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Have you ever redeemed for 4 tickets on same flight?

Have you ever redeemed for 4 tickets on same flight?

Old Jan 27, 2013, 5:41 pm
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 74
Have you ever redeemed for 4 tickets on same flight?

...in first or business class to Europe on the same flight? I am planning ahead for Summer 2014, but we are a family of 4 so redeeming miles is sometimes tricky for us. Last summer we were able to get to Hawaii (2 of us in first & 2 in coach), but were on separate flights for a portion of it. My husband and son got delayed from LAX to HNL - they were supposed to be the next flight after us but got delayed by 7 hours! I would love to avoid that situation again, but realize that reward flights can be hard to come by, even at 330 days out.

We are considering Europe (very open to destinations), Hawaii again, or are open to other ideas as well We are flying from East coast (PHL, EWR, JFK, BWI, etc) & going to figure out what miles we would need before our next 2 AORs.

Thanks!
jandmmom is offline  
Old Jan 27, 2013, 5:52 pm
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1P, AA Gold
Posts: 102
Originally Posted by jandmmom
...in first or business class to Europe on the same flight? I am planning ahead for Summer 2014, but we are a family of 4 so redeeming miles is sometimes tricky for us.
We were successful in getting 4 Saver XC tickets on UA/NZ from SFO-SYD-AKL for this March. Reserved them about 7-8 months ago - not right at the 330 day window, but soon after a lot of availability opened up in United.

Also had available prior to that 4 Business tickets on Asiana via Seoul-SYD-AKL. So it's definitely possible in Business. First Class seems unlikely though.
FruJu is offline  
Old Jan 27, 2013, 6:12 pm
  #3  
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 940
Yes, but not to Europe. I was able to get five tickets in business to Asia in Business class last year. I think that was pure luck that the availability was there when I called, and the agent that helped me to book it was surprised too.
BOShappyflyer is offline  
Old Jan 27, 2013, 6:25 pm
  #4  
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 207
Have you ever redeemed for 4 tickets on same flight?

Yes, booked 4 of us bus class SFO-LHR, then 2 bus, 2 Econ FRA-IAH. You just have to go to the airline website and start plugging in cities to check for availability. Finding the transatlantic flight is the key, the connecting flights are not as difficult to find (although there may be more stops - this is where you may have to be more flexible).
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Old Jan 27, 2013, 6:45 pm
  #5  
 
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: Northport, NY
Posts: 1,730
yes, I have redeemed four saver (100,000) tickets JFK-CDG on United Business. I also redeemed three Air France business tickets JFK-CDG-FRA using my Skymiles (100,000). Both were booked 330 days out.
Schutzee is offline  
Old Jan 27, 2013, 6:45 pm
  #6  
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: San Francisco
Programs: United GS, IHG Plat, SPG Gold, Marriott Plat
Posts: 260
I have done this successfully a few times for our family of 4. (business class milesaver awards). I was successful on these routes

SFO-LHR
FRA-SFO
SFO-FRA
FRA-BLR
BLR-FRA
EWR-DEL

All FRA flights were on LH metal including the amazing new LH 747-800 (FRA-BLR)

Last edited by ssing; Jan 27, 2013 at 10:57 pm Reason: Typo
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Old Jan 27, 2013, 6:49 pm
  #7  
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: NYC
Programs: DL GM
Posts: 48
I have a trip to Europe in the summer on DL (JFK-CDG-LHR-JFK) for 4 in Economy. Last year I did JFK-HKG-SIN on Cathay Pacific in economy (using BA miles). Seems like coach is easier than business class in my experience. Similar searches for business only showed 1 or 2 business class tickets.

I also didn't have that many miles to burn for business class.
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Old Jan 27, 2013, 6:55 pm
  #8  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 74
Thanks for giving me some hope We are very flexible with summer dates (we have off all of July and first 3/4 of August). We are also flexible with where we will go, although I'd love to take the kids on a Europe trip. I haven't considered Asia, but it is something that I will look into. I have thought that the flight times would be too long for the kids.

It seems as if I will need a minimum of 400,000 miles in a single program/alliance (100K per ticket for saver?) - does this seem accurate?

As I have only flown 1st class twice in my life (once last year to Hawaii and once 11 years ago to Alaska), I am not really familiar with the differences between first and business class.

Thanks again for any and all ideas and inspiration^
jandmmom is offline  
Old Jan 27, 2013, 7:00 pm
  #9  
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Laguna Niguel, CA
Posts: 3,780
I got 4 business class tkts on LH (LAX-FRA-FCO) RT. I used SPG points to Air Canada for 3 of them and UA miles for the 4th. Many had told me I couldn't get 4 on one flight, so we felt very lucky to get it all worked out with a decent itinerary.

Our trip was late November (over Thanksgiving) and I did the bookings in early July.

Good luck ^
ALadyNCal is offline  
Old Jan 27, 2013, 7:00 pm
  #10  
ffI
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: WAS
Programs: AA EXP2M, DL 1MM DM ext, UA PP <=> HH G/Marr PE/Hyatt G/IHG P FT RA ( Recovering Addict)
Posts: 4,588
Done several from IAD to CDG and on to CAI, MAN, ZRH, DEL and SIN
Each time for family of 6 in C. Emptied out a lot of skymiles.
This was soon after the 388 started from IAD and is no more now.

To really get help, where are you - east coast or west, what hubs are nearby
and what points do you have, do you have status so changes are free ( you can book 2 economy and 2 F and optimize later) etc etc
The more info, the better the advice and more detailed

You can go with 360k from US to China and take a stop in EU on the way back.
We are doing that in June and staying a week in 2 places at one go for same miles

Lastly skip F class; worth it only if you are flush with miles
For the infrequent long distance traveler Bz is plenty
BUT do not exclude it, so you may get 3 in Bz and 1 in F or 2 in Biz and 2 in F search for 2 seats rather than 4 at a time and select both
You may find more available options 2 at a time on the same plane

Last edited by ffI; Jan 27, 2013 at 7:07 pm
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Old Jan 27, 2013, 7:09 pm
  #11  
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: The Dakotas
Posts: 608
On DL- 4 Economy tickets to Rome at 60K each, 1 ticket at 90K in 2010 (1 paid ticket as well on that trip)
Also have 5 award flights on AF business class to ATH this summer using Skymiles at 100K each.
6 tickets on AA economy to Costa Rica summer 2011 at 35K each.

Have been able to redeem awards multiple times on domestic itineraries for our family of 6 - almost always at low award levels on DL, UA, AA.
Redeemed is offline  
Old Jan 27, 2013, 7:16 pm
  #12  
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: San Francisco, CA
Programs: UA Plat, Copa Pres. Plat, Hyatt Diamond, Hilton Diamond, SPG LT Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 769
Most I've ever gotten on a single flight was 6 - HNL-EWR (in coach)
milesmuncher is offline  
Old Jan 27, 2013, 7:22 pm
  #13  
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: SFO
Programs: Hilton-Gold
Posts: 703
I was able to redeem 4 Business class tickets to Europe for this June 2013 using American and BA Avios.

SFO-JFK-MAD-FCO
ORY-MAD (Economy using Avios)
MAD-MEX-LAX-SFO

I booked 330 days out and had Expert Flyer subscription to check for all the flights I was interested.
concordian is offline  
Old Jan 27, 2013, 7:34 pm
  #14  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 74
Originally Posted by ffI
To really get help, where are you - east coast or west, what hubs are nearby
and what points do you have, do you have status so changes are free ( you can book 2 economy and 2 F and optimize later) etc etc
The more info, the better the advice and more detailed

You can go with 360k from US to China and take a stop in EU on the way back.
We are doing that in June and staying a week in 2 places at one go for same miles
We are on the East Coast near PHL, but often fly from JKF, EWR, and can go as far as Baltimore, D.C., even Boston if we are desperate

We have no status at all with any airline because we don't travel for business at all and rarely pay for flights.

Currently we have:
100K Amex MR
50K Chase UR
30K SPG
60K + 60K UA
12K + 12K USAir

Plus Hilton and small random amounts in some other programs.

Cards we have currently:
Amex Platinum
United (2)
USAir (2)
Chase Sapphire Preferred (2)
Hilton Surpass
Hyatt
Marriott
Priority Club

In past (but closed):
SPG
Citi AA
Amex Gold OPEN
Chase BA
Capitol One

I just got the Amex Plat with the 100K bonus, so need to wait a couple of months for more apps. I think my husband can apply sooner.
jandmmom is offline  
Old Jan 27, 2013, 7:52 pm
  #15  
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Dallas, TX
Programs: AA, UA, DL, SPG gold, PC Plat, CC gold
Posts: 196
I was able to redeem these tickets for 4.

JFK-HKG in cathay first using AA miles in 2011 (originally booked 2 in first and 2 in business. Close to flight time, they opened more first and was able to move the 2 in busines to first.)
EWR-BOM, BOM-EWR in CO businessfirst using NW miles in 2009
IAH-CDG-IAH in AF business using delta miles in 2012

Last edited by ayya; Jan 27, 2013 at 10:54 pm
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