Generally speaking, I'm not one of those people. I take the time and effort to thoroughly scour the internet for good deals on the airlines I want to fly. I'm fairly flexible with my time frames and routing, so more often then not I can find a cheap ticket to places I want to go with relative ease. It's not everyday that I can find a $250 dollar ticket to Buenos Aires or a $400 ticket to Tokyo, but it all works out in the end for me.
With all the "cheap" flying I tend to do, I've managed to accumulate a nice little nest egg of frequent flier miles. As a quick explanation, frequent flier miles are essentially "credits" that you earn while flying on a specific airline that you can later redeem for free goods. Most people seem to use the miles for free flights, while others find it more beneficial to use them on hotel stays or magazine subscriptions. Me? I'm the plane ticket type. Yet despite having hundreds of thousands of miles in the bank, I've never once used a single one. Ever. They're just sitting there, collecting cobwebs.
A few weeks back I made the decision to clear out the miles and finally use them for something. Over time, frequent flier miles will only depreciate, so the longer I sat on them the bigger chance I had of seeing them lose value. As an American Airlines customer, I had the choice of a few award types: flying on American to a single destination, flying on American or one of its partner airlines to a single destination, or flying to multiple destinations on American and its oneworld alliance members and be charged miles based on the distance I travel. In terms of "bang for the buck", the last award is amazing. You can fly around the world and stop in multiple cities for the same amount of miles it would cost you to fly to a single city in Europe in some cases. If I could do all that for the same amount of miles, why wouldn't I?
So I sat down and started planning. Where did I want to go? I picked out my destinations and looked at the list of oneworld alliance members and figured out how I could get it all done. I submitted my request for an award ticket and it came back to me as available. It looked like I was about to embark on the journey of a lifetime! One catch though.....
"Where's my money bitch?"
British Airways was the airline I needed to use for about 50% of the flights I was taking. Unfortunately, British Airways charges a "fuel surcharge" to all passengers on its flight, regardless of whether you've bought the ticket or are using frequent flier miles for a "free" flight. My amazing journey around the world on my "free" ticket was suddenly costing me almost a $1000. I was aware that I would have to pay some taxes for the flights, but the addition of the fuel surcharges made the cost sky rocket. After a few days of debate, I decided that I was much too frugal to pay that much money for my "free" trip. I canceled my reservation and went back to the drawing board.
The challenge became finding a way to visit the destinations I wanted to go to without using British Airways. Iberia to the rescue....
"Quieres venir conmigo?"
Unlike British Airways, the Spanish airline has not yet instituted fuel surcharges for those who are using American Airlines miles. Using Iberia required me to change a few of my destinations, but at the end of the day I was pleased with what I decided on.
The original plan for my trip around the world was as follows:
Chicago, USA - London, UK - Cairo, Egypt - London, UK - Cape Town, South Africa - Johannesburg, South Africa - Sydney, Australia - Melbourne, Australia - Los Angeles, USA - Chicago, USA
When it comes to traveling in Africa, British Airways is by far the best bet in the oneworld alliance. While a few others have flights into Africa, no one reaches the level of destinations BA provides. My original plan had me on British Airways flights from the start of the journey in Chicago all the way to Johannesburg, South Africa. I knew I still wanted to set foot in Africa, and I knew I still wanted to touch down in Australia. Taking BA out of the equation meant that sadly Cape Town and it's beautiful Table Mountain will have to wait for another time.
"Where is the love?"
After some thought and a little re-evaluation of where I'd like to go in the world, I came up with the new routing:
New York, USA - Madrid, Spain - Cairo, Egypt - Amman, Jordan - Mumbai, India - Hong Kong, China - Sydney, Australia - Los Angeles, Australia - Chicago, USA
With this new routing, I'm still able to spend some time in Africa and Australia, and I'm able to add small detours in Jordan and India. While South Africa has really been calling my name for awhile, my rampant "frugality" just couldn't seem to swallow the pill of paying so much in fuel surcharge for the privilege of having a free flight. Honestly, I'd rather pay the $1000 for a ticket then pay the fuel surcharge on my award.
I've got my new itinerary solidified and now the search will begin to see if I can make it happen. I have the miles, but the question remains whether the airlines will have the seat availability for me. Cross your fingers!
Newest members of Leo's Around the World trip team.
Safe Travels,
Leo