Originally Posted by
seattletravelmember
Thank you. Coach only, we don't have enough miles. Overnight stop would be ok and if it would be LA, Chicago or NY would actually be preferable. But when I had talked with a person the other day at Alaska, they had said they could get me to Chicago but no further, even a day or two later. I guess I can press for more details next time I call.
There was a comment above about British Air. Point taken: I should consider them. But this is starting to turn into sticker shock all the way around, there's a point at which the finances simply don't work for our family budget. The estimates the rep gave me this morning of how much each person's ticket would cost, times a round trip, would add up to $4K ($500 x 4 x round trip). I did not want to waste her time, so don't know if it would even be possible to get tickets for destinations of interest with that type of fuel charge.
I have found it helpful to research before hand and call them with the exact routing that you want. Look on AA.com for flights with the dark green 30,000 mile options. Then look on as.com for the 12,500 options. In the example I gave before, you should be able to call them up and say "I'd like to book the return for my award ticket. I'd like to fly American Airlines flight 99 from London to Chicago on July 6th, and Alaska flight 21 from Chicago to Seattle on July 7th." I have found they actually appreciate that you already know which flights have availability.