Dude Flies First Class To Tokyo For Only $76, Saves $17,250 On Trip Thanks To Points And Miles Trick

For his father’s 60th birthday, Sam Huang took his dad to Japan to see the infamous Cherry Blossom trees in full bloom. Sam runs the website TopMiles, a forum dedicated to traveling the world by taking advantage of airline and credit card miles. For this trip, Sam was able to fly he and his dad First Class from Jakarta to Tokyo on Garuda Indonesia, a 5-star airline, and he only had to spend $76 on the flight that would normally cost over $7,000.

Sam took advantage of a 90% off mileage flash sale that Garuda ran. With that flash sale, he was able to redeem 13,500 Garuda miles and pay $76 to secure the insanely luxurious first class tickets for him and his dad. On his blog, Sam claims this was the deal of the year, “To say this was the mileage deal of the year would be putting it mildly. For comparison’s sake, a one-way ticket in coach within the US on United or American Airlines would run you 12,500 miles. Instead, for an additional mere 1,000 points I was able to book one of the finest first class products in the world!

Once in Japan, Sam only spent $750 on a trip that was estimated to cost $18,000 by cashing in a total of 250,000 points on hotels, drinks, and meals. Sam and his dad even stayed at the ultra luxurious and world famous Grand Hyatt Tokyo where Lost in Translation with Bill Murray was filmed.

If you’re like me, and you’ve never flown First Class internationally then the photographs of Sam’s $76 flight, how they picked him up from his house in a luxury car, and later ushered him through security/immigration and into the VIP lounge, well, the photos might blow your mind…By the way, the food pictured below comes from an on-board chef who comes out to speak privately with all of the First Class passengers and take their orders personally, cooking to exact specifications:

Flying First Class Tokyo Sam Huang Top Miles

Tom Miles / Sam Huang


Flying First Class Tokyo Sam Huang Top Miles

Top Miles / Sam Huang


Flying First Class Tokyo Sam Huang Top Miles

Top Miles / Sam Huang


Flying First Class Tokyo Sam Huang Top Miles

Top Miles / Sam Huang


Flying First Class Tokyo Sam Huang Top Miles

Top Miles / Sam Huang


Actually, I lied. I have flown First Class internationally once before but it was on Aero Mexico. I got bumped up while checking in, and it was a 6 am flight. We weren’t served meals, the booze was already free because it was an international flight. The only real enhanced amenity was the seats were larger and had more legroom than back in coach. I can’t even imagine what flying across the pond on Emirates First Class would be like…One can only dream.

To check out Sam’s blog and learn more about points deals and how he’s flying around the world for super cheap you can follow the link to TopMiles.com.

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Cass Anderson is the Editor-in-Chief of BroBible. Based out of Florida, he covers an array of topics including NFL, Pop Culture, Fishing News, and the Outdoors.