A trip to Europe for two people with just 100K points

On our Ask Us Anything this week, a listener asked about the best way to use 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points for international flights. The question was prompted of course by the current 100,000-point introductory offer that is available on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. Ultimate Rewards tends to get less attention for its airline partnerships than it does for its partnership with Hyatt hotels, but as I considered the question I realized just how much is possible with a single new credit card.

You could buy $1,250 worth of travel

At a base level, one could book travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards and 100,000 points would buy $1,250 worth of travel.

Since you can book things like flights, hotels, and experiences through Chase Ultimate Rewards, it would be theoretically possible to book a getaway for that amount without needing to spend any cash out of pocket.

According to The Motley Fool, the average cost of a domestic plane ticket is $366, so booking travel through Chase you might reasonably expect to get a round trip ticket to a single domestic destination and two or three hotel nights (more or less depending on your hotel of choice).

Alternatively, the same Motley Fool article estimates the average cost of an international economy class plane ticket to be $1,217, so the same 100,000 points could reasonably get at least one passenger round trip on an international flight (obviously this varies widely).

However, by learning to leverage transfer partners, you can do significantly better than this if you are willing to kick in some cash for taxes and fees on top of the welcome bonus points.

Transferring to partners is where it’s at

The better way to play this is to master Chase transfer partners, which could yield far more value.

There are a multitude of ways that you could leverage this bonus for incredible travel that might otherwise be out of the budget. While many of us at Frequent Miler collect miles with a primary focus toward using them to travel via international business and first class, it is really amazing to consider how far your points can take you if you focus on economy class travel.

As an example, it is sometimes possible to fly Virgin Atlantic to the United Kingdom for as few as 6,000 points one way. Here’s a look at New York-JFK to Manchester, UK (MAN) on June 12th, 2025 — available via Chase transfer partner Virgin Atlantic for just 6,000 points + $76 per passenger.

And that isn’t a one-off. Using award search tool Seats.aero, I found quite a bit of availability between the east cost and London or Manchester from just 6,000 points one way.

That specific route inspired me to plan an example trip to demonstrate just what you could do with 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

A sample 100K trip to Europe for 2 passengers

The flight above made me wonder whether it would be possible for someone to plan a trip to Europe — perhaps even a trip to visit two European cities — with the points from a single welcome bonus. I set out to do just that.

To be clear, in this example trip, the miles are entirely covered by the welcome bonus on the card (not even considering the points you will earn from the minimum spending requirement). As is always the case, you’ll still be on the hook for taxes and fees. I don’t look at award travel as being free, but rather I enjoy imaging how much more travel I can get for an amount that I would already be comfortable spending.

Let’s start with the flight above: two passengers could fly from New York-JFK to Manchester, UK on June 12, 2025 for just 6K points + $76 each. That’s a total of 12,000 points and $152 to get to Europe using Chase Transfer Partner Virgin Atlantic.

It gets a bit better yet: there is a 25% current point transfer bonus from Chase Ultimate Rewards to Virgin Atlantic. That means you will only need to transfer 10,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book flights for two passengers to Manchester!

Manchester is a convenient arrival point considering the fact that the Hyatt Regency Manchester is a Hyatt Category 2 property. During “standard” dates, the hotel would cost just 8,000 points per night. As it happens, the nights of June 13th and June 14th are “peak” priced, though that’s still quite a bargain at 9,500 points per night!

The cheapest available cash rate for the same two nights is 170 Great British Pounds per night, which comes to about $450 in US Dollars for two nights. That’s not even necessarily a fair comparison point since the cheapest rate shown here is completely nonrefundable — a flexible rate would cost $500 for two nights.

Instead, one can book the same room for just 19,000 Ultimate Rewards points after transferring to Chase transfer partner World of Hyatt. There are no additional taxes.

In review, thus far the trip will have cost:

• 10,000 points  (transferred to Virgin Atlantic + 25% transfer bonus) + $152 for flights from New York to Manchester for 2 people
• 19,000 points (transferred to Hyatt) + $0 for two nights at the Hyatt Regency Manchester.

However, let’s expand the trip and see another country after a couple of nights in Manchester.

Using award search tool Award Tool, I found that on Sunday afternoon, June 15th, there is a KLM itinerary from Manchester to Prague that is available from as few as 7,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per passenger.

That is thanks to a current point transfer bonus from Chase Ultimate Rewards to Air France / KLM Flying Blue.

However, when I went to the Air France / KLM site, I actually found that flight to cost 10,000 miles and $94.10 per passenger, which would require transferring 8,000 points per passenger with the current point transfer bonus.

It is worth noting that this isn’t necessarily a terrific value for points. Flights within Europe can be quite inexpensive on low-cost carriers. For instance, flights to Prague on the same day could cost as little as $48 per passenger.

However, the award flight still might be a good choice. For starters, the flight I picked departs at 5:30pm, giving the opportunity to spend half the day sightseeing in Manchester before flying. Perhaps more importantly, an economy class award flight includes both carry-on and checked baggage as well as seat selection — things that would all add to the cheap low-cost-carrier flights above.

Note also that award flights can be cancelled, although the 70 EUR cancellation penalty per passenger is a bit steep. Similar flights booked through Virgin Atlantic only cost 9,000 points per passenger and carry a lesser cancellation penalty for what that’s worth.

Nonetheless, let’s imagine that you took advantage of the transfer bonus and booked those KLM flights. As a reminder, here are running totals:

• 10,000 points  (transferred to Virgin Atlantic + 25% transfer bonus) + $152 for flights from New York to Manchester for 2 people
• 19,000 points (transferred to Hyatt) + $0 for two nights at the Hyatt Regency Manchester.
• 16,000 points (transferred to Flying Blue, +25% current point transfer bonus) + $188.20 for flights from Manchester to Prague on KLM

Prague is one of my favorite cities in the world. The first time I visited, I absolutely fell in love. Every time we turned a corner, the city managed to become more beautiful; I couldn’t recommend a visit enough, even if just for a night or two.

As fate would have it, there is a Lindner Hotel Prague Castle that is bookable via Hyatt and it looks lovely. Lovelier still is the price: like the Hyatt Regency Manchester, the Lindner Hotel Prague Castle is a Category 2 Hyatt property, which means that on off-peak dates you could snag this place for just 6,500 points per night. With my summer travel example, the hotel is peak-priced at 9,500 points per night.

The cash rate for the same two nights is around $150 per night, but when using points the cost is $0 for two nights in storybook Prague.

That brings the running total numbers here:

• 10,000 points  (transferred to Virgin Atlantic + 25% transfer bonus) + $152 for flights from New York to Manchester for 2 people
• 19,000 points (transferred to Hyatt) + $0 for two nights at the Hyatt Regency Manchester.
• 16,000 points (transferred to Flying Blue, +25% current point transfer bonus) + $188.20 for flights from Manchester to Prague on KLM
• 19,000 points (transferred to World of Hyatt) + $0 for two nights at the Lindner Hotel Prague Castle

A quick look at the math shows that is 64,000 points used, leaving you with 36,000 points.

That is quite convenient since, at the time when I looked up the example, there were plentiful options departing Prague for JFK starting at just 18,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per passenger (transferred to Air France / KLM Flying Blue with a 25% transfer bonus).

It is worth noting that award pricing is variable with Air France / KLM Flying Blue, so none of the above prices is guaranteed to be available when you want to travel, nor are you guaranteed to be able to take advantage of a transfer bonus. Still, the point here is to show what could be done. With 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you could put together the entire trip outlined here:

• 10,000 points  (transferred to Virgin Atlantic + 25% transfer bonus) + $152 for flights from New York to Manchester for 2 people
• 19,000 points (transferred to Hyatt) + $0 for two nights at the Hyatt Regency Manchester.
• 16,000 points (transferred to Flying Blue, +25% current point transfer bonus) + $188.20 for flights from Manchester to Prague on KLM
• 19,000 points (transferred to World of Hyatt) + $0 for two nights at the Lindner Hotel Prague Castle
• 36,000 points (transferred to Flying Blue, +25% current point transfer bonus) + $363.62 in taxes for two passengers for flights from Prague to New York-JFK.

In the end, the trip above from New York to both Manchester and Prague for two passengers to Europe would cost 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points + $703.82. That certainly isn’t free, but it is incredible to me to think that with the welcome bonus from a single credit card and around $350 per passenger, one could get see a couple of European cities. In fact, the cash component here is less than the average cost of two round trip economy class tickets within the United States. The opportunity to get tickets to, from, and around Europe along with four hotel nights for less cash out of pocket than the average cost of two economy class tickets within the United States is one of the reasons I love this hobby.

Of course the 100,000 Chase points could have been cashed out at $0.01 per point for $1,000, so you should really think of the trip as “costing” you $1,700. Seventeen hundred dollars all-in for flights and hotels to visit two European cities for two passengers is still an incredible deal even though that lens.

Is it possible to see all of Manchester or Prague in two nights? Of course not. Would you want to fly all the way to Europe to spend just two nights in each city? That isn’t the point; the point is that you could do that with a single new credit card bonus and a reasonable amount of cash. If both you and your companion had 100,000 points, you could extend the trip by about 10 nights using the same two hotels at peak pricing. And if you had applied through Rakuten the other day, you could have each earned enough cash on top to just about pay for your taxes and fees (and you could still make a $100 dent each in those taxes & fees at the time of writing!).

Bottom line

It is fun to imagine just how far one can get on just 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points, particularly given the current increased offer on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card (due to end very soon). The trip above surely isn’t the best trip possible. And it leaves out some “sweet spot” uses of Ultimate Rewards points that might be available when you travel like Flying Blue Promo Rewards or even cheaper Iberia economy class awards from Spain to the US. With some creativity, or by pairing these points with another new card bonus or two, the possibilities really break wide open.

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