n00b Gold Award Booking Strategy
This is largely from my own inexperience: But I think I have this strategy right. I am a new Gold this year. I am planning a trip to Europe this summer and successfully used Chase UR points to get there on a nice flight. I was going to purchase tickets for returning home the second week of July. But fare on FI are stuck at $1100/ea oneway out of most airports in Europe to Portland. Legacy carriers are even more nuts at $3k. I tried pricing some RT's too with the idea of abandoning a leg. It just seem July out of France is popular, who knew.
So here is the strategy I want to test: As Gold, book all the tickets oneway on FI using AS miles. The redemption rate is not great (1.8 cents at present high ticket prices). But use this booking as an insurance policy - and cancel if revenue fares drop. Its just the partner booking fee ($12.50 x 5) that I would be out, right?