Questions and Answers

Hello
We are a family of 9 persons (7 up to 12 years old and 2 below) intending to go to Madagascar next August 2019, from Paris to Nossi Be or Antananarivo airports. At this time we don’t have any rewards…
Could you help us to optimize the financial cost of our project?
Kind regards

Do you have a US SSN/ITIN, which would enable you to get US based credit cards?

For that many travelers, it’s highly likely you’re going to have to fly separately and/or in separate cabins.

You can also use Google FLights to track pricing of the flights you need.

[QUOTE=”David W, post: 59944, member: 29″]Do you have a US SSN/ITIN, which would enable you to get US based credit cards?

For that many travelers, it’s highly likely you’re going to have to fly separately and/or in separate cabins.

You can also use Google FLights to track pricing of the flights you need.[/QUOTE]
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Thx David for your kind answer

Unfortunately not !-) I’m a french citizen living in France… Yes, I start a tracking with google flight. I have about 15k award with Air France/ Flying Blue, could it be useful?

What is the advantage to flight separately, in term of cost reduction?

Christophe

Because changes of finding 9 saver award seats on the same flight are very slim, even in economy.
Let’s check some prices. Flying Blue one-way award tickets cost up from 33k in eco and 67.5k biz. Other airlines are also between 20k-30k eco, with ANA being best in biz for 34k.
In France, FB points are easily accessible. You should get some amex cards with a bonus, refer some family members (travel companions?) and put some spend on them. I don’t know how many of your family would be eligible and if you would be able to put business spend on them, but they might give you 100k miles each. You would be able to get a few tickets that way, but mind you that taxes are like 250 euros roundtrip.

In Europe, other points are not as easy to come by. If you want to fly biz, you could wait for a good points-sale and see if buying points works out cheaper.

Lastly, for example a cash Turkish Airlines itinerary might very well be cheaper than an AF itinerary, so you won’t be able to get the revenue tickets and the reward tickets on the same flight.