• Substack

How to Fly Atlanta to Manila, Philippines with Miles & Get $.017 Per Point

Whether going to visit the Philippines to enjoy the natural beauty and amazingly crystal clear waters or to go back to visit family, it’s a long haul from the United States. Our recent request to fly from Atlanta to Manila, Philippines clocks in at near 21 hours with one stop.

We were able to find a roundtrip flight for just 93k miles which gave us $.017 point per mile. Keep reading to find out how you can book this flight yourself.

So that’s why we’ve opened up a FREE Dream Trip: Free Credit Card Consultation, and this was one of our questions from our loyal subscribers on Youtube.

Points and Miles Request

Home Aiport *
Atlanta Intl Airport
Do you have trip coming up? If not, what is your dream trip? Let us know how many people and where you want to visit. *
Philippines for 2 person
How do you want to fly there?
Economy / Cheapest
How do you want to fly home?
Economy / Cheapest
How are you traveling?
Couple
How many airline miles or points do you currently have? Please list them out *
34,00 points amex
Which Credit Cards Do You Have? *
  • American Express® Gold Card
  • Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express
List Any Additional Cards
Discover
How many cards have you applied for in the last 24 months?
5+
How much could you reasonably spend per month in total on credit cards?
0-$1000

Flights Available

Flying from ATL to MNL requires a stop, which is always a pain and makes trips longer than they should be, so normally whenever we look for award flights, we always focus on flights that are the shortest duration to save our sanity.

We’ve got two flights we’re focusing on initially, the Qatar and the Delta flight. Since the points requester already has Amex points (which is a Delta partner), we focused on that route.

If they had Capital One points, we would have focused on the Qatar route, because we could have scored a flight with less points, but since that wasn’t an option, we focused on where they had an existing pool of points.

So let’s show you how we can book this Delta flight for the least amount of points.

Our Recommendation

Checking out the Delta Award Chart, we found the sweet spot being 93k miles roundtrip. If you want to use the least amount of points, you always need to be flexible on your travel dates. Here we are leaving on a Wednesday and returning on Wednesday. We could also leave on a Thursday and return on Thursday for the same 93k.

Alternatively, if we left on a Saturday and returned Saturday, the price would jump to 142,500 miles.

How to Get More Delta Miles

So our current point balance is 34k miles in American Express Membership Rewards, and since Amex is a Delta transfer partner, we recommend getting more Amex points for this flight.

93k miles x 2 = 186k miles – 34k miles = 152k miles needed

The fastest way to score 152k miles is by taking advantage of Welcome Bonuses by signing up for a new card. Currently on our CardMatch Tool, we’ve seen an Amex Platinum offering 100k miles as a welcome bonus.

I always recommend trying the CardMatch Tool because it does a soft pull on your credit, which is akin to checking your credit card (not the same as signing up for a card), so the effect really is minimal and the results can be amazing.

If you don’t get matched with the 100k offer, the listed offer for The Platinum Card from American Express is still 60k points with $5,000 spend within the first 3 months, which isn’t too shabby.

We hope this was helpful and thank you for trusting us to help plan your Dream Trip!

If you want your own Dream Trip plan, right now we’re offering FREE Credit Card Consultations, so fill this out and let us know how we can help you plan your Dream Trip.

Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Lifetailored has partnered with Creditcards.com for our coverage of credit card products. Lifetailored and Creditcards.com may receive a commission from card issuers Additional Disclosure: This site has affiliate links. We may be compensated when users make a purchase or register to a third party website. For more details read our privacy policy.

More in Flight Hacks

  • Fly Business Class to Nepal

    Today we are helping plan a dream trip to Fly Business Class to Nepal. Nepal is a geographically diverse wonder with...

    andrew@lifetailored.comFebruary 10, 2021
  • Fly to Santorini for 30k Points

    Today we are helping a couple book their dream trip and fly to magnificent Santorini, Greece for just 30k points. This...

    andrew@lifetailored.comNovember 10, 2020
  • Fly First Class to Italy for 53k Points

    Today we are helping a couple book their dream trip and fly First Class to Italy and European destinations beyond. Europe...

    andrew@lifetailored.comOctober 6, 2020
  • Fly to the Maldives for 47k Points

    Today we are helping a couple book their dream trip and fly to the Maldives for 47k points. We absolutely love...

    andrew@lifetailored.comAugust 25, 2020
  • Fly Business Class to Bali for 99k Points

    Today we are helping a couple book their dream trip and Fly Business Class to Bali. Bali is a southeast Asian...

    andrew@lifetailored.comAugust 5, 2020