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…
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!
I forgot to mention that the flight out of Frankfurt to OKC was all on AA*
That is very nice booking
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 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.
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 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
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!
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!