jxw181

Hello everyone,

I'm relatively new to the game, and after a few low-value mile redemptions I'm looking to start maximizing my awards.

I will be flying to Budapest from DC (IAD) for Thanksgiving (11/27 - 12/2). Full fare is $705 (IAD->VIE->BUD outbound; BUD->BRU->IAD return) via Star.

I also have the option of using 30k United miles on the outbound and 20k AA miles on the return (BUD->TXL->JFK), taking the Megabus from NYC. Total cost with fees + bus ticket is $159, putting the true cost per mile > 1.1 cents, plus the opportunity cost of ~10k United miles that could have been earned on the flight. Since I'm new to the game, I'm 'mileage poor' with only 20k AA miles and 40k United miles. Should I save the miles and just book the fare? From my research / lurking here it seems I should be able to get > .02 cents per mile on both United or AA without flying business class. I appreciate your help, and I look forward to contributing here and sharing my stories!

bwiadca

Save the miles and buy the ticket.
Make sure that the booking class on OS earns miles on UA.
I know that most discounted fares on OS earns no miles or up to 50% if you want to credit the flights to US.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Welcome to FT!

For the cost (in AA miles) of BUD-TXL-JFK, you might be able to get BUD-TXL-JFK (lengthy stopover) - Hawaii/Alaska/Caribbean, etc., depending on AB's published through-fares from BUD. You can try playing around with the multi-city award-booking engine on aa.com to see which add-on city you can get for no additional miles.

red star

That is not "full fare" but rather deeply discounted.

~tc~

[hijack] Budapest is a great city, and a fantastic jumping off point to explore Central Europe. [/hijack]

Jo utat kivanok!

DC777Fan

Welcome to FlyerTalk! Like almost all situations, it depends.

You say you're mileage poor, but you don't say what else you might spend miles on and what capacity you have to earn more miles and how fast you can earn them.

If you can earn as many miles as you need for your next possible redemption before you'll need them, then I'd always burn miles instead of cash. Miles devalue regularly and I wouldn't keep more than I have to. I only have the miles I have because I don't have the time to travel as often as it would take to deplete my accounts at the pace I earn.

If you can't earn very many miles (bad credit, no credit, about to buy a house, low spender, etc), and you do have a redemption in mind that would likely yield a higher CPM value, then I'd save them. It won't be hard to eclipse 1.1cpm.

keisari

I think OP means all inclusive when they say full fare

bwiadca

That's what I think too.

JPG3392

This is a very good price for this trip, even off-season. It's hard to calculate the value of miles in dollars and cents, because people like to use their miles for different purposes and because the ability to redeem miles varies from one airline to another. I've often redeemed miles on both UA and AA for flights to Austria and Germany, and I would not use miles under your circumstances.

Two suggestions, though. 1) If you buy a ticket, try to accumulate as many UA miles as you can on these flights. To learn what fares are eligible, you'll need to check on their website for each partner airline that you'll be flying. If you don't qualify for miles on OS, it might be worth checking to see if you can get the same fare and miles by flying LH or UA via MUC, FRA or ZRH. Check also to see about getting miles on the BUD-BRU segment (not sure who operates that).

2) If you decide to use your miles and fly AA on the return, it seems that no award flights are available on the day you wish to travel. (I've had the same problem, and am actually having right now in trying to schedule award travel next July.) There are two provisions of the AA program that may help you here. a) You're allowed a free stopover in the city in which you arrive in or leave from the USA. In this case, you can book a stopover in NYC if JFK-DCA award travel is not available on December 2nd but is available at a later date. Doing this makes your origin/destination BUD-DCA instead of BUD-JFK. b) AA does not charge a fee to change award flights as long as you keep the same origin and destination and make your changes far enough in advance. It's quite possible that award travel JFK-DCA will open up between now and November and you'd be able to change your flights at no charge. Doing so would save some money and also avoid the hassle with the Megabus. But I still recommend spending the $705. in this case.

jxw181

Wow, tons of great information here! I'm going to go ahead and just purchase the fare. I value United miles the most of all programs given the plethora of flight options from Dulles via Star and the ease of earning through UR. I can get much more value with UA miles by hopping around the Pacific Islands, which is a trip I want to take. Just a few more AA miles and I can get to NRT in economy, so it's worth saving those.

I did an AOR this summer and landed 30k skypesos, 50k MR points, 35k US Airways and 50k Avios and 50k UR points, plus a smaller AOR in December. I'll be focusing my efforts on earning through Star from now on instead of spreading miles so thin that they aren't useful (30k skymiles). I'll probably although I could transfer MR to Delta and get a RT flight to Asia in economy, so that's an option. Otherwise I'm looking at redeeming for hotels or something since I always pay for domestic.

Good catch on the fare class, something that I neglected to look at. This flight is K, which won't earn any miles on United or US Air on both the OS or Brussels air. There is a UA-branded fare for a few dollars more operated through OS in the same class, which I believe earns at 1:1 ratio. I might just grab that one.

The fare does seem really reasonable. Believe it or not, this is my first trip across the pond. I started traveling internationally last year once I graduated, and did Peru, Argentina, Brazil and Colombia (highly underrated with an amazing culture). I'll certainly be taking a day-trip to Vienna to check out the architecture, Christmas markets and enjoy a cup of coffee! Austrian wine will make great Christmas gifts!

~tc~

If you go to Vienna, you should stop by Bratislava on the way back. For 2 national capitols only 50 km apart, they may as well be on different planets. Amazing the difference communism had on Slovakia compared to not in Austria.

(My previous post was "have a good trip" in Hungarian)

JPG3392

Thanks. After posting the above, I looked up the dates you mentioned and then checked what fare classes earned miles on the various airlines. All the flights I saw were in K class, which earns 100% miles on UA and SN (Brussels), but nothing on OS or LH. The UA branded flight (code-share) does not earn miles in K on OS; earning miles depends on the airline that actually operates the flight. For the days I checked, there were flights through Germany to Budapest on UA/LH for just a few $ more; these would earn 100% miles for the transatlantic portion on UA, though not for the LH flight in Europe.

jxw181

Thank you! I will definitely look into taking a train to Bratislava on the way to/from Vienna. On another note, I find the uniqueness of Magyar to be fascinating and the fact that it was able to survive and thrive to this day. It'll be much different then, say, Latin countries where you can at least read the signs/menus and have some idea of what they convey. Of course, my friends that have traveled to Budapest have great things to say about the friendliness and hospitality of the people, so I should be fine! Also, the views look fascinating:

http://www.gillesvidal.com/sziget200...estchateau.htm

JPG3392

You might consider visiting Bratislava as a daytrip from Vienna. Austrian Rail offers special RT day fares valid for trips between the two cities, as long as you use commuter trains. I don't know the current price, but it should be about 10 Euro. The ticket is also valid for public transportation in Bratislava (bus and street-car). Mostly everything of interest in Bratislava is in or near the old city, and you can see everything in a few hours.

biggestbopper

Don't understand why you would take the bus to NYC when you can probably get a free flight from AA or UAL to make your international connection (if using miles).

And, as mentioned above, on your return you can get a free ticket one way to California or Hawaii with a "stopover" in NYC or DC for up to a year. Hawaii is the same miles from Europe as is the East Coast.

Wish I had paid more attention to this option when I was getting going on FT.