How Kyle Booked a Trip to England & Scotland on Points & Miles

How Kyle Booked a Trip to England & Scotland on Points & Miles

50:15 May 29, 2025
About this episode
This week, Kyle walks us through how he booked an epic trip to England and Scotland using points and miles. There’s a business class award to London, an economy flight home, and plenty of flights, hotels and other travel expenses in between. Plus, Phoenix gets its first nonstop flight to Asia and we say goodbye to the Southwest we knew and loved. Do yourself a favor and stick around for Gunnar’s cant-miss, ridiculous story of his own trip to London … when he learned some of England’s beer-drinking rules the hard way at a consequential Chelsea match.Watch us on YouTube!00:45 - Our top tips for the busy summer travel season (& will Real ID matter?)05:45 - Something hot: Phoenix’s strange (but explainable) Starlux nonstop flight to Taipei10:30 - Something cold: Pouring one out with a goodbye to the old Southwest14:50 - A word from our sponsor: Sign up for our (free) Daily Beat Newsletter today!16:10 - The Extra Mile: Exactly how Kyle booked a points & miles trip to England and Scotland this summer19:15 - How he (and about seven other Thrifty Traveler team members!) booked business class for just 29,000 points each way thanks to Virgin’s new pricing mode22:00 - Booking a nonstop Delta flight home … but not with SkyMiles28:30 - The best car rental booking tool out there: AutoSlash31:00 - Booking a hotel stay at a castle in Scotland using Hilton points (at the old, cheaper rate)32:30 - Using Capital One’s $300 travel credit to fill in the rest37:00 - Gunnar’s legendary story of learning England’s beer-drinking laws at a Chelsea soccer match the hard way…42:10 - Listener Question: The Concorde in our studio45:45 - On the Spot: Travel re-treads, or what trips would we try again? Or not?Produced by Gunnar Olson & Jackson NewmanEdited by David StruttShow music: “All That” by Benjamin Tissot Support the show by leaving us a rating and a review wherever you get your podcasts! Have a question you want answered on-air or an idea for the show? Let us know at podcast@thriftytraveler.com
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