AA rewards free ticket but bad schedule

[mommykds]

Ok what would you do? We have 1 free ticket on AA. The rewards schedule is very limited. The trip to Orlando is o.k. but coming home the only option would be taking a early flight home (I like to leave Disney later so I can squeeze in more time there) where you have to change planes in Miami then to NYC. It would take 5 hours to get from Orlando to NY & the plane change. We have 3 kids & a plane change isn't something we would like to do but we get the free ticket (approx $180 in savings)....

Since SW fares aren't out for late August yet I am not sure what to do..their fares weren't that great for what they have released so far.

 

[bru_ellman]

I feel your pain. American (which we usually prefer) recently changed their schedule out of LGA which makes things a bit trickier.

First, if you haven't yet booked your reward travel, and since you're not flying until August, I'd wait until at least April 1st before booking. Airfares are still high due to the Spring Break season.

Secondly, see if you can shift your vacation a day or two one way or the other. For example, recently when pricing AA fares I noticed that it was much cheaper to return on a Saturday then a Sunday. You also may be able to find a better rewards travel flight that way.

We've done the one-stop thing and found that we'd prefer to pay an extra $50 or so per person to avoid it.

(BTW, we'll be flying Delta for our next trip in May. We booked using AMEX points which can be used towards ANY flights when booked through AMEX. However, Delta rewards travel is FAR more restrictive then American's which is a major reason why we usually prefer flying with American)

 

[Lewisc]

SW lets you use a R/T ticket for two one way tickets. If you can do that just use your ticket for two passengers for your trip to Orlando.

edited I just noticed you're flying from NYC. You might do better just booking based on price, look for fare sales including Jet Blue and use your free ticket for a future trip.

 

[NancyIL]

We use American FF miles a lot, but I try not to use miles for a flight that costs less than $250. If you can fly for $180, I would buy the ticket and save the miles for a more expensive ticket in the future.

I'm using a free ticket beginning next week: IL to SoCal for a week, then SoCal to Orlando for a week, then Orlando home - all on one 25,000 mile ticket with a free stopover.