(Massive Trip Report) Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna, and Rome in 2 Weeks
Good morning everyone! Thanks to jet lag and time zones, I’m bringing you this massive trip report at 5AM PST. Are you ready? Let’s go!
- US Airways: SFO-PHL-AMS-PHL-LAX (30,000 US Airways miles + taxes)
- KLM: AMS-TXL, FCO-AMS (paid around $220 for both flights)
- Air Berlin and Niki: TXL-VIE, VIE-FCO (4,500 Avios + taxes for each flight)
Read the entire trip report here.
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Ok I love your blog but I gotta know – how is it you can travel all over the world so often?
Are you more curious about the time aspect or the money aspect?
Awesome blog and great report!!
BTW, on money aspect, basically points and miles help to cover mostly of your travel expenses, aren’t they? :)
As for me, I am curious about time aspect. Since I only limited leave balance in a year, and I would love to take more vacation to travel more but sometimes work limits me to do so….
Grant, I need your help, I am still fresh and newbie here. I have planned my trip to Korea and Japan on April 6 to May 4. Honestly, I just applied these cards because of the great signup bonus offer that they had at that time and since everybody was raving on it, then I decided to jumped into the water too, thinking that maybe the large signup bonus miles will come in handy someday in the future. I was late in this game, I planned to go to travel to Asia on this April and since I haven’t meet the spending requirement and it will take times for the points to post, and I am afraid that the seats will sold out if I wait to book in less than a month before the departure, so I had no option so I just paid by cash this time (will fly with Singapore Airlines, from SFO – Incheon, Korea on April 6 and Return Flight from Narita, Japan – Los Angeles on May 4…. got a sweet deal fare of $978 which is non-refundable, unfortunately).
That’s why I regretted about this and plan to save the points that I have accumulated so far (as I described above) for my next trip next year.
I need to book one way flight ticket just for myself from Seoul Incheon Airport to Fukuoka, Japan on April 14 (mostly I see only Korean Air or Asiana has this), also connecting flight from LA to SFO on May 4, evening time. I haven’t book them yet, still looking around and confused….
I currently have:
– 1 Barclay USAirways card: accumulated 35,000 miles sign up bonus (no idea how can I use this and put it in a good deal).
– 2 Chase SW Airlines cards (both personal, plus and premier), accumulated 110,000 miles in total and companion pass status (plan to use this for short trip domestically within US)
– 1 Citi American Airlines AAdvantage Executive card (currently working on meet the minimum spending so can get 100,000 miles bonus signups and $200 statement credit), so by the time I meet the minimum spending I will accumulated total of 110,000 miles (I plan to save this for my next trip to Asia or Europe next year).
Honestly, I just applied these cards because of the great signup bonus offer that they had at that time and since everybody was raving on it, then I decided to jumped into the water too, thinking that maybe the large signup bonus miles will come in handy someday in the future. I was late in this game, I planned to go to travel to Asia on this April and since I haven’t meet the spending requirement and it will take times for the points to post, I am afraid that the seats will sold out if I wait to book in less than a month before the departure, so I just opted to pay by cash this time(will fly with Singapore Airlines, got a sweet deal fare which is non-refundable, unfortunately).
That’s why I regretted about this and plan to save the points that I have accumulated so far (as I described above) for my next trip next year.
Now, as I am desperately trying to save money and try to use the miles to pay for my one way flight from Incheon-Narita on April 14 and from LA-SFO on May 4, I noticed that the airlines companies that I have miles with don’t really have good deal of award seat/pay with mile (or maybe I search in the wrong way). I basically go to the airlines website directly (American Airlines, US Airways, Southwest) and try to make a “dummy booking” with pay with miles option to see how many miles should I spend, but after seeing the results, I doubt I am doing it right way. As for normal search pay with cash that I did on deal site like expedia or priceline, cheapest airfare for that date is by Virgin or Delta, and sadly I don’t have any miles with them. And both charge extra fee for checked in baggage. I also ever read somewhere that booking with different website (not the website of the airline that I would be flying with) will result in giving better deal in award/mileage redemption….but I just have no idea which website.
Please help, what should I do to get a great deal on pay with miles option to pay for my one way flight Incheon-Narita on April 14 and LAX-SFO on May 4?
Appreciate any advice and guidance as I am at lost in here.
You can reply here or e-mail me. Thanks a lot in advance.
For flights in the US, I usually go with Southwest since they often have the best deal on redeeming points and are award tickets are easy to change/cancel.
The best deal for US Airways miles is 30,000 miles round trip from US to Europe during off peak times (1/15 – 2/28), which is what I have done that last 2 years.
Keep your AA miles, they will come in handy for international trips.
I just checked the SW airline website, I entered one way flight and from LAX-SFO and then choose the radio button on “Show in Points”…am I doing it in correct way?
It cost 4,353 points for one way round trip LAX-SFO….do you think this is a good deal? what is the cash value of 4,353 points….
Question on USAirways….you said the best deal is 30,000 miles round trip for US to Europe….which city in Europe exactly? If you have link to its award chart I really appreciate it.
That is a good price on flights from LAX-SFO. There is a lot of competition, so you can get some cheap deals. I see deals of $116 round trip. Just compare the paid prices for other carriers like Virgin America, United, US Airways, American, and Delta.
Here is the US Airways Off Peak Award Chart: http://www.usairways.com/en-US/dividendmiles/usemiles/awardchart.html (scroll down to US Airways off-peak award travel chart). Remember you get a 5,000 mile discount for having the US Airways credit card.
Sorry there is a double paragraphs….I was trying to compose and arrange it on word and forgot to “cut” it and copy pasted it all from word to here!
Also the flight I am looking now is Incheon-Fukuoka (not Narita..it was typo) on April 14 and LAX-SFO on May 4.
Morning Grant, 4,353 points is for one way LAX-SFO only via SouthWest, not round trip….
I want to check Delta, Virgin since they have cheaper price but I don’t have miles/points with Delta or Virgin (I only have miles with SW, US Airways, and AA) so I won’t be able to pay with miles/points, any advice on this?
I would just pay the airfare. Try to find a flight on AA or UA and earn miles.
I see….so disappointed….looks like I cannot pay by miles or points for my trip this time, however I will save my points and use it in the future.
I really like the best deal from US to Europe via US Airways on off peak season, with 35,000 miles sign up bonus that I have now, it’s my dream to be able to travel to Europe on January next year!
Questions regarding US Air off peak deal:
1. You said earlier that it will cost 30,000 miles for round trip US-Europe on off peak season, however, when I tried to book “dummy booking” award seat on US Airways website, the lowest for one way trip SFO-LONDON is 17,500 miles for economy, so total for round trip is 35,000 miles. Where did you get the 30,000 miles deal from?
2. How to book award seats for multiple destination (like from SF-LONDON and then return from ITALY – SF? I see that there is no “multiple destination” option when I try to make a dummy booking on US Airways website.
You need to be logged into your US Airways account to see the discount. If you want to book an open jaw, you will have to call US Airways.
Ah I see now, thanks Grant. Open Jaw is “multiple destination”. isn’t it?
By the way, US Airways miles only good for off peak season deal to Europe, isn’t it? Other than that, it’s not good. I wonder what is the easiest way to earn a lot of US Airways miles (besides regular purchase and VR), since I want to bring my mom to Europe as her birthday gift next year, I need more than 35,000 miles that I have now, greatly appreciate your advice.
Open jaw is when you fly into 1 airport and fly out from another. Or fly from one airport and return to another airport. Looks like <. You can purchase US Airways miles cheaply or you can transfer SPG to US Airways.
I see that there is 100% bonus when buying US Airways mile, and each mile is sold $0.035 per mile. I am thinking of buying this to stock up and save for next trip to Europe with family on next year off peak season. But with the US Air merger with AA that is coming soon…..do you think that the US-Europe offpeak season award charts will change after the merger? will it be no longer 30,000 miles round trip and if so will it be less or more than that? what do you think?
Also, what is the transfer ratio from SPG to UA? is it better than buying UA miles with 100% bonus that is going on now?
SPG transfer is 1:1, should take a few days to complete the transfer. I think you can book US Airways off-peak awards now and lock in the current price. You can also use AA miles to book US Airways off-peak awards for the same time period.
When I tried to book award travel for off peak season 2015, it won’t let me. It only gave me availability to book up until Jan 5, 2015. You can check it by yourself at US Air website, let me know if your result is different.
Which one has most best redemption value? using US Airways miles or AA miles to book US Airways?
US Airways probably releases award space 11 months out, so if you are looking at 1/15 – 2/28, you need to wait until 2/15 – 3/28. US Airways would be the best since they would only charge you 30,000 miles round trip, American Airlines would charge 40,000 round trip, but if you had a Citi AA card, you would get 10% of the redeemed miles back.
Check out this post from TPG about buying airline miles: http://thepointsguy.com/2014/02/is-buying-miles-worth-it-a-rundown-of-current-promotions/
Thanks Grant!
Hi Grant, hope you can enlighten me a bit here. On the “American Airlines would charge 40,000 round trip, but if you had a Citi AA card, you would get 10% of the redeemed miles back.”
1. It’s 40,000 round trip by AA from US to Europe using MileSAAver, right?
2. Yes I have Citi AA card, How to get the 10% redeemed miles back? will it automatically deposited back to my AA account?
You got it right. After you finish your round trip, you will see the rebated miles back in your AA account. You can get a max of 10,000 AA miles rebated per account per year.
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