Question about Airline Mileage [Marriott]

[lopezcasa]

Hello all, I am new to this arena and have a question regarding airline mileage. We bought at Marriott Maui Ocean Club last year, (I know shouldn't have bought full price, but that's another story). Due to the skyrocketing airline cost, airfare to Maui for this summer would have been close to $4,000 for our family of 4. So we turned our week in, and received 65,000 Marriott points. This will put us at 280,000+, and will enable us to convert into airline miles for 4 coach roundtrip tickets for 2009. So here's the big question: we currently do not have a mileage account with any airline---which is the best airline to initiate one? American, Delta, etc? With airlines dropping like flies, I'm not sure who to trust? Anybody have any good advice? Also when you redeem your mileage for tickets, do the airlines limit you on what days to travel, etc?
Thanks for any advice.
Kelli

 

[DeniseM]

Welcome! I'm going to move your post to the Marriott board where you will get expert help!

 

[KathyPet]

It does not cost you anything except a few minutes on the airlines web sites to open frequent flyer account #'s. You do not have to have earned any miles to open the accounts. I would actually open accounts with all the major airlines making note of your FF account #'s with each one (although you should then receive a plastic card in the mail after a few weeks). I would not put any miles in any of them until you can at least determine where you want to go and which airlines fly there. For checking on which airlines fly where you want to go I would check the www.kayak.com web site and enter your departure and arrival airports and you will get a list of flights. This will enable you to determine who goes where you want to go. Even then I would not put miles in any FF account until you are assured of getting tickets. Usually the airlines will hold a reservation for you for 24 hours so if you find those FF seats you want then call Marriott and have them put the miles in the corresponding airline account. They usually get that done overnight (at least in my experience). By opening up FF account #'s with several airlines you can save time when you do find the airline that has the FF tickets you want.

 

[pwrshift]

I'm surprised that your week didn't get more than 65,000 MR points when you turned it in, as it may have been cheaper for you to 'buy' the FF miles or MR points you needed online for cash...considering the cost of your annual maintenance, taxes, and the trade for points fee. If so, you might have been better off financially to rent your week on Ebay and buy your points for $0.0125 per point from Marriott.

FF flights to/from Hawaii are very scarce and I'm afraid they are going to become more so with amalgamations and cutbacks we might experience over the next year or so. I hope it doesn't happen but you may be forced to pay cash for your flights over the next few years as airlines try to maximize the revenues of seats for sale rather than FF seats.

I'm guessing that AA would be your best choice from CA ... one reason would be that you can check online for availabilities on seats and book them that way - and they give you some time to get the points in the account, while UA does not - UA doesn't even have a way to check for FF seat availability, unless you use ANA's site (also free to join) which is a 'partner' to UA. I have an account with UA and AA but use UA more frequently as I fly from Toronto and they partner with Air Canada and that's where I use my UA points (booked via UA though).

Brian

 

[Cathyb]

I agree with Brian -- we always had good luck getting ffmiles with AA to Hawaii in years' past. Hope it continues.

 

[tompk]

I've seen good FF seat availability to Hawaii on United from my neck of the woods for the first half of July. Kind of unbelievable as I've been browsing looking for 3 seats and there's been some good availability, flying on weekends even. Been real tempted to book 'em.

 

[lopezcasa]

Thanks for all your responses. Now remember, I'm very new to all of this, but I'm thinking my next steps are to get my 2009 week booked, let's say 7-11 thru 7-18. I've signed up with AA, so then I can search for FF seats starting 8/16 (330 days before flying?) We would be flying LAX-OGG on a Saturday, do you think my chances are decent for 4 coach seats? I'm staying away from flying on July 4th because I'm sure seats would be blacked out for that day.
I really want to make this work, as we are disappointed not to make it back to Maui this year.
Thanks to all of you for the wonderful knowledge and advice.
Kelli

 

[lll1929]

With AA, I would suggest calling a rep right at midnight in order to get your outgoing flights placed on hold.

Flights are loaded for reps one day prior to them being avail online for booking.

Once you have your outgoing placed on hold, repeat the same for your return flights and them purchase them with points.

There is a service charge for using a rep, but at least you get first dibs on the inventory.

 

[lopezcasa]

OK I see, you're saying I purchase the outbound flight first, then I have to wait a week and purchase the return flight, correct? Should I have Marriott transfer in the mileage account before I call, or how fast do they (for a fee I'm sure) get them in? I guess this is where the gamble is, assuming that AA will have flights available and putting all my miles with AA. I feel most comfortable using AA because of the number of flights available, and I (fingers crossed) don't think they will go belly up.
Speaking of that, what if I get all booked through FF points and they did go belly up----are you protected in some way?

 

[lll1929]

Actually, you place the outgoing flight ON HOLD (not purchase).

When your return flight are avail, contact a rep, you can then purchase using pts.

*****Reminder, reps can book 1 day prior to when it opens online

You can place on hold without having the pts in your acct.

 

[KathyPet]

Don't know about American but not all airlines will let you hold seats on a outgoing flight while you wait for the correct day to arrive to book your return flight. United only holds a reservation for 24 hrs.

 

[tmcasey]

another tip

I am using FF miles for my Hawaii trip this year -- I had some issue getting my flight to Maui, but no problems getting the return. So I booked a flight from SFO to Honolulu, and then Maui to SFO.

I did have to buy an interisland tricket, but it was still much cheaper than a flight from SFP to Maui. (I got lucky with Go specials and paid $19 for the oneway flight)

 

[MikeM132]

OK I see, you're saying I purchase the outbound flight first, then I have to wait a week and purchase the return flight, correct? Should I have Marriott transfer in the mileage account before I call, or how fast do they (for a fee I'm sure) get them in? I guess this is where the gamble is, assuming that AA will have flights available and putting all my miles with AA. I feel most comfortable using AA because of the number of flights available, and I (fingers crossed) don't think they will go belly up.
Speaking of that, what if I get all booked through FF points and they did go belly up----are you protected in some way?

You would probably lose your miles if your airline shut down---probably. Not likely with the big ones. A merger would probably protect your miles--probably. I use AA. Good points for you; they are easy to see flights online, they fly direct to OGG (huge plus). You pay 15.00/ticket to call in and get FF awards---worth it. They will show seats on the phone about 2 or 3 days earlier than on website (in my first-hand experience). They also help you. They will hold you seat for 14 days to book return flight. They will extend the hold if you ask (I have to, as I need 15 days from Philly due to the overnight flight home--it shows as an AA flight the following day). They are great to deal with. I start looking at the AA website to see what works flight-wise ahead of time. The flights are typically the same flight number and same times pretty much every day. If you can get your timeshare on a thursday check-in, you should see better flight availability (Frid-Sat-Sun are busy tourist travel days). If you can fly mid week and extend your timeshare with a hotel or something it is pretty easy. YOu can call your Marriott vacation planner to walk you through ALL of this on the phone, including reserving a week, making FF miles deposit, calling the airline (with you on a 3-way call). It is a great service. Check it out with Marriott if you don't know who your advisor is (although anybody can help you at Marriott, I think they actually assign you to somebody).
You can also make a reservation with the AA phone rep BEFORE you deposit any miles. Marriott will deposit your miles for you in about 24 hours (although they may tell you it takes longer--does not). AA is fine with this, so long as the miles are in your AAdvantage account before you redeem them for the ticket (book your return and buy). Your Marriott Vacation Advisor will do all of this for you. Easier than you think. I am a moron and have done it 3 times!

 

[lopezcasa]

MikeM132, you rock! Thank you so much. I'll let you know how it all works out. After all, the Marriott points was a big selling point for us to be able to cover airfare costs for our TS vacations, at least on paper it looked good!

 

[Sita Ananth]

Can you tell me more about the Vacation Club Advisor? Is this something new? I had such a terrible time last year trying to use my points for tickets to France. United would not let me make the bookings unless I had enough miles in my account UNLESS I had enough miles in my FF account -- and I did not want to dump the miles in unless I knew I could get seats- so I was a real Catch 22. I called my sales rep, customer service, even the Florida HQ of MCVI- no-one was helpful. How do you get hold of these folks? Tnaks for your advice on this.

 

[taffy19]

I am using FF miles for my Hawaii trip this year -- I had some issue getting my flight to Maui, but no problems getting the return. So I booked a flight from SFO to Honolulu, and then Maui to SFO.

I did have to buy an interisland tricket, but it was still much cheaper than a flight from SFP to Maui. (I got lucky with Go specials and paid $19 for the oneway flight)

We did the same thing but from LAX to Honolulu. You lucked out paying only $19 for the one way flight because we had to pay $74 X 2 plus $12 in taxes and fees but we didn't want to be stranded on Oahu next year as there are so few inter-island flights left. I feel pretty save with Hawaiian Air but not so secure with what else is left or the Ferry. I would like to try it one day but it may take too long?

 

[winger]

Can you tell me more about the Vacation Club Advisor? Is this something new? ... How do you get hold of these folks? Tnaks for your advice on this.

call mvci owner services to speak to an advisor 800-845-4226. the advisor group/svc has been around for at least 2 years (or more?)...

 

[Dave M]

Yes, Vacation Ownership Advisors have been around for many years. Although any rep at the number winger listed (the same number you call to make reservations) can help, you can ask to have one assigned to you.

For a bit more info, see this link from the FAQs for this forum. Also, check out more of the links in the FAQs (located at the top of the list of topics for this Marriott forum) to learn more about Marriott's program and how to use it.