Boarding a packed plane on a long, international flight, who hasn’t dreamed of taking a seat up front? A spacious seat, with amazing food and service. A place to lie down and relax, instead of tripping over the people next to you to make your way to the line for the lavatory. I made that dream a reality with a first class ticket from Chicago to Tokyo.

How I got a first class ticket with points

Yes, with points. First off, I got the United Airlines credit card. They gave me 55,000 miles as a sign up bonus. There was an offer that if I spent a certain amount of money in the first few months, I would get another 10,000 miles. I paid all my bills on the card (other than my mortgage, though I would if they would let me!). I signed up for their My Points program, which gives you extra points when you buy things through their portal, or taking surveys. Just signing up gave me 750 miles. I also had some miles from a United trip to Thailand a while back. I continued to pay bills with my card, and let the points accumulate.

Finding a flight

I was accumulating points for a specific trip – I needed to get from where I live in West Michigan, USA to Brisbane, Australia. I kept checking flights to see what was out there, well before I needed to buy one. My home airport is usually Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, MI (GRR). It’s about a 45 minute drive for me. Sometimes I will fly out of Chicago O’Hare, a 3 hour drive, if the prices are significantly better. Flying from the smaller airports near me generally costs quite a bit more. For an award flight, though, it doesn’t cost extra, so I checked the other airports for award availability. What I was hoping to find was a Saver Award trip – one that requires fewer points than most trips. A regular ticket, one way in economy class, was 100K points. In business class, it was 200K. A Saver Award in economy only required 40K points, while the saver business award was 90K.

I kept checking back regularly, using the United Airlines website to look for saver award flights. I ended up finding a Saver Award flight from an airport 10 minutes from my house. It was a first class ticket for 130,000 points + $47.80. I had saved enough points, and I only needed a one-way ticket for this trip.

Why was it a saver award?

I don’t know all the secrets of the airline industry, but it was a lousy route:

MKG > ORD 1 hour economy flight, 6h 41m layover in O’Hare.

ORD > HND 13 hour first class flight, 2h 25m layover in Tokyo

HND > SIN 7 hour economy flight, 2h 25m layover in Singapore

SIN > BNE 7h 25m economy flight

As you can see, the only first class leg was Chicago to Tokyo; the rest were economy. And this was a long route to get to Brisbane – basically flying past Australia to Singapore and coming back. But, to have the first class experience and spend less than $50 was worth it to me. I had set dates I needed to be in Brisbane, so I couldn’t wait for something better. If your dates aren’t set, it’s easier to find the flight you want.

Warning

If you are not good with money, or if you are not good with managing credit card spending, this is NOT something you should do. Don’t get the card, don’t give yourself the headaches. This ONLY works if you commit to paying the entire bill every month. If you have any doubts about your ability to manage the card and pay it off every month, just save your money and buy a ticket – do not accumulate credit card debt for a trip. Paying interest will negate any good deal you get from credit card points.

Part two

The story continues with Part Two: The United Polaris First Class Lounge.