Stivelio

I have quite a lot of miles and am hoping to make a trip using the miles during Xmas break later this year for a family of 4 ( 2 adults, 6 yr old and 1 yr old). Anybody have suggestions for places departing from dfw (outside the states and neighboring places like Mexico, carribean etc) that we can go will be a go with miles? We would prefer to avoid too many stops or complex itenary because of the infant. We have also been to Europe before and so would have to rule it out as well.
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3Cforme

You may run into the extra dear holiday AAnytime award pricing. Your miles may go very fast. Saver awards for four (or three + lap child) to a popular destination may be tough; just about impossible if travel dates are very rigid.

Others may offer destination advice if you can be more specific with attributes sought:

- beach, urban, historic?

- a distance radius or max travel time each way?

SMFlagg

With a one year old? SAT, IAH, or AUS.

Regards,
A guy with two kids, one of which is also 1 year old.

eponymous_coward

And hey, it's not like every other person in the universe is doing warm weather travel with their family at Christmas, right?



OP, I hope you have a LOT of miles like you said and are prepared to spend them. Because everyone and their cousin is doing the same thing you are doing, and is prepared to pay cash. I'd probably pick Cancun, Pacific Mexico, or the Carribean, in Y, and be prepared to shell out a lot of miles for AAnytime coach. It's close by and warm, easy enough to take small kids. You will pay tourist peak season rates, but that is the downside of "I don't want a complex itinerary or Europe, and I want to travel during a time everyone and their cousin takes a vacation to warmer weather."

Stivelio

Are these locations within the states or are you referring to some international destinations?

Stivelio

no specific attribute requirements. Just want to visit another country to spend time with family without being hooked to my phone during the holidays.

eponymous_coward

SAT: San Antonio. AUS: Austin. IAH: Houston. (International Airport Houston.)

http://www.airportcodes.org/

controller1

San Antonio, Houston, Austin

Stivelio

ah ok. Been there many times already since I've been in Texas for over 10 years now and these are all driving distance

Stivelio

i will edit my OP a little bit. I'm looking destinations outside the states and the exclusion list also includes Mexico, Caribbean and any other destinations close to the states

Finkface

Haven't you already decided on Japan?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/japan...as-2017-a.html

Stivelio

Not yet. I put the award ticket on hold and haven't finalized yet

pmanchuk

Well I'll start by saying the question is a tad odd - I suppose I'm the type who typically selects a holiday destination based on something that personally appeals to me vs at the recommendation of others (particularly complete strangers at that who know nothing about me, my interests, etc.) With that said, I think the first and possibly insurmountable challenge is the caveat of a non-complex itinerary for 4 on miles during one of the absolute busiest flying times of the year - my guess is that restriction alone may very well rule out pretty much everything considering how hard it is these days to find a single award vs 4 on the same flights (although I'm not sure if you're aiming for Y vs J which likewise will be a determining factor).

Truthfully I would say open up the OW map to find the direct routes (or one stop if that falls within the "not complex" itinerary definition) flown from your home airport... that in itself will give a rather narrow list of options particularly once you cross off the locales you've been to. Chances are there will only be a few option in that resulting list left that meet your qualifications - then spend the 10 minutes looking for award availability... which should prove to be drastically more useful than in effect asking strangers to throw darts at the globe.

Granted ruling out Europe (which is comprised of some 50 or so countries) seems a bit hasty as I'm guessing most people - even the uber seasoned FT flyers that are around - haven't been to all of them.

Finally, as someone else mentioned and you confirmed, if you've already found availability to Japan, perhaps this thread is a bit frivolous anyway.

eponymous_coward

So, you're looking for a unicorn then? (in the sense of mythical creature: easy to fly to, not close to the US, warmer weather, must have lots of AA award availability, can't have a complex itinerary)

I suppose if you wanted you could do DFW-HKG in AAnytime. It's a long flight but it's a non-stop. It's also going to run you 180k AA pp. J or F.. hope you have a few million AA.

Might be easier to find four unicorns than four AA saver seats to someplace when you're wanting to travel at the absolute WORST time to find travel...

Stivelio

haha I know. Beggars can't be choosers but I still wanted to give it a try and see if I can find something that my work