Autumn Airfare Quandry
Jan 9th, 2006, 12:43 PM
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Autumn Airfare Quandry
Hello,
DH and I spent the weekend marking out our vacation for 2006 and realized that in addition to our Greece trip this spring, we will be able to take a 6 night trip over Thanksgiving this year (November 18-25). We are tentatively thinking of Sicily, as we have long wanted to see the ancient sights and the olive harvest.
The dilemna is that I have enough FF miles on American to get my ticket free, assuming they still have availability. We would be purchasing DH's ticket and the best price AA is showing is $740 (Denver-Rome RT). That seems rather high for post-November 15. I'm assuming the autumn airfare sales won't start until July or August... how big of a gamble would I be taking to wait until then to try to secure our tickets, mine with FF miles and hopefully his at a better price than is shown right now?
Any suggestions?
Grazie Mille
DH and I spent the weekend marking out our vacation for 2006 and realized that in addition to our Greece trip this spring, we will be able to take a 6 night trip over Thanksgiving this year (November 18-25). We are tentatively thinking of Sicily, as we have long wanted to see the ancient sights and the olive harvest.
The dilemna is that I have enough FF miles on American to get my ticket free, assuming they still have availability. We would be purchasing DH's ticket and the best price AA is showing is $740 (Denver-Rome RT). That seems rather high for post-November 15. I'm assuming the autumn airfare sales won't start until July or August... how big of a gamble would I be taking to wait until then to try to secure our tickets, mine with FF miles and hopefully his at a better price than is shown right now?
Any suggestions?
Grazie Mille
Jan 9th, 2006, 12:59 PM
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Fares to Italy are usually a little higher than the rest of Western Europe because of Italian politics in protecting Alitalia. $740 is a not a bad price for November travel, IMHO. You only find lower fares in late winter or early spring.
I would book the ticket, especially if you can find FF awards on the same flight.
I would book the ticket, especially if you can find FF awards on the same flight.
Jan 9th, 2006, 01:01 PM
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This strategy may seem like "putting it all on the line" - - but let's assume that you are right... you <u>will</u> be able to find a better airfare than $740 (better than $600? better than $500? - - I simply cannot speculate as I never have had a reason to follow airfares from the Denver market to Europe)...
If that is true, then it should also follow that using your FF miles for <u>your</u> ticket is not a very good use of those miles. I would personally not use up 40,000 (50,000?) miles for a ticket that I might be able to purchase for under $600.
So, I think you should focus on bargain hunting (probably in August) for two purchased tickets... and save the FF miles for a rainy day.
Best wishes,
Rex
If that is true, then it should also follow that using your FF miles for <u>your</u> ticket is not a very good use of those miles. I would personally not use up 40,000 (50,000?) miles for a ticket that I might be able to purchase for under $600.
So, I think you should focus on bargain hunting (probably in August) for two purchased tickets... and save the FF miles for a rainy day.
Best wishes,
Rex
Jan 9th, 2006, 01:07 PM
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Thanks for the interesting perspective Rex. I have just over 40,000 miles currently and likely won't accumulate many this year since we booked our Denver-Athens RT flight using miles and thus won't earn any on that flight. Since we can only use our miles (due to only having 40,000) from October 15 - May 15, we're rather limited. But you are correct, I would not want to use them if we were able to find a flight for $500! Up that to $650 or more and I'd probably cash them in.
I guess I should have clarified that our FF miles were useable only off season.
I guess I should have clarified that our FF miles were useable only off season.
Jan 11th, 2006, 10:46 AM
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To update,
We've found airfare from Denver to London (Heathrow or Gatwick) for $578 on American. We'd then transfer to London Stansted and fly RyanAir to Palermo, Sicily. Because of the way the flights work, we'd have to spend the last night of our trip in London. We'd arrive after 11pm and not depart the next day until 2pm. Not an ideal schedule, but workable.
Anyone familiar with Denver-London airfare prices in November, week of Thanksgiving? I'm a little nervous about waiting too long to try to book Awards travel to London...
Also, has anyone done the transfer between LHR or LGW to London Stansted? We'd have several hours (8 hrs.) to make it.
We've found airfare from Denver to London (Heathrow or Gatwick) for $578 on American. We'd then transfer to London Stansted and fly RyanAir to Palermo, Sicily. Because of the way the flights work, we'd have to spend the last night of our trip in London. We'd arrive after 11pm and not depart the next day until 2pm. Not an ideal schedule, but workable.
Anyone familiar with Denver-London airfare prices in November, week of Thanksgiving? I'm a little nervous about waiting too long to try to book Awards travel to London...
Also, has anyone done the transfer between LHR or LGW to London Stansted? We'd have several hours (8 hrs.) to make it.
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