Assistance with Flights
Jan 20, 2013, 6:00 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2011
Programs: Marriott Ambassador, Qantas Platinum 1, IHG Diamond, United 1K, Avis President
Posts: 347
Assistance with Flights
I'm a new dividend miles member and looking at the best time window to fly in April. I am heading from Dallas TX to Augusta GA. IS there a preferred way to use my current, minimal, miles and cash?
Jan 20, 2013, 6:55 am
#2
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Pennsylvania
Programs: US Chairman's Preferred
Posts: 237
Your best bet, to start, is to go to the matrix website and see what the best prices are for the entire month of April across all airlines. That will give you a data point to try and beat:
http://matrix.itasoftware.com
It looks like you can get $239 round trip on several dates, so I personally would not be using miles.
http://matrix.itasoftware.com
It looks like you can get $239 round trip on several dates, so I personally would not be using miles.
Jan 20, 2013, 7:15 am
#3
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: AA EXP; 1W Emerald; HHonors Diamond; Marriott Gold; UA dirt
Posts: 7,811
Augusta.....flying in for the Masters perhaps?
Jan 20, 2013, 10:53 am
#4
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: BOS, MHT
Programs: US GP, MR Platinum, PC Platinum, HHonors Gold, Avis First, Enterprise Plat
Posts: 182
yes, flight prices can fluctuate greatly especially around special events (like the masters). you can search on usairways.com for low fares if your dates are flexible. on the flight search, open the "search options" dropdown and select "low fare finder"
Jan 20, 2013, 12:03 pm
#5
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Alexandria, VA - DCA
Programs: BA Gold, American Airlines, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond
Posts: 5,075
Assistance with Flights
You will find I next to impossible to use your miles to fly an award ticket to the Masters. I haven't looked but it may be a general blackout date.You might be able to fly to a destination nearby (Columbia SC) and drive. That said, it's probably not a good use of miles for such a relatively short flight that can be purchased for $300 or even less.
Last edited by geo1005; Jan 20, 2013 at 12:19 pm
Jan 20, 2013, 1:01 pm
#6
Join Date: May 2008
Location: PHL (kinda, no airport is really close)
Programs: AA Exp, but not sure for how long. Enterprise Platinum woo-hoo!
Posts: 4,550
As a rule, you can't combine miles and cash. There are some circumstances where you can do it on Delta, or with Amex or Chase points, but not with USAir points.
For a domestic trip, using award points, you can just search the US website. (For overseas trips it would be a whole different story.) You might also be able to search the United website, and if you find low-mileage awards there you can probably book them with US miles. However, if indeed you are going at a peak time for a given market, availability will be limited.
Most people would say that a redemption should be at least 1.5 cents per mile, so if you can get a ticket for under $375, you usually would not want to pay 25,000 miles for it. That's even more true for US where you have to pay an award redemption fee in the first place.