newbie needs help please
 

We are fairly new to the FF game but have many miles to use. The 5 of us want to fly from EWR to MCO on April 3, 2004 returning April 10th - the week proir to Easter. We would rather not pay cash. I can only find the 50,000 mile seats for the RT, no 25,000 seats left. My question is this: Should we take the seats that are available or wait and hope the "cheaper" seats come up? When should the other seats be released? if at all. Does CO follow any routine when releasing seats? Can you give me advise. Many Thanks!

Hi there and welcome to Flyertalk! Unfortunately, just about every award one tries to redeem with Continental are at the EasyPass pass levels (50K) and not at the Standard levels (25K).

As for your other questions, I am sure you will find others to reply who can answer probably better than I can. But you unfortunately discovered the major flaw with OnePass -- no standard award seats hardly ever available!

I also am new and like Continental a lot, but after reading this is going with a Continental card the right choice? Is United better?

Panosh,

As far a a credit card, many have found the Starwood AMEX to be a better card. With it you can transfer miles to almost any airline, including CO with a 5K bonus for transfering 20K miles. Annual fee is free for the first year and $30 after. The only disadvantage that I can see is that some places don't take amex and you don't get the double miles for tickets from CO. Search the Starwood, amex and CO boards for more information than you want.

Sandra,

Welcome to FT!

I think it is going to be very difficult to get 5 standard awards together, especially if you are not flexible with your dates.

The CO fare seems very high for the dates that you have selected. If you are paying for the flights with $ may want to try Delta (or others) to see if they have any better alternatives.

Keba

Have you tried to see whether award tix are available on NW or DL? You can use your miles on those, too -- though the ability to do so on DL is brand new.

FYI -- The time of year you are choosing to travel is not the best for award availability, as the airlines can usually fill up on paid seats to Florida around Easter.

Generally EWR-MCO is one of the cheaper tickets you can get - usually in the $200 range - and not considered a good value for the use of FF miles.

As to the choice of CO as an airline, there are lots here who swear by them, and lots here who think they are garbage. YMMV

I can tell you that Gordon Bethune the head of CO (Gordo the liar as many here call him) thinks familys traveling to Disney are 'not worth' the perks and comfort due his business travelers and has said so on many an occasion. If I were you, I'd look for a more customer friendly airline, even if it meant taking a connecting flight.

Good Luck

[This message has been edited by NJDavid (edited 07-08-2003).]

Thank you for your responses. I didn't realize that we could use CO miles on other airlines. Do we then book on the others web sites. Do we have to get a a FF number with them too?
I hate to use so many miles for such a short trip! I'm still hoping that we will find cheaper seats.

At this point, CO should be able to tell you whether there is availability on NW. Starting Tuesday, we should be able to redeem on Delta. Almost of the NYC-MCO nonstop flights on Delta will be on Song, however, and not eligible for mileage redemption.

My suggestion would be to wait - CO, NW and UA (FYI) are not showing any 25k availability now, but probably will load some in the future.

If you are really up for some adventure you might think about takin' the Choo-choo. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif

70K NonePass miles converted to Amtrak Guest rewards point would get you a deluxe or family sleeper plus a standard sleeper, round trip from Joysey to Orlando, which would accomodate your group. The amtrak sleeper rewards include meals and transportation for two.

There are some blackout days, but Amtrak doesn't pull the "Sorry but there ain't no standard rewards left" B.S.. If it's available for sale, it's available as a reward. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

It's not for everybody, but it's worth considering.

NJDavid said:

"Generally EWR-MCO is one of the cheaper tickets you can get - usually in the $200 range - and not considered a good value for the use of FF miles."

A statement that is true, but the word "generally" in that post does not apply to the week before Easter, which is the height of the season in Florida. I would doubt that even at this early stage, there would be tix available in the $200s, and maybe not even in the $300s, with very little chance of standard awards coming available on CO as the time nears.

I think that SandraInNJ's best alternative is to shop around at other airlines, including the discount carriers, and wait for any sale or special and then pay cash, hoing to come in with the low $200s or maybe even the high $100s.