Sandi

After a trip to Paris in May I will have 26,000 frequent flier miles through TWA. I was told this is enough to get a free roundtrip ticket to anywhere in the continent. From St. Louis, where would you choose to go on this? I was thinking Pacific Northwest, maybe Seattle. I want to use it to go to a place that would be normally more expensive to fly to from St. Louis. Would like to go to Montreal, too. I'm open to suggestions.

Would anyone care to share their experiences of cashing in their frequent flier miles and what are the catches?

Thanks!

howard

Your first criterion should be what destinations are the most appealing, not which destinations would be the most expensive to fly to if you have to pay. Get my point?
The first thing you have to do is find out where TWA flies to from St. Louis. Then, of those destinations, which appeal to you. At that point, you may want to go into which destination would cost the most. (To find out, obviously call the airline or stop at one of its ticket offices and price out destinations.)
Depending on the site, you may have to book months and months in advance to take advantage of your frequent flyer miles. If it's a popular site, the frequent flyer allotment of seats could be gone quickly.
The two sites you mention are both good ones, i.e., the Northwest and Montreal. Obviously, it depends what you're looking for! It would be kind of hard for any of us to make recommendations without knowing what you're looking for in a trip!

Sandi

Howard,

I understand your point. The thing is, I would go just about anywhere if the opportunity presented itself to me. I enjoy the big city scene for the great museums and entertainment. I also enjoy National Parks, etc. for the beautiful scenery.

I was told today that Montreal is not serviced by TWA, but Vancouver soon will be. I believe that will be my choice.

I was basically looking for opinions and suggestions from other travelers, and wanted to know how much of a hassle it is to cash in the frequent flier miles.

Sorry for not being clearer, and thanks for your reply.

Wendy

Sandi,
Good Luck! I hate to sound pessimistic(and maybe you will be lucky) but I have really had it with TWA and their stupid Aviators miles. We live in St. Louis which makes TWA our primary airline by default. If you want to fly somewhere direct from St. Louis it almost always has to be on TWA. Two years ago I was able to cash in ffmiles for a free 1st class ticket to London and used more miles to upgrade three tickets to 1st class for my husband and 2 kids. Last week I tried to do something similar and was told that there are no coach or 1st class tickets to London available for purchase with ff miles in all of June, July, and August. When I complained that this was only January I was told that these seats can be booked a year in advance and often are! I then tried to purchase(with ff miles) 4 coach tickets to San Diego in February.Nothing was available any where near the dates we were interested in. I guess the answer is you have to be flexible on dates of travel and you have to book WAY in advance.Just for the record, 15,000 miles will(according to the rules of the Aviators program) get you anywhere within 750 miles of St. Louis. A great deal. That includes Toronto, a super city to visit. Further will cost the 25,000 ff miles. You can check out all the details on the twa web site. It lists all the ways to spend your miles (hotel stays as well as flights).

howard

Sandi: My previous advice still holds. However, since mentioned Vancouver, I'll respond that it would be a good choice. From there, you could take in Victoria, Seattle and Olympic National Park in Washington. We covered all four in one trip.
Other possibilities, if TWA flies to any of the airports near Yosemite, Yellowstone or Rocky Mountain National Parks, they too are great destinations.
As far as redeeming miles, I can't speak for TWA. However, in general, you often do have to book very, very far in advance. I've book ff miles for tickets to Italy on Continental 10 months in advance (and then I was told by the agent two weeks later that if I had waited much longer everything would have been gone). I also book Continental ff tickets to Wyoming also 10 months in advance.
In response to Wendy, yes, it is possible, especially for European routes, that all ff seats would be gone already for the summer. As for tickets to San Diego for February, you have to be very, very lucky to be able to get ff tickets for dates that close. The moral of this long saga is: Book ff seats as early as possible...yes, a year out if you can, especially for popular destinations (like Europe in season).

Gavin

To Wendy:
Cashing in FF miles on any major airline is difficult if you are trying to reach a popular destination in high season. The carriers hold back only a very few seats on each flight for FF redemption, and shrewd/experienced fliers watch the dates they open up well in advance. We're using miles to go to Australia and called for FF seats 330 days prior to departure, as soon as the airline would accept reservations. We learned this technique the hard way...by getting shut out on multiple occasions.
One more piece of depressing news: it's going to get a LOT worse in coming years as the robust economy allows more people to spend extra discretionary time and money on travel, and as more baby boomers enter their 'freedom years'.

betsy

Have been trying to use TWA ff miles for a trip (in first class) to Europe in June 2000. Started trying in July 1999 to get three seats. Specified two possible itineraries with a wide range of dates. Absolutely nothing available. We've been loyal customers of this airline for many years and now feel their award program is not worth the paper it's written on. Anyone else?

kim

I actually used my TWA ff miles to go to Europe in July '98. I can't say it was a fun experience (the booking that is) but perhaps it has even gotten worse since then. I didn't book my seats until Feb or Mar, and it took alot of persistence and flexibility. Because I was using hard earned vacation time I was unwilling to fly in the middle of the week, however I was flexible about cities to fly into and out of, and flexible about the overall dates. What I learned was that seats open up all the time, but you have to call constantly to check. I was told by one operator that seats will get posted overnight, so you have to call first thing in the morning. I must have called everyday for 3 or 4 weeks. Some cities were easier to get seats than others, perhaps due to the number of flights. This became obvious the more I called and talked to operators. Some operators were extremely helpful and forthcoming with info, others not so much. The most frustrating thing for me was the 45 min I would spend on hold waiting for an operator.

I also booked ff tickets to San Francisco on TWA (for July '99)without any problems other than the long hold time.

Last of all I booked ff tix to NYC no more than 1 month in advance for May '99(again TWA), no problem there, but again persistence was the key as I was on hold for no less than 2 hours before speaking to a non-recorded voice! It become a challenge to me to see if I could out last them, so far I feel like I have won the battles!

howard

Kim has given some good guidelines for any airline:
1. It's easier to succeed in booking with FF miles if you're traveling between two major cities (i.e., NYC, LA, Chicago), since there are a lot of flights.
2. You've got to be persistent and you've got to have patience!

cass

Two slightly skewed observations: 1. using the ff miles for an expensive ticket to a city that's also expensive -- and if you don't like it much -- doesn't, in the long run, save much $. All the more reason to go to a city you like EVEN if it would have been a cheap ticket, esp. if you still have some $$ for nice accommodations, etc. Vancouver's a GREAT choice, by the way, but so would Chicago be if you've never been there, or even DC.

2. why not use the miles as an upgrade to somewhere? Don't know TWA's structure (thank heavens) but if you can afford a coach ticket to some reasonably nice domestic destination, why not make it an Occasion flying 1st class? (yeah, still have to deal with heavily-traveled dates....)

A gratuitous comment about TWA: how sad for those of us who thought it was about the most sophisticated and wonderful thing in the world to go TWA to Europe, ca. the 60s. And wasn't there a series on Mickey Mouse Club in which Mouseketeer Darlene was a "jr." stewardess for TWA? How the mighty have fallen (even Darlene, I'm told).

Sandi

Wendy, Gavin, Betsy and Kim:

Thanks for sharing your stories. It sounds like I will need to call on my patience.

Howard: I just recently visited Yosemite last summer, and it was an awesome place. Have been to Rocky Mountains for skiing. I'm sure there is more to see and do than skiing. Yellowstone is a place I would like to visit, most definitely. Right now Vancouver is very high on my list. Would like to visit Banff and Jasper National Park as well.

Cass: Been to Chicago couple times (I love Chicago!) and will visit Washington D.C. in April for Cherry Blossom Festival and all the sights.... I'm looking very much forward to this trip.

Anyway, thanks to all again. I understand that booking your flight early is very important. Is it possible to get a ticket for yourself with the frequent flier miles and paying for another ticket on the same flight for a companion, but not knowing exactly who the companion would be due to planning so far in advance? Can you get a ticket without giving a passenger name until later? I really have no idea.

Thanks!