Questions and Answers

We have decided to help a nephew that’s getting married next year fly from San Diego to Athens.
They are willing to spend 3 more hours in transit to fly out of San Diego rather than LAX.
Tentative travel dates are Thursday May 4 2017 to Sunday May 14 2017. I’m not sure how to go about finding the best deal in business class. We have a mileage budget of around 170000. So, we’re probably looking at business class one way and coach coming back. [B]And, yes, I know we can’t search those dates yet[/B]. But, I want to have a plan. We have points with Starwood, American, Ultimate Rewards and American Express rewards as well as some points on Delta and United. We have enough points in enough places that I’m confident we have the miles for almost any airline. I’ve been searching for flights in May of this year and March of next year to get some idea. The problem with March of next year is that it’s not “in season” and there are not as many options. I’m probably about the 85th per centile in frequent flyer knowledge. But, I keep feel like I’m not maximizing my points opportunities to the greatest extent possible. Thanks. I appreciate your blogs and information.
Paul

[USER=1823]@pdinsure[/USER] — Welcome! Sounds like a fun trip, and a great gift!

You might want to take a look at this post Ben wrote a few months back. Some of the mileage amounts have changed, but the availability trends are good: [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/03/18/best-way-to-redeem-miles-to-greece/[/URL]

And you may realistically need to look at separate tickets between San Diego and LA — award space from here is just awful most of the time.