile bonus,

Unfortunately, I don't have a link, but if you can find one online, you can also use those Alaska miles for a similar price to fly on American who also flies to Japan. But if you can find availability on JL, it's going to be a better experience. Now, if you have American miles, you can also book JL or American for about the same number of points and about the same number of taxes. AA is a transfer partner of built, but that's it. So if you have built points or American points, that's great. There is an American card with

with a 65,000 point signup bonus. I don't have a link for it, but you're welcome to search for it online. So the signup bonuses from the cards, if you don't already have points, there might be enough to get you one round trip ticket in economy. But if you don't already have points in those programs, it's going to be tough.

British Airways, however, is a transfer partner of a lot of different credit card companies, and you can use their points to book on American or JL. But the taxes and fuel charges can be high. So I'd say take a look, see what they are and see if it's worth doing. But a lot of times it's not.

Now, another interesting option is on Singapore, which happens to fly what's called a fifth freedom flight, which is where a carrier flies between two countries that aren't actually where it's predominantly based. So they have a flight from LAX to Singapore, and you can book it direct from Singapore with miles that you can transfer to from Chase, Amex, Citi, and Cap One. It's not cheap. It can be about 120,000 points in first. However,

The Singapore product is hands down one of the best out there. So, you know, I would even put it above ANA or JL. So if you're looking for a flight from LAX, it could be a really great opportunity. And sometimes those flights in business can actually be really, really reasonable, especially if you're booking last minute.

Last, I'll cover an option that's a little bit more accessible, which is booking on United. You can use United points or Air Canada points. And it's actually not totally unreasonable. I just looked for the next month and you can book flights at about 35,000 points each way in coach, 75,000 points each way in business.

a little bit more than all the previous options, but you can transfer points to Air Canada or United from almost every single program. So it's much easier for you to find availability and the taxes can be as low as $50 round trip. So you're really just spending points. Also, depending on where you have points, let's say it's a cap one, you could actually get a better deal on some of these flights if you're booking through Avianca. So consider that as another option as well.

I will say that a lot of the availability that United has shows up last minute. So these are really great options if you're booking really last minute. I'm looking right now, and if you book these flights in February or maybe even early March, there's a ton of availability. But if you push out and look May, June, July, August, it's really hard to find availability.

good dates. You can on United go and search, say, use miles, flexible dates, and you can get a calendar view. You can choose whether you want to be searching for economy or business and then search on the calendar view and you can look. But I just found a handful of dates where you can go, especially in economy, much easier for as low as 35,000 points each way. And it's really easy to get points into Star Alliance carrier like Air Canada or United where you can book those United flights.

And I think that's really accessible. And right now, while there's not a great signup bonus on any United cards, 50, 60,000 points, it's been a lot better in the past. There is a huge signup bonus on the Aeroplan card, which is 100,000 points right now. It does require a pretty high minimum spend of $20,000.

But 100,000 point signup bonus is huge. I do have a link to that at allthehacks.com slash cards if you're interested. So just to recap, the best option if it's available for you is going to be to book through Virgin Atlantic.

You can transfer from every single program and you can put those reservations on hold on the phone. So first go to a site like United or Point.me and start searching to see if you can find good availability on ANA. Call up Virgin. And by the way, if you're using Point.me, they will walk you through every single step of this. And then call up Virgin, ask them to put it on hold. Obviously, you'll need to create a Virgin Atlantic account before this and get a number.

But then you can put it on hold, transfer the points. Depending on where your points are, it can take anywhere from instant at Chase or Built. It could take a couple days on Amex or Citi, but you should be able to get the points there in less time than it takes to transfer. So I think that's a really great option. Aside from that, if you have a lot of Chase points...

You're probably going to get the best transferring to United or Air Canada and booking there. But I would look at British Airways and see if it's worth booking something there on JAL or American. Just keep an eye out for what the fuel surcharges and the fees are going to be.

If you've got Amex, I would say take a look at Air Canada also, but also look at ANA, especially if you have some flexibility or even Singapore, if you're flying out of LA or you can change planes there. There are a bunch of signup bonuses. I will say the links I have at allthehacks.com/cards

on the personal cards aren't the best right now. And I always say, get the most points you can. I'll put a link to where you can find some referral bonuses. They're not my referrals, but they're someone else's. And that's 150,000 for platinum and 90,000 for gold.

On the business side, though, the business platinum card will get you 120,000 points. That link on allthehacks.com slash cards is the best I could find. But on the business gold card, there's a huge 130,000 point signup bonus right now that's through referrals. And actually, you can get the best one from calling Amex. So I'll put a phone number in there. I just called and asked and I got an offer for 130,000 point signup bonus.

plus 10,000 if I add an authorized cardholder. So those are some options on the business side. If you're on cap one, your best options are gonna be to transfer to Air Canada, British Airways or Singapore. And if you need some extra points to boost that balance, the Venture and the VentureX cards are at 75,000 right now.

The Spark Miles card is at 50,000. That's a business card. And then the Spark Cash is at 100,000. However, I'll just caveat that when you have a Capital One card that earns cash back, you can't actually transfer that cash back to Miles unless you also have a card with Miles. So if you've got a Venture or VentureX and you get the Spark Cash Plus card, you can get that $1,000 signup bonus and transfer it in to be 100,000 points. Or...

If you go to a Capital One branch and you can find someone, there is an unlisted card. You can't sign up for it online. It's called the VentureX Business. It used to be the Spark Travel Elite, and it has a crazy 250,000 point signup bonus after spending $50,000.

Yes, that's a lot of spend, but it's also a huge bonus. So if you have a business and you have a lot of spend, it might be worth trying to find a Capital One rep at a branch or even calling around. Or I've heard people pinging people on LinkedIn because that's a huge signup bonus. If you've got built points, you are in luck because American has some really great redemption options and you can transfer built to American, but you can also go to United, Air Canada or Virgin.com.

However, there is no bonus on Bilt, so you won't get a sign up bonus when you sign up, but you are welcome to use my referral link. It's just allthehacks.com/bilt. Finally, if you're in the Citi ecosystem, Virgin is going to be a great option, but I'd also take a look at Avios or Singapore and the Citi Premier bonus dropped down from $80,000 to $60,000, but that's really your best bet right now if you need to boost that balance is a Citi Premier card.

So if you need any of those cards, you can obviously get most of the links at allthehacks.com slash cards. I'll put some links in the show notes. And that's great.

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Another option for flights which has nothing to do with points and miles is a new airline called Zip Air. My understanding is they're a subsidiary of JAL. I've talked to one listener who said they had a good experience flying them. And the reason why it's interesting is because it's incredibly affordable. However, there's a couple caveats. First, they only fly out of San Jose and LAX. And that San Jose flight is so brand new, I didn't even realize it was out until I just started doing the research this morning.

But it's awesome news because I found flights in coach for under $600 round trip. And then in business, paid business, found flights for around $2,000 round trip. Now, yes, that's a lot more expensive and you could probably fly three people for that cost. But I've never seen any other carrier come close to that price for international business.

A couple other caveats. The biggest being they have no ability to change your plans. So I actually called customer service just to confirm. And they said, there are no change fees. If you can't take the flight, you just lose the money. And I think that's crazy. But that's just the way this airline operates. So I would if you're booking on that, definitely consider whether it makes sense to buy cancel for any reason flight insurance. You could search CFAR is what it's often called.

labeled as on the internet. There's a policy that I looked at when we were thinking about going to Japan from Trawick International, which is the only place I bought travel insurance from recently that covers cancel for any reason. So that's one major, major, major caveat.

And by the way, those insurance policies don't cover 100% of your cost. They usually give you back 75%. So there's still some risk there. And a few other caveats. One, you can't fly with kids under six in business. So that's just not an option, unlike almost every other airline that doesn't have a problem with that.

And then nothing is included other than your seat. So even if you're spending a few thousand dollars for business class, you still have to pay $50 to $70 to check your bag. That's economy. Also, you have to pay an extra $50 if you want to have a carry-on that's a little heavier than the limit they give you. And then you have to pay another $11 or $12 per meal per flight to be able to eat on the plane if you don't want to bring your own food. So yes, there's a bunch of little add-ons. Yes, there's a bunch of restrictions.

But if you can commit to dates and make it work, a flight round trip and coach for under $600 or business for about $2,000 is incredible. You have to find your own way to San Jose or LA if you don't already live there because obviously they don't fly anywhere else in the US. But I think it could be a really great option if you're looking to save money and you want to get to Japan. So next, I want to quickly talk about hotels. And I'll cover the four major programs that you can book through points. I'll start with Hyatt. Hyatt

Hyatt has 33 hotels in Japan. They range from category two at 6,500 points a night all the way up to category eight, which is 35,000 points a night. And there are a bunch of amazing options. So you've got the Park Hyatt in Tokyo, which was famous in the movie Lost in Translation.

The Park Hyatt Kyoto opened recently. We just talked about it with Brandon. It is incredible. We stayed there on our last trip and it was really amazing. Highly, highly, highly recommend. There's a couple of great options. The Grand Hyatt and the Ondas in Tokyo look great. I haven't stayed there. The Kasara and the Park Hyatt in Niseko look amazing if you're heading there. And then there's a Sawaka Hotel in Kyoto, which also looks amazing. There's a bunch of other hotels. Those are the ones that caught my eyes.

And as many of you know, Hyatt's a transfer partner of Chase and Built. So if you don't have Hyatt points, but you do have points in Chase or Built, you can get them there. And if you don't, and you really need some Hyatt points, you got a few options. You can open up any of the Chase Ultimate Rewards cards. So either the Chase Sapphire cards, which have a 60,000 point bonus now, or if you're eligible for a business card, the Inc Unlimited and Cash cards, similar to how I just described earlier, the...

cash back cards at Capital One Work. Same thing is true at Chase. So if you get an ink unlimited or an ink cash, you can take the cash back and you can convert those to points if you have a transferable points card like the Chase Sapphire or the ink business preferred.

The Inc. Business Preferred, by the way, has a 100,000 point signup bonus right now. Obviously, you do need to have a business, but keep in mind that a business can include sole proprietorship stuff. So if you sell stuff on eBay, if you drive for Lyft, if you've done any of those things, you do some consulting on the side, that can all count. And I know I've had business cards for long before I had an LLC registered business.

You can also get a Hyatt card. The personal card only has a 30,000 point signup bonus, and it's been at as high as 60 in the past, but the business card does have a 60,000 point signup bonus right now. All the links to those, allthehacks.com slash cards, really great options in Hyatt. One of my favorite ways to use points to book hotels, especially because I have a lot of chase points.

Next, I'll talk about Bonvoy. So Marriott has a great option, which is they do fifth night free. So when you're looking at hotels, they have 85 hotels in Japan that range from...

from 15 to 120,000 points a night, at least for some sample dates I searched. But like I said, with Fifth Night Free, that 120,000 points can actually go down to about 96,000 points. And that's true at every stop along the spectrum. The only one I've stayed at personally is the St. Regis in Osaka. And it was a great experience.

But as I browsed through and thought about where I would stay in the future, in Tokyo, the Prince Gallery and the Edition look fantastic. The Mitsui in Kyoto looks fantastic. And all of the Ritz-Carlton's, Tokyo, Kyoto, Okinawa, Nikko, all look really incredible. So if you're looking for some luxury hotels,

they look really really great and there's sweeran hotel also looks really great it's in the luxury collection of marriott but they also have a bunch of really affordable options there's a courtyard right at tokyo station so i think that there's a really great options here and as an example you know i know i often say that some of these hotel points are hard to get a good value at but i just did a quick search at the ritz-carlton in kyoto

And for five nights, you could book for 360,000 points. So 72,000 points a night. But the room was $1,300 a night. So you're

So you're getting about 1.85 cents per point, which is an amazing value. I think almost everyone online kind of says Marriott points are worth half to 0.7 cents. So you can really actually get some outsized value here, which could even make it worth transferring points to Marriott. I know it's a one-to-one exchange, but there are some redemptions like the one I just described that might make that worth it, especially if there's a transfer bonus.

Or just yesterday, Marriott really bumped up their signup bonuses. The Bonvoy Bold, which is a no annual fee card, now has a 60,000 point signup bonus up from 30,000 and lets you earn an extra three points per dollar. So 14 total at Marriott hotels. But the Bonvoy Boundless, which has a $95 annual fee, just added a hundred thousand point signup bonus and gives you an extra six points per dollar at Marriott. So 17 total, as well as an annual free night certificate. And the Bonvoy Bold, which is a no annual fee card,

and three Bonvoy points per dollar on gas, groceries, and dining. So those are some great options for boosting your Marriott balance, and you can find all those at allthehacks.com slash cards.

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I just want to thank you quick for listening to and supporting the show. Your support is what keeps this show going. To get all of the URLs, codes, deals, and discounts from our partners, you can go to allthehacks.com slash deals. So please consider supporting those who support us. For Hilton, Hilton has 26 hotels in Japan. They also have that same fifth night free program, which is awesome.

All the hotels range from 25 to 95,000 points a night. With one exception, there's this hotel called the Roku Kyoto, which looks ridiculous and it's 110,000 points a night. In Tokyo, I've actually stayed at the Hilton twice and I can confirm a couple of things. One, great hotel. It's not gonna blow your mind in any way. It's just very, very solid. They actually have a really cool little like mini onsen hot spring bath in the hotel, just randomly near the gym.

But the concierge is awesome. So one of the great things about having a high-end hotel in Tokyo is if you want to go to any of the higher-end restaurants in Japan, you need to make reservations. And many of them only accept reservations being made by an agency or a

company or a hotel that they have a relationship with. It's still very relationship driven and the concierge at the Hilton is great. You don't necessarily need to be staying at the hotel the whole time. So if you do need help with reservations, you could maybe stay a couple nights at a hotel that can help you and then change to another option. While I haven't stayed at either the Conrad Tokyo in Osaka, I've heard great things about as well as the Odawara Resort.

And if you need some Hilton points, they also just increased their signup bonuses on their credit cards yesterday. So I think right now must be prime season for hotel offers, given what Marriott also did. You've got the basic Hilton card. It has no annual fee, but it now has 100,000 point signup bonus. And you get 7x points at Hilton and 5x on gas, groceries, and dining. Then you've got the Hilton Surpass with a huge 150,000 point signup bonus.

It has a $95 annual fee, but you get 12x points on Hilton, 6x on gas, groceries, and dining. But you also get Hilton Gold status and an annual free night certificate. But you have to spend $15,000 per year to get that certificate. So not sure if it'll be worth it. Then finally, there's the Hilton Aspire, which we just got a few months ago. It also has a 150,000 point signup bonus, but a much higher annual fee at $450.

That said, it earns 14 points at Hilton and 7x points on flights and dining. But what really sets it apart are the perks that I think can more than make up for that annual fee.

Every year you get a free night at almost any Hilton property. And that includes things like the Waldorf in Park City. That includes the Conrad in Bora Bora, some of the properties in the Maldives. So, I mean, it's very valuable. It's the same thing you get with the Surpass, but this time you don't have to spend $15,000 to get it. You also get a $250 airline credit towards any airline fees like seats, bags, upgrades, food, etc.,

You get priority pass lounge access and free Hilton Diamond status, which is their top tier of status. And it gives you the best chance of an upgrade. And you get a daily food and beverage credit.

They also give you $100 property credit if you book a two-night stay at a Conrad or a Waldorf, but it seems like that's going to be harder to use, so I don't really factor that in. So in short, some really big bonuses if you're looking for Hilton points. The first two offers are on allthehacks.com slash cards, and obviously it really helps support the show when you use the links there.

But you won't find the last card, the Hilton Aspire, on that page because there just isn't an offer there. However, my wife Amy does have her referral link set up. So if you want to use that to get the Hilton Aspire, she would appreciate it. And you can find it at allthehacks.com slash Hilton. And then finally with IHG Hotels, they've got 45 hotels in Japan. And I know it's kind of often...

I think of IHG as having a bunch of holiday inns and that kind of stuff. But there are a couple really nice intercons in Tokyo, Osaka, and a few other cities, including one called the Intercontinental Beppu, which is a hot springs resort and looks really awesome.

And if you have an IHG Premier or Traveler card, the Premier card, by the way, right now has 175,000 point signup bonus. It's on my cards page also. You get fourth night free, even better than fifth night free. So definitely if you're gonna book a couple stays for four nights or more in Japan or anywhere in the world, actually, it's probably worth having that IHG card because you'll get every fourth night you book at the same property free. I do caveat that transferring points to a lot of these programs,

whether it's from Chase or Built to IHG or Amex or Chase to Marriott, I will say make sure it's a good deal because oftentimes the value of those points, you know, I gave you an example where you could get almost two cents from Marriott, but that's really hard. Oftentimes you might only be getting half a cent. And I just think you're going to get a lot better value transferring those points and using them with airlines. The exception being...

being chased to Hyatt is often a pretty good deal. So definitely worth considering there. But I'm not saying it's not possible to find a good deal. I just say do the math first to make sure that those points wouldn't be better spent on flights than they would on hotels. Finally, if you don't have any hotel points,

Obviously, you can do some searching online. I talked in the London episode about some of my experiences booking with Airbnb. I've never booked an Airbnb in Japan. But I will remind everyone that we do have a partnership that gets you at four and five star hotels.

perks like upgrades, free breakfast, resort credits, early check-in, late checkout, and that kind of stuff. So if you are trying to book a high-end property, definitely shoot an email to upgrade at allthehacks.com and I'll see if we can help you out and get you all those perks. They're very similar to the perks you get from booking through Amex at fine hotels and resorts or a lot of the hotel collections with your card companies and their portals, except...

Two things. One, I think we have about 4,000 hotels that we can do this with. And most of them are limited to hundreds or maybe 1,000. And then separately, we tend to work directly with the hotels. So you're actually getting a reservation from Hyatt, not from Chase, which I always prefer booking direct. So I think that could be helpful. So that's an option. And then two other things outside of luxury, outside of points on the hotel side that I thought about sharing. One,

Not a great option, either of them, by the way, if you're traveling as a family or with kids. But I will say I've heard a handful of people who've done some solo traveling or even like early 20s traveling and stayed at hostels or capsule hotels or like little pod hotels in Japan.

And you'll notice Japan is a very clean place. And so it's a very different experience. And a lot of the reason these capsule hotels might exist is because people are in Tokyo for business. They stay out late and they just want to get...

some sleep and a shower before the next day so they can go to work and they don't have to commute all the way home. So they're very functional and very clean places. So I would definitely check that out if that meets the kind of travel you're doing, you might be able to save. And then when you're talking about taking those trips from Tokyo to Kyoto or Osaka, another option other than the train, which can be expensive, if you're looking to do it on a budget, is to take an overnight bus.

And the reason I say this is because you save having to stay one night in a hotel. Now, maybe a hostel is cheaper, but...

But some of these buses are really, really nice. I'll link in the show notes to this company, Willer, who has named the chairs on their bus. The Reborn is what they're actually called. Willer's Reborn Seating. And it looks very nice. It's like 155 degree pitch. So you're almost lie flat with walls on the side of your little seat cubby. So definitely a good option if you can sleep in an environment like that and want to save some money on a hotel when you're traveling between cities in Japan.

That's hotels. I think that covers all of the ways to use points and miles to get there, to stay there. If you have any tips that I missed, let me know and I'll pass them on to others. I love Japan so much. I'm already thinking, how do we take our next trip there, which will be trip five for us. And I'm just so excited. So if you end up taking a trip, if any of this is helpful, let me know. I'd love to share some wins and I'd love to hear how your experience is. But I'm going to leave it at that and I'll see you next week.