Using points and miles to book business-class flights to Madagascar for my honeymoon

When my fiance and I started planning our honeymoon, we knew we wanted an outdoor adventure with plenty of hiking and wildlife, as well as some time to relax on a beach. We also knew we wanted to splurge and get there in lie-flat seats, which was only financially feasible if we could buy our tickets using points and miles.

My fiance holds two United credit cards and had been stocking up on United MileagePlus miles for a while, so we started our search with United Airlines. Our hearts leaped when we found business-class Ethiopian Airlines award seats to Madagascar — the vast, lemur-filled island off Africa’s east coast — for only 88,000 miles each way. With plenty of hiking trails and wildlife-spotting opportunities, as well as world-class beaches and luxurious resorts, Madagascar seemed like the perfect marriage of outdoor adventure and relaxation.

But booking these tickets was much harder than we thought, thanks to a quirk in Ethiopian Airlines’ award seat system. It took some flexibility and persistence, but here’s how we managed to book our dream honeymoon with points and miles.

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Booking Ethiopian Airlines flights with United miles

Madagascar has two international airports: Ivato International Airport (TNR) in the capital city of Antananarivo and Fascene Airport (NOS) on the island paradise of Nosy Be. We decided to fly into TNR, take a tour from there to Nosy Be and fly home from NOS.

Since United and Ethiopian Airlines are both members of Star Alliance, we could book Ethiopian award flights using United MileagePlus miles via United’s site. We would need 88,000 miles per person each way, plus taxes and fees of $14 on the way there and $120 coming home. The award flights were mixed-cabin, so the shortest leg (a 2 1/2-hour flight to Chicago from our home in Denver) was in economy and the rest of the journey was in business class. That was fine by us — our main priority was getting lie-flat seats for the 14-hour flight between Chicago and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

My fiance had been saving up United miles for a trip such as this. He’s had the United℠ Explorer Card for several years, and earlier this year, he boosted his mileage balance with a welcome bonus on his new United Quest℠ Card. Now we were finally ready to spend those hard-earned miles on our honeymoon.

We started by booking a one-way flight for both of us from Denver International Airport (DEN) to TNR. Booking one-way fares separately is often cheaper than purchasing a round-trip flight, and it can be easier to search for award space this way. I had some United miles of my own, but we ultimately decided to have my fiance book both flights because his Explorer Card gives him Premier Silver status, two annual lounge passes and a free checked bag for himself and a travel companion. If he booked our award flights, we could take advantage of these perks.

The flights from Denver to Madagascar cost 88,000 United miles plus $14 in taxes and fees per person. They also included an overnight layover in Chicago, which seems pretty common for United’s Denver-to-Africa itineraries. Determined not to pay a dime for our honeymoon flights, I booked a night at the Hyatt Place Chicago/Midway Airport using my World of Hyatt points. Rooms that Saturday night were going for 8,000 points or $264 cash, giving me a great value of 3.3 cents per point. (TPG’s October 2024 valuations peg World of Hyatt points at 1.7 cents apiece.)

Related: United Premier status: What it is and how to earn it

A dilemma to get home

This is where our best-laid plans hit a snag. Our return flights cost 88,000 United miles plus $120 in taxes and fees per person — but when we prepared to book them, suddenly, there was no award availability. The problem? We had been searching award availability for one seat. Now that we were searching for two, the award space was all of a sudden gone.

We searched every possible flight route home and every possible date in October. (Since our flight to Madagascar was booked with miles and United’s award seats are fully refundable, we could easily adjust our dates.) But on every single flight from Nosy Be to Denver, only business-class tickets for one person, but not two, were available. What were the odds that exactly one seat was left on every flight?

With some more digging, we found the culprit: On one leg of our route home, a flight from NOS to Addis Ababa Bole International Airport (ADD), Ethiopian Airlines only allows one partner award ticket per flight.

So, my fiance booked his flight home from NOS to DEN, filling Ethiopian Airlines’ single award seat on the NOS-ADD segment. We hoped that, with that seat taken, another would soon open up. We waited a couple weeks, checking constantly, but had no such luck.

Although Ethiopian Airlines allows only one award seat on that NOS to ADD flight through partner airlines, there were plenty of award seats available on the airline’s site — and for pretty cheap. I would need only 20,000 ShebaMiles to book an economy ticket through the carrier. Unfortunately, there’s virtually no way to earn ShebaMiles without flying Ethiopian (which I’ve never done). None of the transferable credit card rewards can be converted to ShebaMiles, and ShebaMiles doesn’t offer any credit cards to U.S.-based customers. So, my hopes were dashed again.

We considered scrapping our Madagascar plans and taking the trip back to the drawing board, but we didn’t give up just yet. By now, we had our hearts set on seeing lemurs.

We went ahead and booked my partial flight home from ADD to DEN, which cost the same 88,000 miles as my fiance’s longer route from NOS to DEN, thinking I could book the NOS to ADD leg with cash. Then, I saw the cash price: $1,100. That’s pretty steep for a 1,600-mile economy ticket and way out of our honeymoon budget.

I began searching for other options, thinking I could catch an earlier flight from NOS to ADD the same day on Ethiopian Airlines or a different airline. Again, no luck. Much to my dismay, there is exactly one flight that goes from NOS to ADD. It’s operated by Ethiopian Airlines, and it runs every other day. So, the only way this option could work would be if one of us stayed two extra days in Madagascar and we flew home separately — not exactly how we wanted to end our honeymoon.

We considered taking a regional flight from Nosy Be back to Antananarivo, from where we could fly home together (apparently, Ethiopian Airlines allows more than one award seat on pretty much all flights except NOS to ADD). But between the regional flight to Antananarivo and another night in a hotel near the airport, it would cost us almost as much as the $1,100 cash ticket.

It seemed Ethiopian Airlines was determined to keep me in Madagascar. Dark visions began to flit through my mind: me stuck on the island, running out of hotel money and eventually running wild with the lemurs. But I decided to explore one last option.

Related: Reader success story: How this couple used credit card bonuses to book a $15,000 honeymoon trip to Japan

Chase Ultimate Rewards points to the rescue

Since I hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card, I have access to the Chase Travel℠ and Capital One Travel portals — and the NOS to ADD flight happened to be available on both. The price was about the same as on Ethiopian’s site ($1,100). Since I could get a flat rate of 1 cent per Capital One mile, it would cost me 110,000 miles if I booked through Capital One Travel. But I could get a better rate of 1.25 cents per point on the Chase portal, bringing the cost down to roughly 88,000 points.

It was more points than I’d hoped to spend, but it would allow me to fly home with my partner and still get our flights on points and miles. But unlike the award flights booked through United, this flight booked through Chase Travel would be nonrefundable. Before I spent 88,000 points on it, I searched United one last time to see if any new award seats had popped up.

They hadn’t — in economy. But now a single business-class seat was open, and it cost only 65,000 MileagePlus miles.

I had about 35,000 miles in my account from a combination of flying, booking United hotels, and using the MileagePlus Shopping portal. I transferred 30,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to my United account and booked that ticket — saving 13,000 points in the process (and upgrading myself to business class).

I technically won’t be able to sit next to my soon-to-be-husband on the flight from NOS to ADD, and I do feel slightly guilty leaving him to languish in economy while I sip cocktails and enjoy hot towels in business class, but it’s just a five-hour flight. We’re thrilled to be able to sit together the rest of the way home from Ethiopia to Denver. And, more importantly, I no longer have to wonder what life would be like as a feral lemur girl.

The only concern is the fate of my checked bag. Since my flight from NOS to ADD isn’t on the same ticket as my flight from ADD to DEN, I will have to collect my bag at ADD and re-check it during my two-hour layover, which could be tight. Since my fiance’s United Quest℠ Card gives him two free checked bags, we’ll probably check my bag under his name to ensure it has the most straightforward journey home.

With the addition of my NOS to ADD flight, we spent a grand total of 417,000 Chase points and United miles, plus $268 for two round-trip flights to Madagascar. For a mixed-cabin itinerary that starts at around $18,400 per person, that comes out to 8.7 cents per point — an excellent value for either United miles or Chase points (which TPG values at 1.35 cents each and 2.05 cents each, respectively, as of October 2024).

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Credit cards we used to book our honeymoon

My fiance paid for the taxes and fees on our flights with his United Quest℠ Card, which earns 3 miles per dollar spent on United purchases.

Our Hyatt stay is entirely free, but if we end up dining at the hotel restaurant that night or buying breakfast the following morning, I’ll pay with my World of Hyatt Credit Card, which earns 4 points per dollar spent on Hyatt purchases.

We booked the rest of our Madagascar trip through a tour agency. It was our honeymoon, after all, and we didn’t want to have to do a ton of planning. We used our Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card to pay for most of the tour because it earns 2 points per dollar spent on travel purchases, comes with built-in trip insurance and doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees.

My fiance also recently got the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card. He used it to pay for part of our tours, which almost overnight earned him the welcome bonus after meeting the spending requirement.

I just got approved for the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, which I plan to use for souvenirs and other nonbonus purchases in Madagascar. This card earns 2 points per dollar spent on all purchases and charges no foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees).

Related: The best credit cards for wedding expenses

Bottom line

Thankfully, we found a workaround so we could achieve our lemur dreams and fly to Africa in lie-flat seats on points and miles. In the process, we learned an important lesson: Always search for award space for the number of tickets you need, even if it’s only two. You may be surprised by how few seats are available from the beginning, depending on the airline’s policy, or which flights might be almost booked up.

Also, keep your search open to all fare classes — you never know when a reasonably priced business-class flight might save the day. And be sure to understand your cancellation policies. If you can book an award flight that’s fully refundable, go ahead and do it — you can always cancel and rebook if you find something better later.