Last month, I purchased a cheap fare to Singapore on United Airlines. I am using this as a mileage run for a move to United Premier Platinum. The Points Guy values Premier Gold at $2,455 and Premier Platinum at $4,385, that’s almost $2,000 in value.
For the past few weeks, the entire trip was in limbo because of a work situation, but that all changed today. I received the go ahead for travel to Singapore. Since my original flight was originating at LAX for the direct, 17 hour trip to Singapore, I had to find a way to LAX from Dallas. I found a roundtrip ticket between DFW and LAX for ~$220 on United. This makes the total price of my roundtrip from Dallas to Singapore, ~$860.
I paid for all of it with my American Express Platinum card, which is 5 X bonus points for booking directly with the airline. I will earn 4,300 American Express Membership Rewards points. Now, if only some of these points will show up in my Membership Rewards account.
I will earn approximately 4,400 redeemable miles (because of the cheap fare), but that will push me over the threshold for a free one way flight in the United States at the Saver Award level (12,500 miles). I value this to be $250. All things told, I should have a positive return on my trip of $1,400 in value…not too bad.
I’m ecstatic because 1) I don’t have to cancel and rebook a more expensive ticket 2) I level up to Premier Platinum 3) I will get to enjoy one of my favorite cities in the world. See you soon Singapore.
