Air travel.
Saying you are going to take a trip, planning it, and the
eventual embarkation all exist in different worlds.
Hey, I have a great idea! Let’s take 8 weeks and go on a
grand tour of some European countries. Visit a daughter, see some sites, visit a
young man whom we hosted as a high school exchange student, attend the wedding
of some great friends, drink some wine, eat some great food, taste some more
wine, did I mention good food, oh yeah. OK, now that sounds like fun….Yep, lots of
fun….
Our trip planning initiation was compliments of the
airlines, specifically American Airlines.
More specifically, using airline miles.
Combining prior trips, business and pleasure, with a linked credit card
we had accumulated a lot of miles with American and these are to be the payment
for the trip to and from. American is a
part of the One World Alliance and so our miles could be used for transport on
a variety of airlines, but the trips need to be booked through American. Sounds easy and convenient.
Using airline miles is a bit like using Green Stamps.
Remember Green Stamps? For those of you
too young to recall, you would get a sheaf of them when you bought stuff and
you pasted them into a little book, which when full could be redeemed for merchandise
from the Green Stamp catalog. Airline
miles are like that, only higher tech.
No licking and pasting.
Logging on to the American Airlines web site, we are greeted
by the admonition (that is the correct term I assure you) that “Travel around the world just got easier” and “prepare
to make some memories”. OK, that is what
we want…easier and memories. The small icon near the bottom of the page
reads “redeem miles”. We click it and
enter the world of half-truths.
The redemption of miles is different from spending
money. The page that opens gives us a
choice of class of service and below that an indication of the number of miles
needed to book the flight leg. Not all
classes are available on every flight, nor are they available on every day, nor the same on cost on similar days. 20K miles on a Tuesday will get you the same class
and flight that 50K miles will on a Monday or 60K will on a Thursday. The logic of air miles redemption is the same
as for cash air travel, beyond human understanding. We attempt to book our flights but find the
desired selection of flights and classes of service will require a more
experienced hand than ours. As we leave
the web page, we notice a small note that says, “plus taxes and carrier imposed
fees”. The note should be larger, because
these taxes and carrier-imposed fees are.
Our air miles will get us a seat on a plane, but apparently no travel
without taxes and carrier imposed fees. Miles can be used for air travel are only a
part of the payment, a half truth.
So here is our plan; fly from USA to Italy, spend about six
weeks traveling around Europe, catch a train to England where we will attend the
wedding of some good friends and fly home from England. This type of trip is referred to in the
travel business as an “open leg trip”, which means for us humans we are not
going to and leaving from the same place.
Such a trip cannot, apparently, be booked online using miles, maybe not
even by cash. American Airlines staff that
handles miles redemption is actually
very helpful with this and young lady who was able to make it happen was most accommodating. We are booked on a most direct British
Airlines flight from Washington to London and connect, with plenty of time to
make the connection, with another British Airlines flight direct to Milan. Our miles allow us to take an overnight flight so we can arrive in Milan a bit tired
and fully rumpled from spending about 8
hours flying and about 13 hours traveling.
Now, to get home after our adventure. The return flight is not direct as it had
been going. We must leave London and fly
British Airlines to Miami where we connect with an American flight to
Washington, D.C. Seems like we are
required to make a stop both going and coming in order to reach whatever
destination we are seeking. A truth in
blogging admission, the return trip was changed from our original plans and we
are really indebted to the woman at the frequent flyer desk for American who
spent considerable time helping these neophytes with this this trip
booking. Kudos and a high five for her
patience and expertise.
OK, we have booked our flights using miles; Business Class,
spent them like a drunken sailor on shore leave. Sobered right up when asked
how we would like to pay for the taxes and carrier-imposed fees. (Remember
them, small print lower corner of the page?)
Like I thought, air miles get us
a seat but not transportation, for that we need real currency to pay the pilot. Credit card out, number given, taxes and
carrier-imposed fees paid. I need to
note that the taxes and carrier imposed fees are significantly higher on
international flights than they are on domestic flights. In this instance they add up to the equivalent
cost of a round trip economy fare . I
think countries and airlines have recognized that American air travelers are a
soft target for such as taxes and carrier imposed fees. American visitors/travelers don’t vote nor
live in the country.
Done! Our first
memories have been made and recorded. We
now have a deficit in the ‘easy’ bucket.
Now that we have air transportation for the grand adventure
our next steps include finding our way around the foreign terrain (trains are
my choice) and finding a place to stay when not imposing on our children. Stay tuned for these adventures in travel
planning.
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