HOW TO VISIT PARIS ON MILES AND POINTS: A STEP BY STEP GUIDE
Disclaimer: Points for Family Travel is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as Milevalue.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers.
Updated April 2024
If you’re new here, let me let you in on a little secret. I love Paris. A lot. Like, I go to Paris every year on points. One year I went twice in four months. I definitely have a problem. Thankfully, I can fly to Paris anytime I want with points and miles and my hotel stays are free. If you’re just landing on this page, I recommend doing a quick review with my points travel Guide for Beginner’s.
FLIGHTS:
You can fly to Paris with just about every points program. The earlier you begin your search, the more availability you are likely to find. You can expect award flights to range from 15k points to over 30k points each way in economy and 50k points on up for business class flights each way.
If you are hitting a wall and not seeing any award availability, branch out your search to other cities in Europe like Brussels, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, etc. Getting to Paris will be fairly inexpensive once you’re in Europe.
Refer to the Travel Transfer Guide when you begin your search. This shows you what airlines you can transfer your points to. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve heard me talk about Airline Alliances and sweet spots. This is important because you may have miles in one program/airline and can book a flight on another partner airlines. You will almost always get a better value by transferring your points to a travel partner than booking in the banks travel portal.
SKYTEAM ALLIANCE:
Flying Blue - Flying Blue is the loyalty program of Air France and KLM, a Sky Team partner and a transfer partner of every flexible points program - that means it’s easy to earn a lot of points for families. With award prices starting at just 15k points (from the east coast) each way per person in economy and just 50k points each way in business class, this is one of the cheapest ways to get to Europe.
Please note that while you’ll use fewer points, you will pay slightly higher fees than when booking with U.S. carriers like American. Definitely search and compare several airlines before making your decision. You can read my guide on how to book a flight with Flying Blue points here.
You can book TWO round trip flights to Paris with points from the following cards:
ONE WORLD ALLIANCE:
Award flights on American Airlines can be found for as low as 19k points each way. But standard Saver rates are typically at 30k points each way. You can book an AA flight on AA or with One World Alliance partners Alaska Air, British Air, etc. While you’ll pay a more points each way than Flying Blue, the fees are typically much lower than European airlines.
Be careful for flights that route through London or on British Air as they tack on taxes/fees.
No flexible points programs transfer to American Airlines (other than Bilt), but there are several credit cards that earn AA miles. Make sure that the sign up bonus is at least 60k miles when you apply.
Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®
Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® card - Did you know you can book flights on American Airlines with Alaska miles? Now you do!
The easiest way to earn points is from the Barclay AAdvantage® Aviator® Mastercard®. This card has NO minimum spend, just make one purchase and pay the annual fee in full on your first statement.
STAR ALLIANCE PARTNERS:
Partners of Star Alliance include United, Air Canada, Swiss Air, Lufthansa, etc. Award flights on United start around 30k points each way, but did you know that you can book United flight on Air Canada (a transfer partner of Chase, AMEX and Capital One Venture miles) for fewer points or that you can book Swiss Air and Lufthansa with United and Air Canada miles? There are so many ways to earn points and book flights.
let’s book a flight to paris using american airlines miles:
Apply for the Barclay AAdvantage Aviator. Miles should post to your AAdvantage account after the statement closes, usually a month or so after receiving your card.
Go to the American Airlines website and log in to your account and search for award flights. You are looking for Saver flights that are around 30k miles each way. Fees are typically around $5 for the outbound flight and should be under $100 for the return. Avoid flying British Airways which tacks on hefty fuel surcharges
Once you find your flights you can book them or place them on hold. American Airlines allows you to put your flights on hold for five days which is a great perk because it allows you to finalize your hotels and transportation plans before.
Note: Make sure to click “Redeem Miles” before searching. Remember you are searching for Saver Fares for 60k or less round trip.
HOTELS:
Now that we have our flights covered, let’s focus on hotels. As you can imagine, hotels in Paris can be quite expensive. We have stayed at several different hotels in Paris over the years and have found the best use of our points has been to stay at Hyatt properties, especially the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile. This is a Category 4 Hyatt which means redemptions begin at just 15k Hyatt points a night during off peak season and 18k -24k points during summer/holidays. That’s about 10k points less than the next tier of Hyatt hotels in Paris and half the price of the popular Park Hyatt Paris Vendome.
The sunset view from the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile is one of my favorites
let’s book a free hyatt stay:
All cards that earn Chase Ultimate Reward points transfer to Hyatt at a ratio of 1:1. If you qualify for a business card, start with the Chase Ink cards then move on to the personal Chase cards and Hyatt personal and business cards.
As an example, we’ll start with a personal card:
Apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. You will earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. You can read my guide on ways to meet the minimum spend here.
Once your points have posted in your Chase account, go to Hyatt.com. Enter the city you want to visit and search for Award nights (again, you will need to sign up for a Hyatt loyalty account which is free to do).
You are looking for rooms that book for 15k-18k points a night. Hyatt has transitioned to dynamic pricing which means you may find a room on Monday night for 15k points and on Tuesday night it’s 18k points. You’ll get the best results here if you plan ahead or have a flexible schedule. Also, week-ends tend to price out lower than weekdays. Pro Tip: Although it doesn’t always show 100% availability, I like to search for rooms on maxmypoint. It saves me from searching night by night on the Hyatt website.
Once you find availability. You will login to your Chase Account, click on your Chase Sapphire card, and click on Redeem Ultimate Rewards® points. Once you are in the Ultimate Rewards portal, click on Transfer to Travel Partners and transfer to your Hyatt account. Always, always make sure you find the award nights first. Transfers from your Chase account are one way only. Points can not be transferred back to your Chase account.
When searching for award nights on Hyatt, always click on “Show World of Hyatt Points and Awards”
TIPS AND TRICKS:
SEARCH ON A DESKTOP: I do almost everything on my phone, but searching for award flights and hotels is much easier on a desktop and you have more options. Like searching on the monthly award calendar and doing advanced searches. I always search for flights one way. Find the flight I want then search for the return. When booking with points there is no benefit to booking a round trip flight.
CREATE YOUR AIRLINE AND HOTEL LOYALTY ACCOUNTS: This is one of the first steps I mention in my Beginner’s Guide. You will want to create a free loyalty account with the airline or hotel before you apply for your first card. Make sure that your name is the same on all credit card and loyalty accounts. We had issues transferring Chase points to my husband’s Hyatt account once because with Chase his name was Daniel and with Hyatt his name was Dan. We had to call in to have Hyatt fix this before we could transfer points.
TRAVEL OFF SEASON: You will find much better award availability if you’re traveling off season. One perk to this is utilizing American Airlines off-peak award chart to fly to Europe one way for just 22.5k miles (instead of the standard 30k Saver fares). Not able to fly off season? Book early! You can book award flights 330 days in advance. There is no harm in booking hotel award nights at Hyatt as soon as you see them. Reservations can be canceled typically a few days before check-in without losing your points. I always set a reminder in my calendar when the last day to cancel the room is.
PLAYER TWO MODE: Don’t forget if you’re playing in Two Player Mode to refer your P2 for the Chase Sapphire. That means they will earn 60k Ultimate Rewards points and you’ll earn 15k referral points (that’s enough for one more free night at the Hyatt Regency!)
GET UPGRADED: The standard room that you can book on award points is typically not a room with an Eiffel Tower view. I always email the hotel a week or so before my stay and request a room with an Eiffel Tower view. Again, your chances of being upgraded are higher when you travel off season. You can get the exact template I use here.
Read how we used miles and points to stay three nights Free in London here.
Read how we used miles and points to stay three nights FREE in Amsterdam here.
New here? Start with my Beginner’s Guide to travel with miles and points. Have questions? Join the conversation on Instagram or our new Facebook group.
Happy Travels!
Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
