My son, Mason, is a huge Broncos fan. For his 13th birthday, he only wanted to go to a Bronco’s game. He is very hard to resist 🙂 and he got my husband, Rob, on board. Rob then approached me to make it happen.
Unfortunately, Denver is not coming to New York, Philly or Boston this season, three locations that would be an easy drive for us. I knew that they were going to need to fly. I decided that as long as I could secure them free flights and a free stay, Mason could have this game as his birthday gift. Recall, Rob and Mason traveled to Denver a couple of years ago with similar prior conditions. Just like that adventure, I was confident that I would be able to get them a free trip again here.
Rob did not want to go anywhere cold and Mason did not care about the location. We chose to pursue a trip to Jacksonville where Denver is scheduled to play the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, December 4th. My other son, Daniel, a third party beneficiary, is going as well. As I predicted, it was simple to secure them free flights and hotel.
I cannot even remember how I accumulated my American AAdvantage miles, but I have had a nice stash now for years. The balance is never enough to book flights for my family of five, so they have just sat idly in my account for a long time. I finally used them for this trip.
Rob and my two boys are flying out of WESTCHESTER ( 20 minutes from my house) direct to Jacksonville. Each ticket required 32,500 American AAdvantage miles (12.5K for the way there and 20K for the way home). Had I paid for these tickets, the price per ticket would have been $412 per flight. Free flights were a condition to them going, so in my mind, I saved $1,200 despite whether it was worth it in terms of actual value.
As for hotel, we are very flush in Hilton HHonors points at the moment because over the last year we received about 250,000 Hilton HHonors points in credit card sign-up bonuses through the American Express Hilton HHonors card, Surpass card and the Citi Hilton HHonors card. Accordingly, I redeemed a night for Rob and the boys at the Double Tree Jacksonville Riverfront, a Category 5 hotel, for 40,000 Hilton HHonors points. The night would have cost $180 had we paid for the room.
In addition to the free stay, they receive a free complimentary breakfast because they benefit from my Hilton HHonors Gold status. I am a Gold member, through my American Express Hilton HHonors Surpass card as well as my American Express Business Platinum card.
I am really excited for all of them-Rob who loves these boys weekends, Daniel, the third party beneficiary and Mason, my die hard Broncos fan. I love that I can make this happen for all of them!
