Free flights for the family from Osaka to Taipei

We are still planning out our Japan and Taiwan trip in March 2017.  So far we’ve booked free round trip business class tickets from Los Angeles to Tokyo on Singapore Airlines.  We also just recently booked free flights from Taipei back to Tokyo.  Today I will document the free flights that I booked for us to fly from Kansai International Airport / Osaka Bay (KIX) to Taipei (TPE).

We will be spending time with my father in Japan and so we needed to book flights for 3 adults and one infant to fly from KIX to TPE.  I checked United Airlines, American Airlines, and ANA and could not find any good flights.  Those award options all included stopovers and we were looking for a direct flight only.  

I turned to BA.com, the British Airways website and was able to find us a flight on Cathay Pacific, bookable with British Airways Avios miles.  The total cost for the 4 of us came out to be 23,250 Avios and $93.21 - an excellent deal.  The cost in miles for each adult was only 7,500 and for our son was only 750 miles.

I went to www.ultimaterewards.com, and transferred 24,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points over to my British Airways account.  Points must be transferred in 1,000 point increments.  The process was extremely easy and the Avios showed up in my account instantly. 

Less than 2 minutes later, our flight was booked!

If we were to book the same Cathay Pacific flight and pay cash, it would have cost us an incredible $2052.70!  

The price was probably that expensive due to limited seats on the same flight.  Checking Kayak.com, I could find a similar flight on Eva Air for $1001 for the 4 of us.  This is pretty expensive for a 3 hour 10 minute flight. 

After taking into account the $93.21 in taxes and fuel charges, we saved $907.79 by booking these flights with points!  I’ll never stop saying it: Chase Ultimate Rewards points are my favorite of all the different programs.  Note: American Express Membership Rewards points also transfer to British Airways Avios miles.  Next on the list: planning our trip including where to stay.