Free flights for the family from Taipei to Tokyo on Cathay Pacific

We are still planning out our Japan and Taiwan trip in March 2017.  So far we’ve booked two round trip business class tickets from Los Angeles to Tokyo on Singapore Airlines.  We haven’t yet booked our flight to Taipei (from Japan), but for now I was able to book flights for the three of us (me, wife, and son) to fly from Taipei (TPE) to Tokyo (NRT).

First, I checked United Airlines, American Airlines, and ANA for available flights.  I could not find any good flights.  Most of the award flight options we wanted had 1 stopover, doubling our travel time. 

Luckily I was able to find an appropriate flight on Cathay Pacific Airlines, booked with British Airways Avios miles.  The total cost for the 3 of us came out to be 21,000 Avios and $33.98. 

If we were to book the same flight in business class, it would have cost 42,000 Avios, which is still pretty cheap.  For a short 3.5-hour flight, I think we can tough it out in economy class :).

Since I already had 1,000 Avios in my British Airways account, I only needed an additional 20,000 Avios.  I just went to www.ultimaterewards.com, and transferred the Chase Ultimate Rewards points over.  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 $785.46.  

After taking into account the $33.98 in taxes and fuel charges, we saved $724.48 by booking these flights with points.  Chase Ultimate Rewards points are still my go to favorite of all the different rewards programs.  Note: American Express Membership Rewards points also transfer to British Airways Avios miles.