The whole purpose of our blog is to showcase our travels and how we make them happen. This post is no exception. This was originally written when we booked this trip in 2024, but the same strategy still applies. With miles and points, the world is open to anyone. This is how we booked Tahiti in business class with miles and points.
The Anniversary
Now that we have a baby, we’ve decided to make it a priority to take a trip just the two of us every year. This year (2024), we celebrated our anniversary with an incredible trip to Cuba. As I started planning for next year’s anniversary, I figured it was time to treat ourselves to business class. Fortunately, with miles and points, this goal is more achievable than you might think.
The Plan
Flying business class comes with some caveats. You often need to book a year in advance when airlines release award availability, be extremely flexible, or wait until the last minute when they’re trying to fill seats. With our anniversary just behind us, I began searching for options a year out. There are a handful of platforms out there that make this easier. One of my favorites is PointsYeah. It’s like Google Flights but for miles and points. Using PointsYeah, I started exploring destinations that have been on our radar. The Pacific was loosely on my mind, so I started there. I looked at a few different destinations. Some cost a lot, some weren’t direct, and some weren’t transfer partners.
Each card issue, Amex, Capital One, Chase, etc, has it’s own set of transfer parnters. Transfering your points may seem like a strange way to book a flight, but in most cases, you can get far more value from a partner airline than through a standard portal. Specifically with business class rewards. Read more here.
After narrowing things down, French Polynesia quickly moved to the top of the list. There’s a nonstop from Los Angeles, you can book it with Qantas points, and there’s even a transfer bonus from Capital One. That combination made it an easy choice.
As you can see, business class from LAX to Papeete costs 68,400 Qantas points. But with a 20% transfer bonus from Capital One, the cost drops to just 57,000 points + $122.80. For a flight that normally costs around $3,600, that’s a pretty incredible redemption.
While you’re booking through Qantas, the flight itself is actually operated by Air Tahiti Nui, which is one of their partner airlines.
This was exactly what we were looking for, so I created a Qantas account, checked their site for availability to make sure it existed, transferred the points from Capital One, and booked two lie-flat seats to Tahiti. A few days later, return availability opened up, and we repeated the same process to lock those in as well.
Even if you’re flying economy, these flights are only 25,200 miles each way, which is still an incredible deal if you’ve got Capital One miles or Amex Membership Rewards.
Unfortunately these rates have increased a little bit. You’re now looking at 29,000 for economy and 82,100 for business. With the 20% bonus you’re 24,166 and 68,416 respectfully. Still a great way to get to Tahiti.
Your Turn
It might sound complicated at first, but it’s honestly simpler than it looks once you see it in action. This is the same general approach we use for all of our trips: earn points, find a deal that works, and transfer them to book. Check out Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand
You don’t need to know everything to get started. With a little time and the right setup, trips like this become a lot more realistic than most people think.
If you’ve ever looked at flights like this and assumed they were out of reach, they’re probably not.
And if you have questions or want help figuring out how to book Tahiti in business class with miles and points, feel free to reach out. I’m always happy to help.
Still feel in over your head? Check out our beginner posts. Start Here!
Additional
Right now, the Capital One Venture card is offering a sign-on bonus of 75,000 points. If you sign up and earn the bonus (you’ll also get 8,000 points from spending), you’ll have 83,000 points. If you refer someone, like your spouse, you’d get an additional 20,000, and they’d get 83,000 for a total of 186,000 points.
As mentioned earlier, transferring is almost always a better way to use your miles and points. Had we tried to book this through the portal or by erasing the travel purchase with Capital One, it would’ve cost 365,100 points per person, a ridiculous number.