MilesBuzz! - Having a baby: best way to fly out my mom last minute

What's the best way to fly out my mom using miles? Should we book a flight for tentative dates and then change the dates at the last minute. I want her to jump on the plane once I go into labor :eek: . Any advice would be great! Thank you!

I want her to jump on the plane once I go into labor :eek: .

Really? Are you counting on 24 hrs of labor? My wife went into labor about 8-10pm both times, meaning Mom would be SOL for 8-10 hours, plus travel time, plus flight time, ...

I would advise here to plan in advance to arrive a week before the due date and wait it out (mine were both a week early too).

What's the best way to fly out my mom using miles? Should we book a flight for tentative dates and then change the dates at the last minute. I want her to jump on the plane once I go into labor :eek: . Any advice would be great! Thank you!

If you want to avoid those last minute award fees for booking closer than 21 days to date of travel--then your idea of getting an award now and change the flight dates later is the way to go.

I know than AA and UA allow changes to award ticket dates for no charge as long as the routing doesn't change--as long as there are available award seats that is..

I think I read on one forum here that one of the majors allows pax to fly standby for award flights. If I am recalling the post (since search isn't working)--the person decided he needed to go somewhere at the last minute--so he booked the award flight farther out in the future than the 21 day limit to avoid the award booking fee at under 21 days--and then flew standby on an earlier flight to get the flight that he wanted.

I don't think that was UA or AA--perhaps it might have been US...

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What's the best way to fly out my mom using miles? Should we book a flight for tentative dates and then change the dates at the last minute. I want her to jump on the plane once I go into labor :eek: . Any advice would be great! Thank you!


If you get along great then you could always use some help on last minute things in the days before delivery. Why not have her scome out 3-5 days ahead and leave 5-7 days after ?

If you want to avoid those last minute award fees for booking closer than 21 days to date of travel--then your idea of getting an award now and change the flight dates later is the way to go.

I know than AA and UA allow changes to award ticket dates for no charge as long as the routing doesn't change--as long as there are available award seats that is..

I think I read on one forum here that one of the majors allows pax to fly standby for award flights. If I am recalling the post (since search isn't working)--the person decided he needed to go somewhere at the last minute--so he booked the award flight farther out in the future than the 21 day limit to avoid the award booking fee at under 21 days--and then flew standby on an earlier flight to get the flight that he wanted.

I don't think that was UA or AA--perhaps it might have been US...

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US does allow standby on award tix.

Which airline do you have miles with? Along a similar line, which airlines fly from the Home city of your mother?

If you have NW miles than you don't have to worry about last minute fees, but you do have change fees unless you are a platinum. NW tends to make all unsold seats available for standard awards a couple of days before the flights and they do not charge any fees for last minute bookings. They also allow same day standby on all tickets with no fee.

Knowing which program(s) you might be using would make it easier to advise.

If you want to avoid those last minute award fees for booking closer than 21 days to date of travel--then your idea of getting an award now and change the flight dates later is the way to go.

I know than AA and UA allow changes to award ticket dates for no charge as long as the routing doesn't change--as long as there are available award seats that is..

I think I read on one forum here that one of the majors allows pax to fly standby for award flights. If I am recalling the post (since search isn't working)--the person decided he needed to go somewhere at the last minute--so he booked the award flight farther out in the future than the 21 day limit to avoid the award booking fee at under 21 days--and then flew standby on an earlier flight to get the flight that he wanted.

I don't think that was UA or AA--perhaps it might have been US...

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Chicagorich may have been referring to a question that I asked a couple of months ago in the AA forum, when I was looking at flying someone ORD-SEA during "babytime" on short notice.

This was on AA. I ended up burning 25k for the ticket, looking to use the standby function. The date of the ticket was the due date for the baby. Seeing as the baby was 2 days late, we never did get to test out the standby feature.

Good luck!

2Tall

Thanks for the responses. To answer your questions, I've got enough miles on AA, UAL, NW, and BA. The route is Peoria, IL to Portland, OR.

Thanks!

With miles available in that many programs you truly have a lot of choices.

From the above posts it looks like you can choose a program (UA/AA) where you can book early and then change later without a fee.

Or choose a program (NW) where you can book at the last minute without a fee.


You might also want to look into the cancellation penalties with the different programs.You would also need to check on the exceptions made for elites if you are elite in any of those programs. Some programs (like NW) charge a fee to re-deposit/change an award ticket, but not if you are Platinum.

For instance if all the above info is correct and you can book early with AA and change it at the last minute.

I think I would book early with one of the carriers that allows you to change.

Once the baby is imminent: I would then call them to see if there were seats available on the dates needed. Based on how much it costs to cancel AND if I could get a "last minute" flight on NW. If 1.) no seats opened on AA and 2.) seats were available on NW, I would cancel the AA flight and book it on NW.

If seats did open on AA and it fit the schedule than you have not "lost" anything and you just change the ticket.

By booking early with a carrier that lets you change fee free all you are risking is the cancelation/re-deposit fee if there is nothing available when you need it. On the other hand if you choose to wait and book on NW you might find that there is nothing available when you need it.

Thanks for the responses. To answer your questions, I've got enough miles on AA, UAL, NW, and BA. The route is Peoria, IL to Portland, OR.

Thanks!

Just don't use the BA miles for a partner award ticket. You would not be able to change the travel dates even for a fee.

I forgot that NW does not charge a fee to change the ticket if you can do it on NWA.com. They only charge the $50 fee if you have to call an agent or go to the airport.

I think their site is getting better. Lately I have been able to change dates and city pairs on award tickets easily online. I have heard some people say they could not do it online. I don't think partner flights can be changed online very easily though.

Well if you were closer to Chicago I would recommend trading for a Southwest award. They don't care when where and how often you rebook their tickets which can be really handy sometimes.

Thanks for the responses. To answer your questions, I've got enough miles on AA, UAL, NW, and BA. The route is Peoria, IL to Portland, OR.

Thanks!

I believe the Peoria location makes this a bit more of a challenge, as you will need availabilty on two flights, not one.

My guess would be that award travel availability day of flight would be slim - I believe you'll be needing to hope for standby space.

When I was trying to orgainize this, I was counting on the ability on using the award ticket to fly standby - i.e., if a seat is available, the award ticket will get you on it. That's a lot easier to do with only one leg.

My backup plan was just as engineerfalde suggests, pay walkup or use an award on SWA. Of course, Midway is a 3 hour drive away, and I don't even know if there's a direct flight from there to PDX.

Good luck,

Just did this for a funeral recently for several people from different destinations, and to an airport close to Peoria.

Check all airlines with miles, and see if any have open several days in a row around your estimated travel dates to get on a flight. UA is usually the best because of no fee for last minute awards. If necessary, book several weeks in advance, and either change back to correct dates or standby (or just pay the expedite fee). Just be aware that most have 3-6 hour windows before a flight departs that do not allow award ticketing. It would be difficult to get an award flight on the phone while driving to the airport.

Also look into last minute flights, as they were surprisingly low (~$500). You could also use a 50,000 mile award, but I don't think its worth it when the flights are that price. What those big award allow is flexibility to change to whatever flight you need, if a seat is still available.

Lastly, check Priceline. You may have to throw away the return, but if there are seats, they can be cheap.

If not around Easter or Spring Break, I'd go the award route. I actually found decent availability from 6 different locations, with UA the best and NW second.

In Sept 2000, my first son was born. My wife called me at 8:30 in the morning and told me that her water broke. I was in NJ and she was in Houston.

I immediately called CO and asked if I could get on the next flight to IAH. I told the agent my wife was in labor and I needed to get on the flight. Since I was a CO Gold at the time, the agent put me on the next nonstop (11:15 AM). I landed in Houston approx 4 PM, and made it to the hospital by 5:00 just in time to watch my son being born.

All I was charged was the 25K miles for the ticket - I don't remember getting charged any expedited fees or anything else for booking at the last minute.

Southwest is great for last minute use of free tickets...they have frequent flights going into Seattle, and should be a good alternative, unless your mom is in a location like Colorado...obviously this also depends on your availability of points/rewards. Best of luck, even if you plan ahead as others have said you don't know, my son came 2 weeks early and mom was planning on coming out a week early...she was SOL and came in the next morning.

Congrats dad!!!!



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