I’m a dummy when it comes to airline miles, please help

You should be able to search airline tickets using miles versus cost. I know the United Airlines website offers this, I suspect others do too. That should give you an idea how many points you need

I’m an AAdvantage member and just looked up how many miles this will cost you, but before that a little explanation.

There are two types of ways to spend your miles. Using the SAAVER program which means that each flight has X amount of points seats on it on a first come first served basis. This is what the points/miles program is designed around. Using SAAVER miles you will be extremely limited on days and times available to you. But if you plan ahead it shouldn’t be an issue on a big trip like this.


Or you can use your miles with the AANYTIME program which basically means there are no SAAVER seats available, but if you really want to use your miles AA will let you use them on that particular seat but it will cost you a lot more miles.

From MSY to Athens it will cost you 57.5K each way for a total of 115K miles on the SAAVER program

From MSY to Athens it will cost you between 135K and 180K each way on the AANYTIME program. Split the difference and it will be 315K.

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From MSY to Athens it will cost you 57.5K each way for a total of 115K miles on the SAAVER program From MSY to Athens it will cost you between 135K and 180K each way on the AANYTIME program. Split the difference and it will be 315K.

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So, anywhere between 270k to 360k miles for two tickets. I’ll use the highest for the total:

360k miles total
Minus 60k sign up
300k miles

That’s 100k a year
That’s 8350 miles a month
At 1.5 miles per dollar spent
That’s $5500 a month spending

Didn't you collect any miles on your last Euro trip? You're sitting on some already....leverage those miles with either a Chase UR accruing card or card tied to that airline. I'm a Chase partisan, mainly because of the wide array of airline partners. I'm not locked into any one carrier/partners.

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So, anywhere between 270k to 360k miles for two tickets. I’ll use the highest for the total:

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I don’t know where you got those numbers from. All of my numbers are per person, round trip

SAAVER for two is 230K


AANYTIME for two is between 540k and 720k.

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At 1.5 miles per dollar spent

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Where are you getting this?

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This. I'm always amazed at how bad some of yall make a 6-9hr flight seem. "I will absolutely DIE in economy!!"

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Agree--I'm fine in economy, and don't see much added value in e+ on most airlines. I'd rather spend the ~$125/pp difference in fare on extending my vacation by another day or two.

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I’m planning a trip to Greece in 3+ years.

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Anyone want to put an over/under on the number of threads for this trip?

Kidding (sort of). Safe travels (in 2022).

I’m going to try to help you but keep the trip to one thread.

Look at partner airlines. Look at what points (Chase or Amex) convert to what airlines. Look to fly in off-peak times. Not surprisingly, off-peak costs much less in miles or points.

Example. I flew off-peak from Madrid to JFK in business class on Iberia for the equivalent of 18000 Amex points per person. Lay down seat, pod, everything.

Do your research.

Unless you want to be a playa I would say just do premium economy. We've done three trips in the last two years over there and it's fine. The seats are wider. Pre-boarding. Dedicated overhead space.The food is little bit better. I'd rather save the money and use it on something else but I certainly understand the issues of coach on an up to 13 hour flight! My wife will no longer fly coach to Europe. So there you go!