Booked Trip: Easter Island 2012!

This past weekend I scored 2 LAN Airlines rewards tickets for Easter Island. It is a place I have always been curious about and is very expensive to get too normally. I also worked in some time to visit Mendoza, Argentina so we can relax in the wine country during the harvest season. All in all I have a very nice 1 week getaway planned for us.

I used my 100,000 British Airways miles that I scored from my credit card game. We are going outbound in business class (great since it takes 17+ hours to fly there). We are coming back in coach since the trip is broken up by our stop in Mendoza. I was able to land a cheap local airfare to and from Mendoza so I just bought it outright. Overall I am extremely pleased with the deal I got:

• Cost to obtain 100,000 BA Miles: $95 annual + spending I would have done anyway
• "Buy up" portion of the fare: $383
• Local flights purchased (also LAN): $174x2 = $348

All in cost: $826 out of pocket. That may seem high but the COACH tickets alone to Easter Island and back from Miami would have cost over $2,000 per person. This is a great use of the miles and I get business class on the way there so we can actually get some rest and enjoy our time on the island. This is a great example of how playing the miles games pays off in a big way. For me it made this trip affordable when I previously could not even dream of it financially.

Now I have to figure out what I want to do for Thanksgiving 2012!