Friday Family Vacation to London

Pam

We hear from many of our readers that they’d love to go to London for a family trip. I love London – the red double decker buses, Big Ben, and those red telephone booths are some of my favorite sights. Because one of my daughters has lived there for 17+ years, it is the international city that I travel to most of the time. Let’s get our family of four over to jolly old London this Friday! Friday Family Vacation to London works as follows:

 

Flights

I would say that I have traveled to London at least 80% of the time on a United flight. Most of those were in economy class (before I got into credit card points and miles. I have primarily flown out of San Francisco or Denver with an occasional positioning flight to the east coast.

We will plan to fly on United, and you can either use one of the United cards or transfer to United from a card that earns Ultimate Rewards. I can pretty consistently find award flights to London on United for 60K roundtrip, if I am not planning on holiday or summer travel. I may have to pay another 10+K per person in the summer for a flight. Having a United credit card also allows me to book Saver Award flights. Note that flights out of London Heathrow (LHR) have higher surcharges, so you must account for that.

 

Screenshot United flights

 

To book these flights, you will need four credit card signups among these cards. (There are more cards that earn Ultimate Rewards you could choose from).

 

 

 

 Lodging

One of the problems with lodging in London and all over Europe is not being able to find availability for a family in one room. They have very strict lodging criteria, and you might find getting four people in a room much more difficult. It may necessitate getting a second room.

A budget-friendly option is an IHG Holiday Inn Express. When in London, a family is going to be out exploring most of the day, and so it is almost a waste of money (or points) for a nicer hotel. There are several Holiday Inns to choose from in London.

 

Screenshot of Holiday Inns in London

 

The following card could get you a few nights at these hotels. You can stay longer if you and Player 2 each get a card.

 

 

Bottom Line

You can read our itinerary to London to plan your vacation. It will certainly cost more in points/miles to book a trip there, but it is completely doable.  We love that this game lets us plan family trips to help us build memories forever.  Let us know if Friday Family Vacation to London is a trip you take!

Red double decker bus in front of large tower with clock

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  1. Emily Hernandez says:

    This explains how to get a flight using United miles but only for one passenger. The title is family vacation, so how can I get my family of 5 a flight to London using points? There never seems to be a card that offers enough points for this.

    • Pam says:

      We show the price for one person but you would need to multiply that by your family total. Luckily, there are several United cards and many cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards and transfer to United.

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