travel while pg question - wwyd poll

SanHawaii08

i need to go visit my sister (in kentucky, sigh.  takes forever and a day to get there ) before I can't travel anymore.  she just bought a place, and i'm not planning on visiting again for the foreseeable future (ie, years).  I can't decide between these two options:

1. go at 27 or 28 weeks.  cost: 65k miles

2. go at 30 weeks.  cost: 25k miles

the second option would be a slightly longer trip (return monday morning instead of sunday late afternoon), which i'm sure my sister would appreciate.  i should also mention that i have over 200k frequent flyer miles; while it would be nice to blow them on a vacation for MH and me, that's not really happening before baby comes, unfortunately.  so i've decided to use the miles and save the $$. 

going before 27 weeks or at 29 weeks isn't an option. 

[Poll]

myday1708

Voted for Option #2. It's such a waste to spend 65K miles on a flight to KY! If you had an Option #3 where you don't visit and she instead visits YOU, then I would have chosen that one. :-)

SanHawaii08

myday1708:

Voted for Option #2. It's such a waste to spend 65K miles on a flight to KY! If you had an Option #3 where you don't visit and she instead visits YOU, then I would have chosen that one. :-)

haha, i agree!  but she did come to visit us a few months ago. i'm not very excited to visit, to be honest, but she'll be really hurt if i don't, since i haven't seen her new condo yet, and like I said, I don't plan to go visit after the baby comes for a (long) time.   sigh. 

oh, and i forgot to say that the 65k is to fly first class the entire trip too (but that's not really a huge deal to me - i'd fly coach if there were still free coach seats available!)

vanilla15

I voted for option 2 just b/c I don't think there is that much difference between 28 & 30 weeks pg & why waste the miles for no reason. 

Unless...do these miles expire?

SanHawaii08

vanilla15:

I voted for option 2 just b/c I don't think there is that much difference between 28 & 30 weeks pg & why waste the miles for no reason. 

Unless...do these miles expire?

nope, the miles don't expire as long as there's activity every 18 months or something - which isn't a problem for me (though we'll see how things change after baby!)

inamra

I voted for option 2 cuz 28 and 30 weeks isn't a huge difference, but I'd check with your OB just in case if she has any concerns or anything. Other than that, I'd just be sure to bring the health insurance card and have fun!

mrspresley

ditto everyone else. not a big difference between those weeks....be prepared to drink lots of water (to prevent swelling) and walk around a lot during the flight to help keep yourself comfortable.  it's not great timing, but totally do-able!

do you fly for work? i would love to have that many miles

SanHawaii08

mrspresley:

do you fly for work? i would love to have that many miles

yup, i fly pretty regularly for work - used to be every 4-6 weeks, but since january, i've been flying every other week, and since may, every week.  ...only 1 more trip left, this friday - yay!!  the majority of my work flights are short day-trips, just seattle to san jose - but i go to nyc and europe each 1-2 times a year. 

even without the crazy travel schedule of this year, i've always been able to build a nice cushion of miles, which i feel a little ambivalent about, really.  they're worth less and less these days, but they do help a lot for planning trips around the holidays, and help save money in cases like this where the flights are just plain expensive ($400+)

the biggest thing is that i consolidate all my miles on a single airline (in my case, alaska, which is based in seattle so that's easy to do).  to the bay area, i fly alaska almost exclusively, and i fly partner airlines (delta, american, northwest when they were around) as much as possible (taking into account cost, of course) to nyc, london, dallas, hawaii, etc. 

i also use the alaska credit card, which has an annual fee, but also comes with an annual companion pass so it more than pays for itself. ...but given our limited opportunity to make good use of the companion pass starting next year, i'm going to switch cards to something with a better rebate - probably worth more than all these miles

alaska's frequent flier program also has nice perks - it's the easiest on which to gain elite status, and once you're elite, you get unlimited free upgrades to first as long as seats are available.  not only is first a lot more comfortable in the early morning, it helps me zoom through security lines, which is key, b/c i can wake up at 5, be out the door at 5:30, and still make my 6:40am flight!  flying so frequently has allowed me to figure out which flights are most likely to get me the upgrade, and i now fly first for 50-75% of my work trips.    

wow, that was a much more detailed, ramble-y answer than a simple "yes" would have been.   sorry!

...anyhow, thanks ladies, for the tips and for helping me feel more confident in booking a trip so late in the pg!  i know ericka went through the same dilemma (though to a much better destination!), but I couldn't remember how far along she'll be - i dug through the archives and found that post last night.  i went ahead and booked the 25k ticket at 30 weeks.  will continue looking forward to planning a big vacation some day where we can blow all the other miles to somewhere fun

mrspresley

SanHawaii08:

i also use the alaska credit card, which has an annual fee, but also comes with an annual companion pass so it more than pays for itself. ...but given our limited opportunity to make good use of the companion pass starting next year, i'm going to switch cards to something with a better rebate - probably worth more than all these miles

that's nice that you have so many miles!! when you decide to switch to another card, let me know we have several different cards w/various % CB bonuses....

inamra

SanHawaii08:

mrspresley:

do you fly for work? i would love to have that many miles

yup, i fly pretty regularly for work - used to be every 4-6 weeks, but since january, i've been flying every other week, and since may, every week.  ...only 1 more trip left, this friday - yay!!  the majority of my work flights are short day-trips, just seattle to san jose - but i go to nyc and europe each 1-2 times a year. 

I'm in SJ!--if you ever have time while ur in town, we should gtg sometime