SFO/NYC -> DUBLIN: Which program should I use?
 

Hi experts!

I've been collecting miles for about two years and am looking to make my first big redemption. I'd like to fly from either SFO or NYC (very different, I know -- I'm going to base my plans around what flight I get) to Dublin in October. A few weeks later, I'd like to fly back from Barcelona.

Here's what I currently have:

Chase Ultimate Reward - 63K
US Air - 49K
Delta - 90K
AA - 66K
Iceland Air - 20K

I'm looking for some help: which program should I try to use?

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Susan

The best value U.S.-Europe after October 15 is AA off peak sAAver awards at 20K each way in coach. But the only 2 week trip that currently works with that runs into November. You can turn 14,500 UR points into British Airways Avios and fly JFK-BOS-DUB on AA and Aer Lingus but you will have to call BA to check availability.

+1 to this...only thing I'll add is that you can query Qantas online (and *maybe* United - I don't know for sure) to view EI availability before you phone BA. I use Award Nexus to do this.

Are you looking for coach availability or J/F? Or do you care? When I've booked EI in the past, I've sometimes seen it wide-open in Y but zero availability in J. Then, a few months later, I'll see someone posting that they saw the opposite. EI's systems seem a bit more unpredictable than most.

Avios is distance-based, so if you're starting from SFO I'd probably just try to redeem the whole thing on AA for either 40k or 50k total.

Seems like Oneworld plus EI would show the greatest availability into Ireland and out of Spain. I'd probably start there and then jump over to UA if one of the directions isn't showing anything you like. You could move some UR points to UA if necessary.

US and DL don't allow one-way awards. The 90k DL is theoretically enough for an open-jaw award although I honestly don't know Delta's rules on open-jaws.

AA and UA allow OW awards at half-price in miles, and AA has reduced rates (20k instead of 30k for economy transatlantic during the off-season. In addition, you can use AA miles to fly on IB (via Madrid), but IB award flights don't show online and must be booked on the phone. You can check IB schedules online and then phone to see if the flights you want are available for award travel. You can also make use of AB if you fly through Germany.

If you do not mind going to DUB via LHR than you can get on VS one way from NYC-LHR for 13k miles and $98 (xfer partner of Ultimate Rewards) and there on hop on to BA short haul flight from LHR to DUB

You can check IB award availability on the Qantas award engine if the OP wishes to do that before calling.

I had a few minutes and I was able to price up a Delta flight from SFO-SLC-JFK-DUB in Business and MAD-JFK-SFO back in Economy for 80,000 miles and $63. Doesn't get much better than when it comes to redeeming SkyPesos in my opinion. You have a long trip from SFO-DUB because of the stops but you'd have a whole day in NYC to do what you wanted. I can PM you the dates and flight numbers if you wish.

I might be tempted to book that just to get out of those 90k Skypesos with some value. ^ I'd survive a daytime MAD-JFK flight in the back to know I had beaten the DL system... :)

WOW! Thank you so much, everybody! I thought that the system would email me when I got a response, so I didn't check back. Sorry for the delay.

You are all a gold mine of information! I'm going to check out all my options tomorrow and let you know if (WHEN..) I have any questions, or what I decide to do.

Once again, thank you for all being so helpful and wonderful. I really appreciate it!