Originally Posted by
Reindeerflame
I'm not interested in first class or business class air travel. I just want to get there. This year I've redeemed SMF-Duluth in July (United; 25K); SMF-Brussels, return from Rome in October (American; 40K); and SMF-Washington in November (Continental; 2 persons, 50K). I've paid for SMF-PHL (UA, in April, $297) and SMF-LAX (SWA, in March). That's my entire flight activity for the year, other than the floatplane to Isle Royale, MI. The last two awards were from credit card bonuses. I have banked for future use 35K on US Air and likely 50K from Sapphire.
Most of our domestic and NA travel is "back of the plane". Simply because a lot of our flights out of JAX are on small Embraers - only the pilot is in the front of the plane
. But - for long haul flights - we like the front. I think we're getting too old to be comfy in the back of the plane on a trip like EWR to Tokyo (12-13 hours).
In terms of NA flights - since our dates are usually flexible - we can often get pretty good fares to large cities. I would guess however that a trip to Duluth from anywhere would be pretty expensive (did a quick fare check for a trip in October - JAX/LAX is $370 - JAX/Chicago is $290 - JAX/Duluth is $500). Doesn't make sense to use miles for relatively cheap flights IMO. OTOH - miles might make sense for Duluth. Robyn