Ticket/Airmile quandary

[katiegirl]

Hi all!!!
Our family (me, DH, DS 4.5, and DS 3) are going to WDW in 2 short months! We are staying 8 glorious nights, 1st night @ POP then we move over to AOA to a Cars suite for the remainder of the trip!!!! Anyways, one of the last things I need to sort out is my ticket situation. I booked our hotels using the room only discount and now I need to figure out the best and cheapest (while still being safe!!) way to get our tickets.

I will have around 2200 airmiles to use by January. I was going to redeem them for 1 child 5 day base pass and then use undercover tourist (thru the mousesavers link of course!) to buy 2 adult and 1 child 6 day park hopper passes. Then, I was planning on upgrading the airmiles pass to park hopper and add 1 day to it. This sounds so complicated but I am trying to save some money wherever I can!!!!

Do you think this plan will work or does anyone have an alternative plan of action? When should I redeem from Airmiles and/or order from UCT so that I can ensure that I get everything before Feb.6/13?

Thanks!

 

[sechelt]

I just got my passes from AM. I ordered them online on November 25 and received the passes last week on Purolator.

 

[greenclan67]

I have about 3200 airmiles to use up. Can we not use them past January? If so I should be ordereing mine now I guess! Anyone know?

 

[sechelt]

I think the OP meant she wouldn't have that many AM's until January.

 

[katiegirl]

I meant that I will have earned around 2200 airmiles by January and I need to use all of them on tickets for my trip in February. I think there is a five year expiry on airmiles but I might be wrong.

 

[SunshineCruiser]

Please don't cash in your air miles for tickets instead of flights before doing the math. If you use your air miles for tickets your 2200 air miles are worth far less per mile than if you save them and use them for flights. I hate to hear that people go to the trouble of earning their miles and then cash them in at a rate of say 7 cents per mile when they could be cashing them in for say 25 cents per mile. (My numbers aren't exactly right because I haven't worked it out for a while, but it really can make that much of a difference). Google it, check it out, its worth your time.

 

[Nahanni]

Hi all!!!
Our family (me, DH, DS 4.5, and DS 3) are going to WDW in 2 short months! We are staying 8 glorious nights, 1st night @ POP then we move over to AOA to a Cars suite for the remainder of the trip!!!! Anyways, one of the last things I need to sort out is my ticket situation. I booked our hotels using the room only discount and now I need to figure out the best and cheapest (while still being safe!!) way to get our tickets.

I will have around 2200 airmiles to use by January. I was going to redeem them for 1 child 5 day base pass and then use undercover tourist (thru the mousesavers link of course!) to buy 2 adult and 1 child 6 day park hopper passes. Then, I was planning on upgrading the airmiles pass to park hopper and add 1 day to it. This sounds so complicated but I am trying to save some money wherever I can!!!!

Do you think this plan will work or does anyone have an alternative plan of action? When should I redeem from Airmiles and/or order from UCT so that I can ensure that I get everything before Feb.6/13?

Thanks!

Are you planning to eat at WDW, specifically any character meals or buffets? If you are, have you priced the Play, Stay and Dine offer with QS or upgrade to regular DDP?

Although we find DDP to be too much food, it does save if you are planning character meals.

 

[FayeW]

Please don't cash in your air miles for tickets instead of flights before doing the math. If you use your air miles for tickets your 2200 air miles are worth far less per mile than if you save them and use them for flights. I hate to hear that people go to the trouble of earning their miles and then cash them in at a rate of say 7 cents per mile when they could be cashing them in for say 25 cents per mile. (My numbers aren't exactly right because I haven't worked it out for a while, but it really can make that much of a difference). Google it, check it out, its worth your time.

Yes, but when you add the tax you have to pay for the flight, sometimes you can get the flight for cash for only a little bit more than the tax portion (if you can get a seat sale). For me, if I'm only going to pay $100 more per ticket than the tax I'm paying using airmiles, I would feel like I wasted my airmiles!

 

[CdnCarrie]

Yes, but when you add the tax you have to pay for the flight, sometimes you can get the flight for cash for only a little bit more than the tax portion (if you can get a seat sale). For me, if I'm only going to pay $100 more per ticket than the tax I'm paying using airmiles, I would feel like I wasted my airmiles!

Exactly. i would rather book my trip with marlin and use my airmiles to pay it off rather than use it for plane tickets.

 

[katiegirl]

Are you planning to eat at WDW, specifically any character meals or buffets? If you are, have you priced the Play, Stay and Dine offer with QS or upgrade to regular DDP?

Although we find DDP to be too much food, it does save if you are planning character meals.

I did the comparison and I really couldn't justify the quantity of food. We did the DDP last trip and I really didn't like the kid meal options. We are going to go OOP and we have only two table meals planned. We didn't really like to plan our days around where we were going to eat last time so this time we are going to wing it. We'll see how it works!

 

[katiegirl]

Please don't cash in your air miles for tickets instead of flights before doing the math. If you use your air miles for tickets your 2200 air miles are worth far less per mile than if you save them and use them for flights. I hate to hear that people go to the trouble of earning their miles and then cash them in at a rate of say 7 cents per mile when they could be cashing them in for say 25 cents per mile. (My numbers aren't exactly right because I haven't worked it out for a while, but it really can make that much of a difference). Google it, check it out, its worth your time.

I am really a newbie when it comes to airmiles and definitely a newbie when it comes to booking flights. I'm sure there is a way I could get a bigger bang for my airmiles buck but I don't want to put the time and effort into figuring it out Maybe with our next trip I will have this whole thing figured out a bit better and hopefully will have more miles to play with as well. We'll see, thank you for the suggestions

 

[LauraLap]

I have a 3 day base ticket that I got through airmiles that I'm willing to sell for 200 if anyone is willing Value is ~260.

I don't need it because we decided to go with DVC Premium Annual passes which I had to buy by Dec 31st....so I'm not able to upgrade.

 

[dave 2]

Yes, but when you add the tax you have to pay for the flight, sometimes you can get the flight for cash for only a little bit more than the tax portion (if you can get a seat sale). For me, if I'm only going to pay $100 more per ticket than the tax I'm paying using airmiles, I would feel like I wasted my airmiles!

We got 4 flights Halifax to MCO with AC (return flight is direct) and even with tax and fees was 22.3 cents per mile. I didn't even think I could find flights this late during our March Break(1st week of March). Was a last minute decision since in- laws are already there so no cost for hotels for our 4 th teip to the World.

With money saved we are taking our 1st ever Disney Cruise on the Magic. AM are great if you can find flights during busy times.

 

[damo]

Exactly. i would rather book my trip with marlin and use my airmiles to pay it off rather than use it for plane tickets.

From what I can see, you use 1000 points for $100 Marlin gift certificate up to a limit of 4 gift certificates. This doesn't sound like a very good use for the points either. Am I missing something? I'd love to use my Air Miles for Disneyland hotels.

 

[CdnCarrie]

From what I can see, you use 1000 points for $100 Marlin gift certificate up to a limit of 4 gift certificates. This doesn't sound like a very good use for the points either. Am I missing something? I'd love to use my Air Miles for Disneyland hotels.

Depends. No set answer. You have to do all your Disney math.

If I can get a good seat sale for $1800 for 4 flights from Manitoba to Orlando vs paying $700 in taxes along with 12,000+ miles it's worth it to use it for Marlin instead.

16,000 = $1600 Marlin dollars
12,000= $1100 savings on my flights

Or fly from the U.S. for $1400 and use my Air Miles for my package, my car rental and my Universal passes.

I've done it both ways.

 

[SunshineCruiser]

Carrie is right you have to do the math - In her example the math shows getting flights at value of less than 10 cents per mile, and sometimes this is the case, but when I plan far enough in advance it is easy to get my family of 5 to from Saskatchewan to Florida and back for 25 cents per mile. I have yet to see the value of cashing them in for anything else besides flights go anywhere near 25 cents per mile.

If I have to travel and can't get flights for 22 to 25 cents per mile then I save them until when I can (as opposed to cashing them in at a lower rate). However, I know some people are just concerned about getting their current trip at as low of a cost as possible and cashing them in for 10 cents per mile is better than nothing. So you have to decide if you goal is to get the best value for your airmiles (that may take planning up to a year in advance), or do you just want to save as much as you can immediately. One goal isn't better than the other, nothing is wrong with cashing them in for 10 cents per mile, but it is better if you are making an informed decision.

 

[damo]

Carrie is right you have to do the math - In her example the math shows getting flights at value of less than 10 cents per mile, and sometimes this is the case, but when I plan far enough in advance it is easy to get my family of 5 to from Saskatchewan to Florida and back for 25 cents per mile. I have yet to see the value of cashing them in for anything else besides flights go anywhere near 25 cents per mile.

If I have to travel and can't get flights for 22 to 25 cents per mile then I save them until when I can (as opposed to cashing them in at a lower rate). However, I know some people are just concerned about getting their current trip at as low of a cost as possible and cashing them in for 10 cents per mile is better than nothing. So you have to decide if you goal is to get the best value for your airmiles (that may take planning up to a year in advance), or do you just want to save as much as you can immediately. One goal isn't better than the other, nothing is wrong with cashing them in for 10 cents per mile, but it is better if you are making an informed decision.

That seems to be my experience too. Also being a platinum member makes a big difference on flight points.

 

[CdnCarrie]

That seems to be my experience too. Also being a platinum member makes a big difference on flight points.

yes I'm a gold member too.

I don't know if you can put a price per mile figure on flights. Depends on the taxes and how much you would pay OOP if you paid for the flight. Of course that amount can vary greatly. Taxes range between airports as well so you have to factor that in when calculating your points per mile scenarios. For example the taxes between LAX and Orange County are different as are the 3 airports in the New York area. But if you can fly out of the U.S. and save $1200 than I think you're wasting the miles. But again that's not always an option.

Also comes down to timing. Sometimes I don't have 12,000 airmiles when the flights are available and they book up quickly. But perhaps I do have that many miles a month before we leave and can still pay off a chunk of my package with Air Miles or Marlin.


I really don't think it's fair to say that Air Miles are only worth x number of cents per flight with all the varying factors.

And yes to me it makes sense to save $1600 on my package with Marlin over $700 with flights or whatever it maybe.

Really you have to do the disney math for each scenario.

 

[CdnCarrie]

If I have to travel and can't get flights for 22 to 25 cents per mile then I save them until when I can (as opposed to cashing them in at a lower rate). However, I know some people are just concerned about getting their current trip at as low of a cost as possible and cashing them in for 10 cents per mile is better than nothing.

This. We go on 2 big family vacations a year. Last year it was WDW in the winter and Alberta in the summer.

I would rather reduce the total cost of my trip whether it be with free hotel, car rental, passes to all kinds of museums and attractions, etc than have a hefty balance in my AM account and refuse to use them for anything but flights.

We earn 20,000 Airmiles a year and cash them out all the time.

 

[damo]

yes I'm a gold member too.

I don't know if you can put a price per mile figure on flights. Depends on the taxes and how much you would pay OOP if you paid for the flight. Of course that amount can vary greatly. Taxes range between airports as well so you have to factor that in when calculating your points per mile scenarios. For example the taxes between LAX and Orange County are different as are the 3 airports in the New York area. But if you can fly out of the U.S. and save $1200 than I think you're wasting the miles. But again that's not always an option.

Also comes down to timing. Sometimes I don't have 12,000 airmiles when the flights are available and they book up quickly. But perhaps I do have that many miles a month before we leave and can still pay off a chunk of my package with Air Miles or Marlin.


I really don't think it's fair to say that Air Miles are only worth x number of cents per flight with all the varying factors.

And yes to me it makes sense to save $1600 on my package with Marlin over $700 with flights or whatever it maybe.

Really you have to do the disney math for each scenario.

Which leads me back to my original question about Marlin. The only thing I can find is that you can get gift cards up to $400. Do you just accumulate them or how do you do it?