Best strategy to fly free/cheaper to Geneva?

[BlueberryPie]

My wife and I want to fly out to Geneva this summer (to go hike the Tour du Mont Blanc, a 10-day, 100 miles hike) and trying to see if I can use my various cards/rewards, even open a new card for its bonus, to keep the cost down.

- My wife has a Chase Sapphire preferred with 106000 points worth a little over $1300 in travel credit
- those $106k points could also be transfered to a partner airline
- We earn 2 reward points per $ spent

- I have 32,400 miles in my United MileagePlus account, my only airline loyalty program. It looks like a round trip travel on miles is $70k mile, so I'm not even close.
- I have a Capital One Venture that reimburses travel expenses at 1 cent per reward mile and 2 miles per dollar spent, I think it can also transfer miles to United rather than $ conversion.

We can put $3-5k a month on either credit card, but I will likely need to book travel early in the year so no time to build miles really. That also could be a problem for any new card I would open to get the sign-,up bonus if it takes too long to meet.

As of today, the round trip to Geneva is about $1600-$1800 or $70k United Miles

I think I can't transfer my wife's Chase Ultimate rewards to my mileage plus account as we're not the same person. Maybe she can add me as an authorized user (even though I have my own Sapphire, already used this points).
EDIT: looks like she may be able to transfer her Chase points to me as an alternative.

So far my best plan is as follows:
- continue using Sapphire for current purchases and Xmas shopping for either future $ credit on flight or extra mileage on United.
- when I'm ready to book, make sure I can book 2 people on the dates I want with United Miles rewards
- if so transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to United. With today's balances I can be right above 140k miles by the time I purchase, Allowing both of us to fly for free.
- plan B is to use the Chase Ultimate rewards points at 1.25 cents travel credit to buy tickets, but that will only more or less cover one ticket, so the trip will be $1700

Is there any card I could apply for that would allow me to get more United Miles as a sign up bonus right now? Since I'd be booking with United Miles, it can't be a card that requires you to buy the flight from their portal.

 

[BlueberryPie]

It looks like I should try to open a United Explorer card if Chase will let me (I opened a Sapphire in June) and get 40k miles (spending the $2k is no issue).
$0 introductory fee. You also get free checked luggage ( I think you just need to pay fees/taxes from the award travel with that credit card) and 2 lounge passes.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

You might also consider using 2 airlines. Check out Iberia for the overseas leg of your trip. I found fights for one business class seat from NY to Madrid for 64,000 Chase Rewards points. Non-business class seats were less points, of course. I will use another airline (points or dollars, I haven’t booked that leg yet) to get to NY. Maybe you could use your United miles for that part. You could do similar and then find a low cost carrier for the Madrid to Geneva leg.

Look for combinations of carriers.

 

[BlueberryPie]

Hmm, i thought I had some a multiple airlines search but I do see cheaper prices now, so i need to look harder. It will be easier when I know my exact travel dates

 

[PaunchyPirate]

Hmm, i thought I had some a multiple airlines search but I do see cheaper prices now, so i need to look harder. It will be easier when I know my exact travel dates

I used Iberia’s website to find my flights. My dates were flexible, so I adjusted until I found the best deal. Then I transferred my Rewards Points to a new Iberia account I created. I didn’t previously have one. Then I booked the flight on Iberia’s website.

You may find a better solution, but I’m happy with my results. My final destination is Madrid for this trip, so it works for me. But I hope to visit Switzerland next August, and I may use this approach for that trip if I can get my Rewards points back up to the necessary level.