Originally Posted by
jjoe123
I will be flying with my wife (and 7 months old infant) for a few days in the Rocky mountains.
The closest airport is SJC. SFO is also good (40 minutes). OAK is not relevant.
I'm looking to fly on 7.26 and return on 7.31. There isn't much flexibility on the dates, just a little if really saves money (same length, just move it by a day or two)
Since we are flying with a baby, we are only considering non-stop flights, and we don't want fly very early or late in the day. Flights leaving between 9-13 am are relevant.
I think this are mainly the only details/constraints I can think of.
An award flight six weeks out may cost you tons in miles. Limiting your flight window to the hours you've stated increases the degree of difficulty. Although I'm not from the area, I've probably been in the Bay Area at least 30 times and find your "OAK is not relevant" comment strangely limiting when your alternative is to spend $800-1050.
I'm going to assume your trip is absolutely necessary because otherwise, I'd recommend planning more in advance and going at another time when you might find saver award rates or cheaper cash fares. I'm also going to assume that OAK is not relevant because there aren't nonstop trips. If cash flow isn't an issue, fly WN and earn some RR points (and others, using a card that has a travel category bonus), especially since the base fare is cheaper than UA and you shouldn't need to worry about baggage fees.
If you want to cut the cost, you can book one way on WN (or UA) with cash and the other way with points--domestic one ways are now generally priced the same whether as part of a RT or a standalone one way, which means that you could see if any of the routes might offer a one-way saver rate that you could pair with a more modest cash fare.