Hi,

I appreciated the advice on my last post. This forum is great. Well, except for all the abbrevations I can't understand ;)

I'm saving up miles on US Air for a honeymoon trip next year to California. I don't usually fly first class. But I noticed last time I sprung for it from Cleavland to Las Vegas, that it wasn't really a big deal. Slightly bigger seats and some free wine. And a sandwich.

Is this going to be the way it is going from Boston to San Francisco? We'll have up to 200,000 miles we could use on any Star Alliance flight. Does something with that great first class experience that I remember from a decade ago still exist? Does it depend on the type of plane? Airline?

Any advice on the best use of these miles, within Star Alliance to book this sort of flight? Normally, I just want to get from here to there, but I'd like this trip to be special. But it's not worth up to 150,000 extra miles for that sandwich.

TIA,

Rae

p.s. I guess I'm still mourning for my loss of Song (best flights ever from Boston). I'm assuming there's always a risk that the airline changes equipment. Seems like that can significantly affect the value of what you book. Is that legitimate worry?

Hi,

I appreciated the advice on my last post. This forum is great. Well, except for all the abbrevations I can't understand ;)

I'm saving up miles on US Air for a honeymoon trip next year to California. I don't usually fly first class. But I noticed last time I sprung for it from Cleavland to Las Vegas, that it wasn't really a big deal. Slightly bigger seats and some free wine. And a sandwich.

Is this going to be the way it is going from Boston to San Francisco? We'll have up to 200,000 miles we could use on any Star Alliance flight. Does something with that great first class experience that I remember from a decade ago still exist? Does it depend on the type of plane? Airline?

Any advice on the best use of these miles, within Star Alliance to book this sort of flight? Normally, I just want to get from here to there, but I'd like this trip to be special. But it's not worth up to 150,000 extra miles for that sandwich.

TIA,

Rae

Why not use your miles and go to Hawaii!! :D

Hi,

I appreciated the advice on my last post. This forum is great. Well, except for all the abbrevations I can't understand ;)

I'm saving up miles on US Air for a honeymoon trip next year to California. I don't usually fly first class. But I noticed last time I sprung for it from Cleavland to Las Vegas, that it wasn't really a big deal. Slightly bigger seats and some free wine. And a sandwich.

Is this going to be the way it is going from Boston to San Francisco? We'll have up to 200,000 miles we could use on any Star Alliance flight. Does something with that great first class experience that I remember from a decade ago still exist? Does it depend on the type of plane? Airline?

Any advice on the best use of these miles, within Star Alliance to book this sort of flight? Normally, I just want to get from here to there, but I'd like this trip to be special. But it's not worth up to 150,000 extra miles for that sandwich.

TIA,

Rae

p.s. I guess I'm still mourning for my loss of Song (best flights ever from Boston). I'm assuming there's always a risk that the airline changes equipment. Seems like that can significantly affect the value of what you book. Is that legitimate worry?

If your using miles for F on *A I would fly UA on a transcon - worlds above US. To ensure best service - fly either BOS-SFO, BOS-IAD-SFO or BOS-LAX-SFO. The full transcon segements have better service than if you fly through one of the midwest stops (ORD or DEN).

DO NOT waste your miles to SFO. You will get much better value booking out 2 x80,000 to Madrid, Rome, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich - yes you can find seats in October - March if you fly on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, etc and just poke around.

Unfortunately web site is a bit flaky right now, close all browser sessions and do it...if no luck wait a few hours.

If you really want 1st class to SFO, buy two upgradeable tickets and upgrade with miles if you have absolutely no status.

Yes there is ALWAYS the risk of an equipment swap due to weather, maintenance...a low selling flight from CLT to SFO and an oversold flight from CLT to PHX....the Washington Redskins chartering a flight to Seattle and specifying a particular plane in the contract...these examples are true with any airline.

in f you should get some kind of hot meal on that trip, even with a stop, on US. but it won't be good, and you'll still have a plastic cup of wine.

I think you'll find that in the US, what you're looking for is long gone. asia seems to be about the only place left with that kind of service.

Living in Boston and being a CP, my advice for the 150K miles is similar... get a business class seat and leave the country.... if you want the nice seats, etc.. buy two tickets on Jet Blue, ala, Song and spend the extra cash on your wife for another trip.

If you have status.. then I'd pick UN then US. Blowing 100k miles on US to get to SFO would not be a high priority for anyone on this board, if I had to guess...

Blow the 160K to Europe... on LH, UN and then US in that order. I recommend TXL, PRG, FCO or something of the like for cool cities depending on taste


Hi,

I'm saving up miles on US Air for a honeymoon trip next year to California. I don't usually fly first class. But I noticed last time I sprung for it from Cleavland to Las Vegas, that it wasn't really a big deal. Slightly bigger seats and some free wine. And a sandwich.

Any advice on the best use of these miles, within Star Alliance to book this sort of flight? Normally, I just want to get from here to there, but I'd like this trip to be special. But it's not worth up to 150,000 extra miles for that sandwich.

p.s. I guess I'm still mourning for my loss of Song (best flights ever from Boston). I'm assuming there's always a risk that the airline changes equipment. Seems like that can significantly affect the value of what you book. Is that legitimate worry?

DO NOT waste your miles to SFO. You will get much better value booking out 2 x80,000 to Madrid, Rome, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich - yes you can find seats in October - March if you fly on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, etc and just poke around.



Thanks all for the advice. For us, however, California is the primary goal; getting there first class would just be a perk. Sounds like UA with as long a segment as possible is our best bet.

We've earned about 100,000 miles total in the past year with various credit card games, so I don't mind spending the miles. But I'll try not get my hopes too high for 'first class'

(Jet Blue's another great idea. I'm a smallish person, so it's got most of the advantages for me. But fiance is over 6 feet, so I know he likes to fly up front. Besides, it still feels cheaper to spend those miles than to pay real money for tics :) )

Thanks all for the advice. For us, however, California is the primary goal; getting there first class would just be a perk. Sounds like UA with as long a segment as possible is our best bet.

We've earned about 100,000 miles total in the past year with various credit card games, so I don't mind spending the miles. But I'll try not get my hopes too high for 'first class'

(Jet Blue's another great idea. I'm a smallish person, so it's got most of the advantages for me. But fiance is over 6 feet, so I know he likes to fly up front. Besides, it still feels cheaper to spend those miles than to pay real money for tics :) )

If CA is all you want, you may want to consider buying yourselves a ticket from BOS to JFK (probably on B6=Jetblue) and then redeem for award tickets from JFK to SFO on UA p.s. Not sure how many miles it will cost to get a p.s. F ticket, but it's like flying on international F. If p.s. F is out of your reach, you probably have enough for p.s. C, which is still much better than anything you will experience on domestic F. Hope this helps.

LAX

If CA is all you want, you may want to consider buying yourselves a ticket from BOS to JFK (probably on B6=Jetblue) and then redeem for award tickets from JFK to SFO on UA p.s. Not sure how many miles it will cost to get a p.s. F ticket, but it's like flying on international F. If p.s. F is out of your reach, you probably have enough for p.s. C, which is still much better than anything you will experience on domestic F. Hope this helps.

LAX

Ok, I figured out this one: "If your using miles for F on *A I would fly UA on a transcon - worlds above US. To ensure best service - fly either BOS-SFO, BOS-IAD-SFO or BOS-LAX-SFO. "

But yours has me stumped. What's a p.s. F and p.s. C?

But yours has me stumped. What's a p.s. F and p.s. C?
Premium Service:
http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,50964,00.html

Premium Service:
http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,50964,00.html

Now that sounds just about perfect :)
Do you think it's a safe assumption that I can use US Air miles for that? Hopefully, it's not capacity controlled to the extent that its as hard to book as Europe. (no exact dates yet, but it's not going to be 330 days away)

You could also get it as part of the award - take the shuttle from BOS-DCA, then a UA flight to JFK.

You could also get it as part of the award - take the shuttle from BOS-DCA, then a UA flight to JFK.

Not sure if the award desk would allow such routing (BOS-DCA-JFK-SFO) and that's why I suggested getting a separate ticket to JFK. Perhaps the OP can include BOS-LGA (on US if I remember correctly) as part of the award. May be others can suggest other more creative but allowable routings.

LAX