July 24, 2026

Reader Success Story: Paris

Pam

Europe, Reader Success Stories

This reader success story to Paris was sent in by one of our fabulous squad members. Here is Nick’s story:

As I sit here at the Hôtel du Louvre in Paris, writing this, I can’t believe this is possible on points. We have friends who used to tell us they would open an airline credit card from time to time to earn points. I never gave it much thought. Then, in mid-2023, I decided I wanted a hobby and wanted to learn more about points and miles.

I started with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card before finding PTS. I stumbled across Points Talk Squad on Facebook and was wondering if the PTS ladies allow men in their group. [Pam:  Of course we do!]  So I submitted a request and read so many posts. Hours and hours, learning everything I could. Then I found the podcast, and it really took off.
 
Like most newbies, I hit it hard with credit cards, opening some Chase standbys first: Chase Freedom Flex℠ and Chase Freedom Unlimited®.
 
I started to think about what I was going to do with these miles. My son was a sophomore studying French as his foreign language.  So I set my sights on his graduation gift for 2025 to Paris, and here is how we did it.
 
 

 

Points and Miles Used

983,000 points used.
 

Flights:

We wanted to take Air France, based on Alex and Pam’s podcast reviews.  We found saver business class for all three round-trip for July 2025 at 50k points per person each way. We repositioned from the West Coast to DFW using AA with points from the British Airways card at 18K points each.
 

Hotels:

Of course, my P2 became a Hyatt girl after her first stay at Park Hyatt Toronto. So we booked Hôtel du Louvre for four nights, with two rooms on two nights, since we were a family of three. Amazing hotel.
 
 
 
We booked Hotel Crowne Plaza Republique for four nights and two rooms for two of those nights. We got the fourth night free with the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card. We used one free-night certificate with 20k points topped off on it, and 160k points for other nights.
 
We spent one night at Hyatt Regency DFW for repositioning, which cost us 12k points. We also spent five nights at Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile in a suite with club access for 130k points.
 
To come back to the West Coast from the East Coast, we used American miles earned from the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® to book flights for 10k miles each to Phoenix and finally 4.5k miles each to SFO from PHX.
 

Bottom Line

What a trip, and I hope this becomes part of your success stories. Thanks, Nick, for your story!
 
 

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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. American Express is a Travel Mom Squad advertiser, but we always show the best public offer even when we don’t earn a commission. Terms Apply. 

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