When it comes to traveling on miles and points, I’ve learned it pays to be decisive. When you see an award flight that’s a decent price and schedule, book it and don’t look back.
Well, I don’t always listen to my own advice. I recently hesitated and lost out.
Award Flights Home from St. Maarten
My family is traveling to St. Maarten in the Caribbean for spring break in March 2026. I booked tickets to St. Maarten at just 10k AA miles each. What a steal!
Unfortunately, return flights haven’t looked so lucrative. Prices have been hovering at ~40k miles or over $600 for the one-way flight back home. Terrible. However, after JetBlue announced new flights to/from St. Maarten, I was able to book award flights from SXM to Fort Lauderdale for 9300 miles. Yes! Now, I just needed to find award flights from FLL to DFW.
Well, it’s spring break, and Florida is a popular destination. Fortunately, I found some award flights on United from FLL to DFW with a short stopover in Houston. Of course, I would prefer a nonstop flight. But, a stopover in Houston is not a dealbreaker. It only adds about 2 hours to our travel timeline. And, I could use my orphaned Lufthansa miles to pay for these award flights for 12,500 miles each.
Still, I decided to wait until my husband got home and discuss it with him. If I booked the flights and later we decided against it, I’d have to pay 50 euros per person to cancel and get the miles refunded.
My husband agreed that the stopover in Houston wasn’t a big deal. Then it got to be late, and I put off booking the flights until the next morning.
So you can see where this is going…the award flights were not available the next morning! I missed my opportunity! I should have booked them the previous day.
Is this the end of the world? No. I still have 6 months until our trip. Hopefully, another good award redemption will come along for the date we need. I’m checking every day, along with cash prices. But I’m kicking myself for snoozing and losing!
Have you ever waited too long to book an award flight, only to find it disappeared?
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
SXM to DFW with 2 stops – that would be a no deal for me, but I see the appeal of St Maarten for spring break 😉 Does United have a 1-stop flight between the two places (and still under the same LH mileage)?
@Aleks I don’t like two stops either, but I also love saving money. 🙂 So far, United doesn’t have any better options.