Knowing that we would be traveling in September 2011 to Provence we started doing some research in regards to when we could make reservations using our FF miles. We were fortunate enough to have three different airline mileage programs to choose from - British Airways, Delta and United.
We really wanted to take a direct flight to and from Portland to somewhere close to Paris (like Heathrow, Amsterdam or Frankfurt). We learned from our 2007 trip that it would be great to get as close as possible to home on the return trip rather than having to stop somewhere on the east coast (like Atlanta). When we flew from Paris to Atlanta to Portland in 2007 the Atlanta-Portland leg seemed as long as the Paris-Atlanta leg even though it was about half the time.
Our first choice was to use the BA miles since we had received enough miles through a special credit card promotion for two round-trip tickets to Paris. And we wanted to keep our inventory on United and Delta available for future trips in the US or international. As we looked at booking award travel on their website and in talking to agents at BA it became readily apparent that our desire to travel on specific dates did not fit with how BA makes award seats available. It looks like we will end up using the BA miles when our schedule is more flexible.
So the next choice was Delta and to fly through Amsterdam from and to Portland. We looked at potential travel dates but with Delta's new tiered award program it would take 90,000 miles for each ticket which we were not willing to spend unless there were no other options.
So the last choice was United (aargh). Again we were given conflicting information in regards to how we could best make our reservations, especially since we needed to book the outgoing flights 30+ days before the return flight. We did not want to wait until we could book the return flight and then hope that award seats would be available on the outgoing flight.
So 331 days before our planned departure on Thursday 9/1/11 we checked the United website and discovered there were no award seats available on that day without two or more stops. We called United and they said that more award seats would be made available any day. So we waited one more day and still no award seats on 9/1. So we decided to leave a day earlier on Wednesday 8/31/11 (a day later was too risky since we would be arriving on Saturday and our first lodging reservation was that day so we had no margin for travel issues). So we booked the outbound leg to depart on Wednesday 8/31/11 and will travel through Dulles to Paris (CDG), arriving a day earlier than originally planned.
So at this point we had our arrival date in Paris and we could book our lodging for the four weekly stays. Within a few weeks we were able to book our first choice of lodging in all of the towns/villages. We had to flip-flop Bonnieux and St. Saturnin-les-Apt because the week we wanted in St. Saturnin was already booked for the week we had targeted.
It is amazing that places are being booked a year in advance. But based on the good reviews and with travelers returning to the same area year after year it is not surprising. We are very thankful that we get to stay at our first choices even though we know there are other places that are just as nice.
So the only "big" thing hanging over our head is can we get home on United when we need to. So once again 331 days before our return date on Sunday 10/2/11 we contacted United to book our return flights from Paris to Portland. Unfortunately the closest we could get to Portland on the first leg is Chicago - not ideal but we will deal with it.
We decided to splurge and upgrade to Economy Plus and we will be sitting by the bulkhead. We are looking forward to more legroom and no one in front of us tilting their seat back into our knees!
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