I’ve Saved Up 400,000 Miles — Here’s Exactly How I Plan To Spend Them

Updated: August 5, 2026, 8:30am CDT

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Table of Contents

How I Earned 400,000 Miles
How I Plan To Redeem Miles For 3 Bucket List Flights
Final Thoughts

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Since I joined the world of points and miles around 7 years ago, my travel style has leveled up several notches. However, airlines have devalued their loyalty programs by making those coveted first- and buisness-class redemptions more expensive and harder to find.

Right now, I’m sitting on nearly 400,000 miles across my various accounts. There are many ways to spend them, but I have 3 specific bucket-list flights I’d like to book over the next couple of years.

How I Earned 400,000 Miles

My British-issued travel rewards credit cards don’t have anywhere near the point-earning potential of U.S. equivalents. Racking up a decent amount of miles is still possible, but it just takes longer.

Earning Membership Rewards Points (142K Points)

Membership Rewards are the easiest points for me to earn, by far, as I can get up to 25,000 points per successful referral. Unlike the Platinum Card^® from American Express in the U.S., my U.K. version only earns 2x points when booking travel via AmexTravel.com.

Membership Rewards can also be transferred to several hotel and airline loyalty programs. This versatility will come in very handy for the redemptions I want to make. That, plus the fact that I get comprehensive travel insurance when using the card, has made it my go-to for booking almost all my flights, hotels, and Airbnbs over the last 18 months.

Earning Virgin Points (124K Points)

When I lived in the U.K., I credited all my SkyTeam flights to my Virgin Atlantic Flying Club account. For example, I credited a one-way business class flight from Barcelona (BCN) to São Paulo (GRU) via Paris (CDG) with Air France to my Flying Club account and earned over 18,000 Virgin Points.

Virgin Atlantic A350 Upper Suite seat 4K — You can score Virgin’s Upper Class from just 29,000 Virgin Points, plus taxes and fees.

I also made the most of being able to transfer the loyalty points I earned at Tesco grocery shopping into my Virgin Red account and booked all my train travel through the Virgin Trains Ticketing app. You can do the same when planning any train travel around the U.K. after linking your Virgin Red account.

Hot Tip:

You can save thousands of miles by using Virgin Points rather than Delta SkyMiles for Delta flight redemptions.

Earning British Airways Avios (44K Points)

The main way I earn British Airways Avios is by shopping via the British Airways eStore. It offers high bonus Avios rates when booking online for many brands and stores, including Accor and Agoda, which are my go-to hotel booking sites. In the last 6 months, I’ve earned almost 20,000 Avios on the eStore.

Before British Airways lost my loyalty, I flew Oneworld member airlines and earned way more Avios than I do now by crediting all those flights to my BA Club account.

British Airways Airbus A350 taking off from London Heathrow LHR — A British Airways Airbus A350-1000 climbs out of London Heathrow (LHR).

I also have a second American Express credit card in my wallet: the U.K.-issued British Airways American Express^® Credit Card. It doesn’t earn bonus points for spending with British Airways, but it has no annual fee, and earning 1 Avios per £1 spent is better than none.

Earning Air France Flying Blue Miles (42K Points)

For over a year now, I’ve been crediting all my SkyTeam member airline flights to my Air France Flying Blue account. Having paid for numerous Air France-KLM cash tickets as well as for Delta and Aeromexico, my main source of earning miles has all come from flying.

Thanks to an additional partnership between Flying Blue and Accor, I connected my accounts to double-dip on earning.

Fairmont Hanoi room and bathroom — The Fairmont Hanoi is part of the Accor hotel group.

Every time I stay at an Accor hotel, I also earn Flying Blue miles.

Earning Lufthansa Miles & More Miles (37K Points)

A friend gifted me Lufthansa Miles & More Senator status last year. To make the most out of the status perks, I flew Lufthansa Group airlines and other Star Alliance carriers whenever it made sense. The best value I got from that status was using 2 eVouchers to upgrade to SWISS first class from a cash business class ticket flying from Zurich (ZRH) to São Paulo (GRU).

SWISS First Class seat on the Boeing 777 — SWISS’ first class was a comfy way to fly 12 hours to Brazil.

I’ve tried a few times to use the miles I earned after crediting the flights, but the program gatekeeps good redemptions. For example, I mostly find award flights with numerous connections, terrible flight times with long connections, or aircraft with outdated products. I gave up trying to use them. Thankfully, I don’t need those miles for any of the redemptions I want to make.

How I Plan To Redeem Miles For 3 Bucket List Flights

I don’t use the term “bucket list” often, but these are flights I’d go out of my way to experience.

Air France’s New La Première

Memories of my first and only Air France La Première experience will never cease to bring me joy. Last year, Air France debuted a new seat and cabin that is somehow even more exclusive and chic than the product I flew.

Air France La Premiere pyjamas and breakfast — I thoroughly enjoyed my La Première breakfast banquet.

It’s notoriously hard to get a good deal flying La Première, and sweet-spot redemptions don’t exist. You can expect to pay around $16,900 for a round-trip between New York and Paris, or around 200,000 to 300,000 Flying Blue miles for a one-way redemption. It’s also not possible to book a La Première ticket via a partner airline loyalty program, such as Delta SkyMiles.

What’s more, only Flying Blue’s top-tier Platinum and Ultimate status holders are eligible to redeem points for this ultra-premium cabin. The same restrictions apply when upgrading using points.

Having just slipped down from Platinum to Gold and being a few grand short of $16,900, booking this ticket will be a challenge. My only chance to use points is to requalify for Platinum first. By that time, I might have enough Membership Rewards to top up my Flying Blue account and book a La Première ticket outright.

A final option would be to upgrade a cash business class ticket. This is what I did last time, and paid $1,800. It’s risky, as there would need to be space available, and it’s not always given that upgrades are available.

Bottom Line:

With high cash fares and restricted redemption availability, La Première is often described as one of the most exclusive first class experiences in the sky.

British Airways’ New First Class on the Airbus A380

British Airways is finally bringing its Airbus A380s into the modern-day flying era. As well as getting rid of the last remaining, once revolutionary, yin and yang Club World seats and updating the economy and premium economy cabins, the British flag carrier is introducing an all-new first class cabin. It’s about time, given that the A380 is supposed to be BA’s flagship aircraft.

From the details revealed at the end of 2024, the product certainly looks the part. Set to fly for the first time this year, it’s the award flight I’m most likely to take first.

British Airways First Class Middle Seats — British Airways’ new first class seat: Image Credit: British Airways

Interestingly, the new first class will be exclusively onboard its A380s. None of its workhorse Boeing 777s or Boeing 787 Dreamliners that have first class cabins will be retrofitted with these new seats.

My plan is to use my British Airways Avios and transfer some Membership Rewards, so I have enough for a one-way redemption, which can range from 68,000 to 163,000 Avios. I could halve those Avios amounts if I upgrade my current card to the U.K.-issued British Airways American Express^® Premium Plus card and use the companion voucher. The companion voucher is similar to the Travel Together Ticket you can earn by hitting a spending limit with the British Airways Visa Signature^® Card.

Qantas’ First Project Sunrise Nonstop Flight From Sydney to London

Whether you love or hate the idea of sitting in a metal tube for 22-plus hours, Project Sunrise is an incredible feat of aviation history that I would love to experience.

Redemptions for the route will range from 58,900 Qantas Classic Rewards for a one-way flight in economy to 227,800 Classic Rewards in first class. I’m almost at the 151,800 miles needed for a business class redemption if I transfer 142,172 Membership Rewards points to my Qantas Frequent Flyer account.

Qantas Project Sunrise Plane in Toulouse — The Qantas Airbus A350-1000XLR will fly nonstop from Australia to London and New York. Image Credit: Stuart Bailey for Qantas

Even if I use those Membership Rewards points to top up accounts to make the other 2 bucket list redemptions, I still have 7 months before tickets go on sale in February 2027 to earn more points. Hopefully, that’ll mean I’ll have enough left to redeem for a seat on the first Project Sunrise flight, even if it’s in economy.

Final Thoughts

Thanks to a few hundred thousand miles, these wondrous flights will become more attainable. While the world of points and miles isn’t exactly as lucrative as it used to be, there’s still a ton of value to be found.

For me, that value is flying specific products, like my bucket-list flights, that I would never usually have the cash to buy outright.