Airline Frustrations
 

I'm trying to use frequent flyer miles for a trip to london the week of May the 7th. However Northwest, my airline, says that they don't have anything available until the 14th for frequent flyers. Does anyone know of a way around this without using double miles? Thank you for any help I may recieve.

<BR>Unfortunately, I don't think there's a way around this. Part of the deal for frequent flyer usage is having to be flexible. We're using NW ff miles to go to Milan end of May and had to be flexible with our dates and arrival/departure cities.

I agree with the previous poster. Also, February is late for booking a May European trip with ff miles. I'd take what they for a week later and be happy you got that!

Using frequent flyer miles are a nightmare. I use a lot of them, all with American and fortunately can book well ahead. They let you book with the miles 11 months ahead. I booked our flights to Europe exactly 11 months ahead getting our choice of dates (Business class to London), but had to wait for 5 months (yes, we are staying in Europe for 5 months) to book the return. I screwed up and waited three days into the 11 months to book the return. Couldn't get October 1 return from Madrid, so had to make it the 2nd. Can't imaging what it would be like trying to use the miles with less planning time.

You might want to try working directly with one of NW Airlines' partners (KLM or Continental) for availability on one of their airline flights or for seats that they may hold on a NW flight that is more compatible with your plans. I did something similar in September 1998 by using Delta frequent flyer miles by booking directly with Swissair (one of Delta's partners) on a Delta flight that would not have been available if I had booked it directly with Delta. Good luck. Rich

Good luck. It took at least six months of constant haranguing to even get my airmiles from KLM! <BR>

Try first to connect through other cities in Europe (Amsterdam mentioned above is a good choice). If this doesn't work, try flying into another city and buy a r/t ticket from there to London. There are some pretty good low fare options available. <BR> <BR>I'd definitely buy the entire ticket before I'd use double miles. Don't forget to figure how many miles you'll earn by buying the ticket.