Without going into too many details, I have to make a last minute emergency trip to the US and will be bringing both my infant and husband. To complicate matters, we will have to stop in 3 different cities to take care of things. I havent been to the US in over a decade so I feel super unprepared.
Looking at prices, the cheapest to fly round trip and to the needed cities will be like Â¥400,000~500,000 which is pretty much our family’s monthly combined income and just on tickets not to mention hotel and food and other expenses. We don’t have any credit cards that are linked to any airlines it seems, so I’m wondering if anyone can ELI5 if there are any other ways to put this money to good use (without taking out another credit card) that can help us get rewards or accumulate miles or whatever so we arent throwing out a few grand and multiple flights with nothing back? Hoping maybe this much flying can at least get a cheaper flight someday in the future. Or conversely maybe get free checked luggage on the return flight (the cheapest flights only allow one bag, but maybe miles can be exchanged for an extra bag at the end? No idea, and I’m panicking and overwhelmed).
A second question- what kind of travel insurance or companies have you guys used when going to the US? I havent been in over a decade and never used any travel insurance in the US before that, but now I have an infant and I’m terrified they’ll get sick or something will happen and the US hospital charge will kill us。We have private health insurance here but not sure how much it applies to abroad (searching now) and all the fine print, so with this much on my plate I wonder if extra insurance would be worth it.
Thank you to anyone that has advice! I’m doing my best with all this being thrown at me on top of newborn sleep deprivation so hope this is the right place.
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I’m sorry can’t help with the first part but when I traveled to the states with my 7 month old, I used IMG patriot plus and was so glad I did. He got an ear infection and I took him to urgent care and paid nothing for the visit and $15 for the medicine. It was such a relief.
one off round trip in economy isn’t going to generate enough miles for a reward, and the ones it does generate will expire in 3-5 years. especially if you aren’t booking entire trip with a single carrier like ANA or JAL, or using their code share. just charge it to a CC you have with the highest cashback/points.
no idea about the insurance/etc questions.
In terms of credit cards, Japanese card bonuses are generally less generous. *If* you still have a US address and credit file and you’re looking at Delta then try for their US credit card. If you’re approved you’ll usually get an instant card number which you can use to make the booking, and there’s an offer going around that should get you 70000 miles for US$2000 spend. For one person that’s a low-season roundtrip ticket to the US, or two roundtrips within Asia (within Asia, Delta miles can be used on Korean Air, China Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, or Garuda Indonesia flights).