Here's How Many Points You Need to Book a Space Flight

You can make some incredible travel bookings if you have enough points. Many people have used travel rewards to reserve five-star hotel stays or international flights in business class or first class. Bookings like these can often cost $5,000 or more.

But the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club can top all those. It's currently running a prize draw for a sub-orbital space flight with Virgin Galactic. The entry requirement? A hefty 2 million points, but those are only deducted from your account if you're chosen.

Considering how many points are needed, the prize draw will be out of reach for most people. That's understandable -- flying to space is still very much out of reach for almost everyone. Sadly, we aren't living like The Jetsons yet. But if you are sitting on a mountain of Flying Club points, here's how you can potentially use them to blast off.

How the Virgin Galactic Prize draw works

The Virgin Galactic prize draw is open to anyone who has 2 million Flying Club points, with one important condition. Only points earned on Virgin Atlantic flights qualify.

You can't transfer points from another program to meet the requirement. So if you use any credit cards with transferable points, those won't help you here. You can't send over 2 million American Express or Chase points to Virgin Atlantic and submit yourself for the prize draw. You'll need to be a frequent flyer with Virgin Atlantic to be eligible.

If you have that many points, you can enter the prize draw by calling 0344 874 7747. Virgin Atlantic doesn't provide an alternative on the prize draw page for callers outside the United Kingdom. But the number to its U.S. customer center is 1-800-862-8621.

Here are more key details about the offer:

• The trip is a three-day experience. That includes preparation for the flight and a two-hour space flight with at least five minutes of weightlessness.
• Some press involvement may be required.
• Points earned through supplementary Silver Flying Club accounts and/or family accounts may not be used.
• A Virgin Galactic flight may only be booked for the Flying Club account holder. It can't be booked on behalf of or for another person.

Other exciting (and more realistic) ways to use travel points

Going to space sounds amazing. It's arguably the coolest way to redeem points, if you're one of the few people who have enough. But most don't have nearly that many Virgin Atlantic points. Fortunately, there are lots of other, more accessible travel experiences you can book with points.

Options will depend on the travel card you have. If you don't have one yet, start by checking out the best travel credit cards. Many of these cards earn points you can redeem for flights (or the terrestrial variety), hotel stays, and other types of travel.

As a general rule, you get more value when using points for more expensive travel. You can certainly use points to book an economy ticket on a two-hour flight, and you'll save money this way. But you'll probably save even more if you use your points on your business class flight to Europe next summer, to give you one example.

So, if you're looking to get the best possible experience out of your travel points, use them for:

• Business class or first-class airfare
• Luxury (four- or five-star) hotel stays

High-end bookings like these cost more points, so it takes longer to earn enough. But you can also save a lot more. A $600 economy ticket may cost 30,000 points. A $3,000 business class ticket may cost 60,000. That's twice as many miles, but you get a ticket five-times as expensive. And since many travel cards have big sign-up bonuses, it doesn't need to take that long to earn enough points.

Staying in a beautiful hotel or flying in a lie-flat seat may not quite measure up to a journey into space. But they're both still pretty awesome, and they're the kind of travel experiences you could book every year using your points.