When you need it most
We’ve talked about travel hacking before on the blog. It’s a great way to travel for free, or (my preference) to travel in luxury for about the same price.
It’s also useful when you absolutely need to get a ticket, but the prices are ridiculous.
My grandmother passed away last week, so my wife and I needed to get tickets back to the UK at short notice during Golden Week in Japan.
I had a quick look at our options.
There were relatively reasonable flights on Air China or the middle eastern carriers, but they all involved three or more changes and journeys of 30+ hours. As we were only able to go for five days this was less than ideal.
There were also direct flights, but less reasonable. ANA wanted 450,000 yen per person. In economy!
So I tried with air miles. My ANA miles were close to expiring, so I looked there first. Almost immediately I ran into a problem. ANA requires mileage bookings to be done at least four days in advance, so I had already missed the window for the morning flight.
However I did find seats on an afternoon Lufthansa flight to Manchester via Frankfurt, and on Swiss coming back via Zurich, all in business. Total cost?
95,000 miles and 50,000 yen per person.
Booked and done. We got back yesterday. Exhausted but much less so than if we’d done the 30 hour trip on Air China in economy 🙂
This is why I think everyone living in Japan and taking trips abroad should have a basic understanding of how air miles work and how to acquire and use them. It just gives you more options when you are planning travel.
I wrote a short ebook about this a few years ago. It’s slightly out of date now, but should give you a good idea of the basics. I’m also really happy to answer questions here.
Anyone else a fan of air miles? Any tips?
I’m sorry for your loss. I never would have thought to use miles in that situation because of the usual necessity to book days in advance.
One of the things I love about air miles is that it is easy to change a booking for free, or cancel for only a small fee. Since air miles tickets are hard to get for peak seasons, I will book way in advance and then change the dates if needed later. (These are JAL miles, so I’m not sure if all mileage programs work this way.)
Hi Susan
That’s a great point! Being able to change or cancel easily is one of the best things about mileage bookings 🙂
For others in this situation, you can contact the airline with your emergency and ask for a “condolence” fare. You need some info for the person who has passed away (funeral home, director’s contact, etc,), but for an economy fare, you can easily be seated in biz or 1st.
(also called “bereavement” fare)
Many airlines have abandoned bereavement fares. I don’t believe any of the US airlines offer them anymore, for example.
I did a quick search for this the other day and found this site: http://bereavement-flights.com/
It seems the Japanese carriers don’t offer them and I’m not sure the hassle (paperwork, etc.) is worth it for the others, especially during a stressful time. United offering 5% off isn’t much of an incentive (I’ll refrain from making sarcastic comments here).
As someone pointed out on Facebook, having an emergency fund to cover sudden expenses like these may be a better strategy.
Of course, it’s certainly an option to consider and investigate -might be useful for some people.
That’s very interesting! Hope I don’t get a chance to try it, but will keep it in mind.
I’m sorry for your loss.
While I much prefer ANA as an airline, your situation is one reason I use United miles instead. The miles never expire as long as you use your account at least once every 18 months (including accruals via credit card) and you can book a mileage ticket as soon as the day before. I can also still fly ANA. Japanese airline mileage programs have always seemed a bit stingy to me.
Very true! I have both, but it would be more logical to concentrate everything on United (although their redemption rates can be higher sometimes).
I actually find it pretty hard to book on ANA, and usually end up on Lufthansa instead (who I like, so it’s not a problem).