A few basic FF questions
Feb 26, 2011 | 12:32 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 16
A few basic FF questions
Hi there,
I've never booked a flight with FF miles before, so please bear with me
My fiance and I are planning a trip to Hawaii for our honeymoon. Currently most flights seem to be around $800 per person, and with FF miles, it would come out to 80,000 to 90,000 miles.
I currently have 60,000 miles, but just applied for the Chase Continental CC that would give me an additional 50,000 miles, so I would have more than enough to book the flight.
So my questions are..
1. The additional miles might not be posted to my account for about a month. Would it be too late to use them by that point? I don't know if the airlines open up more flights later on - seems like we are planning this plenty of time ahead, but the options to use miles on are not very good at the moment. (This might be more of a Continental-specific question, as that's where I have miles, but I'm posting this in the general forum since I imagine this applies everywhere).
2. Is there some sort of 'golden ratio' to determine if cash or miles are a better option? i.e. if the flights overall will be about $1700, is it smart to use 80,000 miles?
Thanks!
I've never booked a flight with FF miles before, so please bear with me
My fiance and I are planning a trip to Hawaii for our honeymoon. Currently most flights seem to be around $800 per person, and with FF miles, it would come out to 80,000 to 90,000 miles.
I currently have 60,000 miles, but just applied for the Chase Continental CC that would give me an additional 50,000 miles, so I would have more than enough to book the flight.
So my questions are..
1. The additional miles might not be posted to my account for about a month. Would it be too late to use them by that point? I don't know if the airlines open up more flights later on - seems like we are planning this plenty of time ahead, but the options to use miles on are not very good at the moment. (This might be more of a Continental-specific question, as that's where I have miles, but I'm posting this in the general forum since I imagine this applies everywhere).
2. Is there some sort of 'golden ratio' to determine if cash or miles are a better option? i.e. if the flights overall will be about $1700, is it smart to use 80,000 miles?
Thanks!
Feb 26, 2011 | 12:48 pm
#2
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Northwest NJ
Programs: Starwood Platinum,Marriott Platinum, United Silver
Posts: 2,313
Hi there Jersey guy-
Couple of problems. You did not mention when you are getting married which would tell us when the honeymoon is! That's a biggie. Hard to tell if you will have enough time after your CO miles post if we don't know when the date is.
The second one is, you will discover after more time on FlyerTalk, a question with no right answer. It always depends on what you have more of - cash or points! Some people want to save their FF miles for more expensive, Business or First Class travel - something they might not be willing or able to pay for but will give them some very special memories (I fall in that group). As another guy from NJ, I find that up to now, most of my domestic flights have been on Continental and that it wasn't worth using up my miles for flights that were usually $250 or so. But my kids would do that in a heartbeat if it meant they did not have to part with the $250 - every one has different priorities. But now, domestic fares are climbing and I may find myself changing y priorities. That said, your example is about 2.5 cents per mile - most of us would consider that reasonable if not great.
Congratulations on the upcoming wedding.
As for me, I'd probably advise you to pay for coach and use the miles to upgrade - hey, it's your honeymoon!
Couple of problems. You did not mention when you are getting married which would tell us when the honeymoon is! That's a biggie. Hard to tell if you will have enough time after your CO miles post if we don't know when the date is.
The second one is, you will discover after more time on FlyerTalk, a question with no right answer. It always depends on what you have more of - cash or points! Some people want to save their FF miles for more expensive, Business or First Class travel - something they might not be willing or able to pay for but will give them some very special memories (I fall in that group). As another guy from NJ, I find that up to now, most of my domestic flights have been on Continental and that it wasn't worth using up my miles for flights that were usually $250 or so. But my kids would do that in a heartbeat if it meant they did not have to part with the $250 - every one has different priorities. But now, domestic fares are climbing and I may find myself changing y priorities. That said, your example is about 2.5 cents per mile - most of us would consider that reasonable if not great.
Congratulations on the upcoming wedding.
As for me, I'd probably advise you to pay for coach and use the miles to upgrade - hey, it's your honeymoon!
Feb 26, 2011 | 12:56 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 16
Hi there Jersey guy-
Couple of problems. You did not mention when you are getting married which would tell us when the honeymoon is! That's a biggie. Hard to tell if you will have enough time after your CO miles post if we don't know when the date is.
The second one is, you will discover after more time on FlyerTalk, a question with no right answer. It always depends on what you have more of - cash or points! Some people want to save their FF miles for more expensive, Business or First Class travel - something they might not be willing or able to pay for but will give them some very special memories (I fall in that group). As another guy from NJ, I find that up to now, most of my domestic flights have been on Continental and that it wasn't worth using up my miles for flights that were usually $250 or so. But my kids would do that in a heartbeat if it meant they did not have to part with the $250 - every one has different priorities. But now, domestic fares are climbing and I may find myself changing y priorities. That said, your example is about 2.5 cents per mile - most of us would consider that reasonable if not great.
Congratulations on the upcoming wedding.
As for me, I'd probably advise you to pay for coach and use the miles to upgrade - hey, it's your honeymoon!
Couple of problems. You did not mention when you are getting married which would tell us when the honeymoon is! That's a biggie. Hard to tell if you will have enough time after your CO miles post if we don't know when the date is.
The second one is, you will discover after more time on FlyerTalk, a question with no right answer. It always depends on what you have more of - cash or points! Some people want to save their FF miles for more expensive, Business or First Class travel - something they might not be willing or able to pay for but will give them some very special memories (I fall in that group). As another guy from NJ, I find that up to now, most of my domestic flights have been on Continental and that it wasn't worth using up my miles for flights that were usually $250 or so. But my kids would do that in a heartbeat if it meant they did not have to part with the $250 - every one has different priorities. But now, domestic fares are climbing and I may find myself changing y priorities. That said, your example is about 2.5 cents per mile - most of us would consider that reasonable if not great.
Congratulations on the upcoming wedding.
As for me, I'd probably advise you to pay for coach and use the miles to upgrade - hey, it's your honeymoon!
Forgot to mention - the wedding/honeymoon is in November.
Thanks for your response!
Feb 26, 2011 | 2:55 pm
#4
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Northwest NJ
Programs: Starwood Platinum,Marriott Platinum, United Silver
Posts: 2,313
Nope - Steve Schwartz from Randolph!
Are you talking Coach or Business Class? Can you afford Coach tickets without causing "pain" and use the points to move up to the front of the plane? Is that something you or your future wife would appreciate or would you rather keep the cash right now?
Give me some actual dates and the info I asked for and let's see what we can come up with! FlyerTalk members always come out in force when love is in the air!
Are you talking Coach or Business Class? Can you afford Coach tickets without causing "pain" and use the points to move up to the front of the plane? Is that something you or your future wife would appreciate or would you rather keep the cash right now?
Give me some actual dates and the info I asked for and let's see what we can come up with! FlyerTalk members always come out in force when love is in the air!
Feb 26, 2011 | 4:11 pm
#6
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: MSP (Mahtomedi, MN, USA) - Delta hub captive, Marriott Gold, US Mint Silver, CVS Red
Programs: "We've been starving, and sitting on a ham sandwich the whole time."
Posts: 1,482
Welcome to FlyerTalk.
It helps if you update your profile to show your location (closest airport you typically use) and preferred airlines - in my case, MSP and Delta.
Flying free to Hawaii is a great way to use your miles, especially if you'd like to save that $1,600 for something else - like hotel, meals, rental car, scuba trips, helicopter rides, etc!
The Miles vs Dollars question depends on many things that you have to decide
- Will using "miles" make me travel on days or times that I don't want to?
- Will using "miles" make me take a connection, where dollars would give me a non-stop option?
- For the really frequent flyer, is it important that I earn "status miles" on this trip?
On the last point, if one of you is a frequent flyer and the other is not, you may decide to mix a dollars and points redemption - dollars for you so you earn miles towards status level, and points for her - assuming she does not travel much and you do.
In my case, Hawaii is a 4,000 miles flight away from me - so I frequently have done the family with miles, me with cash - so I get that 8,000 miles towards my next "elite level" of status with the airline.
Happy trails and enjoy your time in Hawaii!
It helps if you update your profile to show your location (closest airport you typically use) and preferred airlines - in my case, MSP and Delta.
Flying free to Hawaii is a great way to use your miles, especially if you'd like to save that $1,600 for something else - like hotel, meals, rental car, scuba trips, helicopter rides, etc!
The Miles vs Dollars question depends on many things that you have to decide
- Will using "miles" make me travel on days or times that I don't want to?
- Will using "miles" make me take a connection, where dollars would give me a non-stop option?
- For the really frequent flyer, is it important that I earn "status miles" on this trip?
On the last point, if one of you is a frequent flyer and the other is not, you may decide to mix a dollars and points redemption - dollars for you so you earn miles towards status level, and points for her - assuming she does not travel much and you do.
In my case, Hawaii is a 4,000 miles flight away from me - so I frequently have done the family with miles, me with cash - so I get that 8,000 miles towards my next "elite level" of status with the airline.
Happy trails and enjoy your time in Hawaii!
Feb 26, 2011 | 6:20 pm
#7
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 396
If I am correct in understanding you that it would cost you 80,000 miles for the 2 tickets, then you are getting over 2 cents a mile out of them which is great value for most people. I usually value my miles between 1.5 to 2 cents per mile depending on the airline. I think definitely use your miles if you can!
Feb 27, 2011 | 3:14 am
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: BOS, MHT
Programs: AA ltg, B6, DL, UA, AS, SPG/Marriott Plt, HH, Hyatt
Posts: 10,062
1) 80k miles per person? wow! are you flying El AL?
2) ok so if so--or if flying business or first, then there still could be time if you do presidential coins. yup, Mint coins. They are the current way to earn miles uber. The thread is in MilesBuzz.
3) While it may not be on the same path as you had originally planned, I would suggest both you and the wife to be apply for the AA cards and get at least 75k per person right there. ON AA a flight to Maui is 35k per person but that's econ. But what some do--especially if flying from the East Coast--is try to arrange the trip such that the stop is in Cali. That way you can enjoy some of that state for a tiny bit and then connect onto Hawaii. I mean that's at least how I last did the trip. (ie: enjoy the destination over the flight itself)
Then again I have no idea if any of that applies to your sitch. I'm a mere Red Sox fan and not from Joisey
MM
2) ok so if so--or if flying business or first, then there still could be time if you do presidential coins. yup, Mint coins. They are the current way to earn miles uber. The thread is in MilesBuzz.
3) While it may not be on the same path as you had originally planned, I would suggest both you and the wife to be apply for the AA cards and get at least 75k per person right there. ON AA a flight to Maui is 35k per person but that's econ. But what some do--especially if flying from the East Coast--is try to arrange the trip such that the stop is in Cali. That way you can enjoy some of that state for a tiny bit and then connect onto Hawaii. I mean that's at least how I last did the trip. (ie: enjoy the destination over the flight itself)
Then again I have no idea if any of that applies to your sitch. I'm a mere Red Sox fan and not from Joisey
MM