Last week, I received an amazing gift - an email invitation to stay at our Italian friends' farmhouse in Tuscany. All we needed to do was somehow manage to get ourselves there in October. The invitation was so heartfelt and such a surprise that it left me both speechless and in tears.
Since I'm currently between employment gigs, I first thought it would be best to pass up on the opportunity in favor of sitting at home in the dark where I could amuse myself by worrying about finances. But then I remembered that over the years Greg and I have amassed enough airline miles to purchase at least one free round-trip ticket to Europe ... and besides, our Italian friends were incredibly kind to make the offer to begin with, and we miss them so much that the price of one coach fare seemed a small price to pay indeed.
Greg checked his calendar and decided he could carve out one week from his teaching schedule and so, armed with dates and WorldPerks numbers, I called the airline.
Why do I always forget that just because we have miles doesn't mean we can use miles? Having is in the realm of possibility, using is a myth. Whenever I've tried to redeem miles in the past, I've found myself embarking on a convoluted journey trapped somewhere between hope and despair. Redeeming miles is like playing the old Mario Brothers video game, struggling to conquer every obstacle thrown at you in order to get to the next level but never reaching the end of the game - in this case, the goal at the end of the game is a cramped seat in the coach section of a giant cylinder flying through the air.
Having versus using: Although Greg has enough miles for one free round trip ticket to Florence, there are no WorldPerks seats available on the day we need to return home. This information caught me off guard although I should have expected it based on previous experience. Greg and I could, however, split his miles between the two of us and use the airline's "Cash and Miles" program, paying for the tickets with a combination of miles and cash.
This option, although do-able, would end up costing us over $1,100 and we'd have to take a train from Florence to Milan, and stay overnight in a hotel in order to catch the return flight thus adding a few hundred dollars to the cost of the trip. That solution didn't sit well with me; it was cumbersome, involved hours of extra travel and, after all was said and done, would cost only slightly less than two coach fares.
Not willing to abandon the idea of miles redemption altogether, I then asked the agent if we could use all the miles we have between us to at least upgrade from two $750 coach fares to two seats in Business Class. (Before I die, just once I'd like to unfold myself from a coach seat and move up to Business Class. Just once.) The agent reassured me that, yes, we could certainly use our miles to upgrade, but in fact the $750 coach fare is a non-upgradable fare. To upgrade, we'd have to first purchase upgradable coach tickets which run in the neighborhood of $2,600 apiece. Even if we wanted to take advantage of this opportunity, there are no upgradable seats available on the days we want to travel anyway.
Yes, I realize that all life's problems should be so difficult. Last week when our friends offered their home in Tuscany to us, I was overjoyed at the possibility of travel and adventure. After my phone conversation with WorldPerks left me discouraged and out of patience, I remembered that when frequent flyer miles are involved, there are no possibilities.
In the end, we compared cost to travel time to length of stay and decided to simply forgo the trip this year. The good news: we still have all those miles!
"If Airlines Sold Paint"
www.cartalk.com/content/read-on/2002/06.22.html
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