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Plane ticket hunt begins....


It seems the prices bottom out around 3-4 months out, unless you see a seat sale with a price you can't refuse. Unfortunately July is peak season so bargains aren't likely. As a reference, this year I paid £440 for an early July flight from LGW to EWR (was Continental, their 777's have laptop power in economy).

I'll start obsessing over it now as I'm not sure if I will pay with real money or miles.

United et al are making it progressively harder to use award miles, esp on partner flights. The so-called "saver" award seats are getting very scarce. But I see some biz-class seats to Frankfurt and elsewhere right now for 80K reward miles. So, I guess I'll have to judge whether to wait for that 3-4 month window. As we get closer to that window the award seats will dry up. I figure I'll sit down every few weeks and look. Then start calling the 800 number and playing "What If?" Anyhow, the fact that this was announced so far in advance means that I might actually have a shot at using miles if it makes sense.

And I'm thinking Rob's invite could be the occasion for a decent vacation, work permitting. I'd much prefer to drive around over thataways in June rather than July, so maybe the Birthday Party will be the "final" destination.
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Jim


'Tis the exceptional fellow who lies awake at night thinking of his successes.