mattdon64 Welcome to FT
Originally Posted by
mattdon64
I've been reading lots of threads on the site - great community. I am asking for help with a trip for myself and my wife and 17 year old son from Washington, DC area to Athens, Greece.
Here are some thoughts:
- Timing is second half of June, 2020 (with some flexibility)
- I have about 115K points on Chase UR
- I have just signed up for the AMEX Plat and will have another 100K there after I complete my 3 month spend (December 2019)
- I have about 30K miles on AA.
- I have 100K points on Bonvoy but assume not helpful as we plan to use AirBnB in Greece (traveling with two other families).
- As a baseline it looks like the best economy fare is on Royal Air Maroc for around $850 R/T. I see that they have Iberia as a partner which is also a transfer partner for both chase and Amex. I'm researching the amount of miles needed for award travel going that route.
- I'm looking for opinions on the best way to maximize cash/points for this trip (using Royal Air Maroc or any others). I am interested in using points to upgrade from economy to business class as an option.
Royal Air Maroc is joining Oneworld alliance mid 2020, so will be an AA ff partner then. But date not yet fixed.
https://www.oneworld.com/news/royal-...-join-oneworld
Are you wanting to buy tickets ($850) or award tickets? [3 off]
Upgrading can be difficult and often requires a high priced base fare. Freq flyer status helps. 3 upgrades on the same flight very very hard.
Cross airline upgrades not that common. AA-BA-IB have a cross upgrade system with onerous t&c's.
Eu is small, so you could fly to Eu some where close to Athens and then by train or airline.
I would not be concentrating in Royal Air Maroc. Many airlines USA to Eu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens...tional_Airport
A very general guide-->
https://www.awardhacker.com/#f=Washi...=0&c=y&s=1&p=1
Credit card transfer links