Frequent Flyer Miles to DVC

[SamRoc]

Was wondering what experience anyone here has had with using frequent flyer miles to Florida (we live in NY) Is there any plan that is better than another? We usually drive to Florida but think we would like to start flying there. Thanks.

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

We save our FF mile trips for farther trips. We used FF miles for San Antonio last year, and are using them this July for Vegas(1st class).
You get more bang for your FF miles on farther destinations. Also you usually can get flights to Florida between $150-$200.

 

[beacher]

We used Delta frequent flyer program this summer, and had to use twice the normal amount of miles to avoid traveling on stand-by. An option was explained to me that would have used the normal amount of points but would have taken us three flights to get from NY to Orlando, and I didn't want to risk it. Happened to have the additional points so used them all up to get the two flights non-stop, direct from LGA to Orlando.

Have been looking into other flights since and you should check out www.flysong.com and www.jetblue.com . We're looking at a March trip staying at OKW and Jet Blue already has flights that are $94 NY-Orlando and 79 Orlando-back to NY. Song Airlines is the Jet Blue equivalend just opened by Delta.

 

[jcodespoti]

I agree w/ beacher, Since you live in NYC it would probably be better to use Jetblue or Song for your trips. Song goes from LGA and JFK. Jetblue only flys out of JFK. Since SWA doesn't fly from EWR or JFK or LGA it would be more of a hassle to use them. I think the closest they come is ISlip



Joe in CT

 

[disgirl]

We are from NY also. We just joined DVC so we expect to start flying more than in the past. Because of this, I just joined Jetblue frequent flyer program. I can not tell you much about their program yet, but I can tell you we have flown Jetblue to Orlando for the last two summer trips we took and love that airline. Two years ago we paid $79 each way and last year we only paid $69 each way, booking on line. We just can not see ourselves driving to Florida and with those airline prices, it is so much more convenient for us to fly. I would def. recommend you look into Jetblue. Good Luck and happy flying!!

 

[jaysue]

Not sure if experience same with US Airlines, but I always find flying to the West Coast the most expensive in Canada so that is where we use our points most of the time

thanks
jaysue

 

[kathymc]

we belong to a couple of progams and prefer to keep our miles for longer flights (a couple of months ago after playing a well thought out long and hard frequent flier/credit card game we booked two round trip first class tickets to Mauii!) we usually don't use them for short trips. Basically they say if the flight is under $250 FF miles are not worth it. But - we just got into DVC this year and we are taking my SIL and family who couldn't other wise afford it - so we used our miles to get 4 of them tickets on Song. And we still have enough FF miles to get us down their next year!

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) FF miles are more valuable for long first-class trips.
2) We use our miles for Hawaii or England in alternating year.
3) To use FF miles for under 2000 miles is poor value.
. . . for less than 2000 miles, tickets are not too expensive
. . . you can get decent fares for about $200-$250
. . . a coach ticket for two is about $50,000 in purchases

 

[dianeschlicht]

We used FF miles for our August trip, but we usually buy tickets for Florida and use FF tickets for Hawaii, because I REFUSE to fly anything other than first class to Hawaii!

 

[DisneyHumbug]

I have a SouthWest Visa. I use it for the kids college tuitions (and lots of other things!). I like SW because there are hardly any restrictions as to when you can use the free tickets. The airfare for our next trip, President's week was $320 each. So by using my FF tickets, I saved $640. Free airfare, free room - what a country!

 

[Cora]

Between my FF on airlines and my Membership Rewards on AMEX we usually use at least one FF ticket per trip regardless of where we go. I find that using the FF/Rewards tix for FL is very beneficial during school vacations (fares are usually higher). During these peak times I book as soon as possible (331 days out).

 

[Simba's Mom]

We use Frequent Flier tickets most of the time. For one reason, the cost of flights from here is always well over $300pp at least. Also, DH travels so much for business, he usually has lots of miles, mostly on Continental. The problem is that Continental's miles are VERY hard to come by to use. I haven't yet figured out their system of releasing miles for FF use. Often we've gotten tickets within several weeks, but had a hard time getting seats months in advance. Southwest's system sounds good-unfortunately, DH travels internationally and rarely gets on Southwest.

 

[dcfromva]

SamRoc,
I don't use the airline FF tickets for trips to WDW because I can usually find an inexpensive rate for most trips. I save the airline FF miles for coast to coast trips.
I have used a Credit Card which awards a $100.00 travel certificate per $8,000 charged (it used to be $6,000, so it is not as good of a deal as it used to be ). There are no blackout dates and it can be used on any airline and they can generally get the best (internet) fares.

-DC

 

[SamRoc]

Thanks everyone for the great info. We usually drive to Disney, but the last time we went there was so much traffic on I95 that it took way longer than usual. We are hoping to be DVC members by January, so hopefully that will mean more frequent trips and if we fly, we can go two times a year instead of just one week as the driving takes up so much of our vacation time.

 

[ducklite]

I also use the FF miles for longer trips and just watch for good fares to Florida from NJ. I'm halfway between Newark and Philly, so we fly CO and US pretty much all of the time, and usually can find airfare under $200 on one of them.

Anne

 

[JimC]

We use USAirways. Lots of direct flights (preferred) and also through Charlotte if necessary.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

We too debated over this this summer. You did not specify if you lived upstate or in the metro area. Of course if it is metro then you have alot of choices, JFK, Laguardia and ISP. I checked them all. We have american and Delta miles. I usually save our american miles and go to arlington, texas every year so our 3ds can go to all the yankees versus rangers games and stay in the hotel with the yankees. I looked at all the flights and compared JEtBlue, Delta, American and Southwest. I considered cost and direct flights. I was open to all 3 airports and then it ended up we chose southwest because they were the only ones who had a direct flight that got there the earliest. So you should pick the airline that meets your schedule and get their credit card or consider getting the disney card if you want reward money to spend in the world etc. We also have hilton points and you can get disney hoppers or universal tickets with points.