I am a long time frequent flyer and have used FF miles for all of my trips to Europe. I have used most of the well know tricks like flying open jaw, getting FREE 10-15 hour layovers in cities like Amsterdam or Paris, and staying up till midnight to be the first to have access to newly released seats 330 days in advance. Now I am looking at my first trip to Norway and am realizing it will cost me more miles to get there. My airline (Delta) wants 90,000+ miles to get there compared to my usual 60,000 miles. I am trying to figure out a way to fly into a city like Amsterdam or London and then buy one of those cheap Ryan Air tickets (or something similar) to get to Norway (Oslo and Bergen). The mileage requirements are much less for more popular cities like that and the mileage savings will more than offset the cost of the extra short hop plane ticket. Just wondering if any other FF mile veterans have had similar difficulty and if so what tricks did you use to get to Norway without emptying out your FF mile account?
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10625 posts
Charles, I think Delta's 60k days are going the way of the do-do b/c so many people have accumulated gobs of miles due to Amex and other partners. What have you found on FlyerTalk?
Posted by
OP
Austin, Texas, USA
573 posts
Thanks, I did not know about that website. What about getting to Oslo and/or Bergen from London or Amsterdam? I see that EasyJet and Ryan Air go from London. Maybe KLM or Norweigen air from Amsterdam. Any other options other than skyscanner that anyone has?
Posted by
Kansas
1175 posts
We also use FF miles to get to various places in Europe, using AA and United both, depending on which credit card rewards we can maximize. You might try www.seat61.com, scroll down the left side to the ferry schedules and check out maybe Amsterdam to someplace in Norway via ferry. Not sure about winter travel by ferry that far north but you might save FF miles that way. There might well be overnight ferries from a variety of European cities.
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9371 posts
Have you looked at www.whichbudget.com to see what other budget airlines might be workable for you? It lists which airlines fly to what locations.