Airfare from Middle America to Europe

[Girl of the South]

Sorry, you'd have to pay for the CRUISE with the credit card and wait for the miles to list on your FF account and THEN book the flight with the miles. For Business (Polaris) I usually buy the ticket that is high priced enough to then upgrade with miles.

 

[ninergrl6]

I'm in California, and my friend found the best rates to Europe on cheapoair.com. It's not "cheap" but it was less expensive than booking directly through the airlines.

I use my credit card points for hotels. I earn enough points for a free week in Manhattan every summer. Paying for that hotel for a week would cost faaaaaar more than flying there.

 

[Girl of the South]

I checked out CheapTickets for my (already purchased) flight from EWR to LHR in September. It was $25 more on CheapTickets than on United.com. And United would let me hold the reservation for 24 hours while I thought about it but Cheaptickets wanted $29 to do the same.

The thing is, you CAN go cheaper - on Turkish Airlines or on Aer Lingus with a stopover in Dublin, sometimes for 10 hours or more. So sometimes 'cheap' costs you more, if that makes sense???

 

[Shanti]

This thread has been useful. It's helped me realize that the airfare really will be more than I'm willing to pay & push the total cruise cost into a realm I wouldn't consider worth it.

Therefore I've switched us to the 10-night Mediterranean cruise that sails a few weeks earlier. Even though it's only one night shorter, it costs thousands less, and that difference will likely mostly cover the airfare, which will be a round trip rather than 2 one-way flights, so also less expensive.

I'm really excited about the cruise now, as the travel cost worries are gone, we have never been to the Med before, and I love art and architecture.

Thanks for the honest advice, everyone!