This made me chuckle. Only because my children would have made me nuts dragging suitcases through the airport.
But that’s my kids, and my lack of patience. You know what your son is capable of, and what you’re capable of tolerating. In hindsight maybe I should have taught my kids to drive their own luggage sooner. I see little people with their own suitcases all the time. So I’m going to say this is a question only you can answer.
My all time favorite flight was JFK-FRA (7+hours)-SIN (12+hours)-PEK (6ish hours) on Singapore suites in F. Got to try both the old and the new planes. Best service and food ever on a plane. I’d happily do that again!
Lol my child would be the one to run into everyone and we will most likely end up pulling it. Dh is the one saying he should get a suitcase and I’m trying to persuade him that it’ll be more workThis made me chuckle. Only because my children would have made me nuts dragging suitcases through the airport.
Lol my child would be the one to run into everyone and we will most likely end up pulling it. Dh is the one saying he should get a suitcase and I’m trying to persuade him that it’ll be more work
I’m with you. Sounds like a pain.Lol my child would be the one to run into everyone and we will most likely end up pulling it. Dh is the one saying he should get a suitcase and I’m trying to persuade him that it’ll be more work
Positioning is basically getting yourself to an airport that is not your home airport or where you really need to go (on a cheap easy flight ideally) in order to catch a flight that is available on points/miles that is available or usually more convenient points/miles wise. Sometimes it is needed because the flight options you have from your home airport aren't good due to schedule, availability or the plane you want to fly isn't located at your home airport.
Some examples of positioning and the varied reasons for them that I have used would be as follows. My home airports are MIA and FLL and I wanted to fly the Emirates A380 plane with the shower in first class to Dubai. That specific plane with that feature does not service MIA/FLL so I had to position to IAH to fly on it. I booked my Emirates flight out of IAH-DXB with Emirates Skyward miles transferred from either Chase or Amex, I don't recall and then purchased a separate cheap ticket on United and flew to Houston. Spent the day with friends over there and then caught my flight to Dubai.
DH, my mom and I were taking a trip to Scotland via London and I wanted seats in F for us. British Airways F seats out of MIA were dry, nothing open even checking as soon as they dropped. I saw 3 F available out of JFK and booked that instead. Plenty of cheap or low miles cost flights to NYC out of Miami so we booked those for the night before our long haul flight and spent the day in New York doing touristy things and used a FN cert for our hotel stay.
More recently, I needed to book 3 flights for DH, niece and I to Greece next year. I wanted to book in business (J) and also have good odds of finding 3 J seats on a specific date that wouldn't be an obscene amount of miles and lower in taxes. My best bet was booking an Emirates Fifth Freedom flight out of EWR-ATH. I will purchase our 3 flights to EWR using UTB funds that have been accumulating for the night before we are flying out. Then I will use FN certs and book our stay and spend the day catching a show and doing touristy things in NY with our niece.
Failure of all intended potential plans to book flights caused me to position to London of all places, later this year as a stopover for 2 nights in order to get to Cairo. We will get to see the NYE fireworks in London and have tickets to see ABBA Voyage. I am also positioning on the way back home. My best option for an easy flight home with miles in J was Egypt Air to JFK. We will stay a couple of nights and catch some shows. Then fly home on United using United Travel Bank funds. So on this trip I am positioning to get there and positioning to get back home as well. Not gonna lie, this epic failure of mine will likely be one of the best travel hacking plans I didn't have. LOL
Hope this helps
I would start with what points/miles do you have to work with and then go from there. Flying to Barcelona, my first thought would be Iberia even though you'd likely have a connection in Madrid. I had Avios miles sitting in BA collecting dust and transferred those to Iberia to book our 2 J seats to Barcelona from Miami for our VV med cruise in a couple of months.
I think you need to have an Iberia account open for 3 months first. But you can transfer to a newly opened Iberia account from Chase or Amex. Chase transfers are instant and our travel companions opened up new Iberia accounts and transferred their points right away to book. TPG (yeah, yeah, I know) article showing the drastic difference of tax savings booking with Iberia over BA
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/move-british-airways-avios-to-iberia-lower-fees/
I also agree with a previous poster about working your way backwards. That is also good advice.
BTW I'm pretty sure AA has some direct flights to BCN out of MIA, CLT, JFK and ORD
Hope this helps
I agree with you. My kiddo didn't have his own suitcase until he was 7 or 8. BTW if you need a Minions suitcase I know where you can get one cheap!Lol my child would be the one to run into everyone and we will most likely end up pulling it. Dh is the one saying he should get a suitcase and I’m trying to persuade him that it’ll be more work
Backpack only otherwise you'll be trying not to lose your son and his suitcase. I would even say to get a suitcase for you that he can sit on top so you can wheel him around on it in case you need to rush through an airport for a connection or its too crowded and you need to keep him close or if he's exhausted and you are in a long line for customs. The less you have to keep track of, the better.
I would keep your Cap One open. When I started churning I made the mistake of closing a card I had been using for years to “make room” on my roster for more cards, and removing a card that I’d had for so long dinged my credit score.
Probably depends on the child but my granddaughter is 2 1/2 and super active running around etc may or may not do it depending on her mood
love her to pieces and am lucky enough to live 5 minutes away so usually see her every day…but some days she will walk everywhere, other days it’s…carry me
We’re gonna take his light weight stroller so if I have to strap him in I can do that. We usually use it as a cart for all of the bags too
I think we’re gonna stick with backpacks and then we’ll have the stroller as wellProbably depends on the child but my granddaughter is 2 1/2 and super active running around etc may or may not do it depending on her mood
I had something like this when mine were little - so when they were all done I could just buckle on all the things...Lol my child would be the one to run into everyone and we will most likely end up pulling it. Dh is the one saying he should get a suitcase and I’m trying to persuade him that it’ll be more work
What else does the $59 AF get you? If there's nothing else you'll use then doesn't seem worth paying even if it's a lower rate. If you use the capone points for things that you can't get with UR then the extra earning power over the ventureone might justify the fee. But if you're going to be shifting your spend to Chase it might not make a difference. For TSA pre check or Global entry, there are many cards out there that cover the fee. For me I'd look for one of those when it comes time for renewal.
That’s cool!
125K seems high to me, but it is worth it if you have plenty of points and want peace of mind. My United Polaris tickets in May were 60K from EWR to LHR. I repositioned to NYC because I had plenty of Delta points to get us to NYC cheap. We stayed 2 nts there and toured the city and caught a Yankees game. Check ticket prices to Europe for about 6 months from now. See if they are more or less than 125K. As I mentioned previously, 5-7 months out seem to be when you see some good deals. Flying Blue is by far my first choice for Europe, preferably Air France.
I am definitely the opposite of you, and need lie flat for the overnight portion on the way to Europe. We got bumped from biz to comfort plus (or whatever its called on United) on departure and I was miserable. That was even with the extra leg room in a bulkhead row. I could not sleep at all. Luckily, I was able to drop my bags and go, but I would always choose biz going if I could only do it one way.
I was in Rome in August 2022. I checked the sites for you:
I am not a Delta card/pts expert, but no one else has chimed in yet so I will tell you the basics I know. The Delta cards are probably a good place to start because you can get a decent SUB and they come with other benefits when you fly Delta. Depending on the card, those include free checked bag, discounted points bookings, and I think lounge access with the most expensive card (but not sure). Chase UR do not transfer to Delta, so you will want to focus on AmEx MRs. I am not sure if the current SUBs on the Delta cards are good or not. Hopefully, someone here will know.
