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‘I’m doing the SAS million points challenge – here’s how’ (Part 2)

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Rob writes: Last month, SAS announced the million points challenge – here’s our article. If you can fly 15 of the SkyTeam alliance carriers by the end of 2024, you will receive 1 million bonus SAS EuroBonus points.

It’s not a competition – everyone who hits the target will get the points.

A number of HfP readers took up the challenge. One of them was Barry Collins, who you may have seen discussing the challenge in The Times last week – click here (paywall, or click here for a non-paywall version).

Barry is sharing his trip with HfP readers. This is Part 2, looking at ‘how’. Click here to read Part 1, looking at ‘why’. Over to Barry ….

How did I book my SAS million points challenge flights?

I knew the rules from SAS (click here) – and I had my own personal set of rules as set out by my wife – so I could get down to brass tacks and start booking.

After watching many episodes of the BBC’s ‘Race Across The World‘, I always think the ones who travel overnight will win, as they are the ones that keep moving rather than staying put. This meant that my original plan was to go as hard and fast as possible, keeping moving, and spending as little time in one place as I could.

This idea quickly went out of the window when we decided to go to Spain during half term with our 7 year old. This let me tick off one airline along the way – in this case Air Europa out of Madrid – which made the main European leg easier.

I also decided that I would try and get an overnight stay wherever possible in countries I hadn’t visited before. It was dipping my toe in, to see if we should all come back another time as a family.

Because of this (and other mistakes I made along the way) I know the trip could have been done cheaper. That said, I thought it was important to balance getting some experiences along the way with completing the challenge and getting the points. 

I had decided to break the flights up into three legs, based around the home bases of the airlines.

The European leg

Europe, being closest and cheapest, was first to be booked.

A 48 hour trip over one weekend would suit just fine for the four remaining European airlines – TAROM, Air France, KLM and competition sponsor SAS.

As the only ‘home base’ I had never visited was Romania (home of TAROM), I would spend the night in Bucharest. The route fell into place pretty quickly once I had decided on that.

I booked each of these flights individually which was my first mistake. I figured out when arranging the American leg that I should have booked connecting flights covering multiple airlines, but it simply didn’t occur to me. 

The North American leg

North America was fairly simple to plan with only three airlines to consider – Virgin Atlantic, Delta and Aeromexico.

As I had visited the USA and Mexico a number of times, I decided to go full ‘night bus’ with this route. My plan was to travel non stop for about 36 hours over one weekend. This also meant I could be home in time to see Rag n Bone Man in concert on the Sunday as we’d had tickets booked for months! 

My second mistake was planning and booking the European and North American legs completely separately from one another. As it turned out it was cheaper to fly home from Mexico City via Paris with a short Air France connection than it was to fly direct – meaning I could have dropped the Air France flight from my European trip.

The Asian leg 

Asia was FAR trickier.

I am not a professional traveller so it took a while to figure out a route that would allow me to stop off along the way whilst not doubling back on myself multiple times or spending far more than I needed to.

After about three days of searching flight map sites, along with Kayak and Skyscanner, I finally had a route I was comfortable with. 

This fell apart on the very first flight I tried to book (on trip.com) as the price doubled on the payment screen! All of the comparison sites prices then updated accordingly, and it threw me off completely.

I had already committed to the first eight flights across Europe and America so there was no turning back. I adjusted my route on the fly (if you’ll excuse the pun) and ended up losing an overnight stay somewhere I hadn’t been before whilst adding three extra flights to my route – albeit at a lower overall price. Not ideal.

My suggestion to anyone looking at numerous flights in the way I did for this booking – use a travel agent! And if not, use a VPN and private browsing. 

My final itinerary

Trip 1 – Gatwick to Barcelona (easyjet), Madrid to Gatwick (Air Europa) booked as part of a family holiday

Trip 2 – Heathrow to Paris (Air France) – Paris to Bucharest (TAROM) – Bucharest to Amsterdam (KLM) – Amsterdam to Stockholm (SAS) – Stockholm to Heathrow (SAS) 

Trip 3 – Heathrow to Atlanta (Virgin Atlantic) – Atlanta to Mexico City (Delta) – Mexico City to Paris (Aeromexico) – Paris to Heathrow (Air France) 

Trip 4 – Stansted to Istanbul (Pegasus) – Istanbul to Riyadh (Pegasus) – Riyadh to Jeddah (Saudia) – Jeddah to Jakarta (Saudia) – Jakarta to Singapore (Garuda) – Singapore to Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) – Ho Chi Minh to Taipei (China Airlines) – Taipei to Xiamen (Xiamen Airlines) – Xiamen to Shanghai (Xiamen Airlines) – Shanghai to Seoul (Korean) – Seoul to Shanghai (China Eastern) – Shanghai to Gatwick (China Eastern)

The total cost for the flights was around £3,200 which – aside from the fun of planning and undertaking the challenge itself – is an excellent deal for the 1 million EuroBonus points plus the standard miles earned. Assuming all goes to plan, that is.

Click here for the next article in this series, as Barry starts the challenge.

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Comments (102)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Ian S says:
    26 Nov26 November 06:49

    What about Visas? Do you need visas for any of the countries if you go landside (eg to change airports or overnight in a hotel)?

    • Jonathan says:
      26 Nov26 November 08:18

      I’ve recently booked a one way flight from the Arabian peninsula to London with Saudia, and although the price goes up to add a long layover in Riyadh or Jeddah, it means your visa is taken care of for the short break, KSA charges I think something like $120 to process a tourist evisa if you’re wishing to go there as a regular tourist, spending more than the 3-4 maximum allowed by the layover

      • Dubious says:
        27 Nov27 November 02:16

        The maximum airside transit period (i.e. no visa required) is 12-hrs.
        The tourist evisa is independent of transit.
        The cheapest visa is an official ‘transit visa’ but getting one (and finding out how to get one) is the hard part and might not be worth any savings.

  • DaveT says:
    26 Nov26 November 06:59

    I take it at £3200 all the flights were in economy?
    If so who on earth would want to do that amount of flying in economy even for a million air miles

    • Steve says:
      26 Nov26 November 08:05

      The OP for one.

    • IanT says:
      26 Nov26 November 08:17

      Because it allows him to take his family away in premium cabins for a fraction of the cash price. It’s a very good deal in that respect.

      • Ken says:
        26 Nov26 November 08:27

        Would be interested in how usable the points are.
        l’ve seen 50k quoted for J transatlantic flights, but how easy is it to get seats particularly for a family ?

        If someone gave you choice of a million Avios or Virgin points, I’m guessing 90%+ would take Avios. How do these points compare?
        Do they expire ?

      • Talay says:
        26 Nov26 November 11:35

        In theory, sure, you can go premium for the points and a not inconsiderable amount of cash as fees but if you have kids and want to find 4 redemptions on a flight there and a flight back, on dates which suit you, then good luck with that.

        Take Avios. So many routes have near zero availability and you cannot rely on booking everything 355 day in advance. In fact, I would halve the value of Avios redemptions because the only moderate availability you truly have is the Qatar 200% option paying double Avios.

        Irrespective of whether you would or would not spend so much time in economy long haul to earn some magic beans, I fear the bigger issue will be finding redemptions you truly want on date you desire for the number of seats you need without wasting the points on what is available.

    • Scott says:
      26 Nov26 November 17:13

      @Dave T – well I guess another approach would be to sit in a stultifying office/factory/shop for a few weeks/months selling your time for cash in order to buy the million points, but who in their right mind would rather do that?

  • Supersub says:
    26 Nov26 November 07:15

    Hold on to your noise-cancelling headphones for that Rag n Bin Man concert.

  • Grumpy Chicken 81 says:
    26 Nov26 November 07:29

    I would love to do something like this. The only problem would be that after having spent £3k plus to earn the million bonus points, I wouldn’t be able to afford any more holidays to use them.

  • mnlbay says:
    26 Nov26 November 07:30

    I wish you luck, Rob! However, I’m not certain on your China routing – in particular the Xiamen to Shanghai. Do you exit China within 24h of entry or hold a passport that allows visa free visits?

    On British Passport-
    You can do 24h domestic transfer within China with confirmed international flights showing your exit.
    You can get a Transit Without Visa for Shanghai and Beijing – but you can’t go to other places in China (I.e. Xiamen to Shanghai).

    Worth having a check if you haven’t taken the routing already – I had a straightforward connection on Air China at PVG/Beijing this year which was completely awful. I hope yours goes better.

    Taipei to Xiamen (Xiamen Airlines) – Xiamen to Shanghai (Xiamen Airlines) – Shanghai to Seoul (Korean) – Seoul to Shanghai (China Eastern) – Shanghai to Gatwick (China Eastern)

    • Nico says:
      26 Nov26 November 07:47

      They are very strict on rules! Once forced a mate to buy a new ticket as they did not like his departing from an other airport.
      That being said wondering why brits still need visa with so many european countries exempt, maybe Starmer brought it up at his recent meeting with the Chinese president.

      • John says:
        26 Nov26 November 07:54

        Some British citizens (associated with Hong Kong, granted full citizenship in the late 1980s to encourage them to stay in HK) are not recognised by the PRC.

  • jj says:
    26 Nov26 November 07:44

    What happens when a flight gets cancelled and replaced by an alternative carrier (eg Virgin cancels and re-routing is on Delta)? It feels inevitable that will happen at least once on trips of this complexity.

    • Nico says:
      26 Nov26 November 07:48

      You’d have to refuse the re routing

    • Jonathan says:
      26 Nov26 November 08:24

      It shouldn’t really be too much of a problem flights being cancelled at the very last minute, normally airlines will tend to do changes at least a number of weeks I advance, always at least 2 weeks so they’re not bound by EU/UK261 compensation requirements. Flights getting cancelled or schedule changes at the last minute is usually down to things like weather conditions, which is rare

      • john says:
        26 Nov26 November 09:58

        Or planes going tech, which is not unrare. The problem is if you are delayed and then miss an onward flight if they aren’t on the same ticket.. it could throw off the hole itinerary.

        • Jonathan says:
          26 Nov26 November 10:14

          That’s why you don’t book tight connections when the next flight isn’t in the same booking

  • JM says:
    26 Nov26 November 07:59

    Just to say the sudden increase in price when trying to finalise the booking on trip.com isn’t related to needing a vpn or private browsing – they are notorious for offering a cheap headline rate to appear on the search results and then bumping it at (or after!) booking

  • seb says:
    26 Nov26 November 08:26

    @rob I have completed the Europe and Asia segments of the challenge. I am having issues getting Air Europa and China Airlines miles being credited.

    My experience so far:

    – Their webpage to raise claims is broken (seams like it has been for a while)
    – Their chat-based customer service on chat is non-responsive
    – Their email responses are generic non-sense with no tangible next steps

    Any suggestions on how to reach out to Eurobonds and get this solved ?

    Thanks

    • Rob says:
      26 Nov26 November 08:47

      No, but it doesn’t sort itself out by 1st January I’ll give you the details of the key people.

      • Nico says:
        26 Nov26 November 08:55

        Thank Rob.
        I have similar issues and for even more airlines, hopefully will be sorted by then as there has to be many others in the same situation.

      • seb says:
        26 Nov26 November 09:38

        OK, thanks Rob. Much appreciated.

        Regards

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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