One Snarky Chica with Issues

I think that I have mentioned on here before that travel is one of my weaknesses. Truth be told, it is what got me into the majority of the debt that I am in. You know, extra student loan money for a jaunt to Paris. But, that’s another story.

This weekend I decided that I wanted to book a trip to London. BUT - I didn’t want to have to pay a lot to do so. I haven’t done any real traveling in some time and wanted a break. I did not want to spend much on airfare and thought my idea was possible as I have a lot of British Airways miles collecting dust. In fact, I have enough British Airways miles for one free ticket, or for two tickets using part miles and part cash. (But not enough for two totally free tickets.)

Since I am not single, I was all set for the two tickets at part miles and part cash. But first, I thought I would see what the going rate is for two tickets. Why? Only because they are running a special right now where if you book one full-price ticket then you get a free companion ticket for your next trip. So, I looked and it would end up costing around $1300 to fly out of JFK. Bummer.

So, I went to book the trip using part miles and part cash. Imagine my surprise when the total came up and it informed me that it would take all of my miles and cost me over $1600 FOR THE EXACT SAME FLIGHTS!!! Clearly this was not a good deal. In fact, it is rather ridiculous that they take advantage of loyal customers like that. I mean, $300 more for the same flights AND it would take all of my miles?!?

Needless to say there was no trip booked. Instead, I’ll just keep earning BA Miles for online purchases and try to get up to two free tickets. And before you say, why not book one free ticket and pay for one - well, first it would still cost more that I hoped to pay. And second, it seemed almost impossible to get us both tickets on the same flights for some reason. Plus, who wants to sit separately?

So, the moral of the story is just because you think you are taking the frugal and inexpensive option, be sure to do your homework as you just might be mistaken!