Last month, I wrote a post about how I booked flights to Portugal for Spring Break 2024. For our return flights, we couldn’t be as flexible with our travel dates due to my son’s college schedule. I ended up spending more miles than I expected to get exactly what I wanted. But, I’m still satisfied with my results.
Plan A: Air France
I already knew that I didn’t have enough miles for business class seats for our flights back to DFW. But, I did want to get more legroom and seat width for the flights home. So, my first choice for return flights from Portugal was to use Air France Flying Blue miles for Premium Economy seats. I already had a small stash of Flying Blue miles, plus we could transfer Capital One miles and Chase Ultimate Rewards to Flying Blue for this redemption.
In the weeks leading up to our return date range, I saw plenty of availability for 32,500 miles for Premium Economy. Unfortunately, during our desired dates, those seats were running 57,000+ miles with only 2 award seats available. We either had to book all of us in regular Economy for 19,500 miles, or wait another 3 days to get the lower rate for Premium Economy. Neither option thrilled me. (But what a deal for Economy at 19,500 miles. Plus, there is a current 25% Chase transfer bonus to Air France!)
Plan B: Iberia Off-Peak
Iberia has a nonstop flight between DFW and Madrid. In fact, my husband and son are flying in Business class on Iberia to Portugal for the beginning of our trip. I was hoping to fly my husband and I home in Premium Economy (since only 2 award seats are usually available on this route) and our kids in regular Economy. The off-peak mileage from Madrid to DFW is a great deal:
Unfortunately, Iberia reduced the number of off-peak dates in 2024. The weekend we wanted to fly home was now pricing at peak rates:
Womp, womp.
In a perfect world, we would be flexible with our return travel date so that we could take advantage of the lower award prices a few days later. But, we had a problem. Our oldest son would be coming home from college during his spring break the week after, and I want to be home for him during his break.
Plan C: Iberia Peak
After discussing the situation, my husband and I decided we should spend the additional miles and fly home in time to see our college son. We tacked on the short flight from Lisbon to Madrid for 5000 extra points. So, we ended up paying:
Premium Economy: 48,750 Avios + $149.55 in taxes
Economy: 30,000 Avios + $149.55 in taxes
Total for 4 of us: 157,500 miles + ~$600 in taxes
I booked these Iberia flights through British Airways by transferring Capital One miles and Chase Ultimate Rewards. And yes, the kids know they are sitting in Economy and they are fine with it (see my previous post on this subject).
Bottom Line
I don’t always book the lowest-price award flight with miles. If I have enough miles, I prefer Business or Premium Economy seats for longer international flights. But, in this case, I also had to factor in our preferred travel date to get home in time for our son. So in the end, we used more miles to get what we wanted. But, I’m not complaining. Our miles and points are giving us flights to and from Portugal next year for spring break at a fraction of the cash price.
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
It is one reason why I like booking oneway fairs. Choose of best awards flights or sometimes pay cash flight that way. Specially good when you are doing multicity connections. Not Europe, favorite on award flights was IAD to NRT to GUM to HNL to IAD all on award flights. Last November I flew into FRA and return via Geneva on an awards flight. Usually flights out of Geneva were very expensive, but got low awards ticket.
@tom yep, I almost always book one-way at a time 😁Glad you’ve found some low award flights