Worth It? We Spent More Than 500,000 Points on Upgraded Flights for Our Family of Four
We would never have paid more than $17,000 in cash for upgraded seats, but using points changed the equation. After flying premium economy to Europe and business class home, here’s what I think was actually worth it.
Two years ago, my husband and I flew to Europe with our two young kids in economy. The overnight flight did not go particularly well.
The kids barely slept, everyone was exhausted, and by the time we landed, we were dealing with some serious travel-day meltdowns.
So when we started planning another family trip to Europe, upgraded seats sounded very appealing.
The problem? There are four of us.
Paying cash for premium economy or business-class tickets for an entire family can get expensive very quickly. We knew we weren’t willing to spend more than $10,000 just to sit at the front of the plane, so if we were going to upgrade, we needed to use credit-card points.
After a lot of searching, some flexibility, and a paid points-search tool, we ultimately booked premium-economy seats to Europe and business-class seats home.
The total: 544,250 points plus $2,526.80 for four people. Comparable upgraded cash fares would have cost more than $17,000.
So, was it worth it?
For us, yes — but not everything about the experience was equally valuable.
What we actually spent
Our outbound trip started in Chicago and took us to Warsaw through Paris. We booked premium-economy seats for 264,250 points total, plus $1,866.80 in taxes and fees.
On the way home, we flew business class from Zurich to Washington Dulles before connecting back to Denver. Those seats cost 280,000 points total, plus $660.
QUICK TAKE
Points used: 544,250
Cash paid: $2,526.80
Comparable cash fares: $17,000+
Would we do it again? Yes.
Read more about how we booked Business Class seats in my latest piece for Business Insider.
Was paying $120 for a points-search tool worth it?
Before booking, my husband and I spent hours opening airline websites, comparing routes, and trying to find four award seats that worked with our schedule.
That last part was the challenge.
Finding one or two award seats is one thing. Finding four on the same flight, in the right cabin, during the dates we needed, was much harder.
We ended up using PointsYeah. The free version was useful, but we paid about $120 for the yearly plan because it allowed us to set up significantly more alerts. The paid plan let us search more broadly — including by country instead of one specific airport — which ended up making a big difference.
Instead of manually checking flight after flight, we could set our criteria and wait for alerts.
THE FAMILY TAKE: Worth it.
For a family searching for four award seats, the $120 fee was small compared with the amount of time it saved us.
That said, I wouldn’t automatically recommend paying for the upgraded plan to everyone.
If you’re looking for one ticket, traveling occasionally, or already know exactly what route you want, the free version may be enough.
And the tool doesn’t do everything. Once we found the flights, we still had to transfer our credit-card points to the airlines and book the tickets ourselves.
Was premium economy worth it?
Premium economy wasn’t our first choice.
We were hoping to find business-class tickets for both directions, but after several weeks of searching, we decided the premium-economy option worked well enough for our outbound trip.
Once we were on the plane, I was glad we made that decision.
The extra legroom gave everyone more space, and after takeoff, we were able to put inflatable footrests in front of the kids so they could stretch out and sleep.
Was it luxurious? Surprisingly, yes.
We had the first choice of food, excellent service, and we were given toiletry bags and little toys for the kids.
THE FAMILY TAKE: Worth it.
For an overnight flight with kids, I’d use points for premium economy again if business-class availability wasn’t there.
The biggest benefit wasn’t fancy service. It was having enough physical space for our kids to get more comfortable and actually sleep.
Was business class worth it?
This one was easier.
Yes.
On the return flight, we had lie-flat seats, much more personal space, and access to a larger bathroom, which was especially helpful while traveling with young kids.
Everyone could sleep more comfortably, we had room to spread out, and the long flight felt dramatically easier.
But there’s an important distinction here.
THE FAMILY TAKE: Worth the points. Not worth the cash price.
I loved flying business class.
I would absolutely do it again with points.
But I still would not spend $10,000 or more in cash to put our family in business class for one trip.
That’s the difference I want The Family Take to make clear: something can be great without being worth paying full price for.
What made the points worth spending
Using more than half a million points sounds like a lot because it is.
Those points could have paid for several economy trips.
So the question isn’t simply whether business class was enjoyable. Of course it was.
The real question is whether spending that many points meaningfully improved our family trip.
For us, it did.
Our overnight travel was easier, the kids slept more, and my husband and I arrived feeling much less depleted than we had after previous long-haul flights.
That mattered because we weren’t flying somewhere for a quiet vacation where we could spend the next day recovering. We were starting a nearly two-week family trip through Europe.
Getting there in better shape had value.
What I’d do again
Next time, I’d follow almost the same strategy.
I’d start searching early and set alerts instead of checking airline sites manually.
I’d stay flexible about departure airports. We were willing to position ourselves in another U.S. city if the award deal was good enough.
I’d also stay flexible about cabin class.
Business class was the goal, but premium economy worked very well in one direction. Insisting on business class both ways could have meant waiting longer, spending considerably more points, or missing the deal entirely.
And I would never transfer credit-card points until I was certain I was ready to book. Once those points move to an airline program, you generally can’t simply move them back.
What I’d skip
I wouldn’t spend hours trying to manually search every airline again.
I wouldn’t insist on flying from our home airport if positioning to another city opened up much better award availability.
And I wouldn’t pay cash for business class just because we enjoyed it.
The experience was worth it because points allowed us to get something we valued without paying a price we considered unreasonable.
That’s a very different calculation.
