Advice on redeeming miles

I just managed to redeem miles for two business class seats RT IAD/SYD. I had been looking, with no luck, for returning from Auckland, where our cruise ends. I was about to hold my nose and pay for the tickets (while planning a really great trip with miles for next year!) when, just for a lark, I tried leaving out Auckland. (We can buy seats for that, as we will have an overnight in Sydney.) Suddenly there were many possibilities! As has been stated many times on these boards, be creative when trying to redeem miles! A flight back to Sydney with a hotel room is a small price to pay for saving $22,000-$25,000!

Now should we take Emirates or ANZ back to Sydney?

Who are your miles with?

I just managed to redeem miles for two business class seats RT IAD/SYD. I had been looking, with no luck, for returning from Auckland, where our cruise ends. I was about to hold my nose and pay for the tickets (while planning a really great trip with miles for next year!) when, just for a lark, I tried leaving out Auckland. (We can buy seats for that, as we will have an overnight in Sydney.) Suddenly there were many possibilities! As has been stated many times on these boards, be creative when trying to redeem miles! A flight back to Sydney with a hotel room is a small price to pay for saving $22,000-$25,000!

 

Now should we take Emirates or ANZ back to Sydney?

In reality, you didn't save $22K-$25K, which is the "sticker price" of the airline tickets. It is like saying you saved 80% on a cruise when the "brochure price" is $3,000 but you paid $600. Pretty much no one pays the $3,000 price (you certainly would not have paid anything near $22K I am sure!), but it sure makes people feel good to say they saved 80% :D

Not a bad score depending on how many miles it cost

But yes you need to be creative in booking flights either off points or paid to get the best deAl

May mean additional flights and time for the trip but can be very beneficial to hunt through different airports as the start to get best deal

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The airline is United (sigh!). But oh yes, the fares were between $11,000 and $15,000 per person, depending on the schedule. We would have paid that much--we don't go that far in coach. (Back and knee problems.) United RT IAD SYD is lower that what my sister and stepmother are paying to fly Qantas from DFW to Sydney and back on Air New Zealand/United from Auckland. We've been to Australia three times before (in their winter) and have never seen the fares that high. The business fares we usually pay to Europe have either stayed in the same ballpark or gone down.