veganmacrochick

Hi!
I am taking a last minute trip fll-tus next week (preferably Tues) for 2. I could use miles business/first is 100k for both. Or I could pay for the tickets $1000 and get miles. I haven't flown without miles this year and PLT is about to expire. I have plenty of stickies to upgrade this flight (if I pay).
We're off to Australia in another month or so too and I'd like to use our miles for that trip. I have nearly 400k miles but not sure it's worth using miles for the TUS trip.

Any suggestions???
I considered flying into DFW or LAX or something and driving but don't want to drive back there again. My daughter would go nuts, I imagine.

Thanks and please no comments on how this is stupid or any other way of criticizing me.

catmndu

I wouldn't drive from LAX or DFW. TUS-LAX is around 400 miles (7-8 hours). TUS-DFW is even further. You might look into MIA-PHX. It's a non-stop and only 1.5-2hr drive to TUS from PHX.

Hope this helps.

Science Goy

I pretty much always redeem around a value of 1 cent/mile, so for me this would be a wash. If there just 2 of you going to Australia, you could probably use the 100K miles now and still have plenty left over for your tickets next month.

veganmacrochick

thanks... I did check via phx (have a friend I'm supposed to visit there too) and believe it or not it's nearly $200 more then all that driving. Sheesh!

mdavies

Cash. have you tried milewise.com? This balance is exactly what they do.

goingbananas

Next week will be a pricey ticket into TUS or PHX. The WGC match Play is that week in TUS as well as the Rodeo. Not much capacity in and out of TUS and the overflow goes to PHX.

Dealt with this issue for a few years when living in TUS and the fares (last minute) run over 1,000.

Another possibility is ELP. That is 250 miles from TUS. I have driven it in roughly 3 hours.

SAN is closer (5 hour drive on I-8) to TUS than LAX as well, but ELP is your best shot with the drive option.

taliesin

I would pay cash, as a penny per mile is a pretty poor redemption rate compared to what you get for TATL or TPAC flights in business or first. If it were me (and I could find the available seats), I'd save the miles to fly to Australia on Qantas in first for 145k/person, which would likely cost at least $6k, implying a redemption rate of over four cents per mile. You probably have enough miles to do both, but this illustrates the point that in general you get much higher cash value for miles if you redeem on international flights. At this point, only a month out, finding premium cabin award space to Australia might be tough though.

HNL

perfect signature line.

tucsnaz

Cash is the way to go assuming you can actually get the upgrade space with stickers. If you provide flight numbers one of us can check EF for avail F seats. You might consider cash for the Y seats and miles for the upgrades.

Wouldn't drive any of those routes unlesss I had no other choice. I live in PHX and drive to TUS once a month. For a while I was doing it once a week. It is a challenging drive at best. Bad drivers, left lane hogs, never ending construction, motor homes and semis galore. I couldn't imagine LAX to TUS.

Safe travels whichever way you choose!

mvoight

I don't think 1c per mile is a good spending ratio
I mean, it is 50K for a fll to tus roundtrip, or 50K or one way business class to Europe, etc..
The 50K international business is worth more. .....or if using some of those miles for first or business to OZ or Asia, etc

veganmacrochick

and this is why I love this place, you guys rock!
Thanks for making me feel better about spending the money.
I agree, saving the miles for overseas stuff is why I've been hoarding them.

And the one driving from TUS-PHX, wanna drive us?

veganmacrochick

hahahaha you've made me literally laugh out loud so thank you because I needed that.

It's just there is one person here that really rubs me the wrong way, ALWAYS making stupid comments about my questions in a condescending way and pretty much blaming me (or mr vmc) for things happening that are totally out of our control. I'm not in the mood for his annoyances right now.

I think I'm off to pay for my tickets which I now realize are reserved for the 23rd, not 21. Oh well, one day less in TUS won't kill me. If I love it, I can always go back another time

veganmacrochick

one more thing.... I have 18 stickies but don't want to use them all on this trip. Which would you upgrade fll-dfw or dfw-tus and or tus-dfw and or dfw-fll

JDiver

Well, with your handle, it can't be about the food, so it's about the comfort, right? One approach: apply for all, and see which comes through - you can always cancel the upgrade request if you want. Second: we don't know the times of your flights, so base it on your boy clock, needs and times in the air.

Science Goy

Of course it's just a typo but it still made me laugh. I certainly hope she's not getting any needs related to her "boy clock" taken care of during the flight.

For what it's worth, DFW-TUS is a "better" use of stickers in terms of miles per sticker (900/2 stickers vs. 1100/3 stickers for FLL-DFW)