Note to self: check for typos before posting!

Weather, not wheather!

Johanna

Not a problem here--my yard loves the rain!!

rhy, $250 in tax for one ticket to Paris seems a lot but, as you said, it is still a cheap ticket. I paid $65.50 in tax plus a $15 fee for reservation by phone (only option I had due to my itinerary). That was with AA.

When a transaction you want to do isn't available on the airline website, tell the phone agent that you tried to do it online and see if they'll waive the fee. And if there's a mileage bonus for online booking but your itinerary can't be booked online, also ask for that.

It never hurts to inquire.

Congrats Hopalong!

I love the euphoria of actually finding the FF seats and clinching the deal. It feels as if you've accomplished something!

Just a few weeks ago, I booked our flights to Athens for next May with Delta miles. Just for fun, I looked at the price to buy a ticket on that route and it was nearly $1200 - which simply made me smile.

Have a great time!
H

Congrats!!! I also scored some FF tickets to Paris. We got 4 for June on Continental. Paris was not in my original plan, but it has been a fun addition. Now, the kids get to see a little of Paris :)!
Our tickets would have been 6000. if I paid for them.
Tickets in June were so high, when I found the tickets on Continental, I grabbed them. We used Delta miles for the CO seats.
So, I feel your euphoria! :)

phieglefen, I know what you mean. I stopped using miles for coach tickets for that very reason. I could cash in 50,000 or 60,000 miles and get a coach ticket maybe worth up to $1200, or I could cash in 90,000 miles and get a business class ticket maybe worth $7000 or more. Sadly when AA started charging $600 for a round trip upgrade with miles plus up to 50,000 miles, it no longer seemed sensible to buy a coach ticket and then use miles plus a bunch of additional cash to upgrade either. So I find that the best use of my miles is on those free roundtrip business class tickets (and taking advantage of two stopovers to increase the destinations on one ticket).

neopatrick, if it was just my DH and I, business class would have been my choice! :)
Not enough points for 4 BC tickets. We are stuck in coach until the kids grow up and move out! :) Just kidding. Being able to take them on great trips as teens is worth it.

And you wouldn't dare put them in coach while you fly in Business. Some parents were raked over the coals here for doing that!!

I think a lot of teens would be perfectly happy to send their parents up to BC and ride without them in coach!

And when I was a teen, it would have been cool with me. I could sit or sleep anywhere then. Now, I sit where I must or may, but I sleep only where I can ...

Tomassocrocante, that is what happened to me. I tried to do my FF reservation on line. The website kept telling me that the system was down and to call the 800 number.

When I called, the agent said it would be a $20 fee to book over the phone. I told him that I wanted to book online, but the system wouldn't let me, and that wasn't my fault. He told me to keep checking and I could do it later online, but I knew that the route that I wanted and the 50k miles they were offering would be gone soon. I spoke with his supervisor and explained the situation, and he booked it for me at no charge.

So you're right, it never hurts to ask.

Johanna

God forbid we leave them in coach!!!
Actually as they get older, leaving them in coach might not be such a bad idea......
:)

It would be interesting if someone here would figure out how much they PAID in real money to earn a certain number of FF miles.

AAFF..heard of DTW?

It isn't that hard to use award miles to Europe during Nov.-May. But try using award miles to Europe during June/July/Aug. That is a challenge.

British Airways has a fuel surcharge which they call a tax. This REALLY adds to the cost of a ticket when cashing in BA miles. This makes a BA ticket around $250 while the tickets are usually under $80.

But BA still has free alcohol in economy and great movies. Beats the other airlines--hands down. No snack pack either--you get real food.

<b>Dukey</b>,

yes I did, but I just used MSP as an example. Actually both cities, DTW and MSP are available to Paris for the entire month of FEB with a choice of flights for 40K AA miles.

Ans since the OP reported that they are flying JFK-CDG non stop I checked that as well. AA has non-stop on that route and open availibility again for 40K throughout the entire month of February.

I didn't mean to burst the OP's bubble and I hope they have a great trip, but I just wanted to report that during the winter season it's hardly ever a problem getting award tickets to Europe.

The NANNY and the child were beside us in coach while the parents were up front on one trip. Thank goodness--the child was better behaved when the mother went up to her seat!!

I'm not sure if I am just lucky or if it is a matter of planning, but I have been able to get many tickets to Europe with miles over the years. I don't even bother to try the US routes - it never seems to work for me. What I do is check the airline I want to fly for the max. number of days in advance that they book flights. The exact number of days can vary by carrier. This means you may need to plan a year in advance. I then go on line or call after midnight EST on that day. Luck has been with me thus far and I have noticed that if you are booking on a Europena carrier - work with their time zone ... you gat a little jump on things.

Dukey said: &quot;It would be interesting if someone here would figure out how much they PAID in real money to earn a certain number of FF miles.&quot;

I've tried to do that, and the bottom line is pretty much &quot;nothing&quot;. The miles I earned flying didn't cost me anything, since they were tickets I would have bought anyway. Same with the bulk of the miles I earn on my AAdvantage credit card -- it was all for stuff I'd be buying or spending anyway. I did join Netflix and got a 2500 mile bonus, but why count that? I'm getting more than my money's worth out of Netflix and it didn't cost me any more to get those miles than it would anyone getting Netflix without miles.

The only thing I guess that it actually &quot;costs&quot; me, is that I do use my Citibank AAdvantage card on my foreign travel and end up paying 3% instead of just one as with some cards. So in a sense to get maybe 4000 miles a year that way, I spend an extra $80. But sometimes those extra miles help put me over the usual 90,000 miles a year total I need to earn if I want to get my annual business class to Europe free ticket. Spending $80 a year to be able to get a $7000 ticket is hardly worth even thinking about.

If you use a card that gives you miles, rather than a cashback card, you have to consider that you are losing the value of the cashback awards by using the miles card.