LAX - Europe
Feb 5, 2014, 11:37 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: ONT/LAX
Programs: IHG Plat
Posts: 496
LAX - Europe
Hi everybody,
I'm thinking about going to Europe (into LHR and out of ROM, or vice versa) from ~8/29 to 9/14 with the wife. I have ~155k TYP and I'm considering signing up for the 100k AA Citi card. The initial plan was to book two one-ways with the AA points and two one-ways with the TYP. However, one RT ticket via the TYP costs ~$1200 but a one way is ~$900 so I wont have enough points and its not worth it.
Is it ok to book one RT via TYP and the other RT via AA? Will I be able to select seats that are together? Are there any other cards I should consider?
I thought about signing up for a Chase Ink but I just got 2 SW (personal/biz premier) cards back in June/July so now I have 4 personal and 1 business card with Chase and dont know if I'll be approved for a 6th card. I could maybe sway them to convert one of my older cards.
My other option is to use my SW points to go to the east coast, since i have a CP, and book cheaper flights out of LGA/JFK or another airport with my TYP. But i'm not sure if that's worth it.
i should start churning for the wife. maybe i'll sign her up for the AA card too? but that's a lot of work to do by myself.
I'm thinking about going to Europe (into LHR and out of ROM, or vice versa) from ~8/29 to 9/14 with the wife. I have ~155k TYP and I'm considering signing up for the 100k AA Citi card. The initial plan was to book two one-ways with the AA points and two one-ways with the TYP. However, one RT ticket via the TYP costs ~$1200 but a one way is ~$900 so I wont have enough points and its not worth it.
Is it ok to book one RT via TYP and the other RT via AA? Will I be able to select seats that are together? Are there any other cards I should consider?
I thought about signing up for a Chase Ink but I just got 2 SW (personal/biz premier) cards back in June/July so now I have 4 personal and 1 business card with Chase and dont know if I'll be approved for a 6th card. I could maybe sway them to convert one of my older cards.
My other option is to use my SW points to go to the east coast, since i have a CP, and book cheaper flights out of LGA/JFK or another airport with my TYP. But i'm not sure if that's worth it.
i should start churning for the wife. maybe i'll sign her up for the AA card too? but that's a lot of work to do by myself.
Feb 5, 2014, 1:05 pm
#2
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: CLT
Programs: AA, UA, BA, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold, IHG Platinum
Posts: 2,074
You can do one with TYP and another with AA, but remember you are restricted by availability with award tickets. So the route you get with award tickets might not be the cheapest route in $. This could be very difficult to get to work, especially since you won't have the AA miles for 2-3 months, so you'd be booking 3-4 months out. But you already have to spend $10K on the AA card to get the bonus. Spend another $10K and you have enough miles for both of you in coach RT. Or back your trip up a month and the return would be after Oct 15, so only 20K miles.
Feb 5, 2014, 1:14 pm
#3
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: San Antonio
Programs: AS MVP
Posts: 2,276
You could get the AA Platinum card for your wife which requires only 3K spending for 50K miles or even lower for the 30K and 40K versions, and you could book 3 one-ways and she books the 4th. No problems with seat selection or anything else except you have separate PNRs at check-in and for IRROPS.
Feb 5, 2014, 1:59 pm
#4
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: LAX, formerly SFO, PEK, PVG, NRT
Posts: 164
If you can get extra AA miles from churning, that'd be the way to go, but I don't see the big problem with booking one RT with AA, and another with TYP.
I did something similar last year where I used UA miles on a flight to HKG, while my girlfriend paid cash. We booked at the same time so we could select seats next to each other.
We did have to sacrifice a bit on what airlines we could take. I could've used my miles on a better Star Alliance carrier, and she could've booked on Cathay or something, but we decided to sacrifice airline quality in favor of flying together.
I did something similar last year where I used UA miles on a flight to HKG, while my girlfriend paid cash. We booked at the same time so we could select seats next to each other.
We did have to sacrifice a bit on what airlines we could take. I could've used my miles on a better Star Alliance carrier, and she could've booked on Cathay or something, but we decided to sacrifice airline quality in favor of flying together.
Feb 5, 2014, 5:20 pm
#5
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 599
As mentioned above, what you find on miles is quite likely not the cheapest airfare you find.
How i've handled that with my spouse is to just not travel on the same planes together - have a target date where we both land at the same airport/city, and meet up at the hotel, and that way the miles/cash deals can be picked to be most economical. This might not work for everyone who very strongly want to even be on the plane with their spouse, but we figured we're not talking in the plane with each other anyways since that's rude, so who cares if we're watching our ipad videos sitting together or in seperate planes as long as we land on the same day within a few hours of each other.
How i've handled that with my spouse is to just not travel on the same planes together - have a target date where we both land at the same airport/city, and meet up at the hotel, and that way the miles/cash deals can be picked to be most economical. This might not work for everyone who very strongly want to even be on the plane with their spouse, but we figured we're not talking in the plane with each other anyways since that's rude, so who cares if we're watching our ipad videos sitting together or in seperate planes as long as we land on the same day within a few hours of each other.