I love credit cards so much! v6.0 - 2023 (see first page for add'l details)

[Haley R]

I’d go there in business and come back in economy. It took me a few trips before I realized that, for us, we were wasting miles/money for biz class from Western Europe to eastern US

Our main reason for biz was so ds could lay down if he wanted to. We’re spoiling him but that’s what the points are for

 

[Haley R]

My youngest was 6 when we went. We did the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Tower of London, London Eye, Shrek's Adventure, Hampton Court Palace, and Warner Bros Studio Tour. Also looked into the Transport Museum and Diana Memorial Playground, but didn't get to them.

We would be more interested in things like nature parks and stuff like that but I could see us spending some time in London too if we go that route so thank you for the ideas!

 

[punkin]

Dh transferred our URs to United this morning. It shows they have the aer lingus flight available but when he goes to book it gives him an error and says to call. He’s been up since 4:30 am dealing with this. He called United and was on the phone for an hour and even talked to 2 different supervisors. They told him they can’t control partner airlines and we’ll have to hope availability opens up. We don’t know what to do. Their website is the one showing flights available and we wouldn’t have transferred points to United otherwise. Now we’re just stuck with all of our points being with United instead of chase.

ETA: Dh said he can’t get anyone to move our points back to chase. For reference, it was about 450k URs. He said we could fly with United business class instead for the dates we wanted but we’ll have to add another 45k points per person (120k total).

Something funny going on between united and aer lingus. When United canceled our flight, they refused to book us on the next aer lingus flight (it had plenty of availability) until DH (who has status) escalated to a manager.

 

[becauseimnew]

AA miles are much more valuable to me than Avios, because there isn't always saver space. I would definitely switch. But I can't answer the Y vs J because I've never taken a J flight. We have 5 seats to buy!!

Back in 2018 we flew AA J from JFK-DEN as part of our VCE-DEN award ticket, and personally I wouldn't spend extra on a <4hr flight for that -- 66K MRs equals $726 via Schwab cash out to me. Domestic J is not anywhere close to international J in terms of the hard product.

I think I'd stick with the 11k point flights.
1. There's 3 of you, so you have your own row.
2. Unless lounge access would be very valuable and you couldn't get it otherwise, I'd save the points.

Thanks everyone for the answer. I knew I could get good advice here. I think I will book via BA, just because I do prefer to save AA miles when possible.

 

[Haley R]

Something funny going on between united and aer lingus. When United canceled our flight, they refused to book us on the next aer lingus flight (it had plenty of availability) until DH (who has status) escalated to a manager.

Huh that’s weird. We were pretty set on Ireland but we may have to rethink things. I’m not finding anything to Dublin for a reasonable amount of points on united’s website.

 

[Haley R]

We’ll take any suggestions or recommendations for flying United Polaris to Europe lol!

ETA: Dh is looking at Frankfurt currently. We’re so flexible and open to anything

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

We’ll take any suggestions or recommendations for flying United Polaris to Europe lol!

ETA: Dh is looking at Frankfurt currently. We’re so flexible and open to anything

Since you have so many points with United already, would you guys consider doing Japan this year instead of next? With the amount of points you transferred already, you're almost there... lol.

 

[Haley R]

Since you have so many points with United already, would you guys consider doing Japan this year instead of next? With the amount of points you transferred already, you're almost there... lol.

I only looked out of LAX and didn’t see anything cheap. I’ll look again. We would consider it!

 

[GZanta77]

Finally took the plunge and booked our first Disney cruise for our 25th Anniversary. We honeymooned at WDW and had long planned to do something Disney related for our 25th so I had been collecting Disney gift cards for the last couple years when various credit card offers appeared. Worked out to an 11.3% saving on the cruise price.

When we saw that DCL is also celebrating their 25th anniversary this year - it just sealed our choice.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

I only looked out of LAX and didn’t see anything cheap. I’ll look again. We would consider it!

We’re leaving from the east coast, and there were first class seats for 170k round trip when we booked, out of EWR and ORD. Not sure about for the months you’re looking for, but I saw these for May. Just an idea.

 

[Haley R]

We’re leaving from the east coast, and there were first class seats for 170k round trip when we booked, out of EWR and ORD. Not sure about for the months you’re looking for, but I saw these for May. Just an idea.

I think we would need the west coast since it’s such a long flight but I’ll take a look and see what we can find. The plan was Japan next May but we could maybe try this year instead maybe in the fall

 

[GZanta77]

Our main reason for biz was so ds could lay down if he wanted to. We’re spoiling him but that’s what the points are for

Not sure what plane you are looking at, but on the United planes with polaris I have travelled on to London there is no way I would take a 3 year old. The seats might look close together on a seat map, but the pods are really quite separated. Even if the plane you are looking at is different, there is always the possibility of an equipment change.

To be honest, I think Premium Economy would be a better option to keep your son closer. If you end up flying from the NorthEast, the flight is too short to get more than a couple hours sleep anyway. If your son is anything like my DS at that age, he would typically stay awake on transatlantic flights until about 30 mins before landing and would then be exhausted and need carrying everywhere.

 

[Haley R]

Not sure what plane you are looking at, but on the United planes with polaris I have travelled on to London there is no way I would take a 3 year old. The seats might look close together on a seat map, but the pods are really quite separated. Even if the plane you are looking at is different, there is always the possibility of an equipment change.

To be honest, I think Premium Economy would be a better option to keep your son closer. If you end up flying from the NorthEast, the flight is too short to get more than a couple hours sleep anyway. If your son is anything like my DS at that age, he would typically stay awake on transatlantic flights until about 30 mins before landing and would then be exhausted and need carrying everywhere.

We were looking at Dublin which has the newer Polaris seats that are next to each other. We noticed the planes to London were all the older planes and more isolated. That’s a good point about not sleeping much. We just figured if we could get a flight for cheap in biz might as well.

 

[Albort]

I only looked out of LAX and didn’t see anything cheap. I’ll look again. We would consider it!

may want to consider SFO instead of LAX considered SFO is a major UA hub. more flights, more seats...
LAX... is pretty competitive, can never find anything.

 

[Haley R]

may want to consider SFO instead of LAX considered SFO is a major UA hub. more flights, more seats...
LAX... is pretty competitive, can never find anything.

I looked at both SFO and LAX and don’t see anything under 190k one way. I looked at September-March. Might be because we have 3 people

 

[Albort]

I looked at both SFO and LAX and don’t see anything under 190k one way. I looked at September-March. Might be because we have 3 people

look at other hubs that arent too populated. SEA/YVR. try IAH too. ORD but i heard that airport sucks. JFK as last resort i guess haha

 

[Haley R]

Have any of you been to the Frankfurt area? Dh found flights for about 440k United points for biz to fly there and back out of Newark. I don’t know much about Frankfurt so we’re gonna look and see if it’s something we’re interested in.

 

[mmmears]

Does anyone here have a Bilt MC? Since I don't rent it hasn't held a lot of appeal for me, but seeing AA and Hyatt as transfer partners is intriguing. I've checked DISchurners and don't see any support links for Bilt so if you have one would you post it over there?

Done. DD has the card (her building takes Bilt for monthly rent payments).

Have any of you been to the Frankfurt area? Dh found flights for about 440k United points for biz to fly there and back out of Newark. I don’t know much about Frankfurt so we’re gonna look and see if it’s something we’re interested in.

Haven't been so I don't have any real advice. A friend went recently when Singapore was flying the A380 suites there and said they had a nice time. Once you get to Europe, it's easy to train (or fly) to another place in Europe, too. I am so sorry you're dealing with this, but I think it's great that you're looking around for something and I hope you find a good destination.

 

[Judique]

I’m also gonna look at doing London. I have no idea what’s around there for a 3 year old to do lol

DD was just in London with my grands (age 6 and 7) a couple of weeks ago. One of the the things they did was to take a side trip to Southampton to Peppa Pig World. The girls loved it. They stayed at the Marriott Moxy in Southampton. Not sure your son would be into Peppa but you can google it.

They also did a side trip to Stonehenge which was not a thrill for the girls.
They were also disappointed in Buckingham Palace as 'they weren't allowed inside and it wasn't a castle'.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

We looked at both aer Lingus and United Polaris and they seem to have 2 seats that are basically next to each other. So dh and I would take turns being by him I think.

No experience with United Polaris but AA Biz was not great for 'togetherness.' DS was 13 when we flew and I was next to him, DH on the opposite side across the aisle. I couldn't reach him to tap his arm or even really talk with him. There is basically a small 'counter' area on each person's side so you're not close to the other person. I basically spent the whole flight reading or watching movies by myself. Photo for reference, DS was next to me, DH is the head you can see in the seat beyond DS.