[Rickster]

Has anyone tried using miles for either the flight or an upgrade? I'm trying to work it with Delta or USAir but so far haven't had any luck.

[NBlue]

Yes -- used the Delta ones. I think it will be almost impossible for you to use the standard 50k miles to get a flight into or out of anywhere in Europe on any Delta flight of partner at this late date -- it certainly was for me. That said, if you use skychoice miles (or double the regular # - 100k) you can still book any open flight. That's how I got mine.

[Jimbo]

I'm using Continental. There are no low mileage flights into Germany to speak of and haven't been since I started looking last sumer. But you can get to airports in the UK for less than 100,000 miles round trip and catch a discount airline across to Germany. I've got some 50,000 mile flights that way. Depending on what tickets I get for games (still trying) I may bite the bullet and switch to some 100,000 mile round trips to Germany.

[NBlue]

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Depending on what tickets I get for games (still trying) I may bite the bullet and switch to some 100,000 mile round trips to Germany.

Exactly what I did -- bit the bullet and took the 100k into FRA and leaving from FRA as well.

[Weber King]

I'm flying from Boston to Frankfurt.

Originally, I wanted to use my Delta miles to do so, but the most direct flights (BOS-ATL-FRA, BOS-JFK-FRA, BOS-CVG-FRA) all cost 100,000 miles.

Doing some searching, I found BOS-CDG (Paris) available in business class for 90,000 miles and a flight on Air France from CDG to FRA would cost about $200 max. Unfortunately, I delayed and the fare was gone the next day. I'm still a bit angry at myself about it.

Nonetheless, I booked a flight for 50,000 miles on Virgin Atlantic (a Delta Partner) from Boston to London (Heathrow) and bought a ticket on British Airways from LHR to FRA for $220. I'm hoping that a business class upgrade will be available on the day of travel for the BOS-LHR segment, which probably would cost me another 40,000 miles, but will be worth the upper-class service and bigger seats...

[Etienne_72772]

I am using American miles for my dad and myself. 60,000 each ticket, $55 service charge for each, flying into and out of Paris.

[Raider Red]

My wife and I are using 60,000 each from Dallas to Frankfurt. However, each way requires two stops, which is a bit of a pain. But hey, it's free!

[MarkoC]

I used 60,000 miles on Northwest to upgrade to business class from Minneapolis to London and back. I had to pay a little higher fare than the cheapest coach fare but to me it was worth it. My wife used 100,000 miles for a free ticket on the same route. Her outgoing flight is in coach and is a double mile "rule-buster" award because no standard awards were available. She got lucky on the return flight because a standard award business class ticket was available, which is the same amount of miles as her outgoing coach award.

[markdowling]

Managed to find 50,000 mile seats from Washington on Star Alliance (USAir, United et al). However, we have to leave on the Sunday preceeding the Czechoslavakia game (I wanted to leave on Friday or Saturday) and our flight over goes thru Toronto on Air Canada. It seemed less difficult to find a seat coming back and I got a direct flight on Lufthansa.

[roadkit]

Originally Posted by MarkoC

I used 60,000 miles on Northwest to upgrade to business class from Minneapolis to London and back. I had to pay a little higher fare than the cheapest coach fare but to me it was worth it.

Great point - you can't upgrade just any fare. If you purchase the lowest economy/non-refundable fare, you will probably won't be able to upgrade it.