Next year, my family is excited to return to Costa Rica to experience “Pura Vida” for a few days. I already booked nonstop award flights from Dallas to San Jose on American Airlines. For our return flights, I’ve been considering a few different options, as the nonstop flight on AA is currently priced at 55.5k miles per person in Economy. No, thanks!
There is one option that costs the least amount of miles with plenty of availability. Why am I not jumping on this cheapest option?
Why this cheap award flight sucks
The cheapest award flight for our return flight from San Jose to Dallas is using 18,000 Avianca LifeMiles (plus ~$60 in taxes) for flights on Avianca and Taca International Airlines with a stopover in San Salvador. The same award flights are also available on the United website for 21,900 miles. There are several reasons why I don’t like these connecting flights.
- The first leg departs at 5:05 a.m. Yes, that’s 5 in the morning. Getting to the airport at least 2 hours prior to our flight, and taking into consideration transit time from a nearby hotel, we’d have to wake up at least by 2:30 a.m. In my opinion, that’s no way to end a relaxing vacation.
- Since the first flight is so early and our main hotel is 2 hours away, we’d have to extend our trip by one day to position ourselves at an airport hotel. That equates to spending more points or cash for an extra night.
- If our flight to San Salvador is late and we can’t make our connecting flight, we’d have to spend the night in San Salvador. I wouldn’t want to sleep inside the airport terminal. However, leaving the airport to stay at a local hotel costs extra. There is a $37 tax to leave the airport plus a $10 visa charge per person. For five people, that’s an extra $235 plus hotel expenses.
- The planes on these two flights have below-average legroom (29″ pitch). That’s not quite as bad as the seat pitch on Spirit, but close.
Final Thoughts
In my younger years, I would totally book these cheapest flights and take my chances that we wouldn’t get stuck in San Salvador. I love getting a great deal on things, including award flights. But, now that I’m older, I have more points and cash at my disposal. I’m willing to pony up more miles or cash (to a degree) to make our trips more convenient and more comfortable.
Do you always book the cheapest award flight? What other factors do you consider?
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
Yikes that’s an absolutely awful itinerary. So many working parts, so many places where things can go wrong. Or as a friend likes to call it: friction points. I’ve learned over the years to reduce friction points as much as possible. It’s a much more enjoyable trip that way.
And with a possible missed connection in San Salvador… It’s not the added cost that would concern me. It would be trying to find a hotel spur of the moment. I’m sure the airport itself is fine, there’s a decent chance you’d have to take what you can get and end up in a very rough area of San Salvador. Which from my understanding, are numerous.
@projectx I didn’t think about the safety of our potential hotel. Even better reason to skip the itinerary.
I’m totally with you. I’m simply too old for these kind of routings. If there is no other option, I would reluctantly consider it. Otherwise, I will pay more not to go through this sort of nonsense (that can potentially ruin your trip). But in the olden days my husband and I sucked it up to save a few bucks.
@Leana Exactly!