I've been reading many posts about using FF miles and I just can't figure this out.

Here's the question: DH is Platinum but feels he MAY be a little short this year to make Platinum again. (And he loves the perks that go along with Platinum.)

Would it be better to buy tickets at roughly $1,400 for two and earn 10,000 miles each? The money is not too much of an issue but I was figuring on using miles and spending the money we save on air to upgrade hotels instead.

Any thoughts?

Flyertalk.com has more info on the comparison of FF miles and cash that you will ever need. Try them.

What DRJ said.
Personally, if the DH will be a few miles short at the end of the year I would go for buying the tickets or at least buying his and redeeming miles for yours.

But...buying one & redeeming the other can cause a couple of problems if there are any screw ups along the way. Your records will be split and unless the airline is willing to combine them into one, you may be re-routed separately if a delay causes a missed connection. He will be on a higher priority list than you if you're ticketed separately.

If he's platinum, why not buy both tickets and try to get upgrades? I know Delta will grant companion upgrades, not sure about your airline though.

Thanks DRJ - I will try flyertalk.com right now.

Linda - yes, we thought of buying one ticket and using miles for the other, but knew that could be a problem with traveling together, etc. Is it even possible to upgrade on a cheap flight using miles?? I thought you had to buy a certain fare class. If you know the secret, please let me in!

Thanks,
mom

I always try to figure out how much the tickets are worth in miles. If the fares are low i buy the ticket because in some cases it realy pays. For example I usually use my miles to fly business class to Europe which is a $4000 ticket!

aggiemom, yes that is correct you have to buy an upgradable fare which would be a lot more than the price you quoted. I think our latest purchase was around 1800 each. I can remember when it was 1200 to 1300 but that was several years ago.

Buying one, using miles for the other one will is just fine. After ticketing you could call the airline and combine your records into one. That way the airline will know you are travelling together. How you paid for the tickets has no bearing.

The one problem I see is if your husband may get an upgrade and he will have to refuse. Officially no upgrades are allowed on award tickets, but I've been a witness where the GA upgraded both parties when it was possible. I would not count on it, but it could happen.

I think that's your best route. If you have many miles, use them and spend the money for your husband's ticket so he could keep the status.

Have a great trip!

"How you paid for the tickets has no bearing."

In a perfect world, that would be correct and I'm happy to hear that AA follows that logic. At Delta at least, a non-rev passanger will be way lower on the list than a PM on a paid ticket in case of re-routing issues. Over on FFtalk there is a thread that links to an article where a Delta official was asked this very question and after much hemming & hawing, admitted that there was a hierarchy in place in those cases (irreg-ops I think they're called?) when seats are limited. I remember that price paid was definately a factor and I think it mentioned a combination of elite status and price paid.

At any rate, if the OP's airline (she didn't mention which one)would combine the records all is well.

well, I don't agree with that, I think in a perfect world it should make a difference how you paid for them. People who pay more (including more than nothing) should have priority.

However, I think the combination of records thing was just in reference to getting seats together, not to try to get priorities in rerouting situations.

I do not understand how anyone can say that people who redeemed miles for a ticket, "paid nothing" when, in fact, to GET those miles, they may have, over time, paid THOUSANDS of dollars.

I can't say I could debate this issue with total certainity, only because I don't know enough about the Delta program, but I still think you are mistaken.

Once the records get combined into one then the 2 of them will be treated as 2 people traveling together, not as individual travelers. If some problems arise, they will be accomodated one way or another. I never said that it may be the best way.

<b>Christina</b>,

I do agree with you. A revenue ticket does have higher priority and it should. That is very true when a GA has to choose between 2 strangers, one on a revenue ticket, one on an award ticket. In most cases the revenue ticket will get on and the award ticket will be re-accomodated. But once the records are combined into one PNR then the GA has to look at what's possible for 2 people, not 1. That's what I meant when I said that how each one paid for the ticket has no bearing.

Also, we're talking about extreme situations here. 99% of the time everything will go according to plan If I had to worry about all the IFs when I fly I would drive myself crazy. Besides, it sounds to me like these are 2 adults traveling. IF the <b>ultimate</b> screw up happens and they do have to split, it's not the end of the world. They will still end up at the same location at the end of the day. Again, this would really have to be a <b>major mess up</b> which happens about .01% of the time.

A

aggiemom, I have elite status with Air Canada and can certainly understand your husband's desire to retain his status with his airline of choice. And yes, I would consider buying a ticket rather than booking a reward seat if that were going to get me over the requalification threshold.

On the issue of combining a paid and a reward ticket, Linda431 mentions that, &quot;Your records will be split and unless the airline is willing to combine them into one, you may be re-routed separately if a delay causes a missed connection. He will be on a higher priority list than you if you're ticketed separately ...&quot;

This may vary from airline to airline. I know with Air Canada you can ask the client service rep to &quot;link the PNRs,&quot; that is, connect two apparently unconnected reservations so that someone touching one becomes aware that there are two people travelling together. I did this recently for my wife and daughter, who were travelling from separate cities, meeting in Toronto, and then travelling on the same flight to Paris. Thuderstorms caused my daughter's flight to be cancelled; when I called to re-book her, the CSR noticed that her record was linked with my wife's. (My wife went on ahead, in the end, but they would have tried to re-book them together.)

As to priority on rebooking, this may also vary by airline. My experience with AC is that when my spouse is travelling with me, my frequent flyer status carries equal weight for her in actions such as clearing the upgrade list. (And we've been very fortunate in that we have always gotten two upgrades on a given flight, not one; otherwise we'd have a huge discussion urging the other to take the upgrade.)

But, as others have pointed out, check out the FlyerTalk forum for the airline where your husband has status ... the posters there will doubtless offer good advice.

Anselm

How many miles short will he be without them? If not a lot, I'd rather opt for an extra weekend trip at a super saver rate across the country for something like $300 to get the miles and go for the free tickets. If that will make him platinum, everybody comes out ahead -- cheaper flights to Europe, extra money, and a bonus trip as well.

Unless you are really short on cash, I would buy the tickets. Elite status is great and I think it's generally so easy to find reasonable rates for flights anywhere these days so I reserve my FF miles only for upgrades to business or first class. Tickets for those classes are astronomical and I think you get more bang for your mileage.

Thanks, all, for the great discussions. I'm having trouble getting email confirmation at Flyertalk.com - guess my computer is blocking something.

We are going on American Airlines - sorry I forgot to mention it. DH travels between 2,000-5,000 actual miles per month, and he has about 45,000 in his account as of today (NOT flown miles, Platinum miles) so I guess that actual miles would be about 30,000??? I forget what the Platinum bonus rate is.

I suppose we should probably just buy the tickets. At least we may have a chance at some sort of upgrade. I'll try to get onto Flyertalk, too.

But thanks for all the insight. It really helps.

mom

I've flown 50,000 miles as a platinum member this year so far. If I was a base member, I would have flown all of my domestic segments in coach and banked 50,000 miles (actually not, because I would have made silver halfway through -- but to keep the discussion simple...)

As a platinum, I flew almost all of my domestic segments in first class, banked 112,500 miles and received complimentary biz class upgrades on three transatlantic segments, too. I picked up companion upgrades for my sweetie on all domestic flights she took with me. Is it any wonder why I wouldn't risk losing status for a free ticket at the wrong time?

I have greatly enjoyed my Platinum AA status for the past 2 years but I will definitely lose it this coming year
I switched from a job in public accounting where I traveled all the time to a job in industry with no travel.
I will miss the seating priority the most!

&quot;I do not understand how anyone can say that people who redeemed miles for a ticket, &quot;paid nothing&quot; when, in fact, to GET those miles, they may have, over time, paid THOUSANDS of dollars.&quot;

I will tell you how....

I get all my mile through business travel so I pay nothing. Since I am elite status I also get double miles for everything I fly. That really adds up!

One tip, if you buy one ticket and get the other through FF miles I wonder if you will sit together... Sometime the seat you get is restricted to the fare class. When you make your reservation with FF miles buy the ticket at the same time and the agent will try to help you.

I am excited, I just got my tickets to London and Paris on Lufthansa in First Class and all I paid was $100.

The tickets usually sell fro $9200.

God bless the Star Alliance!