2 months ago Delta and American ran an awesome sale to Panama from most of their hubs. As my birthday was coming up, I took the opportunity to book the trip. My Panama vacation was great and I definitely plan on going back. (I’ll talk more about my trip in a later post). The fact that I was able to go to Panama was amazing enough but what surprises people the most is that the trip cost me nothing.
Here is the total cost for my trip:
Airfare : $345.10 (Delta SEA -> ATL -> PTY -> ATL -> SEA)
Hotel : $336.60 $282.45 ( I was comped a night and upgraded since the DoubleTree was oversold and had to stay at a night at the Hampton Inn) (DoubleTree – El Carmen)
Airport Parking: Free (Parking Loyalty Points)
Total Cost: $627.55
Here’s how I paid for the trip:
I had 52,618 miles on my Barclays Arrival Card which one 1 mile is redeemable for $0.01. When you redeem miles with your Arrival Card for travel you get 10% of your miles back. I first bought my plane ticket and redeemed miles to pay for the purchase. When the hotel charges cleared, I redeemed my remaining miles toward the hotel costs. If you do the math, you’ll notice that I didn’t have enough miles to cover the full cost of the hotel. Well the remaining balance (66.86) was paid with the cash back from my discover card.
Now the question you might be asking yourself is how did I get so many miles and cash back. When I signed up for the Arrival card I got 40,000 miles when I spent $3000 in the first 90 days. I’ve had the card since October and have been using it as my primary card since. I’ve had a Discover card for the past 4 years and have been using it for purchases in the 5% cash back bonus categories.
Cards Used:
Barclay Arrival Card – 40,000 miles (redeemable for $440 in travel) when you spend $3000 in the 90 days. Earn 2x miles on all purchases. 10% miles back every time you redeem for travel. $89 annual fee.
Discover It – 5% cash back in categories that change each quarter, up to the quarterly maximum. 1% cash back on everything else No annual fee.