edcho

No -- if you had the PP credit card, you could retroactively apply miles to 2012 but there's no way to apply for the PP card at the moment. I guess it's a lesson learned moment! -- Welcome to Flyertalk BTW!

josh0911

Sorry if this is wrong thread to post in but I am trying to figure out if anyone knows any options here.

My wife just used a lot of my miles to fly home from out of country (she hasn't been home in like 10 months). It left me with only about 35K miles. Her flight is through Rome and she really doesn't want to travel alone and such. I figured I would surprise her and meet up in Rome (Leave this Thursday evening from IAD arrive in FCO right about the time she does and then we fly back to IAD together). Only issue is I am missing 27K miles for my ticket. So I reserved it and it looks like its gonna cost a good bit to buy them...My question is, does anyone have a coupon code, idea to get some miles quickly (I already have Chase MC), or any other ideas? I am 1K so getting miles throughout the year is easy since I fly a lot but I have caught myself in a bind or should I just forget it? Thanks

This isn't a mileage run question.

edcho

Sounds like you should either buy the miles or buy the ticket. You could try getting a different CC but the bonus on that is usually based on spend so it definitely won't post in time (and it also doesn't help that you have a Chase MC).

Sounds a bit risky too -- what if your plane is really late (or is diverted for fuel) or she has IRROPS and gets sent on a different route? You would miss her, and she would wonder where you were once she arrived home!

WineCountryUA

what price are you seeing? It is possible to purchase miles for as "little" as 2.1 cpm -- see
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...maximizer.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...es-2013-a.html

gypsyardor

Hi,

I'm a newbie. I have earned 240k MileagePlus miles/points through Chase Ink and Sapphire cards. That earns me enough for three round-trip tickets from the USA to India for my husband, daughter, and I.

Now that I earned those, I'm wondering if I can earn enough additional miles for more comfortable seating (in business or first class) before I run out of time to secure the award seats.

Important info:

* Need to be in Delhi on or before December 20th, 2013.
* Husband signed up for Chase Ink and Sapphire cards end of November (called to sign up for the United card a month later and they said "let's see how you do with the first to cards, first, and reapply after 90 days).
* I signed up for Chase Ink and Sapphire cards end of December (didn't try to get United after husband wasn't approved--now realize should have signed up for as many as possible on the same date).

If we have to wait 90 days before applying for more cards, that would mean new cards at the end of February for my husband and new cards at the end of March for me. It takes an additional month to be awarded the bonus points...so, bonus points would arrive at end of March and end of April (am I figuring this right?).

If I want to make sure we definitely arrive in Delhi by December 20th, using rewards points, would I have enough time to earn enough points to get an upgrade from coach to business or first class?

If there isn't enough time to upgrade, is it possible to buy our coach seats with points and then upgrade the seats later with points when I earn them?

I have exchanged emails with a lovely miles blogger and he's shared some great info with me, but I feel bad writing to him so often asking questions. I figure coming to the forum to ask is probably better...that way I'm not taking up anyone's time unless they are here reading and feel they have the time/desire to respond. I want to learn and get help, but I don't want to bother anyone. :-/ I have been reading lots of blogs and forum posts, but I am new to this and I'm wondering if I need to act fast with securing our flights (since it's the end of December and will be a busy time for flying because of the holidays), or if I have time to learn more before securing the flights?

Thanks for reading and I look forward to anything you can share to help!

Love,

Wendi

smilinganddialing

First - enjoy your time in Delhi. Some of the best food in the world awaits you.

Getting F to India for 3 people for December will be extremely challenging. You are talking about the busiest time to go to India with many Indian families returning home for the holidays with kids in tow to visit relatives and friends.

Given that your husband has been told he has to wait to get the Chase United MPE and you didn't apply for it, it's unlikely that you'll be able to earn the miles quickly enough to block out seats. Given the dates you are talking about, I would jump on any availability you see.

You didn't state which city you are flying from so I just priced out 3 award seats from ORD - DEL and see Economy availability from Dec 11th - 18th (don't fly on the 19th - you'll get there too late). The 13th, 15th, and 18th all have Premium Cabin availability as well.

One option would be to do all your outbound and book it now on United miles in Economy for 40,000 miles each (120,000 total) and then grab the return as soon as the dates open up so that's another 120,000. You then guarantee that you at least have the seats. Generally using miles to India is not a great value because USA - India fares are very reasonable for the distance traveled but for late December travel, they can be a great value if you can find low-level availability.

If you want to go business at least one way:
1. Just go ahead and book your travel to India in Business Class for 180,000 miles (60,000 miles each)


2. Sadly as US Airways and Delta don't allow one-way awards, you really need to either get more United miles or go for American miles. Given that you will struggle to get more than 112K (50K per card in signup bonus + 5K per card in adding each other as authorized users + 1K on each card from minimum spend) more United miles even if you both get the United Mileage Plus Explorer cards, it's best to go for AA miles. Go to http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...nks-first.html and you should be able to earn 210,000 (50K per card in signup bonuses + 2.5K per card in minimum spend approximately - the spends vary from 2.5K up) AA miles between you and your husband. That will be just enough for 3 business class redemptions from India back to the US as you need 202,500 for 3 of those tickets.

Keep in mind that getting AA mile redemptions between the US and India is much harder than it is on Star Alliance (United). Please reference a thread I created earlier about different routings available between DEL and the US (my thread was about Economy but the airlines you'll want to fly are the same - your best options are likely Royal Jordanian, Etihad, and Jet Airways): http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...no-answer.html. Also keep in mind that none of these three airlines will show up in AA's online Award search so you will have to call to book these.

Overall, I realize that people on FT are travel fanatics and love premium cabin travel but if you're not really tall and not really wide, you'll probably be just fine. Most of the world doesn't get to travel and most of those that do travel in Economy. You'll be fine.

Safe travels!

gypsyardor

Thanks so much, smilinganddialing!

We are flying out of the US from Portland, Oregon. We can get to Delhi a week, or more, before December 20th if that makes getting the seats easier than trying for a time that is too booked because of holiday travels. We will be staying in India for three months...and can fly back from Mumbai or Goa instead of coming back from Delhi.

If we book one-way to Delhi on United, using our Chase-earned miles, are we able to upgrade later on if we earn a lot more miles and better seats are available?

I read through the other threads you posted and I'm going to visit them again later when I have more time. I'm so new to all of this that all of the abbreviations throw me and it's hard to follow what is being said at times. I know in the future I'm going to understand it all (because I plan on making earning miles and traveling the world for as free as possible a big part of my life!), but right now I feel overwhelmed and like I've entered a school that speaks in a foreign language. :-/

For this trip, since I'm new to all of this, maybe I should just play it safe to guarantee we all get there in time. I was going to pay someone to help me book the award flight to maximize the trip, but I'm nervous that because of the holiday we won't get seats in time and that I'd be wasting precious money that we'll need for the three-month stay in India.

I was loving the idea of free one-way tickets in the US to use a few months after we return to the states to visit family. I also liked the idea of visiting another country for a short look-around for free on our way to/from India. But, in the end the real goal is to get to Delhi from Portland, OR, by the 20th and to stay in India for 3 months.

EEK...I'm nervous about making the wrong move and either not getting to Delhi by the 20th or having it cost us money instead of points (we need the money for the stay in India and can't afford both the flights *and* the expense of staying there for three months). All while still wanting to make a move that maximizes this trip. I wish my future self, after learning everything, could somehow reach back in time and guide me to the best actions to take right now. ;-)

Once I get the flights figured out, I'll take a deep breath and a tiny break before then learning how to earn points for some nice free hotel stays mixed in with our economy/hostel-type rooms we'll mostly be relying on during the 3 months.

Thanks for all the tips shared here on the forum by everyone and also all the great blogs where everyone is sharing helpful information! It's all very inspiring!

Love,

Wendi
XOXOXO

smilinganddialing

Given that you are planning a 3 month India trip, I think it behooves you to go ahead and book the one way to get from PDX (Portland) to DEL (Delhi).

As of now, there is low level Economy Availability for 3 travelers for every departure date between 12/13/13 and 12/18/13 from ORD (Chicago O'Hare) to DEL but United's website doesn't show anything from PDX. This means you may have to either:

a) Book from ORD or SFO (San Francisco) or another major airport and hope that PDX - ORD/SFO/wherever opens up later
b) Book from SEA (Seattle) right now - on 12/13/13, there is a onestop on Air China (no experience with them so please do your own research on how they are to fly with) and on every date from SEA to DEL except 12/18/13 and drive/take the train up to SEA

United has the best website for booking Economy Award travel of all the US legacy airlines. Just start searching around on your own. United says it will charge you $75 per ticket to change the class of travel (http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont...icketing.aspx) but given that you will be going to a higher class, you may find they waive the fee as you'll be spending more miles. I know American (AA) does this in certain situations.

Finally, I would suggest a little caution about "hostel"-type lodging in India. Please do very careful research as facilities will not be up to the standards you are used to in the US. India generally has expensive hotels due to out of control real estate costs that prevent new hotels from being built quickly meaning that most new hotels end up being luxury ones. There are new business traveler hotels (kind of like Courtyard by Marriott or Hyatt Place) but these will only be in major cities. TripAdvisor is your friend - make sure you look at pictures and read reviews before booking anything too cheap.

Train travel in India (as long as you go with the best class of booking - AC Chair Car, AC Executive, First class Sleeper) is wonderful although train stations themselves may be quite an eyesore. Train travel is a great way to experience the real India in a relatively safe and clean way.

gypsyardor

Thanks for all the helpful info. Here's what I'm thinking, now, after all you've shared.

We are to meet friends in Delhi on December 20th, but can arrive earlier in Mumbai to begin exploring on our own. I'm thinking we can fly to Mumbai a few weeks early and take a train over to Delhi to meet our friends on December 20th.

I have never used reward miles, so I am not sure exactly the best way to proceed. There are all kinds of planes and stopover places to select from and I don't know which is the best one to select.

Also, I think I probably should book one-way there and one-way back, so I can be sure to get economy seats before they are all booked as you suggested (since it's the holiday season...the economy seats to Delhi on United are already all booked up for December as you pointed out, so Mumbai may be selling out soon, too, but there are currently some economy seats available).

Which plane is the best to use for such a long flight? This is what I am seeing using the reward miles through United's site:

1) Flight: UA900 / Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
to Germany and then
Flight: LH756 / Operated by Lufthansa / Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
to Mumbai

2) Flight: LH455 / Operated by Lufthansa / Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
to Germany and then
Flight: LH756 / Operated by Lufthansa / Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
to Mumbai

3) LH493 / Operated by Lufthansa / Aircraft: Airbus A340-300
to Germany and then
Flight: LH756 / Operated by Lufthansa / Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
to Mumbai

4) Flight: LH457 / Operated by Lufthansa / Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
to Germany and then
Flight: LH756 / Operated by Lufthansa / Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
to Mumbai

5) Flight: LH455 / Operated by Lufthansa /Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
to Germany and then
Flight: LH756 / Operated by Lufthansa / Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
to Mumbai

6) Flight: UA900 / Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
to Germany and then
Flight: LH756 / Operated by Lufthansa / Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
to Mumbai

7) Flight: UA106 / Aircraft: Boeing 767-400ER
to Germany and then
Flight: LH764 / Operated by Lufthansa / Aircraft: Airbus A330-300
to Mumbai

8) Flight: UA968 / Aircraft: Boeing 777-200
to Germany and then
Flight: LH756 / Operated by Lufthansa / Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
to Mumbai

9) Flight: UA119 / Aircraft: Boeing 757-200
to Germany and then
Flight: LH756 / Operated by Lufthansa / Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
to Mumbai

10) Flight: SQ11 / Operated by Singapore Airlines / Aircraft: Airbus A380-800
to Singapore...with these notes showing up:
1 Stop. Time on the ground in Tokyo, Japan (NRT - Narita) is 1 hour 45 minutes.
Change Planes. Connect time in Singapore, Singapore (SIN) is 4 hours 10 minutes.
THEN...
Flight: SQ422 / Operated by Singapore Airlines / Aircraft: Boeing 777-200
to Mumbai

11) Flight: SQ1 / Operated by Singapore Airlines / Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
to Singapore...with these notes showing up:
1 Stop. Time on the ground in Hong Kong (HKG) is 2 hours 10 minutes.
Change Planes. Connect time in Singapore, Singapore (SIN) is 6 hours 20 minutes.
THEN...
Flight: SQ426 / Operated by Singapore Airlines / Aircraft: Boeing 777-200
to Mumbai

12) Flight: SQ11 / Operated by Singapore Airlines / Aircraft: Airbus A380-800
to Singapore...with these notes showing up:
1 Stop. Time on the ground in Tokyo, Japan (NRT - Narita) is 1 hour 45 minutes.
Change Planes. Connect time in Singapore, Singapore (SIN) is 14 hours 45 minutes.
THEN...
Flight: SQ426 / Operated by Singapore Airlines / Aircraft: Boeing 777-200
to Mumbai

There were lots of different starting flights out of Portland, Oregon to other US cities...we don't mind if it takes more time as long as we get the most comfortable flight possible once we leave the US, so I didn't include the first part of the flight options in the flights listed, above.

Of the above planes, which do you think are the better and more comfortable choices for economy/coach seating?

Thanks!!

Love,

Wendi

49er

Family of four traveling from SFO to BKK in December 2013/January 2014. I'm UA Gold FWIW.

There were no reasonable (less than 24hr trip duration) SFO-BKK saver award seats with departure on or +/- 1 day my target date, so last night I booked four one-way SFO-SIN tickets on SQ using 130k of my UA miles. I plan to use a budget airline like Air Asia for SIN-BKK, after spending a few days in Singapore. UA told me they can't do stopovers on a 1-way ticket, otherwise I would have used a stopover in Singapore. In hindsight, I should have taken the lengthy (~32hr trip) SFO-BKK routing via SIN and preserved the option to go SIN-BKK; since it's a one-way, it wouldn't have affected my return to just terminate in SIN. Oh well.

So now I need to secure four one-way return tickets (BKK-SFO). I have 14k miles left in my account. My wife has 63,XXX. One of my kids has 42,XXX. I figure I can buy 2k UA miles for my wife's account. Her miles plus my son's would cover 3 tickets. Is there a way to get enough miles for the fourth ticket? I know these seats will go fast, so I really need to have the miles in the account in the next week or so. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm thinking I'll have to buy the fourth ticket, but I'm hoping there's something I haven't thought of.

smilinganddialing

Wendi - an award travel person can offer better advice - I would just use SeatExpert.com and SeatGuru.com to research seats and understand IFE. I don't know how old your daughter is but for most kids, having IFE makes a huge difference. There are generally not huge differences between Economy (Y) in most international airlines though it probably goes without saying that some airlines without IFE are quite far behind the rest.

49er - you need to get some credit card signup bonuses via Chase:

Sapphire Preferred - 40K (transfer UR points to UA)
Ink Plus / Ink bold - 50K (transfer UR points to UA)
United Mileage Plus Explorer - 55K

gypsyardor

That's what I found out and used...seatexpert.com and seatguru.com! It was great and I booked our seats to India just a bit ago. We'll book the return seats when they are available in a few months. :-)

Super excited!!

Thanks for all the great tips and advice here on FlyerTalk! I'm looking forward to learning even more and getting some more incredible flying and travel experiences in the future!

XOXOXO

49er

Once I've done the minimum spend, what is the shortest amount of time to get a credit card signup bonus into a Mileage Plus account?

Also, the MPE card offer I'm seeing is only for 30k miles upfront; if there's a different offer you're referencing then please send me the link.

TomR777

I need 400 UA miles to book a flight from Paris to Atlanta in August, and I'd like to book it soon while the award is still available. I can buy a magazine subscription for 25 dollars, and that would give me 500 miles; is this the best deal? Does anyone know how long this will take to post?

kilgoretrout

What's the best bang for the buck on 12,000 UA miles without flying or buying the miles?