Aneliz

My husband and I will be traveling to Germany and France for our anniversary in July next year. We are planning to visit the Black Forest and Alsace regions.

Currently I have about 76,000 miles in my United Mileage Plus account. I was able to find two Saver Award tickets from MCI (Kansas City) to FRA (Frankfurt) on dates that work for us. The problem is, I'm about 24,000 miles short of the 100,000 miles needed for two round-trip tickets. Therefore, I looked at the mile-purchasing option, and I see that it would cost $670 to purchase 24,000 more miles. Add in the fees associated with using the miles, and it figures out to a cost of less than $400 roundtrip per person.

Right now, a single round-trip ticket on the same route for the same dates is running $1500. So using 50,000 miles for one ticket and purchasing the second in the "regular way" does not seem logical.

Would this be a good instance in which to purchase miles, or is there some drawback I'm not familiar with? I'd really appreciate your input.

rkkwan

You should be able to find the fares to come down a little in the next few months. About $900-$1,000 for July travel.

So, your choices for that 2nd ticket is:

- $670 + 26,000 miles
- ~$900 (but you get about 13,000 miles back for flying)

I think it's a wash, if you just want to use up your miles and start from stractch. If you fly fairly often, then you'll have about 40,000 miles in your account if you purchase your own ticket (and use 50,000 miles for your husband's award). That more than a domestic travel, and almost enough for another trip to Europe.

mrwunrfl

You can get 17,500 bonus miles if you get a mileage plus Visa. I think it is $90 per year. You can cancel it after the miles are posted, if you want.

You can join the Ameniti program. It has certain benefits, like upgraded hertz and sheraton? status. And 10,000 bonus miles. It would cost you $295.

You can sign up for E-Plus Access. That will get you 5000 bonus miles plus access to E+ seats for both of you when you fly United.

Consider joining the Red Carpet Club for it's benefits and they might be offering some bonus miles. It is not cheap, though, at over $400 IIRC.

If you go to united.com and check the MileagePlus page you can see other options for earning miles. There are a couple of other offers that include big mileage bonuses.

You should check to see how long it takes to post the miles because all the award seats could be gone by the time you get the miles posted (you could ask to see if they can make the reservations now in advance of the bonus miles being posted).

Aneliz

Thank you both for your responses.

Rkkwan: we do not fly very often--usually no more than once or twice a year. This will also probably be our last trip to Europe for a while. I've been saving miles for the purpose of this trip, so I don't mind spending them. Still, you do have a valid point that buying one ticket would help keep a lot of miles "in the bank" for a future trip.

Mrwunrfl: Thanks for the mileage accrual suggestions. I already have a Mileage Plus Visa (it's helped get me this far), and I considered Ameniti but was scared off by all the negative reviews I've read. Plus it sounds like I wouldn't get the miles from it for at least six weeks, by which time those award seats would surely be gone. You're right--I need to act quickly if I want those seats. I'll be making a decision tomorrow.

mrwunrfl

The Ameniti bonus was 25,000 miles when I signed up. Was immediately able to use the upgraded hotel status on a for a spurt of travel. They were not useful for making reservations. Actually, at the time, I think that the bonus miles were 10,000 with a $199 fee or 25,000 with $299 fee.

Buy a nice car with your MP Visa.