Originally Posted by
birdseye
All the low rewards Seattle to Rome are gone for next summer. I did find 2 seats Milan to Seattle on August 23rd for 30k each. If you have enough miles, you could book those return flights today, and book Seattle to Rome for 60k each (availability is wide open for 60k) when you finish earning the miles. This would cost a total of 90k points each. That's the nice thing about one way awards. Remember, you can hold tickets, and you have 24 hours to cancel a redemption without penalty. I would book hold those seats on August 23rd immediately and then talk it over with your spouse.
Birdseye, good catch on the Milan option--and would agree with holding the flight for five days. I would also explore some additional options. 90k is so close to a business class award (100k) that it seems a shame to pay that:
1) Call Alaska & AA, to check other availability.
--Check from their partner gateways too (if you can save 60k miles between you by getting low rewards, would it be worth $400 in airfare to the gateway?)
--Check for business class as well (if you're in for 90k, may as well check for 100k J awards).
2) Consider your flexibility:
--Does it have to be Rome this year--perhaps there are other destinations that have availability, and you could do Rome the following year?
--Would Thanksgiving or Christmas break work?
--Or, are you so flexible that you can roll the dice on released availability a few weeks out? Again, the agents can be your friend--they often know which flights tend to open up closer to flight date.
This is probably obvious, but flying out of Milan does add the cost of the train from Rome, which IIRC would be a couple hundred/pp. That's great if you want to visit Milan on this trip.