Flights with Airmiles?

[Nora03]

Is it really worth it? We're planning a trip for March 2016 and I've looked at the number of miles, fees etc. and it would cost me 10,200 a/m plus $302 (taxes and fees) for two people. I see a nice WestJet flight direct to Orlando. Do you also pay for seat selection ($20 x 4 = $100) and baggage ($25 x 4 = $100)? I'm assuming you do. Then I usually purchase insurance to cover the a/m in case of cancellation. That would be $500 + insurance. Am I really saving enough on flights or should I use my a/m for something else? I know I might have these extra fees anyway but our last flight we booked Plus and Flex and had no fees for seat selection (Plus) and no fees for baggage (Plus and Flex). I do have enough a/m for our Disney tickets too, but I'm interested in what other Canadians have found using a/m for flights. TIA

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

I've always use my Airmiles for flights. From Atlantic Canada I usually pay 2300-3000 airmiles each (depending on whether high or low season). I'm a gold MC holder and so 25% of the number if miles I need. I usually pay another $150 each in taxes. Bags are $25 each and I always pre-pay for my seats in case the airline oversells and then I'm in possible trouble on not getting on a flight. So my approx cost per flight is $250. I have insurance through my MC and never buy asdditional. So given my total flight cost is approx $250-$275 (RETURN), I have yet to find comparible costs paying cash directly to the airline or hotwire, expedia, etc.

Airmiles LOW season ends Feb 28, but if you book on that date and return anytime in March, then it's still considered LOW season. If you book March 1st, then you pay the HIGH season cost. Are your dates flexible ?

 

[Aladora]

I always do the math to see if it is worth it.

I start by figuring out what the flights would cost if I were to pay out of pocket. Then I see how many Airmiles the same flights would be plus extra cash.

Take the total cost of the cash flight, subtract the amount of extra cash you would pay on top of the airmiles and the difference is how much money you are saving by using the miles. Then, take that amount and divide it by the number of miles and the answer is your $/mile amount.

The last time I did this, I was debating between using miles to pay for flights or park tickets. I did the above calculation for both and saw which way gave me the best useage of my miles.

Cash that I would have to spend either way I ignored such as luggage and seat selection fees.

 

[tgropp]

Up until one year ago, your flight would have cost a maximum of 6,400 airmiles. It used to be 2300 in low season and 3200 in high season, no ifs ands or buts !!. Then Airmiles started gouging their members with "there are no flights at that level/amount but we have them for this amount". They followed all other reward programs methods of charging you the most for your flight. You can still get some flights at the minimum amount of airmiles, but they are very rare.

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

agree with the PP. We are ONYX level Airmile collectors and if there are no bargain basement flights (2300 miles), they will hit us up with several more costly options. To counter that possibility, we always book our flights first, then our WDW stay. Being flexible on dates will get you the best value for your $$

 

[dancin Disney style]

In general, using AM for flights is not the best use of the program. Using the miles for other things like WDW park tickets is a much better value as you pay no taxes or fees.

 

[bcwife76]

For our trip to DL in 2006 we used airmiles for our flights; looking back I honestly don't think it was the best deal at all. In 2013 and then again this year, we have used our airmiles for park hopper tickets.

 

[JCricketismyfav]

I agree in that it's always good to do the math. You have some really good suggestions above about how to do that.

One other things is to calculate the AM options with the cash option it offers. I've never done that but some have. I have one frugal friend who always uses AM for flights.

For our family we used 2350 AM x2 for 2 free 5 day passes which saved us about $600+.

It was a good options for us.

 

[tgropp]

It can/could be a great deal to fly with airmiles. In Dec 2013 I used airmiles to fly my family ( 6 people ) to Orlando at Christmas time. With the 25% M/C discount I used 12,600 airmiles ( 2100/person ) plus taxes. Fantastic deal over the Christmas holidays. Then this past February, I used my airmiles to fly my family ( 7 people ) to Orlando and with the M/C 25% discount and it was 12,467 airmiles (1,781/person). These were both great deals and usage of points for miles used. But the way things have changed, those deals are few and far between. Keep on checking though.

 

[Exmo]

We used our airmiles for 3 flying out of Ottawa direct Westjet the last time we went.

The taxes alone are crazy and almost as much if not more then the flight itself.

My wife has to head down to Orlando this month and we found a deal on a flight (Westjet direct) for $90 each way leaving on a Monday. So you may want to take a look at weekday departure and return and save the miles.

 

[Nora03]

Thanks everyone. OP here. Some good advice. I still haven't decided what to do, but will wait until the March flights are available for booking for next year and then decide. I'm leaning towards not using the Airmiles, but I'll see how much flights cost when they are released. I'll report back and let you know what I did. My dates are not very flexible as we've already booked a condo for our last week, and we want to go in March, but could add an extra day or two at the beginning or end to get better flights/prices.

 

[keltiesmom]

We used our AM for park tickets this year. It saved us more than if we used it for flights, and because we aren't to far from the boarder we can fly from the U.S. for quite a bit less than Canada

 

[isabellea]

I find that the best use for AM is getting WDW tickets. In the past we flew to Orlando using AM and got some stuff like a new lens for my camera but when I do the calculations, our WDW were a better deal. This year we are basically saving 1000$USD in tickets! Great deal especially since the ticket price increase and the CDN dollar fall. Right now I am collecting AM for our Disneyland trip in 2017 (tickets and car rental).

 

[Hockey6657]

With AM you do not pay for seat selection