America West FlightFund (Pre-2005 US Airways merger) - Tips urgently needed

I have 42,000 miles in my Flightfund account. I know this is laughable compared to what many people on the board have, but...this is what I have to work with. I may have 4 days at the end of June to use for travel. I want to burn 35,000 miles on a Baltimore-San Jose (Costa Rica) run. At this time all I can get is Top Value at 65,000.

In your experience, is HP somewhat like CO, where standard award seats tend to free up closer to the departure date? I am not earning any more HP miles, and would like to use up what I have.

I have 42,000 miles in my Flightfund account. I know this is laughable compared to what many people on the board have, but...this is what I have to work with. I may have 4 days at the end of June to use for travel. I want to burn 35,000 miles on a Baltimore-San Jose (Costa Rica) run. At this time all I can get is Top Value at 65,000.

In your experience, is HP somewhat like CO, where standard award seats tend to free up closer to the departure date? I am not earning any more HP miles, and would like to use up what I have.

BWI-PHX-SJO? Ouch :(

I would seriously doubt any standard mile award tickets ever come available to be honest on this routing. Your best bet is to burn these miles at less than desirable locale or try to book a more frequented city on off times.

My $0.02 at least

The other option would be to use a site like points.com to transfer the miles to a program that you are currently using. I personally do this as HP is choice#3 for me and I don't get enough miles with them to use (40K/yr) so I transfer the miles to goldpoints or priority club...

You will lose value in the transfer, but if it helps bump you up a level on your current program then it might be worth the lost miles

I would seriously doubt any standard mile award tickets ever come available to be honest on this routing.

Actually, yeah this has happened. Yield Management sees that the loads are light and they will free up more seats closer to the dates. It really just depends on the loads for the dates you are looking at. Good luck!

I may have 4 days at the end of June to use for travel. I want to burn 35,000 miles on a Baltimore-San Jose (Costa Rica) run.

You do realize that you're competing with loads of summer travellers. Last I looked HP's loads to SJO were quite high.

However, I've found that as the date comes closer, more seats will be opened up.

Yes, I understand this will not be an esay undertaking. So, based on your recommendations, I will check the route frequently, and see if anything becomes available. If not, I will consider the points.com transfer option. Thanks for the advice.