How to Fly to the U.K. on Points and Miles
Back in 2022, I started getting into the credit card points/airline miles game. I learned about 10x Travel, who offers a free course that I highly recommend you take if you’re at all interested in the points and miles game! Korri’s and my first big points redemption was in fall 2023 for our trip to Germany and Austria.
Like with the Germany trip, we wanted to fly international business class again to the U.K. Because we live in Boise, we always have to reposition to a major airport to catch the long-haul flight, and we had a different strategy for our domestic flights this time. We managed to book round-trip tickets between Boise and Manchester and spent just over $300 each.
Below, I broke down the exact award flights we flew to the U.K. and back, how many points each flight segment cost (and/or how much cash we paid), which credit cards we got to earn those points, and more! (Note that I’m not going to go into great detail about the credit card points “game”—take the free course I linked above and check out the 10x Travel website, podcast, and Facebook group for more details on that. This post isn’t sponsored; they’re just the resource I refer to most often. There are other websites/resources, too!)
I hope this post inspires you to take advantage of credit card points and airline miles to take your travels to the next level and fly how YOU want to fly. I want to make it VERY clear that the only way we could afford to fly business was with points—we aren’t rich, and there is no way we’d book the cash fare.
READ NEXT: How to Fly to Germany on Points and Miles
How to Fly to the U.K. on Points and Miles
How to Book Cheap Business Class Flights to the United Kingdom
The cheapest business class flights to the United Kingdom are flights you pay next to nothing for because you used points and miles!
The best resource I can share is the 10x Travel free course I mentioned at the start of this post. Basically, the point of the points “game” is to open new credit cards to earn the sign up bonus (SUB). There are many premium travel cards that give great sign up bonuses, including cards from Chase, American Express, and Capital One. You have to spend a certain amount of money on each card in a set amount of time in order to earn the SUB. It’s important to focus on the SUB of each card—that’s how you earn enough points to book award tickets for premium classes.
Read a longer breakdown in my how to fly to Germany on points and miles blog post!
Award Flight from Houston (IAH) to Manchester
We booked our flights to and from Manchester back in early August 2023. We considered other options, like flying Aer Lingus from Chicago to Glasgow or Edinburgh via Dublin (and booking the award flights via United), but once I found Singapore Air’s fifth freedom route to Manchester, we were sold. We loved our first experience in Singapore’s business class! (Read my full Singapore Air business class review.)
Singapore Air KrisFlyer miles needed: 87,500 (business advantage fare)
Points transferred: 87,000 Chase UR points
Cash spent: $5.60 (taxes and fees) + $20 for 500 points = $25.60 total
Credit cards used: remaining points from Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Ink Business Cash, and Chase Ink Business Unlimited SUBs plus points earned from referrals
By the time we booked our flights, the business saver fare sold out, which is only 81,000 points. I don’t mind spending the extra 6,000 points for business advantage. (I can’t remember if it sold out while we were transferring points or if it was sold out before we settled on those flights!) Korri transferred Capital One and Amex points for his flights, which transfer instantly compared to Chase, which takes around 3 days for us (but can be shorter or longer, there doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason for how long it takes).
You can only transfer points to KrisFlyer in multiples of 1,000, and luckily Singapore lets you top off your miles balance, so I opted to do that instead of letting 500 miles sit in my account when I wasn’t sure the next time I’d use them. (KrisFlyer miles expire 3 years after you earn/transfer them.)
As business class passengers, we could utilize Book the Cook for our meals (on the outbound flight), visit premium lounges, and bring two carry-on bags on the plane instead of just one.
Award Flight from Manchester to Houston (IAH)
Like with our Germany trip, I booked the Manchester to Houston flight (the inbound flight) first because business saver fares were no longer available for the outbound flight. Unfortunately, award flights are a limited commodity and can sell out in the time it takes for points to transfer! Since Amex and Capital One transfer instantly, I’m working on building those points up now for next time.
Singapore Air KrisFlyer miles needed: 81,000 (business saver fare)
Points transferred: 81,000 Chase UR points
Cash spent: 228.38 GBP / $292.55 (taxes and fees)
Credit cards used: remaining points from Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Ink Business Cash, and Chase Ink Business Unlimited SUBs plus points earned from referrals
It’s pretty normal for flights departing the US to have fewer taxes and fees than flights departing the UK or Europe. I’m not sure what all goes into it, but don’t be alarmed if you see higher taxes and fees on your return leg. (And some airlines charge higher fees than others.)
Cash Flight from Boise to Houston (IAH)
One of the reasons why we liked the Singapore Air flight that departed Houston is because I was planning to earn my Southwest Companion Pass for 2024 and 2025, and we could fly Southwest to Houston from Boise. And that’s exactly what happened!
While it obviously would have been nice to be in first class to and from Houston, it wasn’t a requirement for us. United also stopped flying the nonstop flight from Boise to Houston (IAH) last year, so either way we would have needed to stop somewhere in between. This was the perfect opportunity to use the Companion Pass! Korri can fly with me for free* on any Southwest flight I’m on! (*Companions are charged the taxes and fees, which are usually $5.60 each way.)
Our itinerary took us from Boise to Denver to Houston (IAH). I used the Southwest gift card we received from my parents for Christmas to pay for the flight, and then the price dropped twice so I now have credits to use towards future Southwest flights. We flew the day before our flight to Manchester and stayed the night in Houston because I was too nervous to fly the same day. We stayed in a hotel near the airport and used my $50 hotel credit by booking it through the Chase portal.
Cash spent: $303.98 (used gift card; ended up with $70 in credits after the price dropped to $233.98) + $5.60 (Korri’s taxes and fees)
Credit cards used for Southwest Companion Pass: Chase Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Performance Business Card (SUB: 80,000 Southwest RR after spending $5,000 in 3 months) and Chase Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Priority Card (SUB: 50,000 Southwest RR after spending $1,000 in 3 months)
Award Flight from Houston (IAH) to Boise
We used the Southwest Companion Pass again on the way back to Boise, and I booked the ticket when Southwest held a 25% off fare sale if you used points back in April. I only spent 8k points to fly both of us home! Like we did when we flew to Houston on the way over, we stayed the night before our flight home the next day. Korri used one of his free night certificates at the Marriott located at the airport.
Southwest Rapid Rewards points needed: 8,071
Points transferred: 0
Cash spent: $11.20 = $5.60 (taxes and fees) + $5.60 (Korri’s taxes and fees)
Credit cards used for Southwest Companion Pass: Chase Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Performance Business Card (SUB: 80,000 Southwest RR points after spending $5,000 in 3 months) and Chase Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Priority Card (SUB: 50,000 Southwest RR points after spending $1,000 in 3 months)
Total Points Used + Cash Spent
Here’s the total number of points I used and cash I spent for our round trip flights from Boise to Manchester! Just like with our flights to Germany, I did not mind spending 80k points each way for business class. (Lots of folks in the points and miles world find that spending 80k points for business to be too high.) We only have enough PTO to take maybe one “big” trip a year, so spending a little more in points to fly business class is definitely worth it.
Total points spent: 176,071 (168,000 Chase UR points transferred to Singapore Air KrisFlyer + 8,071 Southwest Rapid Rewards points)
Total cash spent: $334.95
I hope you found it helpful to read how we booked our flights and inspired you to take advantage of points and miles to fly in style on your next international trip to the U.K., Europe, or any other destination! I’m so excited for our future flights on points, whatever they may end up being. (Singapore’s LAX to Tokyo flight is high on our list!) Hit me up in the comments if you have any questions!
READ NEXT: Singapore Airlines Business Class Review