Questions and Answers

Hi

My name is Ken and I’m from Belgium. I recently visited the USA for the first time ever and I had a lot of fun there. I made a lot of friends on my trip and I met this really cool girl. I’d love to visit her a few times, but I can only afford to fly there once a year, since it’s really expensive during the summer break. Any tips on how I could reduce my costs and fly a little cheaper? I’d would be so awesome if we could spent some real life time with each other instead of just communicating through Skype and FaceTime.

Thanks in advance 🙂
Sincerely, Ken

[USER=1186]@KenBelgium[/USER] – welcome! As you’ve probably noticed, this blog is US-centric. [USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] did put together this post a few months ago to help those living outside the US: [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/07/30/choose-credit-card-outside-us/[/URL]

Another thing to consider is buying points when they’re on sale – like many are now. You’ll usually need to have a frequent flyer account opened for at least 2 weeks (sometimes 30 days) before the airlines will let you purchase miles but if you don’t mind flying economy there’s usually availability. If you prefer premium cabins (and who doesn’t?!), plan in advance and can be flexible with your flight dates you can often find availability as well. (And sometimes last-minute awards pop up as well.)

If you haven’t already, please read the beginner’s guide under the Start Here tab at the top of the page. Hopefully that’ll get you on your way but if you have more questions, please feel free to ask!

hi [USER=1186]@KenBelgium[/USER] [USER=184]@MidSouth Skier[/USER] gives some good advice on how to get started with miles. I’d suggest also keeping your eyes open for cheap transatlantic deals. Flyer Talk has a forum for this and there are also websites like the flight deal and air fare watch dog. I’d search for some others that seem to provide some focus for flights originating in Europe. Good luck with your lady friend 🙂

Also keep your eye on airfarewatchdog and theflightdeal.
Create an account on aa.com right away and while your account “matures” you can decide if buying aa miles makes sense for your needs or not. They currently have a sale on buying miles. Since creating an account costs nothing, it shouldn’t hurt.

Thanks for all the replies guys. I will certainly subscribe to airfarewatchdog and the flightdeal. Thanks for the tips. But for as far as miles go, aren’t you supposed to fly very frequently in order to gain something from them? I can’t fly that often, only during the holiday breaks.

You can just accumulate them until you’re ready for a great redemption. For most (not all) programs, as long as you have some sort of activity (either earning or burning) within a 18-36 month period (varies by airline) your miles will not expire.

Many of us who don’t actually fly a whole lot will purchase miles and then spend them at a rate that gets more value than what we paid to buy them.

[USER=1186]@KenBelgium[/USER]

Don’t forget to keep an eye out for the forum at Flyertalk also like Gaurav mentioned.
[URL]http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mileage-run-deals-372/[/URL]

Since you mention summer break, should we assume that you are a student with a bit limited funds? Sadly all the tips that have been mentioned here will only make it cheaper a not in any way free to fly.

I’m in my third year of university, so yes, I’m a student, but my parents still pay, so I’m luckily not limited by funds, just limited by time.