Booking with Frequent Flier Miles

[stephenandrew]

Hi-

I don't hae a job that requires me to travel alot, but over the years, I finally accumulated enough miles to get two free coach tickets within the Continental US on USAirways. My wife and I decided to take a cruise in January '06, and I figured I could finally make use of my FF miles. Our plan was to take a cruise deaprting from Miami or Fort Lauderdale, but we ended up leaving from Galveston. Why? Because it was impossible for me to get a flight on the necessary dates to any of the south Florida airports using my FF miles--apparently the FF seats were all taken. We are perfectly content to leave from Galveston--but it really makes me wonder how beneficial these mileage programs are. Was my experience atypical? Do most of you have better luck using your miles for free flights?

[Globaliser]

Because it was impossible for me to get a flight on the necessary dates to any of the south Florida airports using my FF miles--apparently the FF seats were all taken. We are perfectly content to leave from Galveston--but it really makes me wonder how beneficial these mileage programs are. Was my experience atypical? Do most of you have better luck using your miles for free flights?

To travel on frequent flyer miles, you have to be prepared to be very flexible with your travel plans. That's probably redemption rule number one. On some airlines, there are some routes on which you can expect never to get an award seat.

 

Unfortunately, travel to meet a cruise ship is not flexible; in fact, it's a time critical journey. So frequent flyer redemptions often don't work for cruises.

 

I very seldom use any of my frequent flyer miles because I usually don't have the flexibility to fit in with actual availability. I end up with hundreds of thousands of the things in my accounts. But frequent flyer schemes are important for me because the other benefits make travel a great deal easier. And once in a while something comes along that it's worthwhile using them for: a pair of return tickets on Concorde, for example.

[jsmeeker]

Hi-

I don't hae a job that requires me to travel alot, but over the years, I finally accumulated enough miles to get two free coach tickets within the Continental US on USAirways. My wife and I decided to take a cruise in January '06, and I figured I could finally make use of my FF miles. Our plan was to take a cruise deaprting from Miami or Fort Lauderdale, but we ended up leaving from Galveston. Why? Because it was impossible for me to get a flight on the necessary dates to any of the south Florida airports using my FF miles--apparently the FF seats were all taken. We are perfectly content to leave from Galveston--but it really makes me wonder how beneficial these mileage programs are. Was my experience atypical? Do most of you have better luck using your miles for free flights?

 

I've had good luck redeeming mine on American Airlines. When I've wanted to use them, I usually have not had much of an issue. Sometimes, the flight times weren't always the best, but I've been able to get flights on the days I wanted.

 

I wasn't able to use them for my cruise to Hawaii, but that was only becasue I did need some specific times to work around a companion's work schedule. If that issues wasn't there, I could have scored seats only 5 or 6 weeks in advance. But I was able to use them to score First Class upgrades for the LAX/HNL flights. :)

 

 

Like globaliser, I too have a pile. I don't use them all that much? Why? Well, like he said, for people who actually fly a lot, there is benefit to getting status on the airline you use the most. I fly a lot for work, but not as much as lately. I still wind up needing trips that get elite qualifying miles, so most of my recent personal trips have been paid so I can continue to maintain my status level.

 

If you want, give me the dates of your travel and the city you want to fly from. I'll see what I can see for flghts from there to MIA and FLL.

[MichTraveler]

I travel 46 weeks a year, and about half of that includes air. I try to stick with one airline for elite status, and a secondary airline because the primary doesn't always go where or when I need to. I've been very lucky using FF miles, but I plan months in advance. When I wanted to fly first class from Michigan to Hawaii, I marked my calendar to check 330 days before as that is when the schedule comes out. I was told there are only 2 seats available to FF miles on the flight I wanted, so advance planning was key. For my Alaska cruise flights, they were open jaw flying into Vancouver and back from Anchorage. The airfare quoted is higher than usual, so I ended up using FF miles all 3 times. So, yes there are seats on flights. There are more seats on Wednesday flights than on Monday or Fridays. You need to plan in advance and be flexible. I always check the airfare as I do not want to use FF miles for "cheap" seats. But I am also trying to stop "saving" the points as many of the airlines are in bad financial shape. Hope you enjoy your cruise out of Galveston!

[ciana]

HI. We try to get as many points as possible but each time we have used them we have booked about 300 days ahead. That seems to be the only way we've found to get what we want. It's hard to plan that far in advance for many people. With our FF miles it would be impossible to get flights in peak season (January/February) at this late date. We have used points for trips to Austria, France and have New Zealand booked for February. We find that North American flights can sometimes be quite inexpensive so we pay for those rather than use points. We have a friend whose FF card is quite different than others. As long as there is a seat on the plane he can get it but the number of points used is based on the actual cost of the flight on the day he books. There are lots of different types of cards out there and you have to find that one that suits your purchasing style best. We also have FF numbers for most airlines. We recently flew NW (long long overseas flight, lots of miles) and they happen to have a double mileage program for September. Boy did we ever luck in there and get lots of points!

Glad to see that you got flights into Galveston! It's a nice feeling when you can get free flights!

 

Cheers,

Ciana:)

[Fabulous2B50]

There are two ways you might be able to use your miles. American has 2 different tiers of mileage that you can use to get a seat. There is the restricted seats, which require you plan really far ahead, and another which will get you a free seat, anytime you want, but will cost you more miles. You may not have enough miles to get 2 free tickets at the higher mileage, but if you have enough miles for one of your tickets, you will still save the price of 1 ticket.

You may also be able to purchase 2 coach tickets and then use miles to "buy" an upgrade for you to both to fly first class.

Hope you have enough miles to one of these options.

[greatam]

There are two ways you might be able to use your miles. American has 2 different tiers of mileage that you can use to get a seat. There is the restricted seats, which require you plan really far ahead, and another which will get you a free seat, anytime you want, but will cost you more miles. You may not have enough miles to get 2 free tickets at the higher mileage, but if you have enough miles for one of your tickets, you will still save the price of 1 ticket.

You may also be able to purchase 2 coach tickets and then use miles to "buy" an upgrade for you to both to fly first class.

Hope you have enough miles to one of these options.

 

You will not be able to upgrade using miles or stickers on MOST airlines, unless you are an elite status frequent flier. And some airlines have even begun to restrict ff upgrades to the more expensive tickets. It's no fun out there trying to fly on miles anymore.

[Hootsie]

My hubby travels for his job and we have over 500,000 miles right now (Delta/NW). You need to call at least 6 months prior to your vacation to look for FF seats. Each plane only allows so many freebie seats, so you need to call early. You're lucky you got anything for January

 

We just called and got all of us on Delta in April for our cruise out of Miami. Six tickets for free! WHOOHOOO!!!!!!!!

[Andee]

I have had better luck using the Rewards program from my bank than the FF miles program. We don't get points for flights, just for spending, either using the debit or credit card. No blackout days, and we can use any airline. A couple of weeks ago, i was able to book two tickets for Thanksgiving weeknd.

[GreenValleyDogWalker]

In the past, have had very good luck using American Airlines FF miles to get to departure port - but - usually I book 11 months in advance.

Will be trying us use FF miles to fly to Rome in October 06 for Carnival Liberty 12 day Med - AA advised to call when it is EXACTLY 330 days out...

Will try to remember to post how well I did !!

[megessey]

I have American Airlines credit card, so I collect points for purchases-- and I get extra bonus points for shopping on their aadvantageshopping site. You can also use your miles on hotels and vacation packages thru American Vacations-- but you need a whole buncha points to really get anything.

 

As for getting free flights, I have had some luck getting tickets (twice so far) and also struck out at times.

 

Makes me wonder if those Capital One ads are accurate...(they advertise flyer rewards on any airline with no blackout dates ever).... anyone have experience with this credit card?

[Fabulous2B50]

I am an Advantage member and have yet to discover the aadvantage shopping site you mentioned in your post. Can you tell me how I can find it? I am currently trying to accumulate points on the Priority Club website to try to get a second free night for our precruise stay in Rome at the Intercontinental. Since we are flying to Hawaii in March and will get more miles then, it would be great to add more to my total and then swap these miles for points at www.points.com

Rome hotels are so expensive that I would rather accrue points instead of miles right now.

[Fabulous2B50]

I was extremely fortunate to be able to get a free airline ticket for myself from Nashville to Rome and then from Venice back home to Nashville on American. I was extemely persistent calling American at all hours of the day and night to do this though. I had to pay for my daughter's ticket, and just recently got them to refund me over $300 dollars on her ticket when the price went down. Apparently on international flights, they don't charge the $60 fee like on domestic flights to get a refund for a fare change. It really pays to keep checking!

[nho9504]

I am an Advantage member and have yet to discover the aadvantage shopping site you mentioned in your post. Can you tell me how I can find it? I am currently trying to accumulate points on the Priority Club website to try to get a second free night for our precruise stay in Rome at the Intercontinental. Since we are flying to Hawaii in March and will get more miles then, it would be great to add more to my total and then swap these miles for points at www.points.com

Rome hotels are so expensive that I would rather accrue points instead of miles right now.

 

I dont remember exactly where on AA.Com you can find it. If you dont see it on the home page, then click the AAdvantage Bonus offers - it may be hidden there.

 

Last year they had a nice promo for doing your shopping thru the AA link, like getting 3 miles for each buck spent at Target site, but you have to go thru AA to get to Target site in order to earn the bonus.

[nho9504]

I was extremely fortunate to be able to get a free airline ticket for myself from Nashville to Rome and then from Venice back home to Nashville on American. I was extemely persistent calling American at all hours of the day and night to do this though. I had to pay for my daughter's ticket, and just recently got them to refund me over $300 dollars on her ticket when the price went down. Apparently on international flights, they don't charge the $60 fee like on domestic flights to get a refund for a fare change. It really pays to keep checking!

 

Was it for 2006 travel or this summer's travel ?

 

I tried to get tickets to Copenhagen earlier this year and unseccessful, though I did not try too hard at the time, as there were really many ways/combinations to get there and I did not really explore it mainly due to we were not too keen to do another long travel right after a full Panama crossing in late April/early May.

 

However we did have some super luck to score a MIA/ANC, YVR/JAC, and JAC/MIA routing only 5 weeks to the departure of our Alaska cruise on Island Princess 09/01/05. The beauty of the AAdvantage is you can check availability on AA.Com if it is on AA Metal, and they let you hold the reservation for 2 weeks. I just booked the leg of MIA/ANC as an One-Way award first once the date(s) we were looking for were opening up. Then I looked for the cruise(s) and then finalized the whole thing.

[megessey]

I am an Advantage member and have yet to discover the aadvantage shopping site you mentioned in your post. Can you tell me how I can find it?

 

Actually you can go here: www.aadvantageeshopping.com They have several shops like Barnes & Noble, macy's, Overstock, and each store offers 1 or more points per dollar spent. I think all you have to do to get started is enter your frequent flyer account number.

 

Let me know if you need more info.

[greatam]

I am an Advantage member and have yet to discover the aadvantage shopping site you mentioned in your post. Can you tell me how I can find it? I am currently trying to accumulate points on the Priority Club website to try to get a second free night for our precruise stay in Rome at the Intercontinental. Since we are flying to Hawaii in March and will get more miles then, it would be great to add more to my total and then swap these miles for points at www.points.com

Rome hotels are so expensive that I would rather accrue points instead of miles right now.

 

Please check out all the T & 's with points.com. It truly is a rip off. About 60% of your miles will "disappear" in points.com transactions. There are numerous articles available which point out the bad (and maybe some good) using points.com.

 

If you get an AMEX or Diner's card, they are much more flexible allowing you to use your points for EITHER hotels or air. And lots of bonus miles through different promotions.