I have a friend from church who is trying to get to the Congo to see his mother who is in poor health. He fled his home country during the Civil War in the 90's. I've trying to use my miles to help him get home.

Here are my balances:
AmEx MR 250,000
British Airways 240,000
American 175,000
US Air 70,000

Here are his preferred dates:
Depart BNA June 15 or 22
Depart FIH --> BNA July 14 or 21.

I'm looking for coach award travel for 1 passenger. Delta wants 177,500 through Atlanta and Paris, which is a bit steep. I can't find availability on Star Alliance using United and Aeroplan search tools, and OneWorld doesn't service FIH as best I can tell.

Retail price is $2200 all in so 100,000 miles is probably my ceiling to spend.

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

This is inexperienced advice, so take it with a grain of salt. Delta awards tend to lower in price as you close in on the travel date so they can fill their seat. You may still be able to go Delta at a lower miles price if you wait it out a bit. Someone correct me if that's incorrect.

Side note ... what church ya'll go to?

Sign up for awardnexus and see what you can find.

https://awardnexus.com/user/login?url=%2F

I'm seeing a lot of availability on ET from IAD-ADD-FIH in both C and Y around those dates.

So if you want to burn some *alliance miles this could work. It's exactly 70K on US Airways, which is what you have in the bank.

goodluck,

GPESO8

This site is awesome. THANK YOU!

-Newb

Score, I found him a seat with this routing. I'll have to spring for a hotel in IAD the night before but it's worth it.

THANKS FT USERS!

Glad it worked out! I've done this flight once, and have a flight booked in J for July. I found the layover in ADD to be timed perfectly.

I also had to deal with the forced overnight at IAD. I stayed at the Sheraton for about $75.

I was actually able to find a 2nd seat for his daughter as well, so I have them on hold until Friday. Hopefully my US Air hotel transfer from SPG will post soon.

Did you like ET? How does it compare to US airlines?

Heres a trip report from a passenger flying in Y with ET:
http://www.nycaviation.com/2011/11/t...economy-class/

Try SAA via JNB too

I've only done the trip in J and ET will be my preferred carrier when traveling to FIH or BZV. The new 777s provide a much better experience than the old 767 they used to run on the route. The only downside to the trip was the one-hour "technical" stop in FCO on the way back to IAD in the middle of the night.