Honk! If you are flying to Europe this summer with Frequent Flyer awards
 

I purchased an Economy Plus ticket with British Airways from Miami to Barcelona for $1,900, used 30,000 miles and upgraded to Business Class for June 13-July 11 travel. I'll have a flat bed upstairs on the 747.

I earned 3800 miles for purchasing this ticket on my BA Visa card and will get about 12,500 miles for the flight.

I still haven't decided whether I will sleep or pass out on the flights.

So, Honk, Honk Honk!!!

Using AA miles to go to London for 2 people next week.

Using Delta miles to go to Italia and Croatia for 2 people in August.

Using AA FF miles to fly to Istanbul September 5, returning from Dubrovnik October 5.

We just returned from a trip funded by frequent flier miles. We flew on Delta and Air France from Atlanta to Athens, and returning Istanbul to Atlanta.

Buy everything with my Avion Visa. Change the Avion points to BA miles (1.5 for 1).
Two business class tickets Toronto to Paris for September.
Sleeper seats - yes Wally - but we also get access to the BA lounge in Toronto and Heathrow and Paris.

Flying from SFO to Berlin and then Nice and then back to SFO using 90k Delta SkyMiles. This will be the first couple of weeks in July.

Flights are on Air France.

Wouldn't I also get access to the lounge since I'm flying Business Class?

Keep the replies coming. Most people say American and United have the best U.S. programs. Continental wants 100,000 miles for economy for the early season (off season) of March.

We have four tickets from Montreal to Nice this June, courtesy of Air Canada Aeroplan. But, I had to book them last December, and the routing home is long and slow (Nice/overnight in Frankfurt/Heathrow/Montreal!).

No honking here... just pouting. Paid for our 4 tickets to Paris, Jo'burg and Rome... have tons of miles/amex rewards and could not make it happen. ::::pouting:::::

We've got two business class tickets on Air Canada at Christmas, Halifax to Paris via Montreal. (Classic Awards, for those who pay attention to Aeroplan. We got the routes we wanted and only had to go one day early to get business class on all legs. Bonus: we get an extra day in Paris.)

The fees were stiffish, about $320 Cdn each, but I have a short memory for that kind of pain.

Anselm

Poutine, that return trip is brutal. Aeroplan offered us Halifax, London, Munich, Paris outbound, so I asked what would happen if we went the day before ... all of a sudden the sun came out from behind the clouds.

Anselm

AnselmAdorne - yes, with two kids in tow, brutal. But there were no other options, supposedly. Since Aeroplan changed their online reservations system last fall, finding four tickets online requiring partner airlines just won't work. I had to rely on the skills of the aeroplan phone agent......

However, they were 60,000 points each, and not the worst Aeroplan routing I've had to live with (try Montreal/ Chicago/LA with a two night layover/Auckland/Sydney/Cairns with two kids...).

Toronto-Amsterdam-Paris and then Rome-Amsterdam-Toronto with AirMiles. Booked the tickets last November.

Wally - yews that "we" included you, too. That is a real bonus in my book. Worth as much as the business class.

Anselm - greetings
<<Halifax to Paris via Montreal>>

You are staring out by going backwards... is that to get more miles? LOL

Delta from Atlanta to Milan (via Copenhagen for three of us, direct for one), direct Milan to Atlanta return, second half of June. A total of 250,000 skymiles: 50,000 skymiles each for three of us, 100,000 skymiles for the last ticket.

No honking here. You can receive FF tickets on CO for 50K roundtrip. You sometimes need to be flexible and book far enough out. Start looking at 330 days and continue to look if you do not see what you are after.

Couldn't get Delta/AF RT nonstop Boston/Paris flights I wanted in September-- they told me the award seats on these flights must usually be reserved 11 months in advance. I never had that problem before. On American, I can still do this, but have spent so many miles on upgrades in previous years, that I haven't enough left. The fare has gone down about $70 in the last 2 weeks, but I think it will stick. Also it's about 60 bucks cheaper if I don't fly on the weekend. All-in, it's still over $1200!

Family of 4 flying direct on Air France (Continental miles) from Houston to Paris next week! Hilton Hotel points for Paris accommodations, and Amex points for a 2-week rental car!

Family of 6 leaving in 11 days (!!)using 5 FF 50K mile tickets to fly Delta from ATL to Paris. However, we do have to travel thru Prague to get there -- got our tickets December 31st for May 30th travel-- pretty good, eh? Delta's Prague service had just been announced and opened the week before..we also have to fly back from Milan to ATL via Prague.. but I'm not complaining..wouldn't be going otherwise!

Aeroplan miles: Business class Toronto-Frankfurt-Venice late Sept, and Paris-Frankfurt- Toronto late Oct, on Lufthansa. Yippee!!

Jess , keep trying I booked Delta/AF Orlando/Paris last June for an October flight last year. Helps if you can be flexible.

Wally , yes you can use the BA lounges at Miami ..check if they have one in Barcelona.

And I have a BA flight, to London for October , in BC, $1300.00 plus 25,000 miles..not summer but close enough.

Honk!!

US Airways, Phoenix to Venice in September, can't wait!!!

Using Delta FF miles to fly DCA-AMS on May 25 and ATH-DCA on June 12. There are 2 of us flying and I think it cost us 200K miles.

The trip is not until October but I am flying Delta to Frankfurt and return from Rome on 50,000 FF points + maybe $100 in fees. This required speaking to a person rather than online booking.

I paid $1200 for NW tickets and 30,000 mile upgrade to lst class from MSP to Detroit to Paris in September. It is on the plane that has the flat bed seats that are like pods. A330 I believe. I'm excited.

I'll be in Business STT-JFK-LHR-MIA-STT in June. Paid the cheapest coach fare on AA & was given an Executive VIP upgrade. This also entitles me to Admiral's Club Access on the day of travel.

2 tickets, BHM to BUD in July; return AMS to BHM. No flights are direct--took 50,000 Delta FF miles for each ticket. I am currently waitlisted on some later returns and hope that one clears. I pricelined my hotel in BUD and used Marriott points for my hotel in London.

Just got back from a Miami/Paris/Miami trip using American FF miles. I've been able to book many Paris and London flights using miles - never had any trouble. I book about 7 or 8 months ahead and usually go in May or October, using less miles than in high season. I might not be able to get the exact dates I want, but close. But I always want (and get) the one direct flight that American has to those cities. I love my Citibank AAdvantage card!

Just to add, on both the flights this time, I had the 3 middle seats all to myself- that makes a huge difference.
The economy seats on American international flights have more legroom than some other airlines I've flown.

Two of us using 90,000 AA miles each. We're in New York now where we flew first class from Miami for a one month "stopover" before going Business Class to London for 10 days, then BA business class to Rome. Two months plus after we left we return Business on AA from Paris to Miami.

Using US Air FF miles from Raleigh, NC, to Lisbon, Portugal for three on June 19th, returning June 29th. Had enough miles for three business class seats. We always book with FF for international travel. Delta has been great to work with, too.

Flying Austin-Chicago on American; Chicago-Dublin-Glasgow on Aer Lingus for 60,000 miles. Leave 31 May and return 15 July. I only got this flight by calling American direct and dealing with their agent. On the computer they wanted 100,000 miles for these dates (and didn't give the Aer Lingus link as an option).

Also flying Austin-Chicago-CDG and return on American miles, leaving 7 September and returning 12 October. 60,000 miles for this trip.

Jinx Hoover

Delta business class-90K miles.June 21- Orlando/Atlanta-Milan/Pisa (alitalia). return July 1 Milan/atlanta/Orlando. I booked the tickets in November.I just checked my E-ticket and noticed seats are not assigned on the milan to Pisa leg of the trip. Should I be concerned about this?

I am using money for our Europe trip this summer but I have to brag about the fall trip. Toronto-Santiago, Chile non-stop in November (spring in Chile) first class with Aeroplan on Air Canada. Total fees just under C$300 for two.

Before someone else says it I know Chile is in South America but this isn't the first time the Europe board has been "tainted" with other continents.

USAir FF to Paris from Richmond, VA business class. Actually couldn't get to Paris so flew into Amsterdam and spent a lovely day and night and took a train to Paris. And this was booking 9 months in advance.

Question: Going to Italy next year and don't have enough for 2 for First. Wondered about paying for coach and using FF on upgrade to First. Can you do that with discount tickets?

And how far out can you start using your FF.

thanks

Used FF miles twice this year: Zurich to Guadalajara round-trip and then Zurich to Atlanta, round-trip, both of Continental.

bashamj- you can call your FF program and explain to them that you don't have enough miles to get the award you want. I have done with with NW in the past. They will allow you to buy a coach class ticket and use the miles to upgrade to Business/First. There is a minimum class of service (i.e. the letter code) that the ticket would have to be booked in. When I flew to Taiwan it was about $300 more than the cheapest available fare for that route. Once I purchased that "minimum fare" ticket, they processed the mileage upgrade.

bashamj- missed your last part. You can generally book FF rewards 330 days out- that's the farthest out that airlines will display their flight schedules. Make sure to take into account- the 330day rule for the return dates of your travel.

Two economy tickets SFO - MAD for 90000 Delta miles, flying on Air France.

Interesting that no one seems to be flying United. We got one free ticket on United from our Capitol One Visa (65,000 miles). You don't have to look for FF, you just buy your ticket and Capitol One reimburses you, if you have the miles.