FYI
 

Ive been reading posts from many people and I have asked some questions about redeeming miles. so you all know where im coming from by asking these questions, ill clue you in. IM 23 and a full time college student and was bitten a year and a half ago by the travel bug. Ive been to europe once. Flew into london, took easy jet to rome. (I also have a great "bumped" story.) Been to Vegas, Florida, SD, UT, CO, all those places and europe on my own. None of my friends/relatives have any desire to leave good ol' cheeseland. SO as for using my miles for friends, not so much. But i do understand the idea of using the miles on upgrades etc. But cant afford the class fare that you can upgrade from. So for now, the free trips sound good to me. Any ideas, help, questions etc. Fire away or clue me in.

Sorry to hear about your "affliction." http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif However, you are in good company here.

If you're wondering about upgrading, the only thing that comes to mind, is try to concentrate your flying enough on one airline to become elite level.

Try to make the airline one that is good about upgrades for low-level elites. Northwest comes to mind. I'm sure there are some others, but I don't have enough experience with them to recommend one personally.

If you can't make elite, the only other thing I can think of is try to book on flights that are most likely to be oversold and volunteer for a bump and hope for an upgrade.

Good luck.

"clue you in"...watch out for the "wrath of the moderator" when he closes this thread that has nothing to do with NW specifically.

welcome to flyertalk...there is no other source like it with so much info...

Oh but it has everything to do with northwest. Thats the airline I fly, This post is in regards to an earlier post about redeeming miles on northwest. Lions and tigers and moderators? oh my!

Sounds like in your case it is all about status. Try to focus your flying on NW including partners like CO and KLM. Take advantage of cheap fares and flexible itineraries to accumulate the maximum of status miles you can (look at mileage runs).

With status, you get domestic upgrades, bonus miles, early boarding. All of it makes it more "enjoyable" and give you more miles as well!

Welcome to FT! Good luck!

It's all about status on NW. Miles do you no good on int'l upgrades, that's the one weak point of WorldPerks.

With Gold, a good status level to have, you build miles fast. One day you'll have enough to take someone special to Asia or the South Pacific in WBC (NW) and F (MH). I hear MH (Malaysia) has a nice F product, and word is they're upgrading it on the long haul jets.

I hear ya, all but two of my friends think I'm nuts. So I don't tell many people when I'm going somewhere. Out of my non-FT friends, I am by far the only one who understands how to travel right. They make fun of me sometimes, but guess who they call when they need to go somewhere....

Welcome to FT! I have siblings at UW Madison, & I used to live in MSN & OSH briefly. Too cold and flat for me, I'm back in PHX.

You sure? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

I use miles to upgrade international fares all the time. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif



[This message has been edited by RKG (edited 08-13-2003).]

Absolutely.

International upgrades are some of the best deals from miles. I won't use 25,000 miles to buy a $300 domestic coach ticket, nor would I use 50,000 or 60,000 miles to buy a $400-$800 ticket to Europe or Asia.

A WBC upgrade using 40,000-50,000 miles round trip would get you a $3,000-$6,000 WBC seat.

But the poster is a full-time college student. Buying a fare class that can be upgraded with miles is often a very pricey proposition compared to the lowest restricted coach fare available for the same itinerary. (It would also be a great deal to get a $15,000 mink coat for $5,000 -- but you still have to cough up the five grand and there are a lot more reasonably priced ways to look good and stay warm...)

:-) :-) :-)

So good to hear from others in my position. I am also a young full-time student, but based in NYC (guess what school) which makes it very easy to get flight miles for cheap (I think). Plus, I have the benefit of the parents' buying a ticket home to SFO 4-5 times per year. I will be going Gold this year because of it. And I'm not even old enough to get approval for a WP Visa card yet!

But can anybody offer advice about upgrading to the extremely-budget-conscious people like myself and the poster? In other words, I understand the situation from the POV of a traveler who can afford a Y/B (NW) or HoKeY ticket overseas every once in a while, but let's rule that option out. For a 20-year old restricted to H/Q/V and lower fares, where are those miles best spent?

Do what I should have done. Save them up, and take a FC round the world trip (rulebust if you must) when you graduate http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

thanks for the info. I like the idea about weighing how much the ticket is versus the possibility of what the miles can get you. At least that is what i got from it. But i gotta work by my motto, work smarter not harder. theres a way and ill find it. The last two times i have flown i have been "bumped" and have recieved over 1000.00 in ticket vouchers. i did use some of that to take a friend with me on spring break to vegas. coach but none the less, FREE!! Anyone in wisconsin that could teach me a thing or two on NW MR's? i know standby is from here, anyone else?

I couldn't agree more on aaronma's idea!! That would be a great graduation gift to yourself.

Bless your soul!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif So glad you saw the light...
Yes - there is life outside of Lambeau Field and Wisconsin Dells!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

I think you jest. If not, I meant WP sucks when it comes to upgrading an int'l economy fare that has (to me) a reasonable cost.

It's all relative....I wouldn't spend $3000-$6000 on an upgradable Y seat to get to Europe on what I consider to be a "relatively" short flight, if I understand you correctly. Consider - I spent $416 to go PHX-DTW-AMS & back. On the return flight, I checked out WBC, and in my opinion, it is not worth the cost of an upgradable Y seat or 80,000 award miles.

YMMV.

I agree with the poster who suggested flying their whole family in Y to get to an exotic destination. Lately I am coming to that same conclusion, since my wife is not into my ultimate goal of F on MH nearly as much as I. That coupled with finding babysitters for 2-3 weeks for our kids makes taking the whole family more attracive. Like you say, sometimes the flights are a means to an end for other family members besides myself.

But I still dream of MH F to Oz, and one day we'll do it, if it's still available when we are ready to go.

[This message has been edited by Western Airlines (edited 08-14-2003).]

Deleted: I'm posting-challenged today.

[This message has been edited by Western Airlines (edited 08-14-2003).]

Originally posted by Western Airlines:

-Originally posted by ----
RKG:
You sure?
I use miles to upgrade international fares all the time.


I think you jest. If not, I meant WP sucks when it comes to upgrading an int'l economy fare that has (to me) a reasonable cost.

No, I do not jest. I think that using 50,000 miles to upgrade a $600 - $800 coach ticket to WBC is a very good deal! I guess it depends on your definition of "reasonable".
I have actually upgraded $480 economy fares to Asia with 50,000 miles. Of course that was a couple of years ago... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

To each their own!

ON the subject of upgrades, if i buy a v/q or any other low class fare. how far can i upgrade that. so lets say, i buy a v fare domestic, can i upgrade that to a b coach fare then upgrade that to a f? and what about international? do i have to upgrade with miles to a "full fare" then again upgrade to WBC?

I'm not going to close it. I'm going to move it to where it belongs -- travelbuzz.

Different airlines have different policies.

Some airlines will only let you upgrade to Business Class if you are on one of the more expensive Economy tickets.

Others, like KLM, will let you upgrade ANY ticket no matter how cheap. Last year I paid just over GBP 200 (about USD 300) for a transatlatic return (NWI to JFK) and upgraded to WBC using miles.

I have never heard of airlines using a "double upgrade" scheme like the one you describe (i.e, one upgrade from cheap Economy to expensive Economy and another one to Business Class), but that doesn't mean that this concept doesn't exist - I tend to stick with KLM, so I don't really know much about other airlines.

I am also in your boat. I'm 23/college student down in San Diego... I'm doing a couple of MR's to get AS MVP (I don't do it for the upgrades but the mileage bonuses, but also, they have a LOT of flexability on earning miles and getting elite status). I fly abroad 2-3 times a year on breaks to sightsee and visit friends. If the price is right, i'm there. (Next up, BUE on an award ticket)

Basically, I'm collecting the miles to fly for free. I already have 57000 and thats from AS credit card usage and "mileage whoring" (credit card renewals, LD service etc) and a few flights i've taken. (FYI, also have 15k on JAL from a trip to Singapore 2 years ago and 12k on Korean for a HK trip last winter).

Now that i've spent a lot of time doing research, i'm going to concentrate on getting the miles all dumped into one account. AS/NW is very logical for me, since I travel to Asia mostly, but also because I will probably be studying there a year from this academic year. These MRs will give me MVP which translates to a 150% bonus...so a "weekend trip" or a spring break trip to Singapore, Bangkok or Europe translates to 15-30k miles (depending on destination). That's almost what I need to go to Latin America, and its a LOT cheaper than flying from SAN/TIJ or even LAX in most cases.

AS MVP Gold's get 200% miles flown..thats close to 40k on a SIN run, or only 10k away from another ticket to Europe. In a way, doing some long MRs can be fruitful in gaining more miles. Thats why i'm going to invest a couple of hundred dollars right now, since the dividends will outweight the costs after one or two decent int'l flights.

As for what you said about traveling, none of my friends or family members (and I have a small family) like to travel abroad or long distances, so I'm stuck doing it myself. Talking to a lot of older travel vets and backpackers, they swear by doing it alone, and I can see why now. You can decide where/when you want to do something and don't have to worry about someone nagging or hating it. Conversely, if its a party weekend in Panama City....that's self explaintory. We have enough of those down the Mexican coast, and that works for my brother and most of my friends. Its not a cheap lifestyle but with the right timing and work, it can be done affordably. Being in Green Bay puts you at a smaller disadvantage since I'd assume that tickets are higher to go to places like LON and NRT then for me, where LAX is 100 miles up the I-5/405. My parents are also moving to PHL do i'll be doing a few trips on and off to there and the NY metro area which will help aide my status level

I have a serious travel bug, I'm studying International Relations and just biding my time till I can do some serious extended traveling or live abroad.

Anyone want to hire an Intern next summer who wants to live in Toyko? http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

(Sorry if some of the mileage info is incorrect or inconsistant, I jumped back and forth and used what was in my head)

traveling alone is the only way to go. havent been to asia yet, but soon. you have to be patient for tickets out of grb. mke is better and only an hour away. so its all good. looking into mr's to get elite on co or nw. im studying finance, and hoping to land a job someday in italy or england.

There's only ONE reason why people want to work in Tokyo. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...um/biggrin.gif

And that is?