Where should we go?
 

My husband and I have travel vouchers on American Airlines for 250.00 each that need to be redeemed by June. We were going to use them for a trip to visit my brother in Seattle in October but they aren't booking their flights that far out. So where should we go? We have a 2.5 year old and a newborn--we aren't afraid to travel with them but any destination needs to be child friendly. We live in the SF Bay Area, and are already going to San Diego by car in September. Ideas?

I'm confused...the vouchers have to be used by June but you were planning to use them in October?? Maybe you meant June 2004??

You certainly can book a flight for October 2003 now.

Can I? Because I was looking on the web and they don't show flights that far out. I was thinking because it's a commuter flight mostly they haven't finalized their schedule?

Which Bay Area airport are you using as your departure? There is no OAK-SEA service on American, period. And there is (seemingly) no non-stop SFO-SEA service on American either.

Maybe Chicago...?

We want to leave from San Jose, but they want us to fly to LA first! Also the flight is less than the cost of the vouchers. So all of the way around, American is not the airline to fly to Seattle on.

I agree with you about probably not wanting to do it. When I said you could book San Francisco to Seattle, I had just tried to do it on their web site and it gave me many choices to book--almost all of them SF to Dallas to Seattle. I'd never fly that route. Perhaps, I misunderstood your question. Sorry if that was the case. Given your situation of flying with very young children, I'd check for a relatively short, non-stop flight. If you do not use up the vouchers, I would contact AA customer service to see if they would extend the expiration date. They were kind enough to do that for me for 2 $100 per person vouchers. I figured I had nothing to lose by asking as the vouchers had already expired. Best of luck.

You say you aren't "afraid to travel" with the kids. Does this mean you ARE taking them or that you might? Makes a difference in where you might want to go.

Just checked-- American has no non-stop SJO-SEA service either. Alaska Airlines and United look like your only bet among the majors to Seattle, at least out of SFO or OAK. Not surprising-- they grabbed the West Coast market pretty thoroughly years ago.

That's kinda why I suggested Chicago-- not a long flight from any of those Bay Area airports, should be non-stop, and there's LOTS to do with kids in Chicago. Lodging might be expensive, but no more than San Francisco.

I don't know if this will be helpful or not but we had two $300 AA travel vouchers and used them to book flights to Boston (about $140). AA issued us back travel certificates that were good indefinitely. So, if you can think of a cheaper trip you might want to take, you may be able to get back the balance of the vouchers to use another time. We then were able to use the balance of the vouchers toward an AA Vacation trip we booked which is another idea for using them (you can book AA Vacations without airfare so even if you just wanted to get away right in your town with your husband for a night or two at a nice hotel). We booked the trip right on AA Vacations website (only need to put down a deposit) and then turned in the vouchers at an AA office. You may want to just call AA and see if they can issue you new vouchers that do not expire or expire at a later date. All that being said, Chicago is a great city to visit, especially in the summer.

Monica,

It turns out that Alaska Airlines has nonstops flights to Seattle out of San Jose, and it is one of American's partners. I would contact American to see if it is possible to use the vouchers on Alaska Airlines to Seattle since American does not have nonstop flights to Seattle from California.





https://www.aa.com/apps/AAdvantage/V...artnersContent