30,000 Miles to London

I have a strong desire to spend my 60^th birthday in London this January but things looked bleak. I have been to London in January many times in the past as it is the cheapest time to go and all of the other tourist stay at home. It’s a win for all of us. But instead of paying my usual $500 to $600 for a round trip I will have to pay over $1,000. It looks as though I would be staying home too. But then I remembered to check my air miles account. I have a lot of miles from flying to London once a year but the bulk of them come from my credit card. I did not think that I have enough for a ticket this time but I tried making a reservation using the awards tab on US Airways website. I will be in London this January.

You buy with miles, which can vary but you also have to pay the taxed and fees with money. In looking at different months I found that the T & F is somewhat constant all year and about $200. The miles can vary with the days of the week and what season a month falls. US Airways tickets can be had for as little as 30,00 miles and can peak over 100,000 miles in summer. So I pulled out my US Airways credit card and bought a trip. But I am not going for my birthday.

I would have had to use 45,000 to blow out the candles in London. Then I thought about some events I would like to see. I altered my trip for late January with a return in February. I saved 15,000 miles that I can apply for a future flight. I still have a fair number of miles and will pick-up more on this trip so doing this next year should be a done deal. If you have a miles card it may be worth a check of your account. Spending miles can give one a head ach. One way to look at miles is that you receive them when you buy things you need such as food and gas. Another way to look at them is that they accumulate one mile per dollar. That means I spent $30,000 for a flight that goes for $1,000. Still, if you have miles you can have a nice holiday for very little cash out of pocket. With the money saved one can enjoy high tea at the Savoy.