Welcome to FT!
Your problem is not as difficult as you seem to think. It just involves connecting a lot of dots.
Originally Posted by
PixieGal
1) I have two boys who just went off to college. They'll be needing flights 2-3times a year back and forth between Phoenix and Kansas City. I know this isn't a whole lot of flying, so should we look into some program/credit card, or just use Priceline/Orbitz etc. for each flight.
Every little bit helps, a few years of flying, along with credit card, will get them miles for a decent trip.
Don't limit them to the shortest flight home, a circuitous routing will help build miles.
Look for loyalty to one program, even if it means a few extra dollars for a ticket.
Originally Posted by
PixieGal
2) IF it would behoove us to get into some program, what would be the best direction, given that we won't be racking up miles often. Also, when they graduate, they'll be going into the military (ROTC now), so they won't need it then either.
Pix
Once they are commissioned they will still have the opportunity to fly and accumulate miles, the longer they stay in the more they will fly. I am in the Army and last year flew 130K miles, though I will fly much less this year.
But let's focus on you. You, dear newbie, have some wonderful opportunities to rack up some miles while they are in college.
Here is what I am doing:
I used my miles card to pay for my daughter's college tuition, (7000 miles earned) used the AA Mall (3 miles/dollar spent through Barnes and Noble plus 1 mile per dollar spent on my credit card) with the miles card to buy to buy her books. (1000 miles)
I will be flying from LGA-CLT to visit her later this month on AA and of course pay with my miles card, staying at a hotel reserved through AA as well as a rental car.
Here is a swag at the miles I expect to earn for that:
Flight: 540 miles, double miles bonus, double RDMs for elite status=4160 miles, RT. (about 3.9 cpm, not a MR fare)
170ish dollar ticket on miles card= 170 miles
500 point bonus, plus 500 miles regular miles at hotel through a special AA offer x 1 night=1000 miles plus 110 miles for using my card= total of 1100 miles
2 day car rental should yield about 250 miles plus 110 miles for card used=360 miles.
Dining out during visit and using the AA dining program with credit card, probably another 500 miles.
So during a 2 month period I will have earned around about 14290 redeemable miles, by taking AAdvantage of bonuses, paying tuition and travel I was doing anyway. Repeat the process for spring tuition. Plus as a fortunate recipient of the Citibank AA 100K miles offer
for a $10K spend I just may be at 114,290 points!
Now if you kids are on scholarship your results may vary, but look for ways to maximize credit card use to pay their tuition.
-You can send them an "allowance" through the US mint and pay for $1 coins with your miles card
-Apply for the SPG Crdit Card. They will transfer 25K miles to most airlines for every 20K points earned. They will give you 10K miles right now for a $1000 spend (I think) Get your kids one and get an extra 1000 miles per kid, plus whatever they spend. (Obviously there is some risk for high pizza bills there.)
-Or go over to the discussion on the AA credit card offer and look for a link to one of the high mile offers. Just make sure you have an AA FF number before you apply.
Hope all of that gives you some ideas.