Awesome Redemption
 

My family and I are planning to go to the Super Bowl in SFO next February if the Eagles qualify. This is three people from MDT, one from ABE, and me, from LAS.

So far I've booked my nephew ABE-PHL-PHX-MRY for 6K miles, and myself LAS-PHX-MRY for 9.5. As soon as my brother gives me his info I will book 3 more PHL-PHX-MRY, for 8.5K each. Not only that but the flights are at fairly convenient times - nephew leaves ABE at 11:15AM, meets brother and family in PHL and they leave 1:43PM, connect PHX where I meet them and we get to MRY at 6:43PM.

Haven't booked the returns yet, and of course coming eastbound is always annoying, but everybody understands that there have to be a few sacrifices for a Super Bowl trip. Obviously it's a pricey trip but it's better when you can keep down the cost of travel. (My brother's thing are hotel points, so I'm letting him worry about that.)

Nice value and love the optimism! Go Birds! 🦅

On a related note, I’m also looking to book flights for when the Flyers win the cup. Unfortunately AAs website does not let me look for reservations with a start date of “Never”.

Good job planning ahead and snagging great deals. AA miles can provide excellent value on domestic trips, and are fully refundable if by some wild chance the Eagles don't make it. Of course, MRY is not SFO, but you at least get yourself to the right coast.

Um, I think you mean the left coast. :D

If one were optimizing distance to Levi I think SJC would be the choice. As it were MRY is only 35 minutes further driving to Levi than SFO. Seems worth it for a 6K and 9.5K redemption, plus there is plenty to see/do in Monterey County.

We are flying in Thursday. My brother and his wife and son have been to the Super Bowl before (2023), and I think they will do a lot of the associated events. I don't know how close to the stadium we will try to stay. Obviously we will put up with a lot more inconvenience for a Super Bowl than we might otherwise. But my brother is in charge of hotels and tickets.

The Eagles are +280 to win the NFC, so I might bet a grand or two on them as a hedge.

The mileage prices did seem to increase slightly as I booked each ticket. Keep in mind that the family has 4 seats on PHL-PHX and 5 on PHX-MRY.

Returning I don't think we're as fortunate, it looks like everybody is going out of SFO at 6AM and around 12.5K each SMF seems to be our best option. 1PM departure via PHX arrives PHL midnight. Only bad thing is that the nephew from ABE can't connect to the bus, so either he'll have to take a redeye or get his girlfriend to pick him up in PHL

But the bottom line is that now that I've stopped traveling, I'm finding uses for my millions of accumulated miles. Even if the prices were higher, it would still be a great opportunity to lock in a price more than 10 months before I know if I'll take the trip.

It's at least an hour farther from Monterrey v. SFO to the Stadium, FYI

+1. I wondered if the OP tried SJC. We stayed in San Jose for Super Bowl 50.

You and your nephew are probably aware, but just in case - the ABE-PHL segment is on a bus that AA runs. It takes you into the sterile area of PHL on the ramp where you get off at a gate and connect to your flight as if you were coming off an airplane (so no need for going through security again).

In good conditions, SFO to Levi's about 35 minutes. MRY to Levi is about 70 minutes.

Yes we're aware of the ABE bus.

We're not really concerned with travel time to Levi's or anywhere else for that matter. It's my brother's job to figure out hotels.

However when your budget for the whole trip so far looks like:
Plane ticket: $50
Game tickets: $25,000

you're not that price-sensitive about local transportation.

After the inevitable schedule changes, you’ll probably be able to finesse that into whatever you want.

Those are great redemption deals! While SFO is physically closer to Levi, I’d pick MRY over SFO for several reasons. MRY is about the size of my house (okay, a slight exaggeration), easy access into and out of, and you avoid the potential SFO weather delays. Plus, MRY has a great little restaurant onsite which is better than any lounge food at SFO.

I dunno, ever since AA has been bringing in the A319 from DFW (and occasionally PHX), the gate area feels preeeeetttty small. Hopefully the new terminal will ease that somewhat (and keep the restaurant with a view!).

For the return, I had to book out of SFO, because my brother wants to get home in reasonable time to get his son to school the next day, and there are some 6AM departures out of SFO. I'll just have to grin and bear it; at least I'll have an AS nonstop home.