Mods, I'm not sure where to put this request. Please move it if needed.

I would be extremely grateful if somebody could help me figure out this situation. I am still fairly new to the travel world and have not been finding great solutions to this issue.

My Issue:

I've been dating a French girl for the past few months and she recently asked me to go to her Sister's wedding outside of Paris at the end of June. This is pretty last minute. My problem is, this being Paris in the Summer, the best coach tickets I've found are about $1,200. This is outside my price range given the short length of my stay there. Additionaly, my dates are pretty inflexible due to work and the wedding itself.

Dates:

Depart: June 21st (EWR, JFK, LGA) - This needs to be the latest possible flight because I'll be coming back from work.
Return: June 28th

My Point Situation:

Aeroplan: 20,000
United: 60,000
Hyatt: 50,000
SPG: 18,000
Membership Rewards: 11,000
Ultimate Rewards: 25,000

I would prefer to keep the Hyatt points to use for a few nights at the Park Hyatt Paris. I am also willing to pay for this, just can't quite afford what I've been finding.

Thank you so much in advance for your help,

Mitch

Mitch:

You need 50k more United. After moving the Ultimate Rewards over to United Mileage Plus that leaves 25,000 short. You simply need 25K more United. Have you got one of the Chase United credit cards? If not, get the Chase United Explorer Card ASAP.

I think you would receive more replies if you had taken the time to create a descriptive title.

You need to find award availability, then figure out if you have the points to claim it. I would look first at Star Alliance because you can combine Ultimate Rewards with UA (85,000 total); then Membership Rewards and Starwood with Aeroplan (49,000 total). There are other possibilities.


I am not at all familiar with UA's redemption chart. Does he really need 110,000 for an economy class roundtrip?

Shouldn't...a Saver coach award should be 30k each way. That said, I'm looking and only see Standard awards, which are 55k each way.

Sadly, I'm not seeing any options other than purchasing. You could do a standard award for one way and only pay for the other?

I do have the United Card and the Sapphire Preferred already. Would it really be realistic to get expect points from a new app (today for example) to post that quickly?

Yeah - he's in a bit of a bind with his timing. Need to know if he still has the Sapphire? or a United card, as there is still some magic in my magic bag of tricks. But the timing is dicey.

Next time date a French Canadian?

You are asking a lot in a short period of time, but mia has pointed you in the right direction. You've got to look at award availability and you've got to be creative. The best route for you obviously is one of your NYC airports straight into Paris, but at this late date, you may need to consider a connection through an alternate airport.

Dublin and Aer Lingus may give you a good option if you're not able to work out something from NYC to CDG. You'll need to convert your 11K MR to 16.5K Avios (50% bonus through the end of the month) and your 25K UR to 25K Avios. If you can find a flight, you can fly JFK to Dublin RT (there's a 9:45 p.m. flight) in economy for 40K Avios on Aer Lingus plus about $125 in fees (you could do the same flight out of Boston for 25K Avios if you can get to and from Boston). You can either stay on Aer Lingus to fly to Paris on a paid ticket (around $300) or use another airline like Ryanair (maybe half that but just be sure to pack light to avoid checked baggage fees, know that you're flying into a secondary Paris airport, and thoroughly review their policies and fees to avoid getting burned).

Above all, however, don't make any transfers to any programs until you know you've got a flight you can book. Availability can dry up within hours and although you're not going during the absolute peak of tourist season over there, you're also not going during a low-demand season.

Good luck in your hunt!

PM me with your limits on each card and their current balance STAT. And your statement closing dates. This is gonna be a squeeker.

Not seeing AVIOS working...

Delta is 75K Skymiles now, but he is SOL on Delta Skymiles. He could Suntrust the Skymiles, but not in time. I have them in inventory. Might 1:1 for United if it is a Hail Mary situation.

Forgot to add that to book on Aer Lingus with Avios, you'll have to call BA's service center, which can be a bit of an adventure in itself. Nevertheless, in this situation, it's worth the call. A good, concise description of the method is here: http://thepointsguy.com/2012/04/usin...el-surcharges/.

Ah, that makes sense on short notice with very specific flight requirements. I think that also eliminates Aeroplan from the process because Saver inventory is required for partner awards.

I wouldn't do this, but:

11,000 Membership Rewards points could be transferred to 3,663 Starpoints. This would bring the SPG balance up to 21,663, which could transfer to UA 13,331.

It appears that Points.com will exchange 20,000 Aeroplan for 7,467 Mileage Plus

60,000 + 25,000 + 13,331 + 7,467 = 105,798. It would cost $188.13 to buy the remaining 5,000 UA miles.

You could fly into BRU and take the train - about 1.5hr. Do not see any saver into BRU, but coming back there is: total 85k. Which is just what you would have if you transferred UR to UA.

Even better: You can fly to CDG for 55k and leave from BRU for 30k - making a o/w train trip.

Yeah, but he gets royally screwed on the conversion. He's dating a French girl so he's gotta be broke (or soon will be).

We are in agreement. Surface Interval has identified an elegant solution which leaves the AC, MR and SPG balances intact and which can be booked immediately with the added bonus of a visit to Brussels ^ .

Train adds $250ish? Any train deals he could get? Or else MRs might convert to AirFrance for a flight in or out?

Elegant, just not rock bottom. Passport time. But PM because if this works out you are gonna need a boatload more miles.

The trains I was looking at for the o/w Paris to Brussels on the 28th are $55 found on http://www.raileurope.com