Q about Airmiles and park tickets. And booking flts since the program change

[coastgirl]

So this is a two-parter. Ok, it's a three-parter, based on two issues. :-D

1. If I use AM to buy park tickets, do they charge me fees the way they do when I buy airline tickets?

2. Once I have the base tickets in hand, I can take them to Guest Services and upgrade? Based on gate price? (Online for Universal they say is $20 less than gate--but then if they are upgrading gate price to gate price, then that shouldn't matter.) Or I could go in on Day 1 and then upgrade before the face value of the tickets expires, right?

3. And here's the back story question: Have you been able to book tickets for a reasonable rate since the program change?

The Universal tickets are going to cost me almost as much as a low season flight used to cost me, so I never would have done that in the past. But maybe I need to give up hope for using the miles for flights.

I've never used my AMs for anything but flights, but it seems with the program change that flights are MUCH more expensive? I have Onyx level, which gives me more choices apparently, but none of them look good points-wise. In the past, I used my points carefully and booked as soon as the dates became available--so maybe that still works?

Here's my example: I just checked for as long in the future as I could...Nov 9-16 next year (Monday travel). Said the amt of miles required was 2325, but the lowest I could actually get was 2795. This is at the end of the currently-available booking period, in what should be low season. Low season used to be 2006 (for MC holders). If I want to get 4 tickets together, the lowest amount of miles is 3700, almost double what I used to pay. Soooo...it's going to be pretty hard for me to build up enough miles to do anything for the whole family at that rate. Is that about what others have seen if they try to book something? I haven't "worked" it, and I know I always had to, in the past--play with dates and so on to get decent availability and/or routing.

 

[Aladora]

The only one that I can answer is #1. The last time I bought DL tickets through AM was in August and no, they did not charge any extra fees.


Hope someone else can answer the other two!

 

[sechelt]

2. Disney always upgraded for me at the current gate price, but it's been a couple of years. Don't know about Universal.

3. Onyx is new and I think it's for bookings made in 2015. Try again in January to see if you're getting a better rate. As for the higher airmiles required, you should see the actual cash requirement be lower. The increase in airmiles was to cover the fuel surcharge.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Make sure to enter a WDW park BEFORE you upgrade the tickets. This will reset the value to current gate price. I can assure you, from experience, that this is a must.

 

[coastgirl]

Good tip, dancin.

Unfortunately it looks like we won't be able to take advantage. The ticket we want, the 14 day unlimited for UO, isn't available at the gate. It's only available through Universal packages, or resellers. I don't think I'd be able to talk UndercoverTourist into taking my Airmiles tickets. :-( But will certainly keep this info in mind.

Still curious to know how many miles people have had to use for actual flights since the change? Anyone?

 

[dancin Disney style]

Flights have never been a good use of miles. Taxes and fees come to just a little less than the cost of paying OOP for the flight.

 

[coastgirl]

Flights have never been a good use of miles. Taxes and fees come to just a little less than the cost of paying OOP for the flight.

That may be the case from Ontario, but hasn't been true from Halifax. Last time I flew four people YHZ-MCO (Aug 2013), taxes and fees were about $1000 for all of us; to buy four tickets on that route would be between $3200-$4000, depending on whether I could get a seat sale. We can and do drive to the states for cheaper flights, but that's a big time commitment from here--in March we will spend 20-24 hours driving, return (depending on meal stops), and spend two nights in NH hotels to get a fare from SW.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

The price for flying out of Halifax to Orlando can be deadly. That's why I hunt for deals so often. By the way, as a comparator, the charge for using united mileage plus for four return tickets is around $260US and that it for them.

 

[kuhltiffany]

I've never used AM for flights, when is the best time to book? How far ahead can you book? I see where they have "deals" but only in the next 6 weeks…

 

[tygersclaw]

I booked my flights from YEG to LAX using AM.

I am booked on American Airlines return direct flights for 4600 AM plus tax of $285.

Same trip via Westjet was almost 7000 AM and the fees and taxes were also higher.

Sometimes AM for flights is a good thing if you keep an eye on airline promotions.