UPDATE: A few years ago, in pre-pandemic times, JuicyMiles (now known as POINT.ME) helped us use our many airline miles and AMEX points to get us to Europe on a press trip in luxurious business class. Now that there is a glimmer of hope for leisure travel in the future, I wanted to reprint the article I wrote about this excellent company back in 2017. I can’t recommend POINT.ME enough, and I am crossing my fingers to be able to use their service again soon.

Here is my 2017 article, with updated pricing. for 2022:

I just returned from mileage points hell.

For years, my husband and I have been happily charging everything we purchase on a handful of different credit cards that stuff our wallets, saving up for “that big day” when we would blow our mileage wad on the trip of a lifetime.

Well, that trip materialized--in the form of a month-long grand tour of Europe.

With almost a million mileage points under our belt, we naively thought we had the skill set to easily book business class seats to our destination. After all, how difficult could it be?

The answer: EXTREMELY!

Thinking we could easily do this on our own (especially because our travel dates were off-season), we started a week-long journey into the endless quagmire of mileage sites in our quest to redeem our points for an actual ticket. Our first problem was the fact that our dates weren’t flexible, as we had booked two separate cruises and had to tailor our schedule around the embarkation/debarkation dates for each. Our location on the West coast also compounded the problem, as mileage flights out of San Diego seemed to be non-existent, at least to our untrained eyes.

Finally, I came to my senses, and realized we needed help-- big time.

Thus began my search for a service that helps those mileage holders (who have no clue as to how to redeem their miles) translate their points into an actual ticket. I did my research and, based on some stellar online reviews, decided to go with Juicymiles.com. The fee of $200 per itinerary booked seemed reasonable, seeing we had just exhausted a week of our communal time in this quest.

To say that our assigned agent was a mileage angel from heaven is an understatement. He worked diligently from the get-go, and through all sorts of frustrations, such as flights disappearing the moment we were ready to book them!

When you start working with a Juicy Miles agent, you will receive enough information to make a decision on the flights (#of stops, time of day, etc.) without seeing exact flight details. Once you pay your fee and are ready to book, the flights will be revealed to you. They won’t book any flights until they receive your acceptance and no payment is required unless you are completely satisfied with your proposed itinerary.

It doesn’t get better than that.

If you feel comfortable having your Juicy Miles agent book your flight for you (as we did), even more stress is removed from the process.

Our happy ending: we got our lie down seats in business class with a combination of miles and cash, but at a fraction of what these business class seats would have cost us had we purchased them outright.

Trust me, it will be the best $200 you will ever spend!

Disclaimer: Please note that the opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own. I paid the fee for the Juicy Miles service, and will not receive any future compensation based on sales arising from my recommendation. My goal is to share my favorite travel tips with my followers, in an effort to improve the travel experience for all.