I have 75000 Delta miles that I want to use to go somewhere with my wife. I live in Dallas. I want to get a bargain when I use the miles. (I don't want to fly somewhere that would only cost me $200 if I paid cash.) Where should I go? My wife has never been to NYC, so I've thought about going there. We'd also like to go to Asheville sometime. I don't know if either one of those fit the profile of having a higher cost. We really like Seattle, but we've been multiple times. Maybe Vancouver or some other Canadian city? I've also thought that maybe I should go somewhere that Delta goes but American doesn't go because we fly American more often and would be able to use AA miles to go places. What is a good destination that fits that criteria? Rapid City is one place American doesn't go, and neither one of us has been. Any suggestions?

Key West and Asheville are both good places that have expensive airfare because of the small airports.

I always see cheap flights in and out of NYC. However, hotels there are now starting to really come down in price so you could take advantage of that.

Also, when do you want to go?

I would not want to head somewhere cold cold in the winter and it is peak season in Key West.

What about Charleston, South Carolina?

How about Alaska in June-September? 50,000 miles with Delta (2 people)can take you not to only Anchorage, Fairbanks or Juneau but you can add one stopover like Kodiak, Nome, King Salmon. Vancouver is a great destination and you can take a cruise from there to Alaska

If you want to visit Asheville fly to Greenville, SC. It is only 40 minutes farther, easy drive and air fares are always less expensive (a lot)

Montreal! Get the feeling of international travel and visit a world-class city. Delta also goes to Quebec but apparently from Dallas it's very complication - more fun to take a quick train-trip up from Montreal anyway.

I have found that is better value to use my FF miles (Continental) for international flights.

Delta flies to the Caribbean, and there are some hotel/resort deals down there this season due to the economy. Vancouver or Montreal would be good choices, as would smaller (more expensive to fly to) cities such as Asheville. Given how difficult it is to actually get FF seasts on Delta these days, I would have several choices and see what you can get.

Have you tried to find out what flights are available??? Last time I tried to use Delta, everything to the interesting places was booked up solid for FF seats. Now is when you should start to look for seats in mid December - perhaps not the best time to travel - plus Dec is at the tail end of the normal discount fares.

If I had your miles, I would go to Paris in Dec with 1 FF ticket & 1 paid. Or come here to San Francisco in early October - our best time of year.

Stu Dudley

I'd think Carribean would be best use of the miles if you can get seats. Otherwise, Vancouver or Portland (since you enjoy Seattle) or Montreal or Toronto would be good ideas.

Asheville's a great little place, but I'm not sure I'd consider it in the same league as the above or really want to use miles and the hassle of a connecting flight to get there. Charleston might be worth it (if you'd like a smaller destination), but not Asheville.

Does American fly non-stop to Greenville, SC? If so, I'd use AA miles to get to Asheville.

Give them to me. I need a vacation.

Thanks for all the suggestions. That's exactly the type of response that I hoped I'd get. I haven't decided when to go. It will depend on the destination and my schedule. These are some good suggestions that I will consider. One thing that I left off about us is that we don't really enjoy going to the beach. Does that rule out Key West and the Caribbean?

>>Does that rule out Key West and the Caribbean?<<

Yep - there are many other places in the world where you can do tons of stuff that is more intersting, IMO, than the non-beach activities in the Caribbean. Like I mentioned earlier, come to San Francisco. We have lovely coastline, but it is usually to chilly to do a beach thing. BTW, we are having record high temps now - approaching 70.

Here are some thngs to do in the San Francisco area:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=35129049

Get the Fodor's guide to San Francisco - I'm quoted in there 5 times!!!

Stu Dudley


Stu Dudley

"">>Does that rule out Key West and the Caribbean?<<""

No, not Key West because there are no beaches in Key West. Great little town.

Okay, I'm just throwing out a lot of ideas because I don't know if you're looking at a long trip or a short one, a city or natural beauty...My family used miles to fly into Bozeman, Montana, and then spent three weeks doing Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Glacier, Banff and Jasper. They were all remarkable. We also flew into Bangor (I think it was Delta), and then did a couple of weeks in Acadia, Maine, and Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. All of those take some driving, but it's worth it. If I had enough miles right now, I'd fly into somewhere in Alaska (I think you could do that for 35000 miles each). Another great vacation would be San Francisco, but I don't know how much you'd be saving on that from Dallas. You could spend a few days in San Fran, head over to Yosemite, which is just amazing, and then over and up the Big Sur Coastline (AWESOME)to San Fran. I'm a Floridian, or used to be, and while Key West is a charming place, I don't think I'd spend that many miles to get there. There's probably much more to see around the Asheville area. Black Mountain is a darling town close to Asheville. Not a ton to do, but sweet. My husband and I spent three days in NYC this fall, and had a blast. You can ride bikes in Central Park, go to Broadway, visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, so much fun stuff...Another option would be to wait till you have enough to go to IRELAND or SCOTLAND! Do you have NWA miles? It sounds like Delta and NWA will be merging this year, so you might have more than you think...

Happy planning!

Oh, one more thing...When we went to NYC, we flew into Philadelphia, so we got to see two cities. I loved them both. If you go to Philly, be sure and do the Independence Park (or whatever it's called)--it was so fascinating. I wasn't really wanting to do it, but my husband insisted, and he was right!

We are using our ff miles for a trip to alaska this summer. the airfare is around $800 but we can get ff tickets for just 35,000 miles-- a good use of the miles, I think. in looking at the flights to alaska, at least, there were lots of seats available!