Eloping to Greece
 

I have been reading on FlyerTalk for about a year now, I now have a reason to post a question, I hope this is the right place. I am getting married May 27th 2012. As soon as we sign the papers and it's legal, I plan to take us to the airport where we will fly to Mykonos Greece and have a ceremony on the 28th. I booked us a week there from May 28th until June 4th. I am yet to book airfare. This all happened within the past week and a timeshare was given to me, so I just now got the official dates. We live in Columbus Ohio, but could always fly out of another city using southwest points to get there. I want to fly as cheap as possible, or just get the best value out of my points. Here is what I'm working with:
Chase Sapphire: 109,000
Amex PRG: 28,000
Starwood: will soon have 28,000
Southwest: 54,000

Award Avalibility is pretty terrible from what I have checked. Do you guys think I should try to transfer into one airline?
Thank you in advance!

*A is the only one who flies to Mykonos I think....

[KVS Availability Tool 6.9.7/Diamond - ITA: Awards/AC-StarAlliance/CA]

Correct! The other alternative is to book an award ticket to Athens and then fly Olympic Air to Mykonos (which is not part of an alliance, but tix are quite cheap)!

+ 1 to Athens or something and then buy a short flight if there is no availability. But its definitely worth checking. Either way I would use United.com and try to route out a great trip in first class. Use the oneway option to try to piece it together. If there is only partial availability in First (mixed cabin (part of the flight is in economy)) check for later flights from that destination.
It can't hurt to call as well... At first they will say I dont see anything, but if you give them the first leg, "i see flights from IAD-FRA on Lufthansa First", they might get helpful and search the rest of the flight for you.
No pressure as any ticket can be held for 3 days. Call, if you book a route put it on hold and transfer miles in. They transfer instantly from partners like Chase.
If you transfer 109k from Chase to United and another 21k (+5k bonus), you'll have enough for a round trip ticket in first will united miles.

btw you get a stopover and an open jaw... So if you find availability to and not from, you could get that cheap ticket to Athens or wherever and continue your flight.

Also, if thats too much of a headache there are a few people out there that charge a little fee for using your miles, who are very good at what they do.

Also, if thats too much of a headache there are a few people out there that charge a little fee for using your miles, who are very good at what they do.[/QUOTE]

That sounds good to me. I am really busy this week and just want it booked. Can you recommend someone?
Thank you everyone for the help!

benzamaRealMadrid found the best routes for you to get an award. I think the best way to redeem them is for the TATL part of your journey. But you would need to get some more Ultimate Rewards on your SP as saver awards are 30k one-way per person.

The YS+ sign in his post means there is economy award space.

Flights within Greece are usually cheap, like most of Europe.

Good Luck.

If you are looking for 2 coach seats, I saw two seats CMH-JMK on 5/27 using United.com an hour ago at saver level, but now they are gone! You can transfer UR points to United instantly, and SPG points to United at a 2:1 ratio (20,000 SPG = 12,500 UA with transfer bonus) but SPG transfers can take up to a week.

not enough miles/points, not enough time, not enough flexibility, high season in Europe, Greece imploding.

Doable but bordering to impossible.

Good luck and congrats on your wedding.

There is plenty of availability. You need to get 120k miles into your United account right now if you are going to pull this off.

Why pay a booking service? I just provided a free booking service in my first post. That's all they do anyway.....

The availability that others mentioned is gone now isn't really gone. It is quite easy to get this flight done.

Now you need to route your flight through LHR, where there is availability on the EWR-LHR flight, and LHR-ATH, ATH-JMK.

Earlier posters are right. Star Alliance is the only way to fly directly into Mykonos.

But, don’t let that limit your search of carriers to Greece. It’s very easy to get to Mykonos from the Athens airport.

Take the bus to the Rafina Port. They run every 20 minutes. Rafina is about 30 minutes away from the airport (3 euros).

High-speed ferries will get you to Mykonos in about 2 ¼ hours.

Here is a website on the Rafina-Mykonos hydrofoil.

http://www.greecelogue.com/ferries-f...o-mykonos.html

I thought SPG Points transfer to airlines at a 1 :1.25 ratio. 20K SPG means
25 K airline points. Am I wrong ?

You do get a 25% bonus to UA for increments of 20k SPG points, but UA only gives 1 mile for 2 SPG points.

Pointspros.com
Ben is the blogger behind One Mile at a Time. Can't go wrong.

Have you looked into what is required to have a (presumably religious as the USA ceremony would satisfy this civil in Greece I would assume) wedding in Greece? Also, why schedule it for your day of arrival, which involves a flight exUSA the day of your wedding and probably arrival on the island in the late afternoon if all goes right. Not only are you giving yourself no flexibility in finding award tickets, but also you are allowing no time for late flights, missed connections, etc. Do you really want your Greek wedding to occur when you are rushed and jet lagged at best?