Airline/Hotel Loyalty Programs

[bluegoose]

Where do you typically stay in Normandy? Paris? Anywhere to avoid?

Considering checking out the Loire valley, but I'm thinking combining that with Paris and Normandy might be too ambitious. Current plan is to be in France for almost exact 1 week.

We spent 8 days in France as a family last June. It was an absolutely incredible vacation. Our kids were 16, 19, and 21, so they were mobile and low maintenance. We stayed 4 days in Paris between the Arc d'Triomphe and the Trocadero. It was a great little apartment near a metro station and some fun restaurants and boulangeries. We got there in the afternoon, and, after a dinner at a nice little place near our apartment, we spent the evening at the Trocodero and the Eiffel Tower. Hanging out there after sunset was really cool. Tons of people milling around the area, and the lights on the tower were a lot of fun. We ended up leaving at about 1:00am and there were still hundreds of people hanging around.

Our first full day in Paris, we actually took a guided bike tour of the Grand Monuments in the city. It was about 3 hours long and was a great introduction to the city. We also did the Louvre the same day, and 3 hours was more than enough for us. The only other museum we visited was a lesser known place called the Musee Marmatton Monet. They have the largest monet collection in the world, I believe, and my son's favorite painting is Monet's Sunrise, so he insisted we check it out. it was worth the 2 hour visit, even if it was a little out of the way.

We also did the Arc d'Triomphe (take the stairs to the top) Luxemburg Gardens, Tuleries, and hit a few of the big chapels in the St Germain des Pres area. There was also an artisans faire in the Latin Quarter that my daughter and I walked around for a couple of hours and loved. And, of course, watching the sunset on the Seine from a bench on Pont Neuf was pretty magical.

On Molier's recommendation, we spent a day in the Montmartre district and loved it there! Sacre Coeur is amazing, especially taking the stairs to the top for a great view of the city. The Place du tertre was such a cool place to have lunch and people watch. We also spent four hours there doing a baking class there, making Choux bread and eclairs. This was one of our favorite activities. We wished that we had more time in this part of town. Really cool vibe there.

After our four day stay in Paris, we took a bullet train to the Loire Valley and stayed in a little town near Tours called Amboise. It was such a cool little village that looked straight out of the opening scene of Beauty and the Beast. We loved the Loire Valley! The castles were incredible and little towns were really quaint. A lot of people use Tours as a launching point for day trips, but I wasn't all that impressed with Tours and would recommend settling in a smaller town, like Amboise or Blois. We rented a car and drove all around the countryside. The roads there were about six inches wider than our tiny car, making for a somewhat terrifying experience at times.

Right after we got home from Paris, my parents were called on a mission to the Paris temple. So of course I need to be a good son and go visit them, which is what we are doing next week for the kids February break. Spending three days in Versailles , and then four days in the Latin Quarter. Its going to be a little chilly, but I suppose I'd rather be chilly in Paris than chilly here at home.

[Bo Diddley]

Getting back to the theme of the thread, I noticed something - by accident - about using airline miles to book flights. While going through the many iterations of my seach for flights, on one attempt I didn't notice that the travel dates in the system had reverted back to the current day (rather than April-May). There were suddenly a lot more opportunities for business class travel - including directly from Boise - for close to the minimum charge of 60k miles per person each way. Those deals seemed to extend out for about three weeks.

I considered just waiting to book until 2-3 weeks out but decided I didn't want to risk not getting flights at all. So my plan is to reevaluate the flights as I get within that three-week window of time. There's no fee for changing flights, so if I see a good deal that flies from and/or into Boise, I'll make the change. That could save me from having to fetch and re-check luggage in Chicago each way. And, if I can fly from and back to Boise on United for the same price as from and into Chicago, I can save my Southwest miles for another day.

That's a good find. I try to keep an eye on how flights are priced at different time intervals to places on my travel radar.

[Moliere]

We spent 8 days in France as a family last June. It was an absolutely incredible vacation. Our kids were 16, 19, and 21, so they were mobile and low maintenance. We stayed 4 days in Paris between the Arc d'Triomphe and the Trocadero. It was a great little apartment near a metro station and some fun restaurants and boulangeries. We got there in the afternoon, and, after a dinner at a nice little place near our apartment, we spent the evening at the Trocodero and the Eiffel Tower. Hanging out there after sunset was really cool. Tons of people milling around the area, and the lights on the tower were a lot of fun. We ended up leaving at about 1:00am and there were still hundreds of people hanging around.

Our first full day in Paris, we actually took a guided bike tour of the Grand Monuments in the city. It was about 3 hours long and was a great introduction to the city. We also did the Louvre the same day, and 3 hours was more than enough for us. The only other museum we visited was a lesser known place called the Musee Marmatton Monet. They have the largest monet collection in the world, I believe, and my son's favorite painting is Monet's Sunrise, so he insisted we check it out. it was worth the 2 hour visit, even if it was a little out of the way.

We also did the Arc d'Triomphe (take the stairs to the top) Luxemburg Gardens, Tuleries, and hit a few of the big chapels in the St Germain des Pres area. There was also an artisans faire in the Latin Quarter that my daughter and I walked around for a couple of hours and loved. And, of course, watching the sunset on the Seine from a bench on Pont Neuf was pretty magical.

On Molier's recommendation, we spent a day in the Montmartre district and loved it there! Sacre Coeur is amazing, especially taking the stairs to the top for a great view of the city. The Place du tertre was such a cool place to have lunch and people watch. We also spent four hours there doing a baking class there, making Choux bread and eclairs. This was one of our favorite activities. We wished that we had more time in this part of town. Really cool vibe there.

After our four day stay in Paris, we took a bullet train to the Loire Valley and stayed in a little town near Tours called Amboise. It was such a cool little village that looked straight out of the opening scene of Beauty and the Beast. We loved the Loire Valley! The castles were incredible and little towns were really quaint. A lot of people use Tours as a launching point for day trips, but I wasn't all that impressed with Tours and would recommend settling in a smaller town, like Amboise or Blois. We rented a car and drove all around the countryside. The roads there were about six inches wider than our tiny car, making for a somewhat terrifying experience at times.

Right after we got home from Paris, my parents were called on a mission to the Paris temple. So of course I need to be a good son and go visit them, which is what we are doing next week for the kids February break. Spending three days in Versailles , and then four days in the Latin Quarter. Its going to be a little chilly, but I suppose I'd rather be chilly in Paris than chilly here at home.

[Jeff Lebowski]

OK, I decided to jump back the credit card game-the-system crowd. I signed up for a SkyMiles Amex where I get 75K miles if I spend $3K in the first few months (already done). Then today I got a SkyMiles Platinum Business Amex where I get 95K miles if I spend $4K in the first 3 months. A cool 170K miles to play with.

I will have well over 300K miles. I need to plan some trips.

[old_gregg]

virgin atlantic has a new tool that makes it much easier to find delta award seats (edit the url to find domestic airports --> intl):

https://travelplus.virginatlantic.co...-flight-finder

[Pelado]

virgin atlantic has a new tool that makes it much easier to find delta award seats (edit the url to find domestic airports --> intl):

https://travelplus.virginatlantic.co...-flight-finder

Gracias.

[Bo Diddley]

I love the flexibility of AMEX points. It pays to keep a bunch of them on hand to cover shortages for rewards from other travel partners for a given redemption. You'll find that occasionally there's a transfer bonus that gets you more points than the normal exchange rate with a particular partner. I try to hold most of my points for those windows of opportunity to get more value out of the points.

I like to spend a little time seeing how much things cost from time to time so I can recognize a good value ticket or hotel option when I see them.

[Pelado]

OK, I decided to jump back the credit card game-the-system crowd. I signed up for a SkyMiles Amex where I get 75K miles if I spend $3K in the first few months (already done). Then today I got a SkyMiles Platinum Business Amex where I get 95K miles if I spend $4K in the first 3 months. A cool 170K miles to play with.

I will have well over 300K miles. I need to plan some trips.

Amex and Chase points are generally considered to be the most valuable. With Delta being an Amex transfer partner, you should be able to get a lot of value from them flying out of SLC since it's a Delta hub.

And you might get even better value from transferring the points to Virgin Atlantic and then booking Delta flights there. Here's an article about when it might be best to book Delta flights through VA:
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/cheap...c-flying-club/

[Pelado]

Anyone around here try flying on Breeze Airways yet? Looks like they have 14 destinations originating from the Provo airport. They also have a proprietary rewards program.

https://www.flybreeze.com/home

No service in Idaho, yet, so I hadn't really thought about them for a while until I saw a reference to them today.

[Bo Diddley]

Anyone around here try flying on Breeze Airways yet? Looks like they have 14 destinations originating from the Provo airport. They also have a proprietary rewards program.

https://www.flybreeze.com/home

No service in Idaho, yet, so I hadn't really thought about them for a while until I saw a reference to them today.

I'll probably use it soon. Very convenient and inexpensive. I'm just not sure when I'll be able to travel this year. Lots of things happening.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Anyone around here try flying on Breeze Airways yet? Looks like they have 14 destinations originating from the Provo airport. They also have a proprietary rewards program.

https://www.flybreeze.com/home

No service in Idaho, yet, so I hadn't really thought about them for a while until I saw a reference to them today.

Yes. Flew to SFO from Provo last year. It was fine.

[Pelado]

Yes. Flew to SFO from Provo last year. It was fine.

One way? Didn't want to return on the same carrier?

[Green Monstah]

Anyone around here try flying on Breeze Airways yet? Looks like they have 14 destinations originating from the Provo airport. They also have a proprietary rewards program.

https://www.flybreeze.com/home

No service in Idaho, yet, so I hadn't really thought about them for a while until I saw a reference to them today.

I haven't, but David Neeleman is the man behind the airline. My guess is that it will be efficient and cheap, if his history is any indicator.

[Bo Diddley]

I haven't, but David Neeleman is the man behind the airline. My guess is that it will be efficient and cheap, if his history is any indicator.

I was looking at flights from Provo to SFO a little while ago, and I can fly for as little as $39 each way if I time it right. Plus I get all my baggage free because military. I'll make that trip when my schedule clears up.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I was looking at flights from Provo to SFO a little while ago, and I can fly for as little as $39 each way if I time it right. Plus I get all my baggage free because military. I'll make that trip when my schedule clears up.

I love the Provo airport. So convenient.