kcarberry

Hi. I haven't flown frequently in quite a while and have some questions that maybe some of you can help me with.

My 5 year old daughter has asked for an airplane ride for Christmas! She's pretty serious about this! My husband and I both love to travel but she has yet to fly.

I think it would be a lot of fun for us to fly somewhere on Christmas afternoon and stay for a few days. I have been looking at best fares out of ATL and the most appealing to me is BOS.

Now, I need to know what the best way to book is. We have the Platinum Delta Amex and have about 80,000 miles. The fare is around $230 if we pay cash, but of course I would rather look at other options.

Should we use miles for everything (we are 10k short and would pay difference in cash) or should we pay for one, use companion ticket for one and use miles for third? Can I even use these during the holidays? I'm thinking fly out on 25th and back on 27th.

I know, I'm clueless. Help!

iflyalexair

80,000 miles at a minimum is worth 800$ with the pay with miles option. (1 mile=1 cent). If the fare is 230, I would not use miles in this case for a full out redemption. If you goal is to spend as little as possible, pay with miles would make more sense. Since you have the companion certificate, you might as well use it. My theory is that if the fare I am purchasing is more than the $195 annual fee, I have at least broken even on the certificate. Of course, it would be a "better value" if you were redeeming for a higher fare, but certainly don't let it go to waste!

BHammy

I agree with ^^^

I'm seeing Sun morning flight with Tues evening return for $206 - one seat left at that fare. Book that using PWM, using 20,000 miles.

Book the other at what looks like $255 now for the next seat on those segments (PWM for 25,000 miles) and use the companion ticket. This gets your cost down to $11 (and maybe a bit more for companion ticket fees?...I can't remember if there are any)

Not sure about black out dates for holidays, but always good to check (call) before getting hopes up. (I've used my companion ticket successfully once, and denied for a previous trip...all based on availability at the time)

Otherwise, book both of the second tix with PWM (50k miles) for a total of only 70k miles and you'll all get MQMs for the flight.

Make sure to setup your 5 year old with a Skymiles account. I have 4 daughters, my 14 year old just cleared 100,000 flight miles this month. The others have similar mileage taking trips with us. It all adds up and (*currently*) never expire.

gooselee

All of this, except that I don't think you can combine the companion cert with PWM or award redemptions. The "paid" ticket must be priced in dollars and paid with an Amex.

BHammy

This is probably true - seeing as how the companion ticket can only be issued by an agent, and how PWM can only be done online (from what I understand)

Good catch, gooselee. ^

gooselee

Just to be clear, I've always been able to redeem my companion certs online. Though it can be YMMV and some folks report needing to call in.

iflyalexair

I always redeem my companion certificates online. I've only had to call when LUTVX availability magically goes away on certain desired flights.

kcarberry

Thank you all for your replies. I too am wondering about companion ticket blackout dates. I think I am going to give in and call this weekend to see what I can find out.

Does anyone know if the companion ticket is free per calendar year or if it renews on anniversary date? I think it renews anniversary date, but if calendar year, it does make more sense to just go ahead and use it on this flight since we didn't use it yet.

gooselee

IMO you shouldn't hesitate to use a companion cert if you find dates/flights that work for you, *unless* you know you've got another trip coming up on a more expensive route with some flexibility to make the cert work.

You get a new cert upon the renewal of your DL Amex (generally about the time your Amex AF is charged), and it's valid for a year from the date of issue.

I also don't think they have published "blackout dates" per se - it's just whenever the inventory is available. Again, I haven't had much of a problem using these with just a little bit of flexibility. Often I get the exact flights/times I want, occasionally I have to move my schedule forward or back just a few hours.