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For many years, my husband worked his way through the World Marathon Majors, qualifying for marathons domestically and around the world. In 2018, his 2:42 marathon times qualified him for the Tokyo marathon, so in February 2019 we visited Japan together, and used credit card bonus points for part of our stay.

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AIRFARE

Paying for airfare using points and miles is nice, but it’s not always the best use of the points/miles. Because we primarily use Alaska airlines miles accumulated through business travel to fly Alaska or their partners–and we couldn’t find a great award fare at the time–the best option for our Tokyo trip was to pay for tickets and fly in and out of Vancouver, B.C. on Japan Air.

When not redeeming points and miles for flights, we focus on earning more points and miles by strategically purchasing airfare on certain cards. We purchased our Japan Air tickets on this card: open a Citi Premier® Card and earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. With only a $95 annual fee, earn 3 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants and Supermarkets, 3 Points per $1 spent at Gas Stations, Air Travel and Hotels, and 1 Point per $1 spent on all other purchases. By the time you earn your bonus, you’ll have $640 towards travel expenses.

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Purchasing Airfare for Tokyo using a Credit Card Bonus

Another idea for Tokyo airfare: open a Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and earn 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening. Get 10,000 bonus miles (equal to $100 towards travel) every year, starting on your first anniversary. Earn 10X Miles on hotels & rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 5X Miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel, and 2X Miles on all other purchases, every day. By the time you earn your welcome bonus it will equal $790 towards flights or hotel.

For our Tokyo trip, we flew into Narita Airport, and took a train to our hotel in the Tokyo business district. The very first thing I noticed were locals wearing masks on the train (I had never been to Asia before); I think back to that experience a lot now that masks are everywhere!

LODGING

Our main travel trick for this trip was using Chase Ultimate Rewards to book The Park Hotel for six nights through the Chase portal. The rooms at this hotel run ~$150/night; our 60,000+ points booked us a ~$900 hotel stay in Tokyo.

Now is a great time to open this card, because the sign-up bonus is elevated: open a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening (that’s $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®). For only a $95 annual fee, you’ll earn 3x points on dining and on select streaming services and online grocery purchases, 5x points on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards, and 2x points on other travel, as well as a $50 Annual Ultimate Rewards Hotel Credit. The Park Hotel isn’t listed in the portal right now, but hundreds of other Tokyo hotels are listed, costing between 1200-92,000/night (something for everyone).

SIGHTS & EATS

Visiting these shrines and temples and eating at all the Michelin star restaurants helped us hit the minimum spend on our Citi Premier card:

TAKEAWAYS

February may not be the ideal time to visit Tokyo–the cherry blossoms are just coming on and the weather is frigid and rainy–but we made the best of it: my husband avoided freezing to death running the marathon, we enjoyed amazing food, and maximized our credit card points and miles!

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