I just wanted to share a story about a trip I have booked with many different platforms and programs.
I am a HUGE New Orleans Saints fan, and always told myself if they ever play in Paris, that I would go see them live. That wish was granted earlier this year when the NFL announced they would be playing October 25 in Paris against the Steelers.
I am based out of OKC and immediately started planning my trip. Being an AA Executive Platinum with over 1.2 million miles, that’s where I started — and ended pretty quick. I try to save miles for international business, but with minimum starting points of 350K+ for a one-way ticket, that was a non-starter. Time to go to Plan B.
I then pivoted to seats.aero and looked for flights out of OKC again to CDG, and was getting close to the same amounts across all programs. Not just out of OKC, but for mostly anywhere. So I decided to search from USA to Europe, and lo and behold a Lufthansa nonstop flight from IAD to MUC was available on United for 88,000 points + $5.60. I already had 13,000 miles in my United account and at the time also had over 200,000 points sitting in Chase Sapphire Preferred. I quickly transferred 75K over and booked. Even better surprise is that it is on the A380 in the new business class. Really looking forward to checking that off the bucket list! How do I get to DC now? I found a flight the day before my departure for 4,500 Southwest points + $5.60. I have the premium card so I will wait til 48 hours to get my seats.
I used seats.aero again and found a business class seat on Air France to Paris through Virgin Atlantic for 8,000 points + $64. I used a 20% transfer bonus so I only needed 7,000 points.
Now how do I get home…
I found a great points redemption on Virgin for a 57,500-point business class seat from London to JFK. I used the same 20% bonus and transferred only 48,000 Chase points. The only downside is that it also came with a staggering $986 in fees. I then found a BA flight to London for 5,250 points and $37 that would get me to London 2.5 hours before the bag cutoff. I would stay the night in NYC for 15,000 Hyatt points, then the next day fly home on AA from LGA. I was able to book that flight through Alaska for 7,500 points and $18.
Up until a few days ago I was totally content with this itinerary. I have been using Google AI much more these days, and I put my trip into it and asked if there were portions I should be worried about. Immediately it flagged the connection at Heathrow as a choke point. Between the inconsistent delays, retrieving checked bags, passport control, getting over to Terminal 3, etc., it was showing that if anything happened in that bottleneck, there would be a high chance of missing my connection, and I really needed to be home that next day.
I won’t get into all the scenarios, but I decided to book a fully refundable ticket on Eurostar the morning of my flight as a backup just in case for $485. Even if everything went smoothly and I missed my train, I could still cancel and get a full refund up to 48 hours later — a nice insurance policy. However, there were still a ton of moving parts to get to LHR and it was making me a tad uneasy. I was also thinking about that huge amount in taxes, and it ultimately led to a complete overhaul of my return home.
I set an alert on pointsyeah and seats.aero for Europe to USA, and Europe to OKC, to see if anything reasonable popped up. Sure enough, a few days later a flight from Frankfurt to OKC in business class became available for 114,500 miles + $158, and I hopped on it.
I canceled the Virgin flight, paying $100 in a cancellation fee (lame) to get my points and $886 back. Canceled the BA flight ($37 fee) and the train ticket. Turning to my Chase points, I transferred 10,000 points (+ $50) to Air France to book a nonstop flight to Frankfurt on Monday afternoon. To round it out, I canceled the 15,000-point New York stay and grabbed a Hyatt Place right next to the Frankfurt airport for an amazing 7,500 points. Doing this has allowed me a little more time in Paris, as well as getting to have a nice evening in Frankfurt before heading home.
All in all I saved about $650, 5,250 Avios, 7,500 Hyatt points, and 57,500 Virgin points (which I will now use only for domestic flights).
In summary, as someone who is all in on AA, it is great to have other programs to lean into. If I didn’t have those, there is a high probability that I wouldn’t have gone on this trip. Thanks to blogs like OMAAT, I was set up in a great position to lean into all my stashes. Thanks!
I have been rebooking (prob 6 times) my flights back home from FRA over the last 2 weeks thanks to points.yeah. I was about to snag it at an unbelievable redemption of 77000 miles!
Update to this. I still had an alert setup for the earlier flight out of IAD to MUC to see if I could get a better deal. Sure enough, this morning I got an alert for the earlier United flight to MUC for 72,000 miles (cardholder deal). Unfortunately I will not be on the A380 anymore, but I might be going to Oktoberfest again in 2027 so I will try to hop on that again!...
Update to this. I still had an alert setup for the earlier flight out of IAD to MUC to see if I could get a better deal. Sure enough, this morning I got an alert for the earlier United flight to MUC for 72,000 miles (cardholder deal). Unfortunately I will not be on the A380 anymore, but I might be going to Oktoberfest again in 2027 so I will try to hop on that again!
The new flight is on a 787-8 Dreamliner and I am in 1A as of right now. Any one flown this plane and have a better seat choice? My backup was 6a. Thanks!
If you think FIFA is greedy. NFL tops that tenfold. It's just the most of the world doesn't care about this sport.
Now to your booking. Great pivot.
However, personally I wouldn't book that 2.5 hour on a separate ticket to begin with.
The price one has to pay to watch NFL.
I originally booked that BA CDG to LHR as a place holder:
a) 5250 Avios was hard to turn down for that flight
b) I was hoping that the earlier two BA flights would become available and would pivot to those (they didn't and still haven't) or
c) the ideal Air France flight I wanted would come down in price. Currently $825 or 77K miles one way (OOOOOFFFF!)
I was thinking about...
I originally booked that BA CDG to LHR as a place holder:
a) 5250 Avios was hard to turn down for that flight
b) I was hoping that the earlier two BA flights would become available and would pivot to those (they didn't and still haven't) or
c) the ideal Air France flight I wanted would come down in price. Currently $825 or 77K miles one way (OOOOOFFFF!)
I was thinking about doing carry-on so I would free up a good chunk of transfer time, but still wasn't 100% confident in BA.
I seen and heard so many times of these self transfer blow up and you have to book expensive last minute tickets.
Personally I don't feel it's a BA thing. They are reliable enough.
It's always those unforseen events. From long lines, to mechanical, to weather, etc.
I would just pay up for AF and consider it cost of my trip, especially if you add the possibility of having to take the Eurostar.
I pivoted back to Frankfurt so I didn't have to deal with any of that. $800+ for a one way 1.5 hour flight just isn't economical for me
Genuinely curious. I love J as much as everyone else and virtually all of my long-distance trips are in J using points on countless airlines, but did you ever consider a simple backup using Aadvantage miles in E+ or PE if you couldn't find a reasonable deal on J seats? As an EP, you could have at least received extra space seats, priority boarding, free luggage and OneWorld lounge access, and I'm guessing your round-trip...
Genuinely curious. I love J as much as everyone else and virtually all of my long-distance trips are in J using points on countless airlines, but did you ever consider a simple backup using Aadvantage miles in E+ or PE if you couldn't find a reasonable deal on J seats? As an EP, you could have at least received extra space seats, priority boarding, free luggage and OneWorld lounge access, and I'm guessing your round-trip cost using Aadvantage miles on OneWorld if you could avoid massive BA surcharges would have been certainly less than 100K miles (maybe slightly more in PE). The reason I'm asking is I am LT Plat on AA and am blessed with access to multiple airports in the Northeast corridor (a bit of a better situation than OKC), so I hit the question all the time about how much complexity I am willing to tolerate to get seats in J (especially if I need to end up on multiple PNRs) if my backup is a non-stop flight in economy or E+ to Europe for minimal miles. Would the trip have been worth it for you if you had to fly in the back of the plane, or was that simply not an option?
Absolutely I would consider it coming back. However, going I would probably try to hop on a daytime early transatlantic in PE or E+ if the redemption was reasonable. For me it's all about the sleep. I don't need a ton of it, but if I'm on an overnight and get little to none, then the first few days are dreadful. I have a hard time sleeping upright and on such a short trip I...
Absolutely I would consider it coming back. However, going I would probably try to hop on a daytime early transatlantic in PE or E+ if the redemption was reasonable. For me it's all about the sleep. I don't need a ton of it, but if I'm on an overnight and get little to none, then the first few days are dreadful. I have a hard time sleeping upright and on such a short trip I just didn't want to waste days recovering.
Coming back, I would consider all options. For me, if I can find J under 125K miles/points then that's a good value (BA/vs surcharges aside). If that wasn't available then I would have no problem in PE or E+.
I got real lucky that this was straight to OKC. Usually I have to mix and match and postion to get the best deals.
That is very nice booking
I forgot to mention that the flight out of Frankfurt to OKC was all on AA*
...and that I got my 7500 Atmos back as well* Information overload!
Well done! You did this like a pro, leveraging the tracking sites, transferrable currencies, and flexibility options. I'm excited for you (especially that a380 new J on LH!)
Always good to have back-up plans (whether its a literal alternative flight/train, and/or comprehensive insurance policies; of course, if things go off during the trip, EU and UK passenger rights may help you with re-bookings, accommodations, and compensation, if needed.)
Since you mentioned you're based...
Well done! You did this like a pro, leveraging the tracking sites, transferrable currencies, and flexibility options. I'm excited for you (especially that a380 new J on LH!)
Always good to have back-up plans (whether its a literal alternative flight/train, and/or comprehensive insurance policies; of course, if things go off during the trip, EU and UK passenger rights may help you with re-bookings, accommodations, and compensation, if needed.)
Since you mentioned you're based in OKC, just wanted to compliment your hometown. A few years back visited the OKC memorial and the First Americans museum, each very well done; also, sorta random, but, this one restaurant in town, Frida Southwest, was really, really good. Anyway.
As for the game, I don't have a dog in that fight, so I'll root for the Saints in October, in your honor. Enjoy and safe travels!
Thanks for the kind words! Those museums are great and we actually went to Frida a few days ago and it was solid as usual. If you ever make it back let me know and I will give you some other recs. Cheers!