When travelling on airlines

My formula is prioritizaiton in this order:

1. Pick an airline we use frequently, or one allied with the one we use frequently, to get miles.
2. Price.
3. Time to destination. If, for example, Lufthansa had offered its PDX-FRA nonstop for less than about $100-150 more than Continental priced our ticket, we would have likely taken it. As it was, Lufthansa was $350 more than Continental.

1st. FF miles

The last 3 years we haven't paid for ticket.

2nd

foreign carrier/no domestic codeshare if possible but must be in an alliance we have FF miles in or need for a free ticket the following year

3rd

price and distance...this is a toss up as I have endometriosis and flying requires A LOT of meds.

I stick to one airline to gain miles and use a credit card that will give me miles. I stay at hotels that will give me miles and rent cars that do the same.

My next trip across the pond will be free and in business class.

Now, the question...Will frequent flyers redeeming free tix be made to pay fuel surcharges?

If we use Continental we'll save over $500 combined rather than going for FF miles. That's quite a savings that could be used on our trip.

Not sure how many miles I have on AA. Got to check that out first.

I consider the time/price ratio - that is, is it REALLY worth saving $100 on a Europe flight if it means I spend 20+ hours in or near an airplane (or 4-5 hours at a layover airport in, no offense, Cincinnati)? I am always open to a bargain, but barring that, my vacation time is short and I don’t want to waste it getting there.

I usually don't consider airline miles. But, given your example, if you already have airline miles on AA and it's a $100 price difference, here's an option to help you decide (hope it makes sense). Figure out the value of AA miles for the trip you're considering. Look on the AA website to see how much it would cost you to buy the equivalent amount of miles on AA (e.g., 10,000 miles = $xx). If it would cost you MORE than $100 to buy AA miles, the $100 savings is not enough to compensate you for the "value" of the AA miles you would accumulate flying with them.

Nowadays airlines give you less and less miles per flight and make you pay more and more per reward flight so that if you find a very cheap offer IMO you always end up doing better.

I tend to go with the FF miles as then I can upgrade and I get to put the miles toward domestic upgrades. I would look at alternatives if they were significantly cheaper. I don't think that $100 would be significant, but everyone has their own definition of significance. ; )

Eli...

Always build on the miles you already have. Airline miles aren't worth anything until you have enough of them so I'd fly on the airline you already have a mileage plan with.

FWIW - I just booked my open-jaw ticket from Columbus to Dublin and Amsterdam to Columbus using my FF miles from NWA. I'm flying Continental (because of the schedule - I'm arriving early in the morning into Dublin and leave on one of the latest possible flights out of Amsterdam) which is one of their alliance partners. I paid $60 for my ticket - at the height of tulip season in Amsterdam. I'm paying more to fly Aer Lingus from DUB - AMS, but I had to get there, didn't I? =) I think my flight cost is around $160 - I'll be spending more on lodging unfortunatly.

Id recommend like others to find an airline with enough major hubs in Europe - and one that flys direct. I chose Lufthansa (Miles and More) since I like Frankfurt, Munich or Zurich as my hub and can use Swiss Airline as well. They have lots of direct flights from LAX. I think the fewer layovers the better. Most of the US airlines seem to offer fewer direct flights from west coast. But which ever you chose - get their card and if you can pay off each month and use it responsibly charge everything you can to earn points.

Im planing two trips to Europe this year and am using biles for both (1 biz class and 1 econ). Saves me close to 4000$ since its biz and a summer-econ. I still have to pay the fuel fees of about 200-300$. The fewer stops you make the cheaper those airport/fuel fees are too.

Also - if you can get a flight for 300-500 special - then save your miles for those expensive summer flights at $1200+!

With gas getting more expensive - dont wait too long to lock in those faires - esp with new routes opening up - some thing it will get cheaper - others say more $$. Unless you go standby - the closer you get to your date the more the prices go up... sometimes from 1 day to the next!

We got kind of chicken tonight and booked our tickets! As I said, we saved over $500 going with Continental. True enough we'll lose by not having the miles on AA, but this flight was much better than we expected. We'll leave on the 18th May (Sunday) and return home on the 17th June. Not bad. Only one stop and change of planes with 2 1/2 hours at the airport. That's not bad. At least we can get something to eat and walk around. Then our transatlantic flight is direct to London.

Thanks for the help.

Eli

one thing i like about CO is they are a code share with Virgin Atlantic!