Questions and Answers

HI all,

I done messed up badly.

I’m trying to get to CPH from EWR on miles in business class, during the period of late-Sept/early-Oct. I have about 280k in Chase Unlimited Rewards points and about 180k AAdvantage pesos. I saw two seats outbound for late Sept. last week, but because I couldn’t find a return for love or money on AA miles I waited. I waited too long, now there’s absolutely NOTHING going over OR back in J, and frankly I can’t fly regular coach for 8 hours at my size without extreme discomfort both for me and whoever’s sitting beside me.

If I understand the situation right, once November hits and dynamic pricing is introduced on UA that trip will become completely unaffordable, so I’m trying to get in one redemption while it’s still possible.

I’m still extremely new to the whole rewards travel thing, but I’m thinking there’s got to be another avenue I can explore for this itinerary without spending 155k one way and suffering AA coach back. I’d be fine with redeeming for Coach and paying a cash upgrade to Premium Economy for both legs, but regular coach is a non-starter.

You can always try booking through the Ultimate Rewards portal. Even if you don’t have enough UR points for the entire flight you can use them to offset the cash needed. The points will be worth 1.0-1.5 cents each depending on which UR card(s) you have. And you’ll earn frequent flyer miles for the trip.

It’s extremely late for award bargains for those dates and I don’t imagine anything will open up last minute. Obviously, if your plans are laid in cement for this September/October then perhaps you might have to go with the Premium Economy option you suggested or with @MidSouthSkier advice on actually buying a J ticket using points and cash. However, if your plans can be deferred until next year or even later this year, I don’t believe that dynamic award pricing will be ridiculous across the board. In other words, if you can travel in low season or early spring or even reserve award flights far in advance you might get reasonable mileage awards.