155. Planning Award Travel for Large Families with Dr. Alison Curfman (Part 1)

Point Me To First Class

Devon Gimbel MD

Education, Places & Travel, How To, Society & Culture

4.9 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2026

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you've ever thought award travel isn't possible with a large family or group, this episode will change your mind.

In Part 1 of this conversation, I sit down with Dr. Alison Curfman, a pediatric emergency physician, entrepreneur, and relentless optimizer who regularly travels the world with her family—typically six to eight people depending on whether au pairs or grandparents join. After co-founding a healthcare company that scaled to a nine-figure valuation, Alison transitioned into advisory and consulting work that she could do from anywhere. Listen in as Alison walks through her exact strategy for finding business class flights for large groups, her hotel booking approach that keeps everyone comfortable without breaking the bank, and why positioning flights have become part of the adventure rather than a hassle.

We cover how she anchors her trip planning around long-haul flights, builds itineraries around award availability instead of fixed destinations, and uses spreadsheets and organization systems to keep track of multiple bookings across airlines and hotels. Allison also shares practical insights on traveling light with kids, leveraging Hyatt's loyalty program strategically, and combining fine hotels & resorts credits with points to maximize value on family trips.

Whether you're traveling with four people or eight, this episode offers a roadmap for making large family award travel not just possible, but truly enjoyable.

Get full show notes and transcript: https://pointmetofirstclass.com/award-travel-large-families-part-1

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Point Me to First Class, the only show for employed professionals, entrepreneurs, and business owners who are looking to optimize their higher than average expenses to travel the world.
0:10.7	I'm your host, Devin Gimble, and I believe that your expenses are your greatest untapped asset, if you know how to leverage them.
0:17.8	Ready to dive into the world of credit card points and miles so you can travel
0:20.9	more, travel better, and travel often. Let's get started. Hey, everyone, welcome back to the podcast.
0:32.9	If you haven't experienced it yet, you're bound to eventually. Planning award travel requires a different
0:38.6	approach than planning cash travel. And for those of you wanting to book travel for larger
0:43.3	families or groups, say more than four people, you're likely going to face more challenges than if
0:49.2	you're trying to book award travel for fewer people. Between limited award seat availability,
0:55.8	especially in premium cabins,
1:01.7	room occupancy limits that can vary significantly between geographic regions, and trying to keep everyone sane, it can feel, quite frankly, impossible. But today's guest proves it absolutely
1:07.5	can be done. And I've asked her to join me here to share her tips,
1:11.6	wisdom, and recommendations for planning award travel for larger families with you all today.
1:16.7	Dr. Allison Kerfman is a pediatric emergency physician, entrepreneur, and relentless optimizer
1:22.7	who regularly travels the world with her family of eight. Yes, eight. After co-founding a health care
1:29.3	company that scaled to a nine-figure evaluation, Allison transitioned into advisory and consulting
1:34.5	work she can do from anywhere as long as she has Wi-Fi, and she took that flexibility literally.
1:40.4	These days, international travel with her kids and O'Pair isn't a once-a-year dream.
1:45.0	It's a built-in part of the life that she's designed.
1:47.7	She has become a pro at maximizing points for luxury family travel.
1:51.7	And in this episode, we dive into her step-by-step approach to planning and booking
1:55.6	international award travel for a family of six or more, the exact strategies she uses to find long-haul
2:02.3	business class flights for large groups, how she turns positioning flights into part of
	...

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