Need advice on getting/using frequent flier miles

[LauraR]

Having just returned from WDW 2 weeks ago, I am naturally planning our next trip! I'm looking at the week of MLK's birthday (which I think will fall on 1/17/05). I was hoping to use some frequent flier miles for our flights, but have never done this before, so need help.
My husband has 41,000 miles with US Airways, and our two boys and I each have 16,250. I checked flights on the website and it seems that my husband could redeem his miles for two tickets (20,000 miles each), which would cover himself and one of the kids. The flight down is great (sat 1/15 lv. 7:10 am, arr. 9 something am) but coming back the only one they offer leaves at 5:40 am, arr. 9:20 am (Sun 1/23), which I guess we could deal with for free flights.

So, my questions are:
1) How far in advance do I need to book the flights? I worry that they only set aside a few seats for frequent flier miles, and they'll go early. The regular fare for the flight is $168. Should I wait until it's closer to January to see if it goes down? They are offering flights in May for $98, so I know they do go lower. I imagine I should book all four seats at the same time to avoid getting stuck on different flights.

2)Should I get the US Airways credit card to get enough miles to reach 20,000 for myself? They offer several, and the one with the lowest fee ($50) gives you 5,000 with the first use. They also offer one that gives you 15,000 with an annual fee of $90. My only concern is, I just applied for a Citibank Diamond Preferred Rewards Card, and getting a US Airways card would put us up to 4 credit cards. Debt is not really an issue since we pay everything off every month.

3)Or should I get an idine.com card and eat out alot? They offer 10 miles for every dollar spent at some restaurants so I would need to buy $375 worth of food. It would be fun, but we're pretty frugal and it goes against my grain to eat out that much.

Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks!

 

[pampam]

What is the name of your plan? Do you have to go with just the one airline or can you use another carrier? Maybe you can switch points or miles from your charge card such as american express?

 

[safetymom]

There are only so many seats available on flights to be used for frequent flyer awards. So the sooner you see the flights you want book them.

Also if the fares are cheap you might want to consider holding on to them for when the fares are high.

A great place to find out about using ff miles and getting more is www.flyertalk.com

Go to the airlines section and you will find boards like this that will help you with maximizing your miles.

 

[djh96]

What is the cost if you purchase the same ticket that you can get ff with? It appears to me that you need 3750 more miles on 2 accts. to get all 4 tickets needed. The cheapest way would be to get the credit card for $50 that gives 5000miles. How quickly do the miles become available though? Will you still be able to get the tickets with ff?
The other ticket would probably be worth buying . You can buy miles from Usair but it will cost you $145 for the 4000 miles you need.
We find generally that it pays to save our FF miles to use on more expensive routes than to use for Florida where you can find some decent rates.
This far out I'm surprised you can't get better times on your flights but FF in winter is hard for Fl. Usair we find adds more flights or bigger aircraft in winter as things book up but whether they open up FF I don't know.

 

[LauraR]

Thanks for the input! You all ask some good questions. You're right that it might be worthwhile to use the miles on a more expensive route. We can probably get some cheap flights on AirTran or SW to Orlando (last Dec. we flew AirTran for $510 for the 4 of us). My husband does want to go to Cozumel and we have family in Oregon, so I guess I should see what their availability is for those areas.
Thanks for the flyertalk.com website, safetymom---I'll probably be spending some time over there!
(I knew I could count on some good feedback from DISpeople!)

 

[cruiseonmagic]

Hi Laura,
I am a former United Mileage Plus employee (and current boat pilot for the Magic Kingdom resort area). I'll gladly give you some info about ff tickets and flying to FL in general.

First, U S airways probably will not release seats for a later flight for quite a while (except for maybe a token 1 or 2). They know that with any holiday week, there is a good chance that the flights will sell out for sat, and sun. anyway. They only have a few for the 20000 level for any flight (a few meaning usually under 20 ) for flights during normal travel times.

Second, the least expensive way to get the third ticket is to go to http://usairways.com/dividendmiles/earningmiles/ sprint has a deal where if you switch your long distance they will give you 2500 miles within 4-6 weeks, and an addtl 1000 miles if you do it online. That still leaves you 250 short. There are alot of ways to get that. Send someone flowers from ftd.com! That's 10 miles/dollar. One order and theres your ticket. Getting the 5000 credit card miles won't really help you any more than the sprint deal would. You can use your miles to get a ticket for somebody else, but you wouldn't be able to transfer the left over 1250 miles to your son's acct to get him closer. You could buy the miles as djh96 suggested for the 4th ticket, but you would be better off just buying the ticket and earning the miles for your next Mickey trip.

Third, when the miles are in your acct, check for flights every day!
You can only hold a mileage reservation for 7 days. I couldn't count how many calls I received from people who forgot when they made their res, and called back a day late to find that someone else was taking their family to Florida.
the

The final thing ( sorry I'm running so long) I would guess that since you are in columbia, that you fly out of bwi? Consider adding DCA for your departure, and when you are checking for flights, check in and out of tampa(TPA). It's an easy hour drive. If you didn't need a car for the week, no big deal. A rental for the day is cheaper than taking one of the car services, or the shuttle bus, and most of the rental companies do not charge any addtl for one way rentals. There are several rental companies at the downtown disney hotels as well as, the disney car care center for the drop-off. Then rent a car for the day to go back to the airport.

If I can answer any questions, just give me a yell at DisneyBoatDriver@aol.com or cruiseonmagic@netscape.net

I've got to help our guests go see Mickey now take care!
Bill

 

[BethR]

Hey Bill!

Welcome to the DIS and particularly to the Budget Board.

You have given some GREAT information!!! DH is a USAir Silver Preferred Member and we are hoping to go to WDW (PIT to MCO) in August using a free ticket (from taking 3 flights in a particular time frame) and 1 or 2 FF tickets. We are only 98 miles from that second FF ticket! Your tip about the FTD is GREAT! Our DD is turning 21 while she is at school, during finals and that would be a GREAT idea for a gift for her AND to get the last few miles that we need.
DH is flying again to Florida in June, but I really would like to get the flight booked one of these days soon before we have little or no options.
Thanks again for this information. Hope to see you again on the Budget Board.

And again, Welcome.

 

[LauraR]

Hi Bill,
Thanks for all the helpful information! You've been very enlightening, and I appreciate the tips you gave me. Now that I have a better understanding of how things work, I will do a daily check and expand where I look (you are right, I usually fly out of BWI). Thanks for taking the time to lead me from frequent flier darkness into the light!

 

[Chicago526]

I'm a travel agent. We normally advise our clients that you shouldn't use FF miles if the ticket is less than $300 ($250, tops) because it "costs" you that much just to earn the miles, anyway (annual dues on a credit card, for example). Of course, it's up to you, and if it's the only way you can afford to go, then you'll just need to use them. But book ASAP, they disapear fast!

$168 is a great fare to Orlando, I'd save the miles for a rainy day (I know one person who saved $1500 on a last minute flight home when there was a family member on their death bed, they just used their miles!) or for a more expensive destination.

I personally use mine for first class upgrades. I pay for a coach ticket (say, $200) and then use my miles to upgrade to first. I'd rather pay $200 for a first class ticket than fly in coach for free! But, that's just me, I've gotten used to the finner things in life!

 

[safetymom]

If you purchase tickets on USAirways as a Silver preferred you will be able to request upgrades to first class a day ahead of departure.

You can't upgrade a ff ticket.

 

[ceecee]

We have the USAirways card and it is so hard to get flights together (3 of us). The alotted seats go so fast, I did pay for a ticket and got two free one time, I also booked that 8 months in advance. We have taken 12 free flights but only two together. Last year we got such reasonable flights we bought them and saved the miles. Once our flight left at 6:00 am, she said to try back to get a later flight.......we must have called over 20 times and could not get it changed.

 

[Shelly Pierce]

That price is too low to use ff miles....pay for your tickets and save your ff miles for an expensive airfare. You'll be glad you did!

 

[mtblujeans]

Originally posted by cruiseonmagic
Hi Laura,
I am a former United Mileage Plus employee

WOW! What a great guy!! Thanks so much!!!

 

[cruiseonmagic]

Thanks for the welcome BethR It's great to be here!
It is true that saving the miles for a more expensive fare is a good idea, however, when I plan a trip, I need to find the overall cost of my trip and what my $ is buying(after all, this is the budget board ) The first thing I would look at is what I would do with the ticket money if I didn't have to buy the airline tickets. It would go along way toward a rental car, park tickets, hotel upgrade, spirit of aloha, hoop-dee-do revue, character meals, etc.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that everybodys situation is different, and things in the travel industry constantly change. Keep checking the prices and ff availability.

Bill