LynnTH
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2003
Just wanted to write about booking flights. with points for Europe Cruise. We are going in May 2023. Flying into Rome and flying out of Athens. I started researching last summer what airlines have a lot of flights there. I wanted to try and book most flights with Airline points and then use my UR's to cap off if needed.( I like to hoard my UR points) Decided United would work out (AMEX does not like me so was looking for something that was not AMEX) Ended up with Me, DH, DS and DD all getting the United Biz Card. Each card earned 75,000 points and we also got a few referrals to each other. Ended up with about 370,000 United Points.
There are 7 of us going. I am booking flights for 5 of us. Me, DH, DS, DD and DS's girlfriend.
Flights just recently came out. Booked one way flights.
MSP - Rome - Looked only at flights that were shorter and only had 1 stop instead of 2. Those flights were 70,000 points each plus $5.60 in fees. (There were some flights that were 33,000 points, but they were 2 stops - every single other day except the day we are leaving has award flights for 30,000 points with 1 stop. I will keep an eye on it and if they go down then I will rebook)
Athens - MSP - Got the flights here for 30,000 points plus $57.47 in fees per person. These were for the good flights that were shorter and only 1 stop. So, very happy here.
So, I used 370,000 United Points and Transferred 130,000 UR's. Total cost of these flights would have been close to $15,000. Would not have been going on this trip without these points. It was nice we all were able to get the United Biz Card as it did not add to our 5/24.
I did notice that when flights were released that the award flights were crazy high for the first few days (like 105,000 points per person each way). But about 3 days after the awards flights adjusted and came down. So, don't book any award flights the day they are available.
There are 7 of us going. I am booking flights for 5 of us. Me, DH, DS, DD and DS's girlfriend.
Flights just recently came out. Booked one way flights.
MSP - Rome - Looked only at flights that were shorter and only had 1 stop instead of 2. Those flights were 70,000 points each plus $5.60 in fees. (There were some flights that were 33,000 points, but they were 2 stops - every single other day except the day we are leaving has award flights for 30,000 points with 1 stop. I will keep an eye on it and if they go down then I will rebook)
Athens - MSP - Got the flights here for 30,000 points plus $57.47 in fees per person. These were for the good flights that were shorter and only 1 stop. So, very happy here.
So, I used 370,000 United Points and Transferred 130,000 UR's. Total cost of these flights would have been close to $15,000. Would not have been going on this trip without these points. It was nice we all were able to get the United Biz Card as it did not add to our 5/24.
I did notice that when flights were released that the award flights were crazy high for the first few days (like 105,000 points per person each way). But about 3 days after the awards flights adjusted and came down. So, don't book any award flights the day they are available.