Last week I chatted with Maxine about starting to work out details of the September Ambrose tour. The main issue to be determined before we could move ahead was how long Stephen could spend on the trip. I challenged him to let me know and he said he would be able to talk with his boss and give me the answer yesterday.
The bottom line was he could take off as much time as he wanted. He also informed me that he and Sarah would be in NYC on September 21/23 to celebrate Fred's birthday and that he might prefer to fly out of Newark and fly back to Dulles after the tour.
I talked with Maxine yesterday and told her that, with the tour commencing on September 28 (they claim the 27th but they count that day as the first travel day with arrival in Brussels on the 28th and a welcome reception that evening), I wanted to explore the idea of arriving on either the 25th or 26th. This would give us three or four days to, not only explore Brussels, but also the surrounding area including possibly Bruges, Dunkirk and Calais. The tour ends the morning of October 11. I suggested we might want to stay until Monday, October 14. This would give us three days in Paris.
Maxine said she thought it would be more efficient, if I were inclined to use my mile points for the airline tickets, for me to visit the United site and explore the options available. I agreed.
At that time, I had about 501k points in my Sapphire account and 78k points in my United account. My desire was to fly non-stop both ways in Business Class.
On the United site, I explored flying myself with departures from STL, IAH or EWR with returns to IAD, IAH or STL. For Stephen, I restricted his departure to EWR and return to IAD. The last constraint was that we would both be on the same flight between EWR and BRU and between CDG and IAD.
I concluded on the following flights:
EWR to BRU non-stop in Business Class departing at 6:30 pm September 24 and arriving at 7:45 am on September 25.
CDG to IAD non-stop in Business Class departing at 12:25 pm and arriving at 2:50 pm on October 14.
Booking these flights through the United site would require 502k points plus $261.26. I then went to my Sapphire account and found the exact same flights which, if booked through the Sapphire account, would require 412,305 points with no additional cash. I booked the flights through the Sapphire site saving ~90k points and $261.26.
I have booked my flights from STL to EWR on September 24 and from IAD to STL on October 14. Both flights are on Delta, are First Class and involve one stop. I booked directly through Delta instead of through Sapphire since the cost was the same, but I charged it to my Sapphire card so I will get both Delta miles and Sapphire points. I did notice that the number of points/miles required by Delta was less than those required if I booked through Sapphire. Unfortunately, Delta is not in the Sapphire Travel Program, so I could not transfer points from Sapphire to Delta. My return flight to STL from IAD leaves IAD 2 hours 40 minutes after the arrival of our flight from CDG. Maxine said the "required connection time" is 90 minutes (which includes getting through Customs and Immigration), so I should have an hour to spare.
