snostr

I'm planning a trip for xmas time and I can either use 140k miles per person for delta one to cities I'd prefer not to fly in and out of or $3k per person to the exact cities I want and apply 280k miles and get 3k off the tickets.

Is 3k a good fare? Any benefit in waiting to book?

thanks

UKtravelbear

Which cities and dates as that will often determine the price and which is 'best' to fly in and out of.

Allan38103

Yes.

Maybe.

rucksack

$3k is a reasonable price for J between NYC and Europe. You could get down to ~$1,800, but those flights are few and fare between and not likely to happen in the peak summer or holiday travel seasons.

kop84

Totally depends on the destination. Some European cities have popular Christmas Markets or are major destinations for the holiday's not only for X-Mas but NYE.

bergamini

I mean if it were me, and I'm middle class with upper class tastes, and I was paying, I'd buy Premium Economy on VS (Virgin Atlantic) and save the miles. If it was West Coast, then maybe, but if you take the 8AM out of JFK it's not even a sleeper flight going out, and none are coming back.

I am going to LHR in November to see a tennis tournament and did some comparison on the 140K Upper Class/DeltaONE vs buying and I got a VS Premium Economy ticket for $902/pp and am earning 6,904 MQM's and 5,400 sky miles. I bought it on the Delta web site even. I don't know if Delta Premium will be around then for you but that's also an option if you are set on DL metal.

For me: Upper Class/Delta one was 140K miles and $268 in taxes fees and VS Premium Economy was $902 with all taxes and fees, so literally "only" $634 more than an award ticket. If the same rough pricing applies to you, then you will save 280K Sky Miles and saving $6300 in spend for a pretty nice flying experience for 8 hours. And you will get the MQM's! If you want the Clubhouse experience, that's $75/pp at each spot so up to $450, but still puts your savings at $5850 and you've got a comfortable seat, upgraded dining, the Clubhouse, priority security and luggage and again, nearly $6K and 285K Skymiles.

I did cash in 140K for LHR this summer but I am going out from SFO so a 10 hour journey makes that cost more palatable, and PE is more from the west coast.

http://www.virginatlantic.com/us/en/...m-economy.html

snostr

More info: preference is out of JFK and into Milan and back to JFK from CDG. That's the 3k. The 140k miles is into Zurich and home from heathrow.

bergamini

Sorry, for some reason I got LHR stuck in my head. IDK much about PE experience to CDG or Milan on Skyteam.

rucksack

For what it's worth, if you're flexible on dates and routing you can get as low as ~$2,600 per ticket. You'd have to leave and come back on a M, Tu, or W.

Here's an example itinerary:


Or cheaper going through Paris first:

KDCAflyer

Last summer I got three RT tickets in business for $1600 each, CVG-FRA, so there have been better deals than what OP sees. Now whether we will see prices like these again remains to be seen. There was a lot of excess capacity last summer that I imagine the airlines will have reined in.

xliioper

I'd say you are better off asking yourself WWDRD (What Would Dave Ramsey Do)? Taking advice from a bunch of FTer's who don't know your personal financial situation would not be my recommendation.

TBD

$3k NYC-Europe doesn't seem very good to me.

If you've got access to the most competitive airport in the US (JFK), then I would only consider <$2k to be "good".

Keith2004

I got NYC-LIS for $1,495 in DeltaOne round trip, and I consistently see fares $2,000-2,500 in Biz across the board NYC- Europe. $3K is not a deal.

Dieuwer

...or it will be even worse. Anecdotal evidence suggest the new POTUS has a detrimental effect on ex-EU visits to the US.

NoStressHere

As to using miles to pay for a cash ticket.... not generally the best use of miles, unless you either have not other use, or lots of miles to burn. Using miles for tickets basically means you getting $.01 per mile.

As to flying delta one vs coach.. that is your own financial decision.

By the way, Emirates flys JFK-Milan, often with great fares.

And, award tickets price out the same (usually for one way vs roundtrip where cash tickets are usually much higher for one way)