gailellen12 Posted July 26 #1 Share Posted July 26 I will be booking my flights this time myself. Currently I have enough earned miles to cover the cost both ways. My cruise is is not until May 2025. Am I better booking this far ahead in case the mileage requirements would increase? I have never had enough earned miles before to do anything with them so I am a newbie at this. Thanks in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roberts2005 Posted July 26 #2 Share Posted July 26 Book now. Better choice. No penalty if you cancel. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gailellen12 Posted July 26 Author #3 Share Posted July 26 3 minutes ago, roberts2005 said: Book now. Better choice. No penalty if you cancel. If you need to cancel in the upcoming year are your miles lost? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roberts2005 Posted July 26 #4 Share Posted July 26 No they will go back to your account. Most airlines do not even charge a fee to redeposit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vallesan Posted July 26 #5 Share Posted July 26 I recently cancelled a BA flight and the miles went back into my account but they did charge a £1 fee! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Woodrowst Posted July 26 #6 Share Posted July 26 I have always booked as early as possible when using miles so that others do not take available slots. If nothing is available you can always check back later to see if some seats have opened up. My miles have been on United and they have always put the miles back in my account if I cancel the flight. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare FlyerTalker Posted July 26 #7 Share Posted July 26 2 hours ago, gailellen12 said: I will be booking my flights this time myself. Currently I have enough earned miles to cover the cost both ways. My cruise is is not until May 2025. Am I better booking this far ahead in case the mileage requirements would increase? I have never had enough earned miles before to do anything with them so I am a newbie at this. Thanks in advance Biggest question....are these actual airline miles or miles in a banking program (Amex, Chase, Citi, CapOne) that can be used toward flights? If the latter, there are a number of considerations you need to consider....it's not as straightforward as you might assume. Folks might want to move questions and comments to the Cruise Air forum, as this is not an Oceania question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare FlyerTalker Posted July 26 #8 Share Posted July 26 2 hours ago, roberts2005 said: Book now. Better choice. No penalty if you cancel. 1 hour ago, roberts2005 said: No they will go back to your account. Most airlines do not even charge a fee to redeposit Please don't make blanket comments - each program has specific rules regarding redeposits and associated fees. Numerous ones have redeposit fees. Also, points converted out from bank programs into airline programs can't be returned to the original account. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gailellen12 Posted July 26 Author #9 Share Posted July 26 18 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said: Biggest question....are these actual airline miles or miles in a banking program (Amex, Chase, Citi, CapOne) that can be used toward flights? If the latter, there are a number of considerations you need to consider....it's not as straightforward as you might assume. Folks might want to move questions and comments to the Cruise Air forum, as this is not an Oceania question. Actual airline miles. Thanks for the suggestion of moving the post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flatbush Flyer Posted July 26 #10 Share Posted July 26 3 hours ago, gailellen12 said: ….Am I better booking this far ahead in case the mileage requirements would increase?…. Note that many airlines now have extended their dynamic pricing policies/practices to cover use of FF points for flights. Mileage charts are gone and your price in points can change on a daily basis (in both directions). One caveat about booking “early”: Some airlines have temporarily inflated points demands (and even tix prices) during the first 2-3 weeks after new schedule additions are posted - hoping to grab $/points from mostly business travelers before moving to full dynamic pricing. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ORV Posted July 26 #11 Share Posted July 26 1 hour ago, gailellen12 said: Actual airline miles. Thanks for the suggestion of moving the post It might also help with advice to know where you are leaving from and where you are going. Also which airline miles you're using. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gailellen12 Posted July 26 Author #12 Share Posted July 26 8 minutes ago, ORV said: It might also help with advice to know where you are leaving from and where you are going. Also which airline miles you're using. American Airlines.Philly to Miami. London to Philly May/June 2025 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare FlyerTalker Posted July 26 #13 Share Posted July 26 55 minutes ago, gailellen12 said: American Airlines.Philly to Miami. London to Philly May/June 2025 I would just consider buying a cash ticket from PHL to MIA. Compare your cash price to the price in miles - if you aren't getting at least 1.5 cents value for each mile, I would just buy the tickets. (And you really want to find even better "exchange rates" if you can) I would suggest you don't just limit yourself to PHL on the return. It may be advantageous to fly into JFK and catch a short positioning flight back to PHL. Or BOS or IAD or CLT. Maybe even MIA. Flexibility is your key - they more you insist on specific dates and cities, the less likely you are to find availability at lower redemption rates. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuevowavo Posted July 26 #14 Share Posted July 26 On July 9 I booked Lima-Miami in business class on American for a January flight. 69,000 miles per ticket. As soon as I got confirmation, it went to 110,000 per ticket. And today it's 130,000. So there's your answer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ronrick1943 Posted July 26 #15 Share Posted July 26 We always book as soon as we can, this at lease make certain we have a flight. We've seen the miles go up and down after booking. It really wasn't a problem to re book and get credit if the miles when down. Better to have a ticket than not........ 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yesimapirate Posted July 26 #16 Share Posted July 26 3 hours ago, nuevowavo said: On July 9 I booked Lima-Miami in business class on American for a January flight. 69,000 miles per ticket. As soon as I got confirmation, it went to 110,000 per ticket. And today it's 130,000. So there's your answer. That's really not the answer in the least. That's one anecdotal flight. Flyertalker's advice is best. In addition to being flexible also be prepared to invest the time to search the flexible itineraries. To many of us, this is a challenge, game and possibly even obsession. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clo Posted July 27 #17 Share Posted July 27 11 hours ago, Woodrowst said: I have always booked as early as possible when using miles so that others do not take available slots. If nothing is available you can always check back later to see if some seats have opened up. My miles have been on United and they have always put the miles back in my account if I cancel the flight. Yep. We had to cancel a current cruise (dagnabbit) for a medical reason. Got all the points back and it was easy peasy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ak1004 Posted July 27 #18 Share Posted July 27 (edited) We usually book the day the fights come out if we are happy with points. We use Aeroplan, and many times it is possible to book business class with partner airlines from Toronto to Europe around 60-70k points. Those rates usually last for 2-3 days only so it pays off to book early. As for cancellation fees - it depends on the fare class. With AP you can book the lowest class with cancellation fee of $150 CAD per person, or flexible (which is usually around 15k more) and with no cancellation fee. So it really depends on the program, but I wouldn't make blanket statements like "No penalty if you cancel." BA has cancellation fee of 59 GBP for flights to Europe. Edited July 27 by ak1004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fdnycruiser Posted July 27 #19 Share Posted July 27 23 hours ago, Yesimapirate said: That's really not the answer in the least. That's one anecdotal flight. Flyertalker's advice is best. In addition to being flexible also be prepared to invest the time to search the flexible itineraries. To many of us, this is a challenge, game and possibly even obsession. I totally agree with you 100% . We recently got 2 Q Suites on Qatar from Miami to Capetown for a total of 140,000 points . It took a lot of patience, perseverance and a few days to complete the transaction. There are also many free sites that you can subscribe to for much information on using points. As pirate has written it’s a challenge,game and obsession. However, getting a piece of the treasure makes it worth it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condocat Posted July 30 #20 Share Posted July 30 On 7/26/2024 at 11:21 AM, gailellen12 said: American Airlines.Philly to Miami. London to Philly May/June 2025 You may want to look at PHL to RDU/ RDU to LHR Very convenient on AA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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