Kate's on a Plane

I grew up in Southern California, and San Diego holds a special place in my heart. It has that amazing Mediterranean climate, without the traffic and density of LA. I take my son back with me to California every year to visit my family, and this year, I decided we’d bring my daughter too, and kick off our trip with a visit to America’s Finest City.

Flights

If you had told me a year ago that I’d be booking a flight to San Diego on Qatar Airways, I would have looked at you like you had three heads. But that’s what I did! Qatar is part of the OneWorld Alliance, which means that they are a partner of American Airlines. I found a direct flight from Charlotte to San Diego on American that was available through Qatar for 13,000 points per person. 

But wait–this redemption gets even weirder. To book this flight, I transferred 30,000 Membership Rewards from my American Express account to British Airways. Amex was offering a 30% transfer bonus to British Airways at the time, so my 30,000 MRs became 39,000 Avios. Because British Airways and Qatar both use the Avios currency, I was able to move my Avios from British Airways over to Qatar to book this flight for myself and my two kids.

Qatar charged $10.10 per person in taxes and fees, including the standard $5.60 TSA fee and a $4.50 “facility charge.” What is a facility charge, you ask? I don’t know, and I don’t really care, because I booked transcontinental flights for $10 per person.

Since we’ll be following our San Diego trip with a visit to see family in Orange County, I booked our return flight from the Orange County airport all the way home to Raleigh on Southwest. I booked our flights the very day they were released and was able to score two tickets for 13,773 points each, plus $16.80 in taxes and fees. I booked only two because I knew I was planning to earn the Southwest companion pass, which would allow me to add one more person to my reservation for no additional points. Since then, I’ve been monitoring this flight for potential price drops, but the cost has only gone up.

Hotels

Our home airport is Raleigh, but for this trip, we are positioning to Charlotte, which is about a two-and-a-half hour drive. The direct flight from Charlotte will get us into San Diego mid-morning, allowing us to enjoy the full day at our destination. I booked a Hyatt Place near the Charlotte airport for the night before our flight for just 5,000 points.

Once we get to San Diego, we’ll be spending two nights at the Manchester Grand Hyatt near Seaport Village in the downtown area. I attended a conference at this hotel for work last year, but because rooms were so expensive, I stayed at an AirBnB nearby. I remember marveling at the grandeur of the building and the ocean view from the rooftop pool. This time, I actually get to be a hotel guest.

For 27,000 points per night, I booked two nights in a club access room, which means we’ll have access to breakfast and happy hour drinks and appetizers in the club lounge. This was actually not a very high-value redemption, mathematically speaking, as it worked out to only 1.5 cents per point. However, because I have kids, I highly value the club lounge access, which will provide us with one or even two free meals per day. 

I’m excited to be introducing my kids to San Diego, and to be taking a nearly $3,000 trip for less than the cost of a single dinner out! For this same trip last year (without the fancy hotel stay), I paid $1,200 in airfare just for my son and me. Points and miles make these long-distance family visits so much more attainable–and enjoyable.