Hi everyone....sort of a newbie here. Just returned last month from my first trip overseas and I'm already planning to return next year. Sorry if this is a stupid question but is it at all possible to travel to Europe on 25,000 points? I have more than 50,000 but I was thinking about taking my mother with me next year so I'll need to use as few as possible. Best regards to everyone and thanks for any replies
It would take a very special offer. Continental recently offered award travel on its new Newark-Cologne flight for 25,000 miles; also they had a pre-tax round trip fare of $198. It's not an offer that would come up very much; you could keep monitoring the airline's Web site and the discussion forum for that airline at www.flyertalk.com .
Originally posted by Delbruns: Hi everyone....sort of a newbie here. Just returned last month from my first trip overseas and I'm already planning to return next year. Sorry if this is a stupid question but is it at all possible to travel to Europe on 25,000 points? I have more than 50,000 but I was thinking about taking my mother with me next year so I'll need to use as few as possible. Best regards to everyone and thanks for any replies
The general consensus among money managers (and BIL is one so I know quite a few) is that using your FF points for things other than airfare is a much smarter use of these awards.
For example - It is 50,000 ff miles to Rome. The average fare is somewhere between $600 and $1200. A night at a 4 or 5 star code share hotel in Rome is 5,000 ff points or $250. That same 50,000 ff points can save you $2500 in hotels versus $1500 (worst case) airfare. Car rental would be another area to look at.
By the way, this advice even applies domestically.
I don't know if this is still on, but Continental was offering flights to Cologne from various departure points (I checked SEA and NYC) for 25,000 miles return, from now into the summer.
That is why my daughter and I are going to Cologne and Paris in February - SEA-CGN for about $40 tax for each of us (I think a $15 ticket agent fee, too, but we haven't been charged for that).
From Cologne, you can easily get just about anywhere cheaply with Germanwings or another budget carrier. http://www.whichbudget.com Also look at Dusseldorf and Dortmund departures too. And the train can be easy, and cheap. For my daughter and I, I found roundtrip tickets to Paris from Cologne by train, for a total of 116 Euros for the two of us.
(Edit: I guess I'm repeating Andrew above, but hopefully the extra detail will be helpful.)
Northwest sometimes has Cash and Miles offers, where a reduced amount of cash and miles can be combined to pay for a trip. A winter offer to Europe is described here; as always, this is subject to availability.
I am looking for a use for my Us airways miles I have 28800 miles and my wife has 22,670 they seem to be worthless when trying to use them.Basically all round trips require 35000 plus miles even domestic.I wish I could use them for hotel but they are useless that way as well. RR
Robert, I think you can buy miles on US Air. Maybe there would be a reasonable cost to buy enough miels to get a ticket.
Do you have an American Express card and earn Membership Miles? One thing I like about this program is that you can transfer miles to various airline and hotel programs to achieve the number of miles or points you need.
You could get a US Air affinity credit card and use that for various purchases until you have enough miles for a ticket.
And you could also donate them to charity... just a thought.
We've been using AA ff miles to upgrade to business on trans-Atlantic flights since we decided some years ago that we were getting too old to fly that distance in coach. That worked pretty well until this year when we encountered additional charges for upgrades as well as limited availability (or so they said) even months in advance. So we grimaced and made the adjustments anyway.
Perhaps you should consider applying for a credit card that gives frequent flyer miles for your airline. Especially those that give bonus miles for just signing up and spending 250.00. Nothing says that you have to keep the card after the miles post to your account.
À votre santé !
Posts: 195 | Location: Connecticut, USA | Registered: 08 March 2006
Perhaps you should consider applying for a credit card that gives frequent flyer miles for your airline
That's what we've been doing for years. We charge just about everything, though pay balances in full each month. We accumulate miles pretty quickly this way.
Are you a member of a civic group that has outings, meetings or fundraisers at restaurants? If so, 1) register your credit card with "Rewards Network". There are American and Delta flavors that I am aware of. 2) Arrange for your group to have a meeting at a participating restaurant. 3) Offer to charge the group's bill so that the treasurer can have a chance to deposit member's checks. Get reimbursement from the treasurer. It is even better if "you" are the treasurer. The more you use the card within the "Rewards Network" for dining the more the miles multiply. We are Elite diners and get 10 miles for each dollar spent at participating restaurants. A $10.00 lunch earns us 100FF miles.
À votre santé !
Posts: 195 | Location: Connecticut, USA | Registered: 08 March 2006
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