Questions and Answers

My wife and I are planning on traveling from Chicago to Dublin next August. As best we could tell from reading the blog Aer Lingus, using Avios points, was the cheapest option.

We have just started with the BA Visa card but already almost have enough to qualify for the sign up bonus. Extrapolating that out over 3 more cards (Another BA Visa for my wife and two other reward cards, Chase Sapphire possibly?) we will have a sizable number of points by the end of January.

This leads to two questions:

1. Does the plan we have to accrue the miles seem like the correct one

2. Are we delusional thinking we can get an awards seat in August if we try and book in February?

Thanks for any helpinsight any of you have!!

PeteO – have you considered manufactured spending at all? That’s the process of using the credit card to buy products (like Visa gift cards) that can quickly be turned back into cash and used to pay off your credit card bills. That would allow you to accrue more points quickly and allow you to book sooner.

Travel Codex (another Boarding Area blog) has an entire forum area devoted to manufactured spending. It’s free – though you need to register. You can spend a little while learning some quick techniques to raise your spending but costing you very little.