<p>I am looking to you all for some advice. Looks as though my two are going to be traveling via airplane a lot more frequently than in the past. Remember...we are the ones who selected a school in driving distance in order to eliminate plane travel.</p>
<p>So here is my question:</p>
<p>What is the best program for frequent flier miles?</p>
<p>I am thinking it might be wise to get into a program for that.</p>
<p>Let me know by posting on here please as I have my PMs turned off.</p>
<p>If they fly in your area, Southwest has a great FF program for college kids whereby they get 2 points for every trip - normal is one. You just need to fax copies of student IDs and SS#s. Free flights occur every 16 points- and you can always cancel your flight and "bank" your $ for a calendar year with no penalties.</p>
<p>My d's on her 2nd free round trip using southwest's rapid rewards. They also give u points if you use the card for car rentals...(tho she's the one who's supposed to be renting/driving- they never really checked.)</p>
<p>This doesn't have much to do with FF rewards, but when my family and I were going on vacation to Orange County a couple weeks ago, AirTrain overbooked our flight and they offered to give each of us free round-trip tickets to anywhere in the US and Puerto Rico if we stayed over 1 night. We stayed overnight in Atlanta and they put us on the flight the next day. We actually ended up being on the same flight to LAX as one of my friends, my old theater director AND Tony Schaloub (plays Monk on the TV show).</p>
<p>We were also offered the same deal as we were leaving NYC Unifieds last year, but my sister had to get back to college the next day. We should have stayed overnight because that was Superbowl Sunday and it would have been awesome if we could have stayed in NYC while the Giants won :D</p>
<p>Moral of the story: if you can spare the time and they raise that offer. It will save you a ton in the long run!</p>
<p>5pants -
I don't know where your S's are flying to (from STL I assume) so it depends on which airlines serve those airports. We have FF memberships with USAIR, AMERICAN, UNITED, CONTINENTAL to name a few.....(some airlines work together as far as combining miles). Will they still be considered "student's" for SW discount (aren't they graduating)?</p>
<p>ttmom & melsom -
I never thought to ask airlines for student discounts - that's a new one for me - thanks I'll look into it!</p>
<p>5pants,
If Southwest is available from where you live to your S's school I recommend using them. My D has 3 free flights already this year. As ttmom stated if you sign your student up on line and book flights on line he/she can get two points instead of one for each leg of the flight so basically if they change planes and fly round trip after two round trips (8 points per trip) they will have 16 points and that is enough for a free flight. The flights MUST be booked on line but that is a very easy process. Is that making any sense?
I also saw tonight that Amtrak has a student pass that gives students a 15% discount on trips that are made 3 days in advance of departure.
Good Luck and Happy Flying!</p>
<p>Yes they are graduating. They have had a couple offers which will have them flying from midwest to NYC. This fall all flights will be out of NYC/East.</p>
<p>Quite candidly & speaking humbly here, my husband and I haven't flown enough to have looked into rewards programs. Because this is all new to us I thought...hmmmm....I'll ask the good folks on CC. ;)</p>
<p>I appreciate any and all advice and thoughts.</p>
<p>Sue, We have signed up for several different frequent flier programs, which are free to sign up on each airline's web site. I then compare prices each time we are flying and book based on the lowest airfare for any given trip. So much depends on availability and schedules, as well. It depends on where you are going from and going to. We earn miles with each airline when we travel. They accumulate before you know it!</p>
<p>Thought so...congrats (I, too, have a soon to be grad-time DOES fly). Also, CONGRATS on their NYC offers.</p>
<p>As far as STL to LGA (<-my preference) or JFK, both USAIR and AMERICAN work out. Both my D's have FF memberships with both these airlines. All you have to do is call - they will add miles from lst trip - some hotels issue credit to these airline miles as well - 20,000 miles = 1 free trip.</p>
<p>I learned alot about FF miles from my husband who for instance (amongst his destinations) visited Japan 40 times!! That did get us a lot of FF freebie trips (which we've finished).....and the BEST part was that we could offer trips to the grandparents (as family members are allowed to share)!</p>
<p>Sue, I don't have anything further to add to the frequent flyer info but I wanted to say congratulations to you on having two grads this year! I don't think anyone else here can say that. ;) Also, if they need any assistance or contacts in NYC, let me know. You can email me. All the best.</p>
<p>Sue, let me add my CONGRATS and YIPPEE to everyone else's!</p>
<p>I've flown Southwest a LOT but never to the NYC area. I think (though maybe someone can correct me) that the only NYC-area airport they fly to is Islip on Long Island, and the cost of getting from there to the city may not be worth it. But if Southwest makes sense for the routes your guys need, it'd absolutely be my top pick.</p>
<p>I have no additional flight info to share (we use SWA and United), but wanted to add my graduation congrats, Sue! Wishing your boys the best of luck as they venture off to NYC...etc. We have a senior also graduating in a few weeks (non MT) and so I share and appreciate this exciting, wonderful time. :)</p>
<p>I think Air Tran is great-fly 8 times one way and you get a one way free ticket. You can also get an Air Tran credit card and you get points that way, but I highly suggest you pay off your card every single month! You don't want to get into credit card trouble.</p>
<p>wow everyone...thank you so much!! Yes!! Graduation is in just 11 days. Holy cow, where did the time go? One S just had an audition opportunity come up in NYC in just 5 days and we have sticker shock at the last minute round trip direct flight prices.</p>
<p>Seems as though that is the concensus that SW is a great airline to check into....also found Air Tran to be reasonable. Patti, that points program sounds really good...we will have to check into this.</p>
<p>LOL....you are all researching how to get into schools and we are researching how to get the heck out. ;)</p>
<p>Ugh, so it looks as though Southwest Airlines doesn't fly into any of the airports near NYC. The closest is Long Island airport which is 50 miles from the city. Anyone familiar with this airport? Just curious.</p>
<p>My H flew in to here one time and took a train to the city. The trains run fairly regularly to the city except I think they stop late aftenoon so I would be sure to get a ticket ahead of time to be sure, in case it is a busy time when your son lands.</p>