We used a combination of over 1.1 Million American Airlines AAdvantage Miles, British Airways Avios, and Lufthansa Miles&More Miles to travel most of the way around the world. These miles combined to pay for thirty-five flights on ten different airlines across five continents.

When we first started dreaming of taking this trip several years ago, and we began to look into how much money it was going to take to pull it off, one area of spending always stood out above the rest: Flights. If you’re only paying cash to fly around the world, big flight segments quickly add up to thousands, or tens of thousands, of dollars. Knowing that we wanted to use our cash on the ground rather than in the sky, we made it our mission to accrue as many airline points as miles as we possibly could over the next three years. Our primary program for doing so was the American Airlines AAdvantage program, which Jackson has been a prolific member of for half a decade. We also earned and used points through Sarah’s Lufthansa Miles&More activity, as well as Sarah’s, and our family’s, British Airways Avios activity. All together, we accumulated just over 1.1 million miles, allowing us to take (nearly) free flights across five continents around the world. If you’re thinking of taking a big trip like ours, or simply a summer vacation to a far-flung destination, read on to discover how points can help take you there.

How We Accumulated Our Points

All the way back in 2019, we started flying more frequently during our long-distance relationship phase, or to see friends and family once we moved away for our careers. Both of us have always flown quite frequently, but now with so many long flights in our future, Jackson started to think about how we could capitalize on all those air miles. Loyalty programs had always been there, advertised on flights, on posters around airports, but neither of us had really realized their full potential. Sarah had a Miles&More account, while Jackson had a British Airways (BA) account, but we didn’t really consider the use of these programs beyond their respective airlines. We didn’t understand how far these points could take us! Now living back in the US, Jackson could register his BA account when flying with American Airlines, but wasn’t getting much for doing so. Before boarding an American Airlines (AA) flight from Phoenix to LA one Thursday afternoon, he finally took the next step and became an AAdvantage member.

From that simple decision, he got sucked into a deep spiral of searching for how to maximize the value of every action he was taking. It became a constant quest to make the most of the miles earned from online shopping, credit card spending, staying in hotels, and of course: flying. Over the next four years, we took several actions to constantly earn miles, even when we weren’t consciously thinking about it:

Almost 200,000 miles from welcome bonus offers on the three AAdvantage cards he has opened with Citi and Barclays since 2019. These welcome bonuses can be extremely generous during elevated offer periods and are usually attainable by simply continuing typical spending patterns.
Over 100,000 miles from the AAdvantage eShopping extension on our Google Chrome browsers which automatically checks rewards miles for any eligible website we’re on and alerts us if we can earn extra miles.
Over 100,000 miles from regularly using AAdvantage Hotels to find good deals in cities we’re traveling to, and rewarding us miles depending on price and length of stay.
Over 20,000 miles from renting cars through program partners. With Jackson’s Executive Platinum status, this is made even better when renting with Avis, as he is automatically given Preferred Plus status.
Over 20,000 miles from regularly checking SimplyMiles for extra offers and applying them to our account. This automatically earns extra miles for any transactions made with registered cards whether in-store or online.
Over 10,000 miles from registering our credit cards with AAdvantage Dining and automatically earning extra miles if we dine out at an eligible restaurant.
Over 10,000 miles from yearly donations to Stand Up to Cancer during American Airlines elevated offer period while, hopefully, making a positive difference.

This deep spiral, which has only continued to grow with time, has helped us accumulate almost 600,000 AAdvantage miles from our activity outside of flying. To reach our milestone of 1 Million AAdvantage miles, Jackson earned about 400,000 from flying over the course of those four years. For AAdvantage, not all flights, or passengers, are created equal when it comes to mileage earning. The few business class flights we’ve paid cash for over the past few years have brought with them a higher earn rate, as has Jackson’s AAdvantage status. Over the four years, Jackson consistently raised his AAdvantage status from Gold to Platinum and then to Executive Platinum. This increase in status has its perks when flying (free checked bags, priority check-in & screening, and lounge access on some flights), but also has perks for increased accrual of miles. A standard flier earns 5X miles per dollar spent on a flight but as an Executive Platinum member, Jackson earns 11X miles per dollar spent. When Jackson reached Executive Platinum in 2022, suddenly he was earning over 1,000 miles on a $99 ticket between Phoenix and Los Angeles. Since he was taking up to forty flights in a normal year, inclusive of short business hops and long intercontinental flights to South America or Europe, the miles started to just roll in.

In terms of Sarah’s activity, British Airways Avios and Lufthansa Miles&More, these miles were earned in a similar way, but on a smaller scale. Sarah accumulated over 75,000 Miles&More miles through one credit card sign-up bonus and continued purchases on that card through the course of 2022 and 2023. As for our British Airways Avios, these came only from flights taken on OneWorld airlines. However, we leaned into a loophole in the British Airways program, allowing us to pool miles within our family as well. Therefore, whenever Jackson booked a flight for his parents on a OneWorld airline, the avios they earned were pooled with Sarah’s in our household account. Together, their activity and ours built up a travel bank of about 70,000 BA avios.

Why We Chose These Three Programs

When we were first picking airlines to grow with, we were living in New York City and frequently traveling around the United States for work, to visit Jackson’s family on the West Coast, and to visit Sarah’s family in Europe. All of this meant there were only so many airlines that made sense for us. With two airlines that have overlapping hubs and strong networks in our most frequent destinations – Alaska Airlines (Portland & Los Angeles) and American Airlines (Phoenix, Los Angeles, New York City, & unofficially London) – it made the most sense to do most of our flying with the OneWorld alliance.

To pick which airline made the most sense between the two OneWorld members, we looked at a number of factors, including how to earn miles outside of flights, owned flight networks from our home base of New York City, and airline partners outside of the OneWorld alliance. After looking at these factors, American Airlines made the most sense for us to most significantly invest in, since they offer several ways to earn miles outside of flying and have a robust network from both LaGuardia and JFK. American Airlines was also the more sentimental choice for Jackson, as his original hometown airline, America West, was bought by US Airways in 2005 and later acquired American Airlines in 2013, opting to keep the acquired name and branding both times. Despite the name change, Jackson feels like he gets to fly an airline with its roots in the desert.

As for Sarah’s programs, she had always been around the Lufthansa group, visiting her family in Germany, or with Swiss as her hometown airline while growing up in Zurich. When she was still a kid, her father made sure she was already earning miles on every flight whenever they flew between the US and Europe, or simply anywhere from Zurich. These miles had already come in handy for her, paying for a flight or two between Europe and America when visiting her now fiancé. Therefore, it was an easy jump for her to get a Lufthansa Miles&More credit card to grow the relationship and help cover some of our flight costs this year.

How We Used Our Points

American Airlines AAdvantage

We used 1 Million AAdvantage Miles to take twenty-six flights across four continents. We used these miles to fly with Fiji Airways, Qantas, JAL, Etihad Airways, Royal Jordanian, Qatar Airways, and GOL. Included in all of these flights were seven segments we flew in business class for, greatly improving our experience.

As stated above, AAdvantage miles covered the vast majority of our points and miles flying during the past thirteen months. We covered tens of thousands of real miles using these points, reaching five continents across several airlines. However, one of their most impactful benefits was our ability to fly seven of our longest distance intercontinental connections in business class. Our business class flights were with Qantas, JAL, Etihad, and Qatar airlines, including the world’s best business class, the Qatar QSuite. It can quickly become exhausting when we’re often taking these long flights, but traveling in business class immensely assists with that exhaustion. Having more space to stretch out, better meals, a lie-flat bed, and, with some airlines, pajamas or a closed suite, turns a tiresome 10+ hour flight into a rather enjoyable affair.

Lufthansa Miles&More

We used 75,0000 Miles&More Miles to take four flights across Asia & Africa. We used these miles to fly with Asiana Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, and South African Airways.

We only used Miles&More miles for two connections during our trip, but they still saved us over $1,000 just on these few flights. The most impactful use of Lufthansa miles was our travel between Tanzania and South Africa. There are few connections between Zanzibar and Cape Town, with most that we had seen costing over $400 each. Using these miles we were able to fly down while only paying a few dollars in taxes and fees. Although it wasn’t the most convenient connection in the world, we were traveling to a destination that was already landing us over budget, so every dollar made a difference.

British Airways Avios

As you can see above, we exclusively used avios to cover several short-distance flights in economy class. While that may make it look less impactful on the map here, these flights still helped to keep costs down in destinations where we were already over budget. Flying back and forth to Tasmania can be an expensive affair, but with avios it meant we were able to see this unique Australian island without needing to worry about going even further over budget. Similarly, we used avios to transit between Dubai and Doha, during a part of our trip where we were already over budget. Saving a few hundred dollars on these short flights adds up over time, allowing us to continue to travel with peace of mind.

Summary

Points and Miles can be one of the best tools in your arsenal for managing the exorbitant costs of a long trip like ours or even a yearly trip abroad. Our focus on building up a formidable travel bank of points and miles over the four years before our trip ultimately led to a warchest of over 1.1 million miles. These miles helped us to significantly improve our experience flying long-distance connections and helped us save over $15,000 in flight costs. This savings made a huge difference, gifting us an extra $38 per day over thirteen months. Another way to put this, is that the flight savings from using points and miles alone covered another seventy-seven days of travel at our trip budget of $195 per day. If that doesn’t convince you to play the points game, I don’t know what is! If you have any specific questions, please feel free to contact us and we’d be happy to help you out.

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