Last time we introduced Chicago from the perspective of credit-card/points enthusiasts. This time, let’s continue with New York, one of the hottest travel cities in the United States!

Introduction to New York

New York is the largest city and the largest port in the United States, and also the world’s largest city. It has many world-famous museums and restaurants, exciting attractions, diverse entertainment, and unparalleled shopping. Major sights include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Times Square, Central Park, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and more.

For sightseeing passes, you can choose City Pass (includes 5 attractions) or Go City Card (all-inclusive or pick-and-choose). When buying online, don’t forget to use a portal, which can get you a decent amount of cashback (5%-10%). For other itinerary planning and booking tips, you can refer to the Niagara Falls trip report. A few tips on New York attraction tickets can be found here, and the author also summarizes a few tips at the end of the article.

Flight planning for New York

New York has three airports. The largest is John F. Kennedy International Airport (John F Kennedy International Airport, JFK), located in Queens, about 15 miles from Midtown Manhattan. It is a hub for AA, Delta, and JetBlue. To the northwest is LaGuardia Airport (La Guardia Airport, LGA), also in Queens, 8 miles from Midtown and a hub for AA and Delta. Newark International Airport (Newark International Airport, EWR) is across the Hudson River, 16 miles from Midtown, and is UA’s hub. LGA is mainly used for domestic flights, is the closest to the city, and is usually the cheapest of the three airports. Overall, New York has a huge number of flights, so award space is relatively easy to find, and cash tickets usually are not too expensive either. There are also many low-cost carriers in New York, such as Spirit, but the experience is terrible and not recommended. Southwest, on the other hand, is quite good: the prices are low, and checked bags are free, making it a great option.

Award tickets

If you’re traveling during peak season and fares are especially high, you can prioritize redeeming miles for flights to New York. JFK is a hub for AA, Delta, and JetBlue; LGA is a hub for AA and Delta; EWR is a hub for UA.

  • AA flights: You can redeem using BA miles. If you can’t find a suitable nonstop AA flight and have to connect, you can consider issuing the ticket with AA miles.
  • UA flights: There are also many UA flights, and redeeming with UA miles or AC miles is both a good option.
  • Delta flights: Delta uses variable pricing, so sometimes there are redemptions with excellent value.
  • Southwest flights: Award tickets are directly tied to the cash fare, so when the cash price looks reasonable, you can simply use points to redeem the ticket.

Booking with points

When overall airfares are relatively low, buying tickets with points is more cost-effective than redeeming miles, and you don’t have to worry about finding award space. You can also still earn some miles.

Using cards with annual travel credits to buy tickets

Using a card with an annual travel credit to buy tickets can be the first choice, since the credit is time-limited and it’s better to use it up sooner rather than later. These are mainly premium cards, and you can compare them here. For example: the Chase Sapphire Reserve $300 travel credit, Citi Prestige $250 travel credit, US Bank Altitude Reserve $325 travel credit, AMEX Platinum $200 airline incidental credit, AMEX Hilton Aspire $250 airline incidental credit, and AMEX Gold Card $100 airline incidental credit.

Companion tickets (traveling as a pair)

Companion tickets are also usually time-limited. As long as you can get good value from them, they can take priority over the annual travel credits above.

  • Southwest companion pass: If you have a Southwest companion pass, it is often a no-brainer and is basically like a half-price ticket. Note that Southwest in New York can fly to EWR and LGA. In addition, Southwest offers free checked bags and free cancellations. Gift cards can also be bought at a discount on Amazon or other websites.
  • AA companion ticket: In the past, you could get one by opening the Barclays Aviator Red, or by spending $20,000 per year on the card to earn a companion ticket, but you need to pay an additional $99 + tax. For longer trips, it should still be worth it.
  • Delta companion ticket: The AMEX Platinum Delta SkyMile earns one Delta companion ticket each year. The cost is roughly the annual fee ($195) plus the tax on the second ticket. For longer trips, it should still be worth it.
  • Alaska companion ticket: The BofA Alaska Airline card earns one Alaska companion ticket each year. The cost is roughly the annual fee ($75) + $99 + $22 tax. For longer trips, it should still be worth it. Still, it’s probably more worthwhile to use it for flights to Hawaii.

Buying tickets with a credit card

After the time-limited methods above have been used up, you’ll have to buy the ticket with cash. For specific cashback benefits, you can refer to the Travel credit card comparison. If you’re considering trip delay insurance, reimbursement usually only applies when the delay is over 6 hours, but domestic flights are usually unlikely to be delayed that long.

Airport lounges

  • LGA: The The Centurion Lounge is in Terminal B and requires various versions of AMEX Platinum to enter. It is usually a good place to relax for UA and AA flights; Delta flights are in Terminals C and D, and you can use AMEX Platinum to enter Delta lounges. PPS does not have a lounge at LGA.
  • JFK: PPS has quite a few options, including the Air France Lounge and Korean Airline Lounge in Terminal 1, Wingtips Lounge in Terminal 4, Alaska Lounge in Terminal 7, and Bobby Van's Steakhouse in Terminal 8, where you can use a $28 credit (AMEX’s PPS has removed restaurant benefits, so only Citi and Chase PPS can use this credit); in addition, Terminals 2 and 4 also have Delta lounges.
  • EWR: PPS members can access Art & Lounge and Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse in Terminal B. There is also a Delta lounge in Terminal B.

Getting around the city

A quick note on getting around the city: the subway and buses are very convenient, so renting a car is strongly not recommended, since there is traffic and parking is very expensive. You can also take Uber, but watch the surge pricing; during peak times the fares can be very high. You can use the AMEX Platinum $200 credit here (though it is already included in the annual fee). If you’re feeling flashy, you can try Uber Helicopter from downtown to JFK for $200-225 one way, taking only 8 minutes!

New York hotels

When redeeming overall, use FN (with an expiration date) first, then points, and finally consider paying cash on the official website (combined with various seasonal promotions) or booking through Hotels (the Hotels site introduced by KUKU; see Hotels). For hotel programs, prioritize the one where you have the highest elite status. Assuming everyone is like me and only has status granted by credit cards, that would be Hilton > Marriott = Hyatt.

Hyatt

There are 20 hotels in New York’s central area.

Free Night redemption

Here we only consider Cat 1-4 FN, so the options are very limited.

Points redemption

  • The first choice is of course Park Hyatt New York, Cat 7. Review see here. The cash rate is very high year-round, so points can deliver excellent value here!
  • Grand Hyatt New York, Cat 5. Review see here. It was the world’s first Grand Hyatt developed by Trump, but it was demolished in 2020.
  • Andaz 5th Avenue, Cat 6. Very design-forward, with strong reviews. Readers who have stayed there are welcome to contribute a review!
  • I want to especially mention HGU. In the last small section of the review see here, one reader described it as giving off a county-seat guesthouse vibe. I recommend everyone avoid this landmine in time.

Hilton

There are about 50 hotels in New York’s central area.

Free Night redemption

Hilton’s FN can only be used on weekends, and can be redeemed for standard rooms on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. For a how-to guide, see this article. Since there is no limit on the points required for redemption, we should try to redeem the hotels with the highest point prices possible.

  • Conrad New York Downtown has a standard award rate of 80,000 points. It is an all-suite hotel with no lounge, breakfast buffet only on weekends, and à la carte only at other times.
  • Conrad New York Midtown has a standard award rate of 95,000 points. It used to be the London NYC; review see here. It is an all-suite hotel with no lounge, and the restaurant has recently been under renovation.

In 2021, Waldorf Astoria New York returns, and FN will no doubt be used here. I wonder whether the points requirement will be 120k.

Points

Compared with the high value that Hilton points can often deliver in China, in the U.S. one point is generally worth only around 0.3 cent or 0.4 cent, but in New York the value is still often pretty good; even so, the minimum is usually 60,000 or 70,000. When redeeming, try to avoid Garden Inn and Hampton Inn. In fact, the best points redemption option is still Conrad; the points required for New York overall are just too high.

Marriott

Marriott also has quite a lot of hotels.

Free Night redemption

Marriott’s FN comes in three tiers: the 50k FN from AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant (formerly SPG Luxury) and Chase Ritz-Carlton (discontinued); the 35k FN from AMEX Marriott Bonvoy (formerly SPG, now discontinued) and Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless (formerly Marriott Premier Plus); and the 25k FN from the new-cardholder stay-two-get-one offer.

For 50k FN, there are 17 options (if standard redemption applies).

There are even more 35k FN options, and there are also 5 hotels downtown for 25k FN. Readers can choose based on their needs and availability.

Of course, I’ll list the 4 Cat 8 properties separately. Standard redemption is 85,000 points, but a quick search already shows peak-season redemption at 100,000 points.

The two Editions and two Ws in Cat 7 are also good choices. Standard redemption is 60,000 points, and peak season is 70,000, which is a bit more acceptable than Cat 8.

FHR

There are 26 hotels in total, so I won’t list them one by one.

New York quick guide

Attractions

There are far too many attractions in New York to list them all, so I’ll just highlight a few.

  • When you come to New York, of course you can’t miss Broadway. The author especially recommends the immersive Sleep No More. For the others, choose according to your tastes and preferences, such as The Phantom of the Opera, The Lion King, Wicked, Chicago, and so on.
  • In the museum and art world, New York is home to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and the American Museum of Natural History, which became especially famous thanks to the movie, among others.

Dining

New York is a diverse metropolis, where immigrants from all over the world have brought different culinary styles, creating the city’s rich food culture.

  • Chinese food: Chinese cuisine is concentrated in Chinatown downtown and Flushing near LGA Airport. Hot pot, barbecue, Sichuan cuisine, Hong Kong-style dim sum, and more are all available. Places the author has tried and found pretty good include Kirin Court, Chuan Shan Jia, Hulu, Dunhuang, You You Ke Zhan, Qing Guo, Wu Chang Hao Wei Dao, and the Xi'an Famous Foods chain.
  • Korean food: The Koreatown near 32nd Street offers all kinds of Korean food. Barbecue (Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong, Jongro), fried chicken (Kyochon), and Korean cuisine (Her Name Is Han) are all impressive.
  • Japanese food: Various Japanese spots (Masa), ramen (Ichiran), yakitori (Yakitori Totto), and hot pot (Momokawa) are all not to be missed.
  • Other well-known places include Shake Shack, Lady M, Peter Luger (steak, remember to make a reservation!), Halal Guys, and more. You can also stop by Chelsea Market, which has lots of seafood, lobster, and more.

If you happen to be in New York during Restaurant Week, you can sample all kinds of Michelin-starred restaurants at relatively low prices.

Special Events

New York also has many special events during the holidays, including the Fourth of July fireworks, the Halloween Parade, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. There are also many other kinds of parades, music festivals, food festivals, and more.

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