The Upgraded Points Team’s Favorite Award Redemptions of 2025

As the year draws to a close, our team is reflecting on another great year of travel.

From checking off items on our bucket lists to family trips and seeing friends, we’ve used our points and miles for some memorable redemptions this year. What were our favorites? Read on to see what we’re remembering most vividly.

Alex Miller, Founder and CEO

I flew Japan Airlines‘ (JAL) new first class product on the A350 in February of this year, and this might be one of the best-value redemptions I’ve ever made.

I booked this Japan Airlines first class flight from Tokyo (HND) to New York City (JFK) back in March 2024, and it cost me 144,250 Avios and $364.90 in taxes and fees. Technically, it was even less than that as I had leveraged a 30% transfer bonus from Amex to British Airways in August 2023, bringing the miles cost to roughly 100k Avios.

At the time, this was a bit of a risky booking, though, as it wasn’t confirmed that the A350 would be flying this route with JAL’s new product. However, I took a chance and got lucky!

It’s hard to describe just how large this suite is, and it shocked me as I boarded the plane. You can fit 3 people in the suite, as there are 2 seatbelts provided on the long seat and 1 opposite, should you want to dine with companions!

It might not look like it, but the TV is a massive 43 inches. Frankly, it felt like I was in a mini movie theater!

If you were to pay cash for this one-way ticket, the cost would be approximately $13,000. By paying 144,250 Avios, I was able to achieve 8.7 cents per Avios. Given that I only transferred 100,000 points from Amex due to the transfer bonus, the actual value was actually 12.6 cents per Avios. I don’t think I’ll ever beat that!

Ryan Smith, News Managing Editor

I’m going with a somewhat cheesy answer for my favorite redemption this year. Booking the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Chicago for 8,000 World of Hyatt points per night isn’t impressive in itself.

What makes this redemption special is the reason: attending the Chicago Seminars each fall.

Attending this points-and-miles event every year is a great opportunity to see numerous friends at the same time, all in one place. Now that I live in Spain, many of my friends are far away. Attending this conference is a great chance to hang out with them for a few days — oh, and learn more about earning and redeeming points, of course.

Ehsan Haque, Content Contributor

Without a doubt, my favorite award redemption of the year was the business class round-the-world award I booked using ANA Mileage Club miles, which I transferred from American Express Membership Rewards.

For just 170,000 miles and approximately $1,300 in taxes and fees, I was able to book 9 flights in business class, including 5 long-haul flights of at least 8 hours. Best of all, I was able to fly in some of the world’s best business-class seats, including All Nippon Airways, EVA Air, Thai Airways, and Turkish Airlines.

The cash cost of this itinerary was over $21,000, yielding more than 11 cents per point for this redemption.

Tiffany Eastham, Director of Compliance

My best award redemption of 2025 was using 70,000 Aeroplan points to book Lufthansa business class on the airline’s 747 from Vancouver (YVR) to Frankfurt (FRA). I transferred points from my Platinum Card^® from American Express to unlock this redemption. With a cash cost of around $8,000 for this flight, I got a whopping 10.6 cents per point in value.

I’ve had much nicer (and newer) flights this year, but the 747 is the iconic Queen of the Skies, and I felt like an absolute baller on the upper deck for 10 hours. Overall, it was quite enjoyable — especially since I knew I paid next to nothing for it.

Christine Krzyszton, Senior Finance Contributor

My best award redemption in 2025 was a Marriott property in La Línea de la Concepción, Spain, on the border of Gibraltar, U.K. I booked the AC Hotel La Linea for 36,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for a 5-night stay. The hotel can be booked for even fewer points on some nights if you have flexible dates.

My room was lovely and had a view of the bay and the Rock of Gibraltar. The hotel was within walking distance of the airport, the city of Gibraltar, and situated across the street from the seaside promenade. I would stay there again except for the fact that high winds are common across the straits and flights can be diverted to Malaga, Spain. Unfortunately, that’s how my trip ended. The outbound flight was canceled, and we were bused to Malaga for the flight to London.

Juan Ruiz, Senior Editor and Content Contributor

I redeem a lot of points and miles for flights and hotels every year, and while I get excited about plenty of them, 1 redemption stood out far above the rest — the kind of booking many would call the pinnacle of award travel: Emirates Game Changer First Class, arguably the most impressive commercial first class product in the world.

This year, I booked Emirates Game Changer First Class for just 143,000 Capital One miles. The award price through Qantas Frequent Flyer was 170,800 miles for the one-way flight from Chicago (ORD) to Dubai (DXB), but thanks to a now-lapsed 20% Capital One transfer bonus, my out-of-pocket mileage cost dropped significantly — and I knew this was one of the few remaining ways to book Emirates first class now that Emirates Skywards limits these awards to its top elites.

At Upgraded Points, we value Capital One miles at around 1.8 cents each, meaning my 143,000-mile transfer was worth about $2,574. Considering the cash price for this exact flight regularly exceeds $15,000 one-way, I walked away with well over 6 cents per mile in value — and a true bucket-list experience in the process.

For an AvGeek and points fanatic, it doesn’t get much better. This was, hands down, my best award redemption of 2025.

Chris Hassan, Social Media and Brand Manager

I made a lot of solid redemptions in 2025, but one stands out in particular because I had been chasing it for years and finally achieved it this past summer.

I finally redeemed my Hertz Gold Plus Rewards points for a week-long rental!

Yes, you can laugh, but I have been renting from Hertz for years and have never been able to justify using my points for whatever rental presents itself. Whether the cash rate was too good, or I wasn’t renting for exactly 7 days (that’s the sweet spot), I just kept earning without ever redeeming … and then I complained when the points got devalued.

On a 1-week trip to New England this summer, I pulled the trigger. And because I have President’s Circle status from the Amex Platinum card, I was able to book a standard sedan and drive off in a bright red Jeep Wrangler. My kids loved it, and so did I … for multiple reasons.

Final Thoughts

From ultra-luxe flights to see friends or finally using points that felt stranded, our team made some great redemptions this year — and not everyone’s definition of a great redemption is the same, which is the beauty of this hobby.