A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,573
Absolutely, without question, do NOT fly this trip in the back of the bus!! Not with *either* an 80k award or a SWU at your disposal.
I concur with the crowd here who says burn the miles - with the only exception being if you think you'll need that 10k-ish EQM for your 2010 1K status. (I know that can be hard to predict.)
In general, I'd say get familiar with this community here - over the course of time, meet some other people with whom you can swap SWU's for something else you need. Hotel nights or whatnot...
But using the $770 and the SWU is also a very good value. Either way, you can't lose...just don't fly coach!!!
That will be a sellout and a semi-tough ticket to get, but we're not talking Super Bowl here. There will be a market for it, you'll have to pay a bit over face (unless you get very lucky), but you'll get in.