Needless to say, I jumped on the chance to fly straight from Denver to Europe for only 30,000 miles round-trip later this year. But since my partner and I were already planning \u2014 and paying for \u2014 our wedding and honeymoon<\/a> in October, we decided we would only book the trip if we could get all of it (including airfare and lodging) for basically free using points and miles. Here\u2019s how we did it.<\/p>\n Related: Why you should use points and miles to book holiday travel<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Not only did Flying Blue\u2019s July Promo Rewards include flights to and from our home base, Denver International Airport<\/a> (DEN), but they also included several European destinations<\/a>. We had our pick of cities in France, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Norway and more.<\/p>\n We ultimately narrowed down the list based on which dates worked best for us and which cities had plenty of hotel options that we could book with our Marriott Bonvoy<\/a> and World of Hyatt<\/a> points. We also considered European train routes<\/a> because we knew we wanted to check an overnight train off our bucket list.<\/p>\n We settled on flying into Prague a few days before Christmas and flying out of Brussels a week later. We would spend three days exploring Prague\u2019s magical Christmas markets, then take the European Sleeper<\/a> to Brussels and end our trip with two days in the Belgian capital. As an Agatha Christie fan, I was particularly excited to explore Brussels, the home of one of my favorite fictional characters: detective Hercule Poirot.<\/p>\n Our flights from DEN to Prague cost 15,000 Flying Blue miles plus $116 in taxes and fees, and our flights from Brussels to DEN cost 15,000 miles plus $182 \u2014 for a total of 30,000 miles and $298 per person.<\/p>\n Our tickets are economy standard, meaning we\u2019ll each get a free checked bag<\/a>, carry-on and personal item. Interestingly, our journey home from Brussels is one of Air France\u2019s combined plane-plus-train tickets, meaning we\u2019ll depart from the Brussels South\/Midi Train Station (ZYR) and take a train to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) for our flight to DEN.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not a frequent Air France-KLM flyer, and my Flying Blue account held a whopping 0 miles. No problem \u2014 I collect Chase Ultimate Rewards<\/a> points and Capital One miles<\/a>, both of which are transfer partners<\/a> with Flying Blue.<\/p>\n Chase has a wider selection of transfer partners that I often use, like United Airlines MileagePlus, Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy and World of Hyatt. I have a harder time redeeming my Capital One miles because they don\u2019t transfer to most of my favorite programs. Therefore, I decided to use Capital One miles for this redemption because I\u2019m less likely to find other uses for them.<\/p>\n I happened to have just over 60,000 miles in my Capital One account, so I happily transferred these to Flying Blue and saved my Chase points for future redemptions. I spent a grand total of 60,000 miles and $596 for two round-trip flights to Europe \u2014 not bad for tickets that would have cost roughly $3,200 total in cash. I ended up getting a value of around 4.3 cents per mile, significantly higher than TPG\u2019s October 2024 valuation<\/a>\u00a0of 1.3 cents for Flying Blue miles and 1.85 cents for Capital One miles.<\/p>\n Related: Ultimate guide to Capital One’s airline and hotel transfer partners<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n As a Hyatt loyalist who holds the World of Hyatt Credit Card<\/a>, I scoped out my Hyatt lodging options in various European cities before booking our flights. One reason we chose Prague was that it had two well-reviewed Hyatt properties near the downtown area.<\/p>\n I could have gotten great value from my World of Hyatt points at the Category 1 Lindner Hotel Prague Castle, where basic rooms were going for $140 or 6,000 points per night on our dates. This would have provided an excellent value of 2.3 cents per point, well above TPG\u2019s October 2024 valuation of 1.7 cents each for World of Hyatt points, showing that Category 1 Hyatt hotels<\/a> are a great way to get maximum value from your points.<\/p>\n But the Lindner Hotel wasn\u2019t as centrally located as we were hoping. Since we only had a couple of days to explore Prague and we would be visiting in the coldest month of the year, I was willing to spend more points on a more convenient location. We ended up booking three nights at the Category 6 Andaz Prague<\/a>, a snazzy hotel within easy walking distance of everything from the train station to the Christmas markets, for a total of 83,000 points. Since the cash rate was $1,266, we got a value of 1.53 cents per point \u2014 on the low side for Hyatt points. However, it was the best option for our needs and still saved us over $1,000.<\/p>\n I had around 50,000 Hyatt points saved up from recent stays and spending on my World of Hyatt Credit Card; the rest I transferred from my Chase Ultimate Rewards<\/a> account. Since World of Hyatt doesn\u2019t charge taxes or fees on award stays<\/a>, I didn\u2019t have to pay a dime out of pocket.<\/p>\n Related: World of Hyatt Credit Card review: One of the most valuable hotel cards<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n My fiance had just added the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless\u00ae Credit Card<\/a> to his wallet, and the welcome bonus at the time included three free night certificates worth up to 50,000 Bonvoy points<\/a> each (offer no longer available), which were burning a hole in his pocket. Since Brussels had plenty of Marriott properties to choose from, he decided to use two of his shiny new free night certificates to cover lodging for our two nights in Brussels.<\/p>\n We chose The Dominican, Brussels, a member of Marriott\u2019s Design Hotels collection that started as a monastery in 1465 and now provides luxurious lodging in the center of the city. Award rates on our dates were 46,000 points per night, allowing us to almost maximize our free night certificates. Since cash rates were around $580 on those dates, that welcome bonus saved us over $1,100 \u2014 and we still have another free night to use on our next trip.<\/p>\n Unlike World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy does charge some fees on award stays<\/a>, but these were minimal. Our total cost for the two-night stay was 8.50 euros, or just under $10 at the time of writing.<\/p>\n Related: The best Marriott hotels in the world<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The biggest expense for our Christmas trip was the European Sleeper train<\/a>, which cost about $465 for a private carrier for two. We booked it with our Chase Sapphire Preferred\u00ae Card<\/a> because it earns 2 points per dollar spent on travel, has no foreign transaction fees, and includes trip insurance. We’ll arrive in Brussels in true “Murder on the Orient Express” style (though hopefully without the murder part) and earn bonus points while we’re at it.<\/p>\n I\u2019m considering booking a guided bike tour of Prague through Hyatt\u2019s Find Experiences<\/a> platform, where I could earn 4 points per dollar spent with my World of Hyatt Credit Card<\/a>. And if we eat any meals at our hotels, we\u2019ll pay with my World of Hyatt card or my fiance\u2019s Marriott Bonvoy Boundless<\/a> card, which earns 6 points per dollar spent on Marriott purchases.<\/p>\n For all other dining, the Chase Sapphire Preferred will give us 3 points per dollar spent. For activities, souvenirs and other purchases that wouldn\u2019t fall into any bonus spending category, I\u2019ll use my Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card<\/a> because it earns 2 miles per dollar spent on all purchases and has no foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees<\/a>).<\/p>\n Related: The best cards for trip cancellation and interruption insurance<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Sometimes, you already have a dream destination in mind and points and miles can help you get there for less \u2014 like when my fiance and I planned our lemur-iffic honeymoon in Madagascar using rewards<\/a>. Other times, when you find a great deal using points and miles, it can inspire you to visit an unexpected destination or try a new experience. Either way, staying flexible in your travel plans can help you get the most value from your points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When TPG Senior Writer Ben Smithson alerted me to Air France-KLM Flying Blue\u2019s July Promo Reward sale \u2014 flights from Denver International Airport (DEN) to Europe started at 15,000 Flying Blue miles each way \u2014 I was excited. Deals like this aren\u2019t exactly rare, but most of them depart from either the East Coast or 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TPG Senior Writer Ben Smithson alerted me to Air France-KLM Flying Blue\u2019s July Promo Reward sale \u2014 flights from Denver International Airport (DEN) to Europe started at 15,000 Flying Blue miles each way \u2014 I was excited. Deals like this aren\u2019t exactly rare, but most of them depart from either the East Coast or…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelaffiliatewebsite.com\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9481"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelaffiliatewebsite.com\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelaffiliatewebsite.com\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelaffiliatewebsite.com\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelaffiliatewebsite.com\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9481"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/travelaffiliatewebsite.com\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9483,"href":"https:\/\/travelaffiliatewebsite.com\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9481\/revisions\/9483"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelaffiliatewebsite.com\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelaffiliatewebsite.com\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelaffiliatewebsite.com\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelaffiliatewebsite.com\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Booking Air France award flights with Capital One miles<\/h2>\n
Booking an upscale Prague hotel with Hyatt points<\/h2>\n
![\"stylish](\"https:\/\/thepointsguy.freetls.fastly.net\/us\/originals\/2022\/12\/202221128_Andaz-Prague-Lobby_HYATT_7.jpg\")
Booking a historic Brussels hotel with Marriott free night certificates<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thepointsguy.freetls.fastly.net\/us\/originals\/2024\/09\/The-Dominican_Facebook.jpg\")
Other expenses<\/h2>\n
![\"Sleeper](\"https:\/\/thepointsguy.freetls.fastly.net\/us\/originals\/2024\/03\/ESleeper0163-1-scaled.jpg\")
Bottom line<\/h2>\n