Award Ticket Advice

I need some advice about awards.

I currently have about 250.000 miles in my US Airway Dividend Miles account, i have about 500.000 miles worth of points in my CC account which I can transfer to one of the following programs: LAN , TAM ( both One World) , Delta or TAP ( Star Alliance Partner).

I am looking for business class tickets from December 11 th to the 26th. There are 6 of us in our party.

I want to spend a week in Wahington DC and a week with my family near Des Moines , Iowa. I was thinking of trying to get a " stop " in DC when purchasing my tickets , but frankly am not sure how it would work. I have done many multi- city itineraries myself , but I am a bit lost. I know I will have to purchase a couple of the tickets , but want to optimize the use of my miles.

We could divide the group up and put some on one flight and others on another flight. The kids could fly coach and we could do Business . My kids are older and experienced travelers , so sitting away from us would not be a problem.

Any thoughts on what to do? I always really appreciate this board's advice!

Ideally, you would like to be able to book GIG-IAD-DSM-GIG (used Rio for lack of specificity). The trick is to book a GIG-DSM-GIG roundtrip with a stopover in IAD/DCA.

Here's a pretty good webposting on using stopovers and open jaws. LINK HERE. One note, the DL info is out of date - I believe that DL now does NOT allow stopovers on award tickets. For a DL ticket, you'd most likely have to book a GIG-DCA and DSM-GIG open jaw, with a purchased ticket for the open segment DCA-DSM.

Can't speak to oneWorld or Star specifics, but it seems that if you could use the TAP miles for UA, IAD would be a natural connecting point where a stopover may be legal.

Lots of posts at FF blogs - try searching for "stopover", "frequent flyer" and "award". The big thing will be sorting through any program changes, so note the posting dates.

FlyerTalker ,

As always , thanks for the great advice. I am going to search the terms you recommended and study the link you posted.

We'd be leaving from GRU and we do have flexibility as far as dates go. I have used the " stop " option in the past , but it was not an award ticket.

In this case , would you recommend one of the award booking websites? The ones that charge a fee but help you navigate the complexities ina case like this?

Thanks again.

I see you facing a number of difficulties, none insurmountable but worth noting.

This year, probably before July, your US miles will be converted to AA miles. Unlike US, AA only allows one-way redemptions, with no stopovers permitted, so stopping over in DC would require a separate award on to Iowa.

I'm not familiar with the Lan and Tam (are they still separate?) programs so don't know about stopover or one way v. round trip bookings using them - you'd have to consult the respective websites for that.

The second big issue, especially looking at a party of six, is simply finding any award seats at all during the Christmas booking period. Sometimes it's actually easier to find longhaul seats (e.g. GIG, not GRU to JFK) at that time of year, only to be completely blocked on the connecting flights out of the hubs, e.g. to Chicago or someplace else on the way to Des Moines - too many Christmas travelers willing to pay high prices for revenue seats.

The various fee services may be of help, but they can't work miracles. I'd start by familiarizing yourself with possible route options using the various airlines' network maps; maybe you end up flying through Lima or Bogota, who knows? And look at the other airline websites to see if they may have something that doesn't show up on AA's or US' websites, or on the others for that matter.

I'm not trying to be overly negative here, but it's a very hard time of year to score multiple award tickets on complicated itineraries.

Gardyloo ,

Thanks for the heads up about the possible issues . I have been looking at all the airlines websites and simulating award ticket possibilities . It does seem a bit daunting to say the least.

Lan and Tam still have separate award programs , but I have found them to be complicated to use ( they really gouge you).

Avianca is a Star Alliance partner and if I could get tickets by transferring the points to the TAP program , it would be great.

I may look into purchasing the domestic tickets and getting award tickets for the longhaul , as you say that may be easier.

As always , very helpful!

Delta has, unfortunately, discontinued the stopover using award fares. But, they have added one-way award fares.

Your US flights are indeed at peak times, particularly the Dec. 26 flight so you should think about booking those flights first and working backwards if you can get one-way award tickets. Even a 24 hour hold would be a big leap forward since you have already done considerable research. Fares and award inventory are always "fluid."

I am looking into leaving the 11th and returning the 25th...looks like better availability.

Have had some luck! 3 First class tickets on United R/T from GRU to IAD during the period I wanted . The domestic flights I have 5 tickets so far on US on a nonstop to DSM using my Dividend miles.

I expect I will be able to get one more economy class

International ticket with the rest of my miles. I purchased the additional 2 economy class tickets for a good price , so am a happy camper!

Well done!!!

Do not waste your money on lottery tickets...you have used up your current supply of good luck. ;)

Yes , no lottery tickets on the horizon. Looking forward to trying out Global First... A first for me....very excited!

I will say , I was perssitent! Lol.