Hump Day Getaway- Issue One

Aug. 04, 2010

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4 min read

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Every week, I get a litany of "last minute" weekend getaway fare emails. Usually these discounted fares are routes with excess inventory so the airlines discount the last minute fares in order to generate some revenue for otherwise unsold seats.

I thought to myself the other day "Why aren't there last minute AWARD ticket emails?". And from that point on, the concept of Points Guy Hump Day Getaways was created. Every Wednesday at 10am EST, I will post routes on the three major alliances that have at lest two low level awards available for the upcoming weekend in that class of service. Generally travel is for Wed/Thurs/Fri departures and Sun/Mon/Tues returns, with some exceptions.

I can't guarantee award space will be available by the time you go to book, but it'll be a good start and hopefully themes will emerge each week.

Before you get ready to book the routes listed below for a cheap getaway weekend with your plus one, make sure you understand your airlines last minute award booking fees- some are more expensive than others.

American- $100 (waived for elite members)
Continental- $75/ticket (less depending on elite level)
Delta- No last minute booking fees.
United- No last minute booking fees.
US Airways- $75 (waived for Chairman's Preferred

Also, flights are non-stop unless otherwise noted.

So let's get started.. please feel free to leave comments on how you'd like to see Hump Day Getaways improve. And if you are also a diligent award surfer and find a cache of last minute availability, feel free to post below, of course after you book yourself at the low level :-).

Themes this week: tons of United premium transcontinental availability, generous US Airways space to Hawaii and Caribbean, ample American premium space JFK-LHR, TONS of Air France JFK/IAD- Paris (which Delta can be redeemed for at the low level)

Star Alliance
Continental-
Domestic- 25,000
EWR-MIA (Thurs-Sun/Mon)
EWR-BDA, Bermuda (lots of availability)

First- 50,000 US, 60,000 Caribbean
EWR-PHX (Thurs-Mon)
EWR-SJU, San Juan, PR (Fri-Sun)
EWR-BDA (lots of availability)

International: Europe 55,000
Coach:
EWR-Amsterdam (Thurs-Tues)

Business: 105,000
EWR-LHR (Fri-Tues)
EWR-Lisbon (Thurs-Tues, home thru Madrid)
EWR-ARN (Stockhold) Thurs-Tues

United:
Coach-25,000
PIT-LAX, Fri-Mon (return thru San Fran)
ORD-HNL Thurs-

Business-50,000
JFK-LAX, Fri-Sun/Mon- lots of availability

First- 70,000
IAD-LAX- Sat-Tues
JFK-SFO- Thurs/Fri-Sun/Mon/Tues- lots of availability- 32 seats total on Sunday

International
Coach- 65,000
IAD-NRT (Tokyo)
ORD-NRT
ORD-PVG (Shanghai)

Business- 105,000 Europe, 125,000 Asia
ORD-LHR, (Thurs-Tues home thru Boston)
ORD-NRT, Tokyo (Thurs-Mon, home thru LAX)
LAX-NRT, Wednesday/Friday-Tues, 5 seats

US-
Domestic
Coach-
PHL-SFO Thurs/Fri-Sun/Mon/Tues

First-
PHL-SFO- Thurs/Fri-Sun/Mon/LAX
PHL-LAX Thurs/Fri-Sun/Mon/Tues
PHX-OGG, Maui, Thurs/Fri-Sun (thru Santa Ana), Tues direct
CLT-MEX Thurs- Sun/Mon/Tues
CLT-SJU Thurs-Mon/Tues
CLT-AUA, Aruba Sat-Wednesday

American-

Domestic-25,000
ORD-YVR, Vancouver Thurs-Tues 7 seats

International-

Coach-
DFW-SCL Santiago Chile, Wed/Thurs/Fri-Sun/Mon/Tues/Wed- 7 seats on most days

Business-100,000 Europe/Japan/Brazil, 60,000 Central America
JFK-LHR Thurs/Fri- Sun/Mon
ORD-LHR Thurs/Fri- Mon
ORD-NRT Thurs-Sun
MIA-GIG, Rio de Janeiro Wed-Sun/Mon
MIA-PTY, Panama City Fri-Mon/Tues

First-125,000 Europe/South America
JFK-LHR Thurs/Fri- Sun/Mon/Tues
ORD-LHR Thurs/Fri- Sun/Mon/Tues
DFW-GRU, Sao Paulo, Brazil Thurs/Fri-Sun/Mon

Delta- Their award calendar is broken- this time I kept getting a new error after each search that took me back to the homepage. When it does function, it does not price awards correctly (uses unknown variables of the 3 tiers), so the best I could find was partner award availability on Air France, which is at the low level. Alitalia and Aeroflot were also checked.

International (Bolded is Air France)

Business: 100,000 to Europe
JFK-AMS Thurs- Mon (Either KLM flight on outbound, DL 81 return- book using multi city or else calendar sometimes returns 150,000 miles)
DTW-FRA Thurs-Mon
JFK-CDG- Wed/Thurs/Fri/Sat-Mon/Wed (including new Airbus A380)
IAD-CDG- Wed/Thurs/Fri- Sun/Mon

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