AIW for thinking I shouldn’t have to pay as much for my share of a trip where I saved my parents $1500+

I’ll try to keep it brief, but I’m on a trip right now where originally the expectation was that my bf and I would pay for our flights and help with rental car and gas. At the time, I offered to contribute to the housing cost, and my mom INSISTED that they had so much extra space and she just wanted us there. About 2 weeks prior to leaving for the trip, my dad got involved and decided that we would pay our own flights, all our own food, and $350 each in contribution to the VRBO they booked. That adds up to about $600 for 1 ticket (2nd ticket was free due to an airline perk), $700 for the VRBO, and $200 in groceries for the week.

I kind of feel like an unfair line was drawn, because we were invited with certain expectations to budget for and then those expectations were changed shortly before the trip. I considered canceling, but I didn’t in the end.

Now onto the savings. First off, I directed my mom to open a credit card for a sign up bonus back in January, bc she could transfer those points to the airline and help cover some of the flights. She NEVER would have done this on her own. That saved her $1200 in flights. Otherwise she would’ve just bought points from the airline to use or paid out of pocket.

Actual day of travel, my bf and I offered to check her bags under our names, because she had A LOT. Like, 6 bags, and her bag allowance is only 1 per person. My bf and I had one each, so we checked 2 of each of her bags, and her and my brother both checked 1. For 2nd and 3rd checked bag fees, that adds up to $350 in fees saved for this airline. This will actually also apply going back (which I just realized typing this out), so that really adds up to $700 saved round trip. BUT, my bf and I’s checked bag allowance was 3 each, so we paid nothing out of pocket for this.

There have been a few other minor things here and there that we have covered out of pocket, probably not totaling more than $50.

All in all, more than $1900 saved for their trip, almost triple what we’ll be expected to pay them for our share of housing.

Now here’s where it may be wrong of me to point this out to them: I didn’t actually PAY for any of these things for them, it’s just money I saved them through strategic planning, status perks, and other benefits that I took advantage of from the airline. I guess my thought process is that I didn’t have to offer those things or help out, I could have been a stingy ahole because I was already upset with them for changing the terms last minute, but at the same time I sleep easier knowing I didn’t withhold those benefits from them out of spite or to get something in return.

I’m honestly not sure here. Throughout this trip there’s been a bad taste in my mouth because of how stringently they’re enforcing the line they drew—we are not to touch their groceries, we pay for all our food even when we go out as a group (we skipped a meal with them once because of this), even when I’ve paid for small things for them not expecting anything back. It feels like they’re nickel and diming me for every little thing when I already saved them nearly $2000 and it’s bothering me. So, am I wrong to think that my bf and I shouldn’t have to contribute as much to the VRBO because we already saved them so much money elsewhere?

Some extra context I’m 20F, in school while working FT. My parents are not exactly well off despite netting around $200k a year.

Posted Jun 3, 2026, 1:19 PM UTC

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