I’m heading over to England next Tuesday for a week. It’s mostly for family business, though I will be doing a few days work while I’m there. The reason is simple: United Airlines made me an offer I couldn’t refuse: round trip US-UK, no blackouts, ample capacity, Economy Plus seats, for just 35,000 frequent flier miles. OK, I have to pay $80 taxes and fees, and rent a car, but it’s still a great deal. Oxford (and London), here I come.
(Until just recently it seemed that whenever I tried to buy a ticket using frequent flier miles the system would always say “no seats available”, or “no Saver awards – full rate only”. It was bad for domestic flights; for international the chances were slim to none. Moreover there was no way to find out what seats were available: all you could do was guess a date, try it, and hope for the best. But in the last few months I’ve found that whatever I want seems to be available. And United has even started posting information about which routes and dates have good award ticket availability. What a concept!)