bearsball88

Hey all I'm a newbie to this but have been reading the forum for a few weeks trying to get a feel on maximizing miles.

Looking to travel to Paris and London October 2014 with my wife. Usually fly out of Chicago but could be flexible (have Southwest companion pass, I'm sure it would be worthwhile to position ourselves in maybe New York, right?).

Aside from about 100k Southwest points (and a companion pass) we only have 50k Ultimate Rewards.

Over the next 5 months we could both afford the minimum spend and likely apply for 2 cards each to get the sign up bonuses. Would it be best for UA or AA? We would travel economy.

I've also read that award flights typically book quickly. When would it be considered to late to book an award flight for 10/14?

Look forward to learning the tricks and can't wait to start contributing in the years to come!

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Welcome to FT!

1. Fly into LON, but out of PAR to minimize government/airport fees.

2. AA charges only 20K miles for a TATL one-way in Coach between October 15 and May 15. So, think about using UA miles for the outbound flight, and AA miles for the return. (You can take the Eurostar train from LON to PAR.)

3. If you do use AA miles for the flight home from Europe, and can get a direct flight from somewhere in Europe to ORD (like CDG-ORD, CDG-LHR-ORD, or ORY-MAD-ORD), you can make ORD your "gateway" stopover, and then continue on to someplace like Hawaii, the Caribbean, etc., at no additional charge for up to one year from date of original ticketing.

bearsball88

Thanks gov1976!

Looking at your suggestion looks like you can get from Chicago to London on UA for 30k points + $70 per person. Then from Paris to Chicago on AA for 20k points + $160 per person. (Looking at the same dates for this year for the dates we would like to travel for next year.

This really doesn't look to bad at all. If I transfer 50k UR to AA that will cover that leg. And then if we both sign up for a UA card we'll have that covered too.

Am I overlooking something, was thinking this would be much more difficult Next will have to start looking at hotels!

JCary

You can not transfer UR to AA. Transfer your UR points to UA and apply for Citi AA cards which will give you 50K miles!

KennyBSAT

guv1976 is right on as usual, but you should have much lower fees for the outbound trip - $2.50 for a nonstop, or $5-$10 with a stop in the U.S. or Canada. $70 has to be routing through Germany with multiple stops in Europe. I would definitely try to get enough miles to do the entire trip on AA (one AA 50K card for each of you) so you can take advantage of their off-peak pricing if you can find good options for both ways, and use the UR/UA if needed. Then, if there happens to be no good coach option on AA, you could do one way on AA business and the other on United coach. Flexibility is everything.

It sounds like you're being flexible on dates, locations, programs and class of service, so it will be nice and simple.

flyaxa

Just throwing out another option.

With UA:
ORD-LHR / CDG-ORD / ORD-SJU (or any Caribbean destination SXM etc)
57,500 miles + $170 each

You could use your SWA miles and companion pass to return from SJU. If you prefer another destination in the Caribbean you should be able to accumulate enough points to cover the return.

Accumulate points/miles with Chase Sapphire,Ink Bold, UA Explorer credit cards or Fidelity Investments.


GO BEARS!

Gamecock

I really have nothing else to offer, but just wanted to commend the OP for actually doing his homework and thinking it through to the point that he had questions other than "How do I get to Europe for free? I want to fly next week!"

Welcome to FT bearsball88!

sonofzeus

They beat the lowly Giants last night...barely.

mattp1987

Based on your plan to use 30k each UA miles going and 20k AA miles each returning, you can really do this with two cards. A single AA card can get you the 40k miles (or more), and a single UA card will get you 50k miles. You'll really have 51k UA miles after you meet the minimum spend, so then just transfer 9k UR points to UA. This leaves you with 41k UR points that you can either save or transfer to Hyatt for hotel redemptions.

Since you said you could each apply for 2 cards, you might consider looking at hotel cards as well. Chase Hyatt comes with 2 free nights at any Hyatt after $1000 spend (no annual fee and you even get a statement credit). You could use those at the Vendome in Paris. Citi Hilton Reserve comes with 2 free weekend nights at almost any Hilton. I think the spend is the same. It does have an annual fee, but you get Gold status which gets you free breakfast and possible upgrades. US Bank Club Carlson gives 50k points with first spend and 35k more after $2500 spend in 3 months. It has an annual fee as well, but you get the last night free on points redemptions even if your stay is only two nights. It provides Gold status as well although that only gives you breakfast if you're upgraded to a Business Room at most of their properties. It's up to you if any of these cards are right for you, but I thought out some of the more popular options. If you do want to go the Carlson route, I recommend applying for that one first due to US Bank not looking highly upon multiple inquiries. For the other hotel cards, I think you could even push the applications off a bit if you prefer because the hotels are unlikely to sell out of award space for October. You want to book your flights ASAP (schedules should open in Nov).

Mbcijim10

Really good info here, planning a similar trip.

When does Paris start to green up, April? Beginning or end?

Thanks!
A lurker

sonofzeus

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...de_France.html

Reminds me of the old song.

http://www.lyricsmania.com/springtim...ina_hagen.html

bearsball88

So actually looking to book this for real now and actually have a few extra days we want to add to the trip.

Current mileage:
60k American
45k United
55k Ultimate Rewards
82k Rapid Rewards

Current plan:
Sept 26 - Chicago > London using 60k on United (transfer 15k from Ultimate Rewards)
Oct 1 - London > Paris (Eurostar)
Oct 6 - Paris > Rome (EasyJet or Ryanair if I can talk the bride into one of the economy airlines)
Oct 11 - Rome > Chicago using 60k on American (I wish we could just bump this back a few days to take advantage of off peak, but just isn't possible with work)

Our plan is to both sign up for hyatt card to get 2 free stays (4 total) to use somewhere, and then I'll put the rest of the 40k ultimate rewards in whatever hotel program makes sense. We'll still have to come up with some nights out of our own pocket but shouldn't be bad. Maybe we'll also sign up for marriott card? but that is another chase card, and the hyatt would already be my 4th chase this year.

Am I overlooking anything? Is there better use of the miles somewhere? Or anywhere I can add on a stopover?

Aside from a few Southwest reward bookings, this is really my first big one, pretty nervous about getting it right and want to make sure I'm getting the best value.

Any suggestions would be really appreciated! Have a nice evening all!

dukerau

Nice to see your plan come together! Without enough miles in one program for 2 round trips, it's not possible to use a stopover, so I think what you've sketched out works. It seems you've found availability on AA for FCO-ORD on 10/11, but if you haven't or it disappears keep in mind that Iberia flies FCO-MAD-ORD and is bookable with AA though it won't show up on the aa.com search.

The Hyatt plan sounds like a good idea. Many people like using the free night at Park Hyatt Paris. You have 5 nights in Paris though, but your UR could pay for the 5th night. Another one you could consider is Club Carlson card issued by US Bank. It gives 85K on sign up, and offers BOGO award night if you have the card. There are many 50K/night properties in London, so 100K would get your 4 nights at one of them. I will warn, though, that US Bank is very stingy with approvals and hates recent inquiries. Freeze IDA and ARS if you do it (see specific card thread for details).