Any Canadians here ever use Air Miles to get to DLR?

[yipee]

We're thinking we may actually be able to use our Air Miles this year, (it's never worked out before) and we were wondering if anyone else had experience with booking flights with them?


(Hopefully this isn't too OT, if it is, SORRY! and feel free to move my post! )Thanks again!

 

[drag n' fly]

We're thinking we may actually be able to use our Air Miles this year, (it's never worked out before) and we were wondering if anyone else had experience with booking flights with them?


(Hopefully this isn't too OT, if it is, SORRY! and feel free to move my post! )Thanks again!

The only bad thing about using airmiles for airline tickets is you have to pay the taxes on top of it and you cannot use airmiles to cover the taxes. It is a better use of your airmiles to redeem them for DL park passes IMO

 

[yipee]

I know! It's so frustrating, isn't it. Our "free flight" is still going to cost about $600-$700 dollars! The merchandise costs nothing! (no shipping or anything!)
The only reason we're thinking about it this time is that it will cut our flight cost at least in half (depending on the seat sale). And then we thought we could put that $700-$1000 savings towards our hotel and stay on-site this year! (of, course we wouldn't want to actually SAVE the money, would we? )

What do you think?

 

[drag n' fly]

I know! It's so frustrating, isn't it. Our "free flight" is still going to cost about $600-$700 dollars! The merchandise costs nothing! (no shipping or anything!)
The only reason we're thinking about it this time is that it will cut our flight cost at least in half (depending on the seat sale). And then we thought we could put that $700-$1000 savings towards our hotel and stay on-site this year! (of, course we wouldn't want to actually SAVE the money, would we? )

What do you think?

You still have to pay out the money either way (unless you are AP holders). You either hit a seat sale (yesterday AC had flights to LAX for 115 each way) or you pay for park passes. Either way the money goes somewhere. Seats always go on sale passes do not. I would put the money towards a seat sale and save the miles for park passes so you are not paying for taxes. If this idea does not allow you to stay onsite there are lots of really nice hotels and motels right outside the park. In the end staying onsite is nice but when you look back on it its the holiday not the hotel unless you plan to spend a LOT of time at the hotel. We usually stay offsite but stayed onsite this time because we booked room only at the AMA rate and got the 4th night free.

 

[jakoky]

hi there, we looked into using our airmiles for flight, but found it to be so much of a better deal to just get all our tickets into disneyland....we leave tomorrow for DL and we got such a great deal on flight and hotel that tickets was better ( we did the same last may when we went) ...this year we got both for 2750 for a family of 5 flying out of vancouver...and we are staying 10 nights at the HOJO..it is those stupid taxes that get you when using your airmiles for the flight...good luck on whatever you decide...
sharon
me, dh, dd-16-, ds- 14-, dd-just turned 12-
WDW-Dec 04-first disney experience for my DH, DD, DS, DD and first time at WDW for us all
DL-MAY 06-first time at DL for DH and kids , and my 9th(but the first 8 were all by the time i was about 13) so it was all new to me
COUNTDOWN IS ON....WE ARE GOING BACK TO DL SEPT 15-25!!!!!-1 more sleeps til we leave

 

[yipee]

You either hit a seat sale (yesterday AC had flights to LAX for 115 each way) or you pay for park passes. Either way the money goes somewhere.

Ah, shoot! We saw the West Jet sale last night for $116, but the dates didn't work out! I checked AC, but it was still $137 from Calgary. $116 would have been great! Oh well, I'll just keep checking.

And really good point about the money going somewhere... It's funny how the brain doesn't always see all angles, hey? I had written off Air Miles for hoppers because we want 8 day ones, which they don't have. We could get a 5 and a 3 day one for everyone, though and still use fewer airmiles than the flight! (We only need a set for 1 adult and 2 kids because we have to buy one AP to get our special hotel rates) That would still save us about $600 bucks. Not quite as much savings as from the flight, but as a matter of principle, it might be a better "purchase"!

Thanks for the advice! We'll have to think it over more carefully.

 

[TaniaU]

Awww, I wish I thought of using Air Miles for park passes. Oh well, next time

 

[drag n' fly]

Westjet has a 50% off seat sale today. Flights to LAX are 109.00 one way from Calgary with travel until Dec 12th!

 

[yipee]

Westjet has a 50% off seat sale today. Flights to LAX are 109.00 one way from Calgary with travel until Dec 12th!

I know! I just found that too! AC also has a sale of $104 to LAX (same dates)! The problem is we would have to change our hotel bookings, and we would lose our AP4 rates at the Disney hotels.

We've gone twice before, and stayed at budget hotels. We figured this trip it would be fun to spoil ourselves with the Disney properties at those special rates...

Sigh. Decisions, decisions. Good Grief, I sure like to make our lives difficult!


You are so awesome for checking the flights and letting me know! THANKS!!!!

 

[endy]

I also used Airmiles to get our passes. We drove down.
I think off it as over $300 saved.
Only problem is now I'm working at building my miles fast for a trip in Feb. So it still ends up costing money.

 

[slg]

Airmiles can save you loads of money if you have the Gold Westjet card because you can fly for sometimes as low as 800 miles per person. Even with the taxes, for a family of 5 it's a substantial savings. The problem is trying to get tix for 5. They hardly ever have any! However, if you are a family of 4 or less, its a better deal than the park passes.

If you don't have the WestJet card, it depends on what you save! Most of the time I fly with seat sales! 5 of us are flying Victoria to Orange County in Dec. for $1800 including all taxes! What a deal! (alaska).

Good luck!

 

[yipee]

Airmiles can save you loads of money if you have the Gold Westjet card because you can fly for sometimes as low as 800 miles per person. Even with the taxes, for a family of 5 it's a substantial savings. The problem is trying to get tix for 5. They hardly ever have any! However, if you are a family of 4 or less, its a better deal than the park passes.

If you don't have the WestJet card, it depends on what you save! Most of the time I fly with seat sales! 5 of us are flying Victoria to Orange County in Dec. for $1800 including all taxes! What a deal! (alaska).

Good luck!

Holy Cow! How did you find that flight deal? Was it a promotion? Is it still on?

And no, we don't have the Gold West Jet card because we don't want to pay an annual fee for our credit card. I guess if we travelled West Jet alot it would probably pay for itself, hey?

Thanks for the tips!

 

[lolinmr]

I just booked our trip and could go on & on & on about the experience. It was one nightmare after another. We ended up NOT being able to book the whole trip but did get our flights and passes.

 

[yipee]

I just booked our trip and could go on & on & on about the experience. It was one nightmare after another. We ended up NOT being able to book the whole trip but did get our flights and passes.

ITA! I'm remembering now why we have NEVER used our air miles! 2 weeks ago, the west jet flights we wanted were available. We didn't know exactly when we were going, for sure though. Now they're gone. Yesterday, decent times with Air Canada were available, but today they're gone. I don't think leaving LAX at 6:30 in the morning would be too much fun! Imagine when we would have to get up! This has happened every time we've tried to book flights somewhere. I guess it's our own fault for hemming and hawing....

I guess I'll keep watching for seat sales...

 

[bambigirl88]

I have not seen where you can use Airmiles to get DL passes, only DW.
Is this something new? (blue airmiles cards)
That said, we used our Airmiles and turned them into Best Western Gift cards, and then presented them at the desk, which they took as payment. The dollar is sooo good right now, so it nearly covered the bill! Our hotel bill was a big chunk of our budget, so it really helped out.

 

[yipee]

I have not seen where you can use Airmiles to get DL passes, only DW.
Is this something new? (blue airmiles cards)
That said, we used our Airmiles and turned them into Best Western Gift cards, and then presented them at the desk, which they took as payment. The dollar is sooo good right now, so it nearly covered the bill! Our hotel bill was a big chunk of our budget, so it really helped out.

When you sign into airmiles.ca, choose the link that says "Family Attractions" then on the next page choose "Amusement Parks US" Then I think the Disneyland passes are on the second page of ticket listings (on the bottom right corner of page there is a small set of numbers, 1, 2, 3 to help you choose the page)

Hope this helps!

 

[bambigirl88]

Oh, there it is! Looks like they've added lots more to their website in the last few months.
Interesting to note that the parkhoppers offered by Airmiles do not say bonus parkhoppers, as in getting EE passes. That would be a dealbreaker for me. We bought our passes off Expedia and were very happy with the price. Quite a bit of Airmiles needed for the passes too.