How I Booked A Luxury Trip To The Maldives On Credit Card Points – Forbes Advisor

The first thing I booked for my Maldives trip was the flights. I knew I wanted to fly in Qatar Airways’ famous Qsuites business class, and I knew I wanted to use miles to pay for it.

I booked through American Airlines and paid 70,000 AAdvantage miles plus $41.80 for my flights from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Doha, Qatar (DOH) to Male, Maldives (MLE). The segment from JFK to Doha was in Qsuites, while the shorter flight from Doha to Male was in regular Qatar business class.

I earned these points from welcome offers on two American Airlines credit cards—the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®* and the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®*.

• Cardholders of the AAdvantage Aviator Red can earn a welcome bonus of 60,000 bonus miles after your first purchase and paying the $99 annual fee in full, both within the first 90 days of account opening.
• AAdvantage Platinum Select cardholders can earn 50,000 AAdvantage bonus miles after spending $2,500 in purchases in the first 3 months of account opening.

Unfortunately, Qatar business-class availability through American Airlines is much harder to find these days (but it’s still out there), so if you see it, it will be a book first and ask questions later situation.

It’s still possible to find Qatar Qsuites flights through American Airlines. Image Credit: American Airlines

Instead of searching day by day, you can use a tool like seats.aero to find availability. Just click on the “Tools” dropdown box and select “Qatar Qsuites Finder.” It’s not a perfect tool, but it’s a great place to start.

Image Credit: seats.aero

The free version only shows availability two months out, so you’ll need lots of flexibility.

Keep in mind that not all Qatar Airways business-class cabins have the Qsuite product, so you’ll want to double-check that your flight will be in Qsuites before booking. You can do this on the Qatar website. The results list will indicate which flights will have Qsuites.

Image Credit: Qatar Airways

For my return flight, I booked through British Airways. I paid 85,000 Avios plus $334.65 for flights from Male to Doha to New York. The segment from Male to Doha was in regular business class, while the Doha to New York flight was in Qsuites.

Booking Qatar Qsuites through British Airways is a great option. Image Credit: British Airways

Booking Qatar Qsuites through British Airways is a great option.

British Airways Avios are easy to accumulate because they can be transferred 1:1 from American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, Capital One Rewards, Wells Fargo Rewards and Bilt Rewards. You can also transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to British Airways, but it’s at a 3:1 ratio, so it’s not a great deal.

For this redemption, I transferred points from American Express Membership Rewards to British Airways. The points came from welcome bonuses on The Platinum Card® from American Express (Terms apply, see rates & fees) and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (Terms apply, see rates & fees).

These two cards have recently had incredible welcome offers of 100,000 points or more, so they are worth considering if you need a lot of Membership Rewards points fast.

The Platinum Card® from American Express currently offers 80,000 Membership Rewards Points after spending $8,000 on eligible purchases on the card in the first 6 months of card membership. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express’s welcome bonus is 150,000 Membership Rewards® points after spending $20,000 in eligible purchases with the card within the first 3 months of card membership.