I'm kind of in shock over award flight prices. I just found out this week my kid got accepted into a research project over the summer so now I know when we can travel as a family. I booked flights for us in UA J round trip DEN-EDI in August (I'm excited for The Fringe and maybe the Royal Tattoo) for a 10 day trip (only 8 actual days once you subtract a travel day on each end). In my poking around here's what I found, given that our travel dates are not very flexible and it's during peak season--
United website: cash rate $6,235/person = $18,707 for airfare for 3
United website award tickets for the above itinerary: 330,000 mi + $342 fees/person = 990,000 mi + $1,027 fees for 3
Chase travel portal thru CSR: $23,783/person or 1,585,533 URs/person

I don't even understand how that is; I mean I wanted refundable fares but the ones through the United website were refundable so I was comparing apples to apples.
I feel like the miles redemption is just meh, but with the schedule constraints and "last minute" planning this might be the best I can do. Any suggestions on places we shouldn't miss while in Scotland? Currently I have us staying in Edinburgh for 4 nights and then no plans beyond that although I'd like to get to the Isle of Skye.