cowtowner

OK, my wife accepted a new job last week. Bad news for the family is that she will be travelling 70% of the time.

Good news, (besides all the money she will be making at this new job ), is that we want to plan a family vacation sometime next year using all these miles she will be getting.

Ok, after reading these forums, I think I am more confused than when I started.

First, a lowdown on her job. At first, she will be flying internationally for training. A trip to Spain, one to the Dominican Republic, one to Mexico, and then a trip all the way to St. Paul MN and Los Angeles LOL

After her 4 weeks or so of training, she will have Texas and Louisianna as her territory. We live just north of Ft. Worth, so D/FW is more accessable than Love.

As of right now, she only knows that she will be making her own travel plans using a company credit card. Doesn't know if they budget it, or on a per diem or what....she will know that later in the week when she flies out to LA for her initial training.

I am trying to get her organized, she is a mess sometimes.

So, American is the big behemouth here at D/FW, but their schedules to HOU, San Antonio and Austin leave a lot to be desired.

Also, is there a certain rental car agency and Hotel company she should be using?

All the help is greatly appreciated. I fly a couple of times a year to visit family, so this is all new to us.


Funny thing is, up until a couple of years ago, she HATED to fly. Now, she will be flying for a living.

BigLar

We need more details, but:

Number one rule of thumb - pick one airline and concentrate on it. The goal is to make elite status as quickly as possible, so the bonusses (sp?) kick in.

Do the same with hotels, but you can get elite with hotels faster than with an airline, so you might want to do more than one. Check out the Starwood chains - most folks here seem to think they're marginally better than the others. My hotel is Hilton - I'll be spending a nice week in Paris for free with the points I've gotten from them.

You need to hang about more - read and learn - nobody picks this stuff up overnight.

Don't overlook the credit card, too. Starwood has a deal with American Express, and Diners Club can put miles in just about any airline around.

Once you pick an airline, you might want to consider an affinity card - like an AA Visa (or whatever) - usually you get 10,000 miles or so to sign up, and 1 mile/$ after that.

You pays yer money and you takes yer choice.

And welcome to FlyerTalk!

hnechets

You think you're confused NOW?

Just wait until all of this starts making some sense and you realize what you're looking at. THEN you're gonna feel confused!

Seriously, like BigLar said, just keep reading, the light(s) will come on. Now, just some random thoughts based on your post.

Her credit card...her company will issue it and she will use that for most of her charges. If it is an American Express corporate card, check to see if it is eligible to earn Membership Rewards points. Some corp AMEX cards are, some aren't. If it is, sign up for MR. If not, see how strict the policy is on using the company-issued card is. Perhaps she could get an affinity card like BigLar suggested.

Focus is, indeed, key. When you have some idea of WHERE the travels may be to and from, then you can make an intelligent choice which airline would be best for her travel patterns. You mentioned travel using miles, so if Continental is an option, check the CO board on how easy/hard it is to REDEEM those miles. This may make a diff. Likewise, if Delta seems a prospect, get smart on the potential difficulties she may have (or may not have) in getting elite status with them as it's become much more complicated recently and not all are happy with the changes and restrictions.

The last things I want to mention are about KEEPING up the FF lifestyle or all of the above is moot: (and, this is just personal feelings/experience/bias, so take for what it's worth)

* If there are problems with the water heater, her relatives/your relatives, the kids, the car, what ever, don't ignore it when you talk over the phone. Mention these things, deal with them, and get on with your lives. It's okay to just "whine" occasionally!
* Talk often. I would say, talk nearly every night. Get a cell phone plan that lets you do this without worrying about your minutes. Communicate!
* Help her to make time to do family/marriage things even if she's done a 60-hour week, plus travel and is beat to death. Do whatever you have to do, but make some semblance of normaility when she's home. Conversely, make sure you have some weekends where you all do nothing but veg-out on the couch and don't hit a lick at a snake.
* Don't think that because she's been eating out every night that that would be the last thing on her mind when she gets home. Oftentimes, the last thing on her mind is gonna be waiting to eat until it's cooked, clearing the table, and doing dishes. I know it's funny, but being catered to by a restaurant will free up your time to concentrate on each other. Depends on your wife, of course, but know how she feels here.
* When (not if) she gets stranded at the airport and can't come home, let her know you are disappointed. But not disappointed in her...don't lay a guilt trip on her. But don't just say, "Oh, that's all right," because it isn't, and this might send the wrong message. You are disappointed in her not being able to come home, but you know that's part of the biz, and you know she is just as unhappy at being stranded as you are.
* Back rubs and foot massages are *always* appreciated...and I mean both of you, not just her!

I guess what I'm saying is work at making time for one another, I don't care how hard it is, you work at it, OK? It is gonna be a two-way street.

Allow me to also welcome you to FlyerTalk. Please accept my apologies for such a rambling and incomplete post.

See you in Breckenridge/Maui/LA/Wherever!!


[This message has been edited by hnechets (edited 08-11-2003).]

prncess674

This isn't a popular airline around here but flying Southwest Airlines out of Love may be a great alternative if you want to rack up lots of free tickets for family vacations in the USA. SWA has great schedules to most cities in Texas and Florida. If her regular territory will be short haul flights (neighboring states) it will take a long time to rack up free tickets on American Airlines. You will only earn 500 miles (without any elite bonus miles, once and if she makes elite status) for most short haul destinations. It takes 20,000 - 25,000 for a free domestic roundtrip ticket on AA.

SWA works on a credit system. You earn one credit per segment flown and you can earn double credit if you book your flights online. It takes 16 credits to earn a free trip. So if you booked online earning double credit for every 4 round trips you flew you would earn a free domestic ticket anywhere SWA flies. This is great if you have a big family.

AA should probably be your international carrier since your wife will be making a few international flights.

Hotels all depend on where her company has negotiated rates and if they have spending limits in certain cities. Hilton has a bigger variety of brands while in general I think Starwood has nicer hotels.

BigLar

OK Princess, but a couple of caveats regarding SW:

1. I think it's for trips, not segments. I.e., if you take trip to LAX, it probably stops in PHX. On a major, that's another segment. On SW, I think it's just the trip that counts, not how many segments it takes. I'm willing to be corrected on this, but that's my understanding.

2. The SW credits evaporate after a year. I have a friend who uses SW a bit, but the rolling one-year window keeps eliminating his older credits before he gets enough to use, so it does him no good.

cowtowner

Thanks for your responses.....keep it up!!!!


She will be flying probably two trips a week. So, from my gathering on more reading, if she did fly Southwest, does that mean a free rountrip every 2 weeks?

Shoot, looked up those Rapid Reward deals on EBay, they are getting $250-300 for them. I might have to buy me a Harley now. LOL

hnechets, I want to thank you for your great reply. We have already sat down a couple of times to talk about those things.

ranles

More life issues:

She will be gone more. Working more. Stressing more. It is time to redistribute some of the "home" chores. Think about what she does and pick one or two (ones you might not mind doing, groceries and cooking come to mind as you will need to do these often anyway) for you to do for the future.

If possible, it may be time to hire one or more services.

cowtowner

Distribution hell, they all got firmly put in my lap.

I am going to hire the lawn cut and have a maid come once every other week. I do have a 17 year old with a drivers license, and that will help with the running of the two younger ones.

The 4 year old is the one I worry about.

BigLar

If she's flying that often, and you book the trips on line (www.iflyswa.com), then yes, that's a r/t every two weeks.

prncess674

Personally I wouldn't take SWA to LAX. You don't get alot of FF mileage for your buck. The original poster stated that he lived in Texas and his wife would mainly be travelling in the Texas - Louisiana area. My advice was based on this statement. Flying short hauls on AA would take a very long to even earn one domestic roundtrip. Flying SWA for short hauls would maximize the free tickets. If his wife were travelling trans and mid cons I would have said fly AA hands down.

On SWA if you change planes you get credit for each segment but if you only stop over without changing planes then you only get one segment credit.

I do enough travel that I do my short hauls on SWA and my international and long hauls on Continental. I earn on average 4 tickets a year on SWA and still manage to make top tier on Contiental. This is what works for me. YMMV. I like the SWA tickets for trips to Orlando and Las Vegas with family. There is no fighting about who gets the upgraded seats since SWA is all one class.

The rolling 12 month period is a bummer if you don't travel often so if you were only doing very infrequent trips on SWA then it probably isn't the airline for you. Based on the Original Poster's info this shouldn't be a problem. A little planning will mean you won't lose any credits.

Note to the OP:
Selling SWA RR tickets on Ebay is officially against the rules but there is little they can do to stop it.

tekelberry

The airline of her choice should be a no-brainer. You live in the city where the world's largest airline is based. AA will take you nonstop to virtually anywhere in their network from DFW. The AAdvantage program is great. You can earn miles a ton of ways (see AA forum) including grocery shopping at Tom Thumb in Dallas. Not to mention the other ways, including surveys, dining, credit cards, banking, phone service, etc. Plus, she will earn 1000 AAdvantage miles whenever she books her flight at AA.com.

I would suggest choosing the best and largest frequent flyer program from the best and largest airline, AA.

swag

More thoughts on Southwest...

- For many of the routes you are talking about, their frequency to/from Dallas is the best. That's a big advantage to a business traveller - if a meeting ends early, she may find a flight that gets her home an hour earlier, instead of having to wait. But note that Southwest requires full-fare to stand by, though, so make sure her company will ok full fare tickets or the cost differential if she needs to stand by.

- Southwest offers a "companion pass" if she gets 100 credits in a 12 month period. This pass offers unlimited 2 for 1 travel for the year after it is earned. If the two of you will be vacationing a lot (if she's not burned out), that could be a huge benefit.

- On other airlines, once she has elite status, she will be able to upgrade some or all of her flights to first class. Southwest has no first class. On her short intra-TX hops, that's not too big a deal, but when she's heading to either coast, it's a lot nicer to be up front.

- Don't forget the Wright ammendment. Southwest will not let her but a ticket DAL-LAX. To get beyond TX and the adjoining states, she'd need to buy two separate tickets. This does mean twice as many credits, and may still be as cheap as a single ticket on AA, but it can be a hassle, and may look odd on an expense report, especially if costs are re-billed to clients.

- I think I've heard that the Wright ammendment only applies to purchased tickets, that is, you can redeem an award connecting thru to California, etc. Ask in the Southwest forum for more info. But they still only fly the lower 48, so if you're wanting to use her awards to get to europe, carribean, hawaii, etc, then look for another airline.

AA is probably the best bet for you, but consider what your leisure travel plans may be. if it's frequent, short trips, SW may be worth considering.

Stefan Daystrom

Actually, in Dallas. Which brings up the Wright Amendment. If you buy tickets (plural intentional) to fly one person on Southwest between Dallas and LAX, you earn HALF of a free flight right there, because you have to buy separate tickets to a Wright Amendment state (another airport in Texas, or Albuquerque) and then a separate ticket from there to LAX (and you get 4 credits for each if you purhcase at www.swa.com). But you obviously also have to pay twice (tho one of them can be a cheap hopscotch to Houston).

But the original poster also mentioned that these far-flung flights would be rare (the first few weeks being the exception), and short hop flights within the region would be common. That's where Southwest shines.

So for this poster, I disagree with BigLar's contention that it should all be focused on one airline. Yes, it shouldn't be spread around too sparsely, but in the case of someone in the Dallas area, because Southwest has such great/frequent service within the region from there, if someone's going to be doing that a lot each year, then Southwest Rapid Rewards makes total sense for that. But then, if some trips will take the same person further away, American makes total sense for that. Since this person will be flying twice a week, they can afford to fly Southwest when it's much more convenient and American when that is either more convenient (or equally convenient and they want to get some miles into that account).

If this traveler can fly twice a week on Southwest, then she'll earn more flight awards on Southwest than they can both probably use , so it would seem to make sense to channel all hotel and car rental activity then into AA (as well as those flights where it's pracitcal to use AA instead of Southwest).

enjoystravel

I too recommend SWA (WN) if there are a lot of shorthop flts. SWA does have a lot of frequency in many markets and it keeps growing.

Free companion ticket will probably quite easy to achieve in this case and this open a lot of possibilities for domestic family travel. You can accompany your wife for free on some of her business trips.

If you need travel to Hawaii or internationally then WN is definite No-No.