In 2022, I wasn’t focused on award travel with kids. We knew that we wanted to have a baby soon… But we also wanted to make the most of our child-free time and travel as much as possible. While my wife and I were both working full-time, we managed to go on several trips:
- A weekend at Universal Studios in Orlando
- Big Sur at Alila Ventana Big Sur
- France and Italy to hike the Tour du Mont Blanc
- Hawaii
- Plus a couple more trips to visit family in California and New York
Now almost 100% of my trips (flights and hotels) were funded through credit card churning and doing award travel research. (If you want to learn more, check out my article The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Churning and Award Travel).
Since my son was born, I’ve gone on several trips with him. Flying with him has come with a learning curve. These have been at a much slower pace with less time sightseeing and more time relaxing at the hotel. But I’ve still had these covered by credit card points.
With a different pace comes a different set of goals with churning and award travel. I’ve found that there are three credit card churning tips that I’ve adopted as I’ve planned travel for award travel with kids.
1. Focus on hotel rooms rather than business flights
I was never the type to hang out in my hotel room. It was just a place to store my luggage and sleep a little bit between adventures. This has changed drastically in traveling with my son.
We went to Nashville with my son as a two-month old. There are differing opinions on the best time to travel with a baby, but I found traveling with a two-month old incredibly manageable. (Yes, there were a few blowouts on the plane, but apparently that’s par for the course!) The major change for us was making sure we had enough downtime for naps, making formula for his bottles, and generally relaxing so he didn’t get too stimulated. This meant a lot of time in the hotel room.
I don’t care about business flights anymore (for now). I’m focused on getting shorter, direct flights to places that are a little bit closer to me to prioritize award travel with kids. The longest I’ve traveled with him has been a five hour flight from Boston to Denver. My thought is that we’re going to be at least a little uncomfortable no matter what, so let’s try to spend as little time in transit as possible.
For hotels, if you’re in the Chase ecosystem (with either Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Preferred, and/or Chase Freedom Unlimited), Hyatt is an amazing transfer partner. You can typically find hotels for under 20,000 points a night.
This is easily done by transferring your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt and booking a night. Refer to our churning and award travel guide if you’re not sure how to do that.
You can also get the World of Hyatt card which after the first year, gets you a free category 1-4 night. The annual fee is $95 so in the example below, it’s worth it. Make sure to do the math though! If you have multiple trips, it’s best to optimize how you’re going to use that free night award vs when you should use cash or points.
Another option is to have a Marriott Bonvoy credit card (referral) – after your first year, you get a free night award for a hotel 35,000 points or less. The annual fee is $95 so it can definitely be worth it.
I find Marriotts are often priced higher for both points and cash, so I personally prefer Hyatts for my travels. Plus I find there’s more flexibility when it comes to things like club access and getting suites.
On the topic of being comfortable however, I find that the lowest tier Marriott is generally higher quality than the lowest tier Hyatt. It’s up to you to decide what your priorities are and how you’re going to allocate your points appropriately. Maybe go for the Hyatt suite at the Grand Hyatt over the Marriott Courtyard! Such are the decisions made when prioritizing award travel with kids.
2. Southwest Companion Pass
One of the best things about traveling with a baby is having a free lap “seat” for them before they turn 2. Note that it’s incredibly easy to have them on your lap at the beginning when they are still in potato mode. It gets increasingly difficult as they start wiggling, crawling, and even walking. I’d play it by ear on whether or not you want to actually use that lap seat or if it’s worth just springing for another ticket (make sure to bring a car seat with you if you decide to do that!).
Either way, the Southwest Companion Pass is amazing at decreasing the costs of flights. Think about it, if you’re flying with your partner and a baby, a Companion Pass means one ticket to cover all three of you. That means a total of two purchased tickets for a roundtrip flight. Those two tickets can also usually be covered for free if you use the following:
- Southwest points
- Chase Ultimate Reward points transferred to Southwest – check out my guide if you’re not sure how to do that
- Amex Airline credit (note that Amex does not have Southwest as a travel partner so you can’t transfer points to Southwest)
That’s exactly what I did with the first few trips with my son. I signed up for the Southwest Priority Card and got a 45,000 point sign up bonus. The sign up bonus plus my existing Chase Ultimate Rewards were able to cover five tickets – I only had to pay for one out of pocket. Combined with the Companion Pass, I was able to fly three people on three different trips for about ~$150 out of pocket. Amazing!
Right now, there is currently an offer for Companion Pass for both Premier and Priority cards (referral) with a sign up bonus of 30,000 points. Move quickly though because this offer expires March 11, 2024.
3. Higher Emphasis on Lounge Access
I’ve already discussed my love of lounge access in my Amex Platinum post. This has only increased with having a child. Traveling with a kid (a baby especially) comes traveling with a ton of gear. As someone who used to travel exclusively with carry-on luggage, that is no longer a reality for me. Now I get to the airport two to two and half hours early to check in my numerous bags including my Guava Lotus. (As a side note, this is another reason I fly Southwest so much – two free checked bags per person or four total between me and my wife.)
Since we get through security so quickly with my combination of CLEAR and TSA Pre-Check (check out my Amex Platinum Benefits Ranked post to see how you can get those for free), we usually end up getting to the gate early with plenty of time to spare. This is when I’m happy to have Centurion Lounge access at my home airport in Denver. We go up the escalator (conveniently in the same terminal as Southwest!), check in with the front desk, then park ourselves in the comfiest chairs we can find as we grab a meal and beer to enjoy. If we have even more time, I plug in my tablet into the convenient charging port right next to the table and we watch a movie to pass the time.
The alternative? Sitting in uncomfortable chairs by the gate, hearing the constant barrage of overhead announcements, watching people struggle to eat their McDonalds out of a paper bag. No thank you.
This is especially true when I’m coming home and I’m traveling to a new airport. Before leaving the hotel, I take a couple minutes to Google if there is a Centurion Lounge or Priority Pass lounge at that airport. Then I can plan how to get from the gate my plane is leaving from to the lounge with the least stress possible. Planning is key when traveling with kids!
Conclusion
When planning award travel with kids, you’re still going to be focused on flights and hotels, just with a different focus. With flights, you’ll be more concerned with having a shorter, direct flight – I used to love long, business-class flights to really maximize the value of the flight. You’ll want to spend a little bit more on hotels to maximize comfort while traveling, but you can still get that covered with credit card points. And of course, I can talk forever about my love of lounges. Happy travels!
PS If you need extra help figuring out how to transfer reward points or how to book award travel, feel free to contact me or book a consultation. I’m always happy to chat!