Last night, my husband and son returned from a whirlwind 3-night trip to New York City for the US Open. They had the time of their lives watching their favorite tennis pros play live and in person. Imagine being a huge tennis fan and seeing:
My husband and son left nothing on the table during their time at the US Open. They went to tennis drills in the morning:
They watched multiple matches each day:
They even took advantage of the Chase cardholder lounge for free drinks, fruit and ice cream:
One thing I know for sure: This trip wouldn’t have happened without our strategy of collecting miles and points through credit card sign-up bonuses. We normally don’t travel for special events like this on a whim. But since the hotel and flights were free (or almost free), trips like this become possible.
How We Did It
Hotel: Hyatt Place Flushing/LaGuardia Airport for 15,000 World of Hyatt points per night. This is a Category 3 hotel that normally costs 12,000 points, but during peak times (like the US Open) it goes up to 15,000 points. Cash rates for the weekend were over $400/night.
This hotel is perfect for the US Open because it’s only one subway stop away from the stadium (or a 20-minute walk). My family actually stayed at this hotel on our very first family trip to New York City.
To get the Hyatt points to book this hotel, we transferred points from my Chase Sapphire Preferred card to Hyatt.
Flights: Somehow, we lucked out and scored flights from Dallas to LaGuardia on American Airlines for only 6500 miles + $5.60 each way. We earned AA miles from our Bask Bank Mileage Savings accounts and from the Citi/AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard.
Final Thoughts
I like tennis, but I don’t LOVE tennis like my husband and son do. I was happy staying home this weekend, but I’m so thrilled that they got to experience this incredible event in person. No first-class flights or fancy hotels were involved, but we still saved a few thousands dollars that enabled us to splurge on US Open event tickets. I will keep chasing miles and points so that we can do more travel for less money.
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
I flew to NYC too for weekend with my high school son who loves tennis to the see the US Open. Stayed at the same Hyatt. Definitely makes it more affordable but as frugal person, it’s still an expensive trip- paying for tickets, stadium food, souvenirs, etc.
@Al I hope you had a great time! You’re right, the tickets and food can be super expensive! We didn’t splurge on great seats, but my husband said if they go again he’d only get tickets to Ashe for the night sessions and utilize the GA in the morning/afternoon for the practice courts and GA seats at Armstrong.
I’m so happy for your son! What an incredible treat. Using miles and points for popular events is always a great bang for your buck.
Looks fabulous! Too bad they couldn’t see Djokovic play too.
Yes, they would have loved to see Djokovic too.