US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Help in award travel to Nassau (Bahamas)

I have been trying without success to book a couple of award tickets in December to Nassau for a vacation for my wife and I. I have been flexible with my dates, but the agents seem unable to find any return flights, however there are plenty of seats available in first class, etc..just no availability for coach award booking. I don't have the 60,000 miles for a first class award so any ideas on how to secure couple of seats in coach would be helpful? Should I just call every couple of days, or what can I do? Thanks guys, I am always appreciate of your help..

What dates are you looking at? Award travel over the holidays can be problematic. There may be alternatives that might fit your needs.

Was looking at 12/18-12/21 but really will go for any 4 day span like that from 12/18-1/6 but was unable to find anything. I was able to get the flight out on the 12/18, but couldn't get a return until 12/25...and I really don't want to stay more then 3 nights, so I was out of luck there., I also was able to get a flight on 12/30 but couldn't get a return until 1/7 and that wouldn't work either http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif My wife and I are in law school now, so we have that break for christmas, but really can't afford more then 3 nights at the Sandals resort we want to stay in...so anyway, that was our basic problem.. Let me know if you any ideas..

Perhaps an award flight to Fort Lauderdale, Miami or Orlando is available? Get there and buy a cheap ticket on BahamasAir ( http://www.bahamasair.com/index.html )to NAS.

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[This message has been edited by MileageAddict (edited 06-16-2002).]

OK, I'll take a shot at this. Any travel betweeen the Friday before Christmas and the Sunday after New Years is definitely high season and award tickets can be tough to come by during this period. This pretty much fits the dates that you are looking at, unfortunately. Additionally, for regular coach award tickets, a Saturday night stay is required which complicates things a bit more.

However, I do have a few suggestions. First, if you not are not 'married' to the the thought of staying at that particular Sandals, I have the following ideas:
1. Screw the Caribbean. Fly into MIA, get a rental car, and find some place cheap to stay in the Middle/Lower Keys. It will be a similar experience; the service will probably be better and overall the trip will be cheaper.
2. Screw the Bahamas and go to somewhere else in the Caribbean. Over the last several months, US has started service to many new destinations in the Caribbean. Many of the new locations are not generally known to most US flyers. As a result, there may be lots of award seats available to these new destinations for your time period. Remember that the 30K miles/seat you are paying to go to Nassau will take you to ANY US destination in the Caribbean.
3. For #'s 1 and 2, try booking a package through US Airways vacations. They can handle award seats and may able to put together a package that is very inexpensive for you. On occasion, they have 'bent' a few rules for me.

If absolutely gotta stay at the Nassau Sandals (like if your uncle manages the place and can get you free rooms), then
4. Do as MileageAddict suggests and get award seats to FLL and book cheap flights to go to Nassau. Alternatively, there used to be a gambling ship from the Port of Fort Lauderdale that made daily trips to Nassau that you could commute on.

Personally, I would suggest exploring other Caribbean options. If other cultures interest you, it very interesting to see the differences between islands that are just a few miles apart. If you just want a beach experience, then I would suggest a trip to the Keys.

If you need any help, just post here or send me e-mail. I'll try to help.

[This message has been edited by BillMorrow (edited 06-16-2002).]

Thanks guys for your assistance. I am going to look into the options you suggested..and hopefully, I will come up with something http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif