Originally Posted by
dd1612
Just cut to the chase:
Where do you want to fly and when?
Which airline alliance?
What is your flexibility?
That's why I wanted to talk to someone who has knowledge. I've spent probably 100 hours reading - but I've never done it before - and I don't want to miss something or an idea or something beyond my scope.
Summer vacation. Some place cool. Flexibility? May 20th to August 15th. 4 business class tickets. 100k UR, 100k MR, 50k AA, 50k United is what I've got right now.
It seems that going to actual Alaska is my best bet as far as best bang for the miles buck as far as going some place exotic that is an uncomfortable drive.. but maybe I'm missing something.
But maybe one can transfer UR miles to get 2 of the tickets using XYZ redemption on some alliance and one can transfer MR miles to get the other 2 tickets using ABC redemption on the same alliance but different program. These are things that as a rookie, you just don't know! Maybe it opens up other places. There's a value for me in having that kind of dialogue with someone who is super knowledgable. I'm a pretty smart person - but hopefully you can understand the whole idea of 30 airline programs and thousands of destinations for someone who has flown 5 times in his life is a little overwhelming.
Edited to add: This is trending toward its own subject, so I'll move it to its own thread - but it sounds like something like what I'm looking for isn't necessarily best suited for award booking - which is good as we learn the types of things that are and are not suited for award booking.