Using Airline miles for flight

[maggiew]

Can you use airline miles for part of your flght (e.g. one segment)? I was planning on using my airline miles for one way to honolulu. I thought I would just get 2 one-way tickets and use miles for one and pay for the other. However, the cost of the one-way ticket is nearly the same as the cost of the round trip! Would I be able to call and get the round trip but have them apply the miles to one way of it???

I've never used miles before. I don't fly much (maybe 2 times a year) so I have been saving up for a long time to use these.

Thanks,
Maggie

 

[tinka-belle]

Depends on the airline, or on the program details if you have this through your credit card. Some airline milage programs will do a one way for reduced miles, others require a round trip or will charge the round trip milage whether it's one way or round trip. Check the details of your airline or program.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I think just about all airlines use an "all or nothing" on a reservation. It is either all cash or all miles. However, many will allow you to purchase miles so you have the number you need for the reservation.

So you can look into this.

 

[nordkin]

United often has miles and cash for flights. We have never used it because the cost of the cash portion is not often a deal. Why not get one ticket with miles and pay cash for the other?

 

[pixeegrl]

Delta also has the miles and cash.

 

[MomToOne]

Yes you can, I do it all the time, esp. around the holidays where I'm not able to get a FF ticket both ways on the days I want. The airlines typically charge half the mileage of a roundtrip FF ticket for a one way - for example, if a round trip is 25K miles, then a one way is 12.5K miles.

Many flights within the continental US these days are priced the same for a round trip as they are for just buying the two one ways separately. Obviously it really only makes sense to use FF miles one way and pay the other way when the prices work out that way. Sometimes you get a price break for buying round trip - it used to almost always be true when you stayed over a Saturday - but those seems to be less and less these days, at least for the flights I am always looking at.

 

[maggiew]

Here is the situation.

Round trip chicago to honolulu $907

I have 20,000 miles and DH has 20,000 miles. It costs 20,000 miles for one way from chicago to honolulu.

However, if I look at the one way fare from honolulu back to chicago, the one way price is $1366!

Any advice?

I'm not sure if you can combine miles and then purchase one ticket totally with miles and then one with cash. But it probably wouldn't matter anyway because the return trip from honolulu to chicago costs 40,000 miles anyway. So we wouldn't have enough miles.

Maggie

 

[prncess674]

Hawaii is one of the most sought after awards out there so finding saver awards to hawaii is somewhere between slim and none. If both of you are going consider buying one rountrip for one person, then book two one way awards for the other since united allows one way awards

 

[maggiew]

Surprisingly there is a saver award for the date we want to fly to Hawaii. But there is only a regular award fare coming back.

Maggie

 

[cornflake]

Here is the situation.

Round trip chicago to honolulu $907

I have 20,000 miles and DH has 20,000 miles. It costs 20,000 miles for one way from chicago to honolulu.

However, if I look at the one way fare from honolulu back to chicago, the one way price is $1366!

Any advice?

I'm not sure if you can combine miles and then purchase one ticket totally with miles and then one with cash. But it probably wouldn't matter anyway because the return trip from honolulu to chicago costs 40,000 miles anyway. So we wouldn't have enough miles.

Maggie

I think I'm missing something?

How would you not have enough miles if you just did one on mileage and one on cash? If a return ticket is 40k and you each have 20k, yeah most airlines will let you transfer miles to another person.

So... use the miles for one person's ticket and buy another ticket, spending just the $900 whatever oop for both?

 

[Marionnette]

It might help if you told us which airline program you're talking about. They all have different rules and quirks.

 

[maggiew]

Sorry I didn't mention it before. I'm talking about United Airlines.

I talked with DH last night and apparently he has 31,000 miles. So that is better.

To the person asking why we can't pay for one with miles and the other with cash. There are 2 reasons.
1. A round trip is 60,000 miles (20,000 saver fare going, 40,000 regular award fare returning)
2. It costs $15 to transfer 1,000 points between accounts. Which kind of defeats the purpose of using the points.

I did call and talk with United last night to get some ideas.

They do have a miles + cash option. DH could get round trip for 30,000 miles + $504.

Maggie

 

[SuzanneSLO]

Try searching for a one way return flight on Kayak.com. While most airlines won't price OW at about half a RT from Hawaii, some do. It probably won't be on United. -- Suzanne

 

[Marionnette]

Sorry I didn't mention it before. I'm talking about United Airlines.

I talked with DH last night and apparently he has 31,000 miles. So that is better.

To the person asking why we can't pay for one with miles and the other with cash. There are 2 reasons.
1. A round trip is 60,000 miles (20,000 saver fare going, 40,000 regular award fare returning)
2. It costs $15 to transfer 1,000 points between accounts. Which kind of defeats the purpose of using the points.

I did call and talk with United last night to get some ideas.

They do have a miles + cash option. DH could get round trip for 30,000 miles + $$$ (can't remember price. I have so many numbers floating in my head, but it is written down at home).

Maggie

So, you would pretty much need 120,000 miles for two free RT or 60,000 miles for one free RT ticket. You have a combined total of 51,000. I don't think that there's any way to use your points to go to Hawaii. At least not in a way that would cost you less money OOP than if you were to just buy two seats. The cost to transfer points and purchase extra miles is going to total way more than the RT tickets are going to. Transferring points or buying miles only makes sense if you need just a couple. You would need to transfer 20K PLUS purchase another 9K.

I don't know if it's even an option for you but United has a rewards credit card. Maybe you could apply for one and get the bonus miles they offer as an incentive. If both you and your husband did it, you would each have enough FF miles for a RT ticket.

 

[maggiew]

Yes, I think we might have to use our miles another time. I was just excited that we had enough for 2 one way tickets. But it prob won't work out this time. I had no idea there would be such a big difference in preice between the round trip and 2 one-ways!! I was just trying to figure out a way to maybe make it work.

I do have enough MyPoints reward points that I could convert to 30,000 United miles. However, I think I can only apply those to one united mileage plus account and not 2.

Maggie

 

[bumbershoot]

I had no idea there would be such a big difference in preice between the round trip and 2 one-ways!! I was just trying to figure out a way to maybe make it work.

I think it's just the timing. Do you have any leeway, have you adjusted the date that's so high? I actually haven't heard of a roundtrip-being-less-than-one-way issue in about 10 years; airlines, as far as I know, stopped that. But the timing can change things.

 

[beansmom]

i realize different airlines have different programs but i think re=scheduling might help, too. We used 35k miles for each r/t to Maui but we are going late October during the off season.

 

[maggiew]

Unfortunately we can't reschedule. I am a teacher so have to go in the summer. Finals week ends June 9. I wanted to leave June 11 (cheapest fares) but DH's boss vetoed that week (boss is vacationing that week). So we have to go the next week (June 18). I start teaching summer school July 2 and it goes until August 17. By that time my younger DD will be back in school (they will probably start Aug. 15, but schedule is not out yet.)

I was going to switch a little and leave June 19 instead of the 18th because that is when the super saver awards fare was available. But can't switch much more than that.

Maggie

 

[SuzanneSLO]

Unfortunately we can't reschedule. I am a teacher so have to go in the summer. Finals week ends June 9. I wanted to leave June 11 (cheapest fares) but DH's boss vetoed that week (boss is vacationing that week). So we have to go the next week (June 18). I start teaching summer school July 2 and it goes until August 17. By that time my younger DD will be back in school (they will probably start Aug. 15, but schedule is not out yet.)

I was going to switch a little and leave June 19 instead of the 18th because that is when the super saver awards fare was available. But can't switch much more than that.

Maggie

Right now, you can book a one way flight on Alaska Airlines for $487 per person for HNL to ORD on June 28, connecting in Seattle and arriving Chicago on June 28. Its a little more than half the RT fare on United, but not a crazy fare.

Alaska seems to be one of the few airlines that have reasonable one way pricing to Hawaii. My parents are using miles one way and paying for the return for their trip to Kauai this summer. -- Suzanne

 

[maggiew]

Right now, you can book a one way flight on Alaska Airlines for $487 per person for HNL to ORD on June 28, connecting in Seattle and arriving Chicago on June 28. Its a little more than half the RT fare on United, but not a crazy fare.

Alaska seems to be one of the few airlines that have reasonable one way pricing to Hawaii. My parents are using miles one way and paying for the return for their trip to Kauai this summer. -- Suzanne

Thanks. I will look at that Alaska Airlines flight. I did see a few flights on Alaska airlines for June 29 (return date I was looking at) when I did a Kayak search, but there were 2 stops and the trip took 20 hours compared to 9-12 hours for other, more expensive flights.

Maggie