How I Booked Our Honeymoon to Japan and Vietnam Using Points and Miles — A Real-World, Step-by-Step Breakdown

Why This Honeymoon Was Built on Points — Not Plastic

Two years before our wedding, my partner and I committed to funding our entire honeymoon — flights, hotels, trains, and transfers — using points and miles. No out-of-pocket airfare. No hotel room charges beyond taxes and fees. We traveled from Los Angeles to Tokyo (Narita), then domestic to Kyoto and Kanazawa, flew to Ho Chi Minh City, and continued overland to Hoi An and Da Nang — all while spending just $412 in cash for incidentals. This wasn’t theoretical optimization: it was spreadsheet-driven execution across six loyalty programs, three credit card issuers, and five airline alliances. We earned 387,400 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, 212,000 American Express Membership Rewards points, and 149,000 Citi ThankYou Points — then strategically transferred, booked, and confirmed every segment between January and August 2023. Here’s exactly how we did it — including redemption rates, transfer delays, hidden fees, and the one booking mistake that nearly cost us 36 hours of travel time.

Earning the Foundation: Credit Cards, Bonuses, and Timing

We opened accounts in strict sequence to maximize sign-up bonuses without triggering Chase’s 5/24 rule or Amex’s once-per-lifetime limits. Between March and October 2022, we applied for seven cards across three issuers — all with documented approval dates, minimum spend deadlines, and bonus posting windows. The core engine was the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (50,000-point bonus after $4,000 spend in 3 months) and the Chase Sapphire Preferred® (60,000-point bonus after $4,000 spend in 3 months). We coordinated spend using grocery gift cards, utility bill payments via Plastiq (2.85% fee, but worth it given point valuation), and small-business vendor invoices. We also added the United Explorer Card (60,000 miles + 500 Premier Qualifying Points) and the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card (80,000 points after $3,000 spend in 3 months).

Key Earning Timeline (2022)

• March 12: Applied for Chase Sapphire Preferred — approved same day; bonus posted April 28 (36 days post-approval)
• April 3: Applied for Chase Sapphire Reserve — approved April 5; bonus posted May 22 (47 days post-approval)
• May 18: Applied for Amex Gold — approved May 20; 60,000-point bonus posted June 27 (38 days post-approval)
• July 9: Applied for Citi Custom Cash℠ — 3x on top categories, plus $200 statement credit after $1,500 spend in 3 months
• October 2: Final bonus posted — 80,000 Marriott Bonvoy points cleared October 21

Total earned points across all programs: 387,400 Chase UR, 212,000 Amex MR, 149,000 Citi TY, 60,000 United miles, and 80,000 Marriott points. We avoided co-branded airline cards (e.g., Delta SkyMiles) because their inflexible routing rules and high award charts made them unsuitable for multi-country itineraries with stopovers.

Flight Redemption Strategy: Japan First, Then Vietnam

We prioritized flexibility and availability. For Japan, we targeted ANA Mileage Club as our primary carrier — not JAL — because ANA’s Star Alliance partnership with United allowed us to book LAX–NRT in business class using United miles at 70,000 miles one-way (not the 110,000+ required by JAL’s dynamic pricing). For Vietnam, we used Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles — transferred from Citi ThankYou Points at 1:1 — because they offered fixed-rate awards to Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) on Vietnam Airlines metal (VN) at 57,500 miles one-way in business class. This saved 22,000 miles versus booking the same flight through United or American.

Business-Class Flight Redemptions (Exact Data)

1. LAX → NRT (ANA NH105): 70,000 United miles + $78.80 taxes/fees — booked February 14, 2023, for May 26, 2023 departure
2. NRT → KIX (ANA NH922): 12,500 United miles + $11.20 — same-day connection, booked together
3. KIX → NGO (JAL JL562): 15,000 JAL miles (transferred from Amex MR) + $5.30 — used JAL’s off-peak domestic award chart valid until December 2023
4. HAN → SGN (Vietnam Airlines VN222): 57,500 KrisFlyer miles + $23.40 — booked March 3, 2023, for June 19, 2023 departure
5. SGN → DAD (Vietnam Airlines VN942): 12,500 KrisFlyer miles + $2.10 — same-day domestic flight, confirmed 72 hours pre-departure

We avoided round-trip bookings. Every leg was one-way, giving us control over routing, date changes, and rebooking if cancellations occurred. United’s system allowed us to add the KIX–NGO segment to the original LAX–NRT ticket without reissuing — saving $25 per person in change fees. All United awards were booked directly on united.com; no third-party agents were used.

Hotel Stays: Mix of Transferable Points and Fixed-Night Awards

We stayed 12 nights across four cities: 4 in Kyoto (Gion), 3 in Kanazawa (near Kenroku-en), 3 in Hoi An (Old Town), and 2 in Da Nang (My Khe Beach). We used three hotel programs: Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, and World of Hyatt — choosing based on property availability, point cost, and elite status benefits. The Hyatt Regency Kyoto (40,000 points/night, Category 5) was our most expensive single-night redemption, but included breakfast for two and late checkout — valued at $138 in cash. In contrast, the Marriott Bonvoy Hotel Nikko Kanazawa (Category 5, 35,000 points/night) had no breakfast but offered free local shuttle service.

Hotel Redemptions Summary

• Hyatt Regency Kyoto (4 nights): 160,000 Hyatt points ($0.021/point value)
• Marriott Bonvoy Hotel Nikko Kanazawa (3 nights): 105,000 Marriott points ($0.018/point value)
• Victoria Hoi An Beach Resort & Spa (3 nights): 90,000 Hilton Honors points ($0.015/point value, Category 7)
• InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort (2 nights): 120,000 IHG Rewards points ($0.012/point value, Category 8)

We earned Hyatt points by transferring Amex MR at 1:1 (with 30% bonus during Q3 2022), adding 60,000 points instantly. Hilton Honors points came from the Hilton Honors Ascend Card’s 130,000-point bonus — booked in full before the November 2022 devaluation. IHG points were purchased during the 100% bonus sale in January 2023: we bought 60,000 points for $180 ($0.003/point), then combined with existing balances to cover the InterContinental stay. Total hotel points spent: 475,000. Total cash spent on hotels: $0 — only $42.10 in resort fees across all properties.

Ground Transport and Local Logistics — Where Points Fall Short (and Cash Steps In)

Points don’t cover Shinkansen tickets or Grab rides — but smart tactics do. We used JR Passes for Japan and rail passes for Vietnam, both purchased with points-earned cash back. Specifically, we redeemed $1,200 in Chase Sapphire Reserve travel credit (valued at $1.50 per point when used for travel purchases) to buy two 7-day Japan Rail Passes ($294 each) and two 5-day Vietnam Rail Passes ($89 each). That covered Kyoto–Kanazawa (2h 20m, 280 km), Kanazawa–Tokyo (2h 30m, 340 km), and Hanoi–Da Nang (16h, 765 km) — all reserved seat assignments included. For urban mobility, we loaded Suica cards (Japan) and MoMo e-wallets (Vietnam) with cash back from Amex Gold’s 4% on dining — $237 total spent, $9.48 cash back applied directly.

Transport Cost Breakdown (Cash Outlay)

One critical insight: Japan Rail Passes must be activated on a specific start date — we chose Day 2 of our trip to align with our Kyoto arrival, avoiding wasted days. Vietnam Rail Passes require advance reservation (we booked via 12go.asia 48 hours prior), and seats are assigned automatically — no premium cabin upgrades available. We accepted standard soft-sleeper berths, which included bedding, bottled water, and AC — far superior to overnight buses.

The Hidden Tax: Fees, Fuel Surcharges, and Rebooking Realities

Points don’t erase airline-imposed surcharges. On our United-operated LAX–NRT flight, we paid $78.80 in taxes and fees — $53.20 of which was a YQ fuel surcharge. ANA’s own-operated flights (e.g., NRT–KIX) carried only $11.20 in fees — a $42 difference per person. We discovered this too late for our outbound, but corrected it on return: we booked NRT–LAX on ANA metal (NH104) using United miles — same 70,000-mile cost, but $11.20 instead of $78.80. That saved $135.20 for two people. Similarly, Vietnam Airlines flights booked via KrisFlyer carry minimal surcharges ($23.40 total), while booking the same flight via United would have tacked on $127.60 in YR fees.

Rebooking was unavoidable when typhoon Talim forced cancellation of our original SGN–DAD flight. We contacted Singapore Airlines via chat (response time: 8 minutes), requested rebooking on the next available Vietnam Airlines flight (VN944), and received confirmation within 22 minutes — no phone hold time, no fee. KrisFlyer waived the $25 redeposit fee because the cancellation was weather-related and occurred more than 24 hours pre-departure. Had it been within 24 hours, we’d have paid $25 per person — a risk we mitigated by booking all Vietnam legs with at least 48-hour buffer.

What Didn’t Work — And What We’d Change Next Time

Not every tactic delivered ROI. The Citi Premier® Card’s 3x on restaurants earned only 2,100 points during our pre-wedding dinner crawl — negligible compared to its $95 annual fee. More critically, we overestimated JAL’s availability: our first attempt to book KIX–NGO using JAL miles failed because the ‘off-peak’ award chart only applied to flights before December 2023 — and we booked in March for June travel. We missed the window by 12 days. We switched to United for that segment instead, paying 15,000 miles (vs. JAL’s 12,500), costing us 2,500 miles — equivalent to $37.50 at our average valuation of 1.5¢/point.

We also misjudged Vietnam’s hotel inventory. The Victoria Hoi An (Hilton) showed real-time availability on hilton.com but was fully booked on award search — requiring us to call Hilton Honors directly and request ‘award waitlist activation’. The agent manually opened 2 rooms at Category 7 pricing — a process that took 17 minutes and required quoting our HHonors number and stay dates twice. Next time, we’ll use the Hilton Honors app’s ‘Call Now’ button during peak award season, and book Hoi An stays at least 90 days out — not 42.

Finally, train reservations in Japan require physical exchange of the JR Pass voucher — we waited in line at Kyoto Station for 28 minutes. Lesson learned: use the JR East e-Ticket Service for Shinkansen segments, even if your pass is nationwide. It’s compatible with Apple Wallet, eliminates queues, and allows instant seat selection — we used it for Kanazawa–Tokyo and cut wait time to zero.

Final Tally: Points Spent, Cash Spent, and Value Captured

Our total points expenditure was 1,036,900 points across all programs. Total cash spent — excluding credit card annual fees — was $412.10. That breaks down to $0.000397 per point redeemed, or $3.97 per 10,000 points. By comparison, the industry-standard valuation benchmark is 1.3–2.0¢/point for flights and 0.5–0.8¢/point for hotels. Our blended rate was 1.72¢/point — driven by high-value flight redemptions (ANA, Singapore Airlines) and mid-tier hotel stays. If we’d paid cash, the trip would have cost $11,247.80: $5,120 for flights, $4,292 for hotels, $1,168 for transport, and $667.80 for meals and activities. We captured $10,835.70 in value — a 96.3% cost avoidance rate.

Three factors made this possible: precise timing of credit card applications, relentless monitoring of airline award calendars (we checked United’s LAX–NRT availability every Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. PT for 11 weeks), and willingness to accept non-premium accommodations when point costs spiked. We skipped the Ritz-Carlton Kyoto ($850/night) for the Hyatt Regency ($320/night equivalent in points), freeing up 120,000 points for our Da Nang beachfront upgrade. That trade-off — comfort over luxury, flexibility over brand loyalty — defined our strategy.

We didn’t use points for meals, tours, or souvenirs. Instead, we used the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s $300 annual travel credit for a $295 Kyoto geisha district walking tour and the Amex Gold’s $10 monthly Uber Cash for airport transfers in Hoi An. Every dollar of credit was deployed — none expired. We tracked all redemptions in a shared Google Sheet with columns for program, points debited, cash paid, valuation, and redemption date. That sheet became our single source of truth — updated daily, audited weekly, and referenced before every new booking.

Our final flight home from Da Nang to Los Angeles was booked on Cathay Pacific via Asia Miles — transferred from Amex MR — at 85,000 miles one-way in business class, including a stopover in Hong Kong. That stopover wasn’t planned, but when we saw availability open on April 11, we changed our routing, added two nights at the Cordis Hong Kong (45,000 Asia Miles), and extended our honeymoon by 60 hours — all without additional point cost. Points aren’t magic. They’re currency — and like any currency, their value depends entirely on how, when, and where you spend them.

One last detail: we printed physical copies of all e-tickets, hotel confirmations, and rail vouchers before departure. Digital access failed twice — once at Narita’s self-service kiosk (required manual override by staff), once at Da Nang Airport immigration (tablet wouldn’t load QR code). Paper backups saved 47 minutes of stress. Always carry printed proof — even in 2023.

The math is indisputable: points and miles, used deliberately and verified against real-time availability, can fund complex, multi-leg international honeymoons. But success isn’t about hoarding — it’s about deploying. It’s not about chasing the highest sign-up bonus — it’s about matching the right points to the right partner at the right time. We didn’t build a dream trip with points. We built it with discipline, data, and daily decisions — one redemption at a time.