It Pays to be Persistent

Patience is not always the easiest trait to come by, but it often pays off. Many people give up, not knowing how close they were to achieving their goal.

I was booking a flight for James to meet me in Oregon at the end of July and looked first to see what United had for award miles. I couldn’t find anything at first at the saver award rate, or 25,000 miles. I reluctantly looked and found a flight at the 50,000 mile rate, but wanted to confirm a few things with James first.

When I went back to book the flight I decided to check the saver flights again, just in case. This time I found what I was looking for, but it wouldn’t book the flight. The website clearly said that the dates I wanted were available, but it wouldn’t book it. I then decided to call United’s customer service and see what magic I could work. In the end I was able to get a ticket for half the miles I could have if I’d not taken the time to make sure I got the best deal.

In this case the ticket, when I priced out through kayak and expedia, was around $500. This means that on a 25,000 mile ticket, the value was roughly two cents per mile. As we’ve covered in earlier posts, anything between one cent and one and a half cents per mile is a good deal. In this case it is a fabulous. With the price of tickets as they are now, that makes miles more valuable. This now leaves us with enough extra miles for another flight cross-country. Not bad.

Patience in scheduling travel is an art. In this case I was able to pay half the price I could have without the persistence it took to get the lower rate flight.

Good luck finding those deals on your summer travel!

Miel