Premium economy strategy for upcoming trip

There's no proven tricks or tips. Just do your research and follow prices over time, and when you have a number you can accept, book directly with the airlines, and don't look back! Good luck!

Below Search of recent discussions.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/looking-for-airfare-advice-from-you-travel-savvy-pals

When going to the UK we fly out of BWI since we’re close to it. British Airways has one nonstop flight daily to Heathrow. It also has a nonstop out of Dulles. We always fly premium economy (any airline) now for the wider seats and extra legroom. On BA the configuration in premium economy is 2-3-2. I forget the United configuration.

Yes, the earlier you book, the better the price. Within a month or two of the flight, premium economy may be out of reach. We booked in January for an October trip. I’m not sure there are any decent prices any more.

When selecting your DC area airport, consider the beltway traffic getting to and from the airport. Last September (a Spain trip) it took us three hours to get home from Dulles because it was rush hour.

I am somewhat versed on points and miles strategies but I know there are others here better at it than I am. But here goes anyway:

I am going to assume that you don't have status with any airline. That's one way to get seat upgrades.

You COULD get an airline credit card and start banking points. (As an aside, how do you buy things like airline tickets without a credit card? How do you reserve a rental car, hotel room, etc.?) n my experience, saving points for something like Premium Economy or Business Class seats takes a loooong time. We use credit cards, but we're not heavy spenders. There are also a limited number of premium seats available for purchase by points. Just because you have enough points doesn't mean there will be availability to buy the seat you want with points.

I have recently been able to start flying Premium Economy by switching airlines. I live in Atlanta, where Delta rules. We're subject to what's known as "the hub penalty" meaning that Delta dominates to an extent that their flight prices don't have to be competitive out of Atlanta. I was a loyal Delta flyer for many years. I had Medallion status for five years up until this year. But I got to the point where I wasn't comfortable in Main Cabin anymore. I started considering other airlines, mainly United. I discovered I could fly Premium Economy to Europe with them for about a third less than I could on Delta. I also got the United credit card which comes with other perks.

United has a way to request upgrades on individula legs with money and miles. I like doing this because I can tolerate Main Cabin on the way home much more than I can on the way there on an overnight. I have never not had my PE upgrade request granted, though I have a United credit card, which moves me a little higher on the upgrade waitlist.

With no credit card, no status, you're probably going to have to just buy a Premium Economy seat. I'd start watching flights to your desired destination. Even if you don't have the date set yet. Use Google Flights and put in a destination you'd like to visit. Select routings on several airlines and then turn on the option to watch the flight price. Do this with several airlines. See if one is cheaper than the other. You'll probably notice patterns - one airline is consistently more expensive, for example. Play around with departures from different cities. That may make a difference as well.

If you need a primer on Google Flights, google "how to use Google Flights" and look for an article written within the last year or so. It really is a handy tool for keeping up with flight prices.

And don't ever be tempted to book through a third party. Third party options show up in Google Flight search results, but don't be tempted. ALWAYS book directly with the airline.

Mustlovedogs, I agree with kayla regarding credit cards.

One thing you could do is look for a promotion offered by one of the airlines credit cards that you are thinking of. All of them have credit cards and many offer large amounts of points (anywhere from 50,000 on up) if you sign uup. I usually fly Delta and have a lot of points with them, but in 2022, I got an Air France BOA cc with a 50k bonus, which is connected with Flying Blue. After making the needed amount of purchases in a finite amount of time (I think it was $3,000 in 3 or 4 months), I had around 58k points. I was able to use those points to purchase a RT ticket from MSP to LHR with Flying Blue for my trip this spring. Ironically, my nonstop flight going there is with Delta. Coming back it's with KLM and Delta. Delta would have cost more if I would have booked directly with them.

The key to working the credit card system is to make sure you pay it off each month; otherwise, there's no point to it as you don't really save any money. And also schedule it for times when you know you will have a large payment to make during that time period (i.e., tuition, property taxes, income taxes, etc). I paid my property taxes with the card last year to get the purchases in. There was a surcharge but not that much and I definitely came out ahead.

Hi everyone, thanks so much for the information you’ve shared. Great advice thus far; I truly appreciate it!

I need to clarify the question I had about credit card airline points and my current spending practices. I worded the info about my spending habits poorly and after re-reading my post I can definitely understand how it gave an inaccurate impression about my credit card payment choices. Such poor wording- sorry about that! What I meant was I don’t have any airline/ bank cards that I use intentionally to get travel credit/points. I have used a credit card for bigger purchases, things like getting a large tree removed from the yard, beach house rental hold, flights,etc., but never investigated how to redeem anything for offered rewards. (I don’t think our current card even offers the points option, actually)

While it’s true I haven’t been one to use a credit card much over the course of my adult life, as I do want to travel in the future, I was curious as to whether I should rethink my choices in order to take advantage of the perks some companies offer. There seems to be a solid argument for that, if like mardee said, it’s with a specific airline and you pay anything off in order to work the cc system. But, kayla, I think your advice of following the flight price patterns seems to be a really good way to maybe help this to happen, too.

I’m going to digest what has been shared so far, and keep reading/researching. jamie, I hear you about DC traffic. It’s brutal. We are trying to fly into either MAN or LBA, not LHR this time. Don’t know how that will affect the premium economy offerings either.

Again, thanks everybody so far for your help!

"Don't look back"

In the past that used to be great advice and for some airlines it probably is.

But... I have a flight coming up soon that i check periodically. Delta allows you to change without any fee and you have a credit for future use. I currently have about $200 in a credit as the price went down after I booked.

Have you researched Virgin Atlantic flights?

Not yet Claudia, but I remember reading you recommend them. I think they fly quite a bit out of BWI if I’m not mistaken. I will check into them more.

If you consistently travel on one airline then an airline branded card might be a good choice. If not, a travel rewards card like Capital One venture x or Chase Sapphire Reserve might be best because they allow transfers to a number of mileage plans. Don’t be put off by large annual fees since you will more than make that back in benefits.

Mustlovedogs, definitely look into Virgin Atlantic. I flew Virgin Premium nonstop from IAD to LHR last summer. It was much more comfortable than economy on BA. I booked Virgin Premium again for my trip to London this June. I also like that with Virgin Premium you can choose your seat for free at booking. I don’t think Virgin offers as many flights from BWI to LHR. I checked when I was booking my flight. Best of luck with your search!

I guess this may ort may not apply to United, but when I book Main Cabin on Delta, through the app I continuously get offers to upgrade to Premium Select or Delta One (the two highest seating classes on most transatlantic Delta flights). The price varies quite a bit over the weeks, but for a relatively low price (over directly booking the seat) you can upgrade the transatlantic segment only. Again, not sure if United offers something similar.

Well, it kind of depends on your understanding of a low price on Delta. Because I’ve seen this theory that Delta is going to give me a cheap upgrade to Delta one a lot on a Facebook group, I’ve been tracking the upgrade cost for a flight in April. It has never dropped below $1000 and is currently $4180. Yeah I wouldn’t consider that at all affordable. 😂. And those offers are one way

The truth is that I could’ve bought business round-trip for about $2800. So when you add the thousand dollar upgrade plus the price of my airfare each way it would’ve been cheaper to buy it.

Stacie, you are spot on. Virgin does offer more flights out of IAD, which actually is a better choice for us. I’m going to set google flights for a few trip trackers for Virgin (and others) in/out of there to both MAN and LBA, like Kayla suggested . I used google flights a bit for our London trip, but I need to read more about it to be more knowledgeable about all of the options.

Carol, you mentioned two cc that offer the transfers to mileage plans. I will definitely read more about their plans, but was just wondering if you know from your experience of benefits of one over the other?

Thanks everyone again!

Mustlovedogs, I think that Carol has the Chase Sapphire Reserved, which is an excellent card. A better comparison to the Capital One Venture card, however, would be the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which I have. Both have $95 annual fees, compared to $350 for the Chase Sapphire Reserved (which does have more benefits with that higher fee).

Here are a couple of articles that compare the two cards:
https://thepointsguy.com/credit-cards/capital-one-venture-vs-chase-sapphire-preferred/
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/credit-cards/chase-sapphire-preferred-capital-one-venture-comparison

While you are on those sites, take a look at their thoughts on the Chase Sapphire Reserved as well, so you can get a good idea. Both of these websites have good information (just avoid the affiliate links).

You might still be able to find a no-fee airline credit card. It wouldn't have some of the benefits of the cards costing about $100/year (much less those offered by the more expensive cards), but it would allow you to accrue miles with your everyday credit card usage. I no longer remember why I switched from a free card to one that charges $95/year; I really should re-visit that decision.

Some of the freebies you get with more expensive cards are things I don't use, but it's advantageous to be able to check a bag for free, and on United I have options for more flights to book with miles as a result of having the card. I might lose one or both of those benefits if I downgraded the card.

Be very careful not to sign up for a card with overseas-usage fees that would make it undesirable for international trips. There are definitely some airline cards charging those fees. Once past the initial sign-up bonus, those fees would wipe out any benefits from using the card.

In truth, devaluation of airline miles has reduced the value of mileage cards to the point that I think cash-bonus cards make more financial sense. But at this point I'm sort of addicted to my mileage cards because of the ease of canceling trips and getting the miles redeposited at no cost. I've benefitted from that twice since 2020, and at my age it could easily happen again (and again).

We've taken advantage of an American Advantage offer that is generally only offered ON american flights for their mastercard. The deal gives 60,000 miles without having to spend much. You only have to make 1 purchase (no minimum) on the card to get the 60K miles. Last time I got this offer I already had the card, but the flight attendant said you could give it to any family / friends they just needed the code on the offer to do it online. I can't imagine why anyone would NOT take this offer. The card does have a 95.00 annual fee, but you can cancel after receiving the miles. (I don't because I too am addicted to my miles card). I use it for everything possible including to pay other bills. Always pay it off every month.

mardee, thanks for the comparison link you shared. Very interesting to see the two cards side by side and the subsequent discussion. That whole TPG website is a treasure trove of information about this…you could definitely go down a rabbit hole reading all of the linked articles. I’m seeing listed benefits in some areas that I possibly could have taken advantage of in the past and well over the $95 annual fee. For example, on the trip insurance. I purchased separate insurance through Alliance for around $250. (Not to open up another debate, but do most people find the cc trip insurance coverages comparable to say a mid range TI option? Do you get a set type coverage with these?)

I checked the partners for booking through chase sapphire. Many like Virgin, BA, and Aer Lingus are on there, so that would be beneficial for us. With three family members trying to sit together, seat choice costs and upgraded seats are factors I’m interested in. I’ve read on a couple of other travel sites this morning - nerdwallet being one- that people have booked their flights through chase travel portal, thought they picked their seats for free, but then when they went to their airline app, no seats were selected and they ended up paying the airline extra anyway. Apparently booking through the portal (am I correct in learning this is how you maximize your points?) does not allow for selecting the upgrade in seats- either where they are located nor preferred-leg room. This must be done by going through the partner’s direct site. I’d like to know more about that. Of the two, I think I see me, as a somewhat infrequent traveler, leaning toward the CSP if we end up signing up for one when I have the desire to charge a large purchase in order to get the bonus sign on points. Really interesting information to learn about all of them regardless.

“In truth, devaluation of airline miles has reduced the value of mileage cards to the point that I think cash-bonus cards make more financial sense”

acraven, this was a point my husband brought up when we were talking this over. He is wondering the same, given my intended travel possibilities and what I want to get out of them.

Again, thank you for your insight into this wild world of travel points! I feel like a Neanderthal really by just learning about this; your patience with me is very much appreciated!

It's perhaps worth mentioning that some cards occasionally issue offers to existing customers that yield extra miles for meeting certain spending goals. It's obviously important not to spend money on anything you don't need, just to get the extra miles. I was amazed to receive three such offers from my United card last fall and was able to take advantage of all of them to the tune of 40,000 extra miles.

I was especially happy about the first one, which arrived in October and gave me an extra 12,500 miles simply for making the same-size contribution as usual to a local charity I support every year.

The other two offers would have been harder (perhaps impossible) for me to take advantage of if I hadn't needed to buy high-priced tickets to a sports event for myself and three others. The tickets went on sale unexpectedly in November, which made it relatively easy to meet the second and third spending targets. I didn't even have to resort to buying Amazon gift cards for future use to put myself over the top.

Always read emails from your credit-card issuer. You nearly always have to register for those extra-mileage offers.

I didn't even have to resort to buying Amazon gift cards for future use to put myself over the top.

acraven, good idea! I never thought of that. Thanks!