Southwest questions

[stmark]

I am in the same spot (cp expiring in December).  Im thinking chicago for thanksgiving and denver for a ski trip, both have direct flights from LGA.

[12HRS]

Want to plan a mini vacation sometime before my companion pass expires (dec. 2014).
What are my best options leaving from NYC? I have 110k miles .
Thanks

check out the new international locations.

[AJK]

If I booked the below flight and then "missed" the connection (Shallot's run!), would WN rebook me on a (significantly) later connection?

[@Yehuda]

If I booked the below flight and then "missed" the connection (Shallot's run!), would WN rebook me on a (significantly) later connection?

My only experience with missing a SW flight (sorry, I don't like WN) was that they put us on the next flight, which happened to be the next morning. Gate agent seemed nice though and was trying offer us flights that left sooner but went to other airports, so maybe they do have some flexibility.

Also, isn't MDW far from the Jewish area?

[AJK]

MDW is about a 45 min drive vs. a 20-25 min drive from ORD.

But when you're paying 14K for two people round trip, you make do

[@Yehuda]

MDW is about a 45 min drive vs. a 20-25 min drive from ORD.

But when you're paying 14K for two people round trip, you make do

Oh, not too far.

Of course

[ad120]

I fly SWA all the time!
They can reacommodate you on a later flight that is to your liking. As per my request,  I was recently re booked BNA to EWR on a flight 24 hrs later than I was scheduled due to a 2 hour delay.

[ad120]

Want to plan a mini vacation sometime before my companion pass expires (dec. 2014).
What are my best options leaving from NYC? I have 110k miles .
Thanks

BWI
That being said, it really depends on what you are interested in seeing. I find that LGA almost always requires the most points. I'd say EWR>PHL>ISP> LGA

[AJK]

I fly SWA all the time!
They can reacommodate you on a later flight that is to your liking. As per my request,  I was recently re booked BNA to EWR on a flight 24 hrs later than I was scheduled due to a 2 hour delay.

Yeah, there you had a delay. I'm thinking about creating a delay for myself

[@Yehuda]

Since SW's award chart is based on the cash value of a flight, it shouldn't matter whether you pay with cash or points in terms of your actual cost, right? Meaning - there's no difference if you pay $100 for a flight or 7000 points for a flight (if that's the right conversion) - you didn't miss out on using your miles for a better redemption. Correct?

[Chapshnell]

Redeeming miles is slightly better but then you dont earn any.
Personally the way I did it is I would use up all the 110k SW points I had & from now on either I'll buy Chase UR at 1.45 or so or ill just pay straight up. Cant get chase points as I was kicked out for no reason. (They claim I had too much credit with them, no transfers to other names etc)

[@Yehuda]

Redeeming miles is slightly better but then you dont earn any.

How do you figure? Good point with earning when you pay, I would think that makes paying technically more valuable. (Obviously using miles you got for free is the best way to go.)

[@Yehuda]

Since SW's award chart is based on the cash value of a flight, it shouldn't matter whether you pay with cash or points in terms of your actual cost, right? Meaning - there's no difference if you pay $100 for a flight or 7000 points for a flight (if that's the right conversion) - you didn't miss out on using your miles for a better redemption. Correct?

AJK? ilherman? You guys are always the reliable $-to-miles calculators. Any help?

[AJK]

With WN, you're actually generally getting a better value than 1.43 by redeeming points (Chapshnell deleted his/her post saying 1.43), because you only pay the base fare equivalent in points + the security tax of $5.60 (used to be $2.50), and not the other taxes, like excise tax, segment fee, etc.

The below works out to be ~1.67.

ETA:

[Chapshnell]

Actually, I think. 0.017007534983854

A $237 flight they want 13,935 SW Miles

[@Yehuda]

With WN, you're actually generally getting a better value than 1.43 by redeeming points (Chapshnell deleted his/her post saying 1.43), because you only pay the base fare equivalent in points + the security tax of $5.60 (used to be $2.50), and not the other taxes, like excise tax, segment fee, etc.

The below works out to be ~1.67.

Thanks for explaining with the example. But how do you calculate it with the 932 points you get for paying cash in that example?

[@Yehuda]

Actually, I think. 0.017007534983854

A $237 flight they want 13,935 SW Miles

But you have to remove the $5.60 you pay even when booking with miles and the amount of miles you earn by paying cash, which is how I realize AJK came up with his math.

So, you normally get ~1.67 cpp when booking with miles, but if there was a big sale or something and your cpp dropped down to something like 1.25 let's say, then it would be worth it to pay with cash, right? Like Dan said in the recent DDMS post about redemption value - not to redeem if you aren't getting at least a certain cpp that you establish your point are worth.

[AJK]

You're missing the point. If there is a sale, that'd be the same sale for revenue and/or award, because it's a revenue based program.

[@Yehuda]

You're missing the point. If there is a sale, that'd be the same sale for revenue and/or award, because it's a revenue based program.

I know. Sale was the wrong word. I meant if you could get your ticket for less than it costs such as via a discounted GC.

[@Yehuda]

If I book someone a paid ticket from my account and put my FFN in the reservation, any chance I'll get the miles?