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I'm looking at booking a trip to Mexico using my miles through United.
The trip will be to San Miguel de Allende this September:
-Flying from Chicago to San Miguel de Allende Sat, Sep 5
-Flying from San Miguel de Allende to Cancun Tues, Sep 8*
-Flying from Cancun back to Chicago Monday, Sep 14
*=this flight is only $99 so I'll pay for this out of pocket
My question is this:
I have 37,000 miles with United right now. *Just* got upgraded to Silver status. Would it be worth it to use all of my miles for this trip? Would cost close to $700 out of pocket otherwise. Will cost me 35,000 miles (basically all of my miles).
I ask because I am definitely going to take a trip to Tokyo next May to see my brother. I had already counted on just paying for that ticket (coach), but now I'm wondering if I should just pay for the Mexico trip in cash and save my miles to go towards the Tokyo trip.
How flexible is the timing of your Tokyo trip? Using miles works best if you have some flexibility with regard to your travel dates.
If you can be flexible about when next May you can go, I'd use the miles for your Tokyo trip. (In fact, I'd start looking for seats NOW! Transpacific award space can be limited, even in economy class.) Otherwise I'd use them for the Mexico trip. One thing is for sure - miles, unlike wine, never improve with age. United can devalue its program at any time with little or no advance warning, so hanging onto miles if you have a use for them is never a good idea.
How flexible is the timing of your Tokyo trip? Using miles works best if you have some flexibility with regard to your travel dates.
If you can be flexible about when next May you can go, I'd use the miles for your Tokyo trip. (In fact, I'd start looking for seats NOW! Transpacific award space can be limited, even in economy class.) Otherwise I'd use them for the Mexico trip. One thing is for sure - miles, unlike wine, never improve with age. United can devalue its program at any time with little or no advance warning, so hanging onto miles if you have a use for them is never a good idea.
I don't know yet...I'd say it's not that flexible because I'm planning to go the week my brother graduates from college there. If forced to go right before or after graduation, I could but my whole purpose is to see him graduate.
Your comments about not hanging onto miles make sense....
I don't know yet...I'd say it's not that flexible because I'm planning to go the week my brother graduates from college there. If forced to go right before or after graduation, I could but my whole purpose is to see him graduate.
Your comments about not hanging onto miles make sense....
Most airlines open seats for booking starting 330 days before the flight is scheduled to depart - so if your brother is graduating in May 2016, that 330 day window is not too far off. What I'd do is figure out now the dates you'd prefer to fly for you Tokyo trip, and as soon as the 330 day window opens, start looking for frequent flyer flights. See what's available, and how many miles the flight will cost relative to what you'll pay in cash if you buy the ticket. (And here's a tip - DON'T just search for a round trip ticket! Search for one-way tickets in each direction; it increases your chances of finding flights that work for you.)
You're not likely to find a round-trip economy class ticket to Tokyo for $700 (which you've said is the cost of your Mexico flights), so if you can use the miles to get you to Japan, you may save more money than if you use them to travel to Mexico. But that's only true IF you can find tickets that work for your dates, and if you have enough miles to book them. If I'm reading United's award chart correctly, you don't have enough miles to book a round-trip Saver level frequent flyer economy class flight to Japan, but you do have enough for a one-way Saver economy class ticket. So you need to do some math and figure out whether one-way to Japan or round-trip to Mexico saves you more money. (Because in the end, saving money is what it's all about.)
If you are not flexible with your dates and can't work it out for Toyko just use them for the upcoming trip, but you would be financually ahead if you can work it out for your Toyko trip.
There is no guarantee that you'd be able to use the miles for Tokyo. I'm not sure that 37K miles would go very far for that ticket to begin with. I'd use them for the sure thing as opposed to hoping you can use them down the road. My opinion.
There is no guarantee that you'd be able to use the miles for Tokyo. I'm not sure that 37K miles would go very far for that ticket to begin with.
Per the United award chart here (https://www.united.com/web/format/pd...t-02-01-14.pdf), a one-way US-Japan economy class Saver award on United metal is 35k. So it comes down to two things: 1. Is a Saver award either to or from Tokyo available on the dates the OP has to fly? and 2. Does a one-way Economy class ticket to or from Japan cost more than $700? If the OP can find one-way Saver space either to or from Japan AND the other paid leg costs less than $700, he does better using the miles for Japan. If saver space isn't available on either of his dates or if a one-way economy class Japan ticket costs more than $700, he does better using the miles for his Mexico trip.
It's complicated, for sure. (But that's the norm when using miles!)
Most airlines open seats for booking starting 330 days before the flight is scheduled to depart - so if your brother is graduating in May 2016, that 330 day window is not too far off.
This. And the 35K for a one way is the Saver redemption rate, and Saver FF tickets for transatlantic and transpacific routes are very limited, even more so on partner airlines, and tend to get snapped up shortly after they're made available. You don't really have enough time to get the other half of the ticket at a Saver rate. There's about a 90-95% chance that if you try to save miles for the other half of the ticket, only standard awards will be available, and that's 75K miles for the other half of the route if it's available at all.
Go with the bird, um ticket, in hand. The travel bloggers usually put the value of a United mile at around 1.5 center per mile, so getting $700 worth of tickets for 37K still counts as a good redemption option.
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