<p>Hi, I’m a high school senior attending Wellesley College this fall. I am from Seattle, WA and therefore will be flying many miles to attend school. I figured since I would be traveling by plane often for breaks and what not that I would join some mile rewards program. </p>
<p>Do any of you parents have advice on which airline company to join in terms of reward benefits and affordability?</p>
<p>Frist of all, congratulations - you are going to a great college!
Alaska and JetBlue are the two airlines that have non-stop flights between SEA and BOS. A direct flight is extremely important if you are traveling during Thanksgiving and other short breaks, when a missed connection could jeopardize the entire trip. My D is an Alaska MVP member, so she gets to use miles to offset her ticket prices and still earn mileage; Alaska doesn’t have blackout dates for ticket purchases using miles. D also likes the fact that as an MVP, she gets first dibs on better seats, like the coveted row 6. 
D says that her flights are usually packed with college students, and there is always a friend or two from MIT, Harvard, Tufts, BU, BC, etc. flying with her.
Southwest also has flights connecting SEA and BOS, but there is usually a stop involved (Chicago Midway airport).</p>
<p>What you may find is that you won’t be flying home for breaks. We’re from Southern California and our kids went to school in MA/NH. We never flew our kids home for Thanksgiving or Spring break.</p>
<p>Our kids both went to school in LA–they never flew home for anything other than Christmas break and many summers. My brother’s kids have sometimes flown home for spring break as well. </p>
<p>Decades back, I only flew home for summer break & didn’t have Christmas with my folks for 6 years (did spend it & other breaks/holidays with others tho–sometimes my sister, sometimes friends)!</p>
<p>As someone with a daughter at Wellesley, one thing you are going to find is that everyone leaves Boston at the same time so it is going to be very expensive to book tickets right when school starts or lets out (Boston - Salt Lake is typically about $800). Make sure you book early and if possible not right on “the day” that everyone else wants. </p>
<p>So, for example, for winter break you will have finals leading up to break. At Wellesley you can schedule your own finals and take them whenever. The finals period often goes until Monday. The preceding Friday, Saturday and sometimes Sunday can be heavy traffic days. So, for booking your Sept-Dec ticket, you should look to fly back on Thursday (my daughter’s choice) or maybe Sunday or Monday. When you book, you will need to think about how you will get to the airport. Most students take the Wellesley bus to the T and then to the airport. But this means you need to be at the airport at a time that is compatible with when the Wellesley bus runs. A car to the airport is close to $70 so you do need to consider this. This is especially important for when you return in January as the bus does not run during break (except on some weekdays if MIT is in session and if Wellesley students are taking MIT classes).</p>
<p>If you parents are coming with you in Sept and will be renting a car, you could consider flying into Hartford (BDL). It is MUCH cheaper and an easier drive and Boston. Your ticket could be into Hartford and out of Boston. theirs could be round trip Boston.</p>
<p>As for accumulating FF miles, it takes about 50,000-60,000 from Salt Lake for a ticket during PRIME times (prime for students). As a cross country flight is only 3000 miles, at best, you won’t get anywhere close to enough miles for a free school ticket anytime soon.</p>
<p>The way I earn most of the miles we have is through a credit card tied to an airline rewards program. We charge everything we can and pay the bill off monthly.</p>
<p>Right now you should price tickets on all of the airlines that fly the route(s) you will use. Here in Texas, Southwest is popular. It amazed me to find that it is by far the most expensive carrier from Chicago to Dallas…even with paying to check luggage on another carrier, SW is way more expensive. I guess it is because they have a monopoly on Midway. When they have big fare sales, the Chicago Dallas route is even excluded.</p>
<p>Living in Seattle, Alaska Airlines is a great option as they also partner with Delta and American. While you likely won’t fly enough in 2012 to earn elite status (20,000 miles on Alaska/Horizon or 25,000 miles on Alaska/Horizon+Partners for MVP status), it is feasible for 2013, assuming that program requirements do not change. With MVP status, you get 2 free checked bags, 50% bonus miles [that don’t count towards elite status], a special phone number to call reservations, priority standby in case of delays, and the occasional first class upgrade.</p>
<p>As a quick way to earn extra miles, take the short flight from Seattle to Portland and fly on to Boston from there. If your school accepts credit cards for tuition payments, get the Alaska Airlines Visa and may your bills with that, noting that credit card miles do not count towards elite status. MVP status is obtainable with as little as 4 roundtrips SEA-PDX-BOS. Watch out for airfare sales when you can buy tickets for as little as $100 each way.</p>
<p>Different kind of tip: When waiting to board the plane, keep your ears open and stay near the boarding gate around 45-60 minutes early. Sometimes they announce that they need some volunteers to bump to a different plane, because they (purposely) overbook. If you volunteer, they’ll grant you credit towards another ticket for use in the Continental U.S. within the next year. Sometimes I volunteer or ask if they need volunteers, as long as I’m not in a hurry that day to reach my destination. </p>
<p>If your parents fly, encourage them similarly, if they wish, since these rewards are transferable to another person (you). H and I volunteered to bump on our way home from the other coast after freshman orientation, earning 2 tickets that we used to fly S home roundtrip later that year. Super good. It’s rare but it does happen. We were willing to both hang out in the airport for an extra 3 hours, but netted $500 that day.</p>
<p>My DH and I have a credit card tied to FF miles. We charge practically EVERYTHING (We always pay off the entire balance every month). D1 is at school 1200 miles away and we fly her home at Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring break (unless she goes somewhere else) and usually one extra long weekend in there somewhere. We rarely pay for a flight as we have usually been able to get her home using FF miles.</p>
<p>No matter what, join every airline’s frequent flyer program that you fly. It doesn’t cost anything and you will eventually accumulate miles to benefit. I believe most are similar but for example, American’s mileage doesn’t expire unless you have no activity for 18 months. Activity doesn’t mean only flying with them, you could shop online using their aadvantage shopping portal and earn miles that way and that suffices for activity.</p>
<p>My American Airline miles were going to expire within a couple of months, and I was talking to my cousin and her husband. He suggested that I join the American Airlines dining program. I looked it up and found several restaurants in our area that I would eat in. I joined the program. I just had to register my credit cards for the program – the ones that I would charge on it. Well, using the program not only gave me miles, but extended the expiration date for 18 months. I even got an extra 1000 miles when I wrote a review of my first restaurant. </p>
<p>I have eaten at several of the restaurants and always charged it. One of the restaurants is Denny’s. I meet a good friend for breakfast and always charge it. It adds to my miles total, but doesn’t break the bank. I am almost to the point where I can get a free ticket on American. If I hadn’t joined, I would have lost 45,000+ miles.</p>
<p>“If you parents are coming with you in Sept and will be renting a car, you could consider flying into Hartford (BDL). It is MUCH cheaper and an easier drive and Boston.”</p>
<p>If you use Southwest, you can fly into Manchester (NH) - it is a very nice, smallish airport with very friendly folks. That’s what my D and I did for her move in day. Flew into Manchester (yay to 4 free checked bags!) rented a car (cheaper than at BOS), took advantage of some tax free shopping in NH (there is no sales tax), and then drove to Wellesley. The Courtyard hotel in Natick is a conveniently located place that can be used as a “base camp” for Wellesley College visitors.</p>
<p>Our kiddo went to college 3000 miles away. She flew southwest for almost every plane trip home. After FOUR years, she still had not accumulated enough to get a free flight.</p>
<p>Southwest has a new frequent flyer program and I doubt that a couple of 2500 mile round trips each year for 4 years would not provide enough points for a free flight now. You ought to check their website for details.</p>
<p>Gekko…she graduated almost two years ago…believe me, we checked!</p>
<p>American is NOT my favorite mileage program, as their miles do expire a little faster than some, though they have good credit card offers with extra miles for signing up. </p>
<p>Had no clue about the Alaska program. My D flew them home quite a bit, and the info about their FF program makes me think we missed an opportunity. She used the AK miles for a United FF account. </p>
<p>Delta does have a pay with miles program, if you buy on their site. Usually 10,000 miles = $100. Not as good a value as 25,000 reward tickets, but it helps.</p>
<p>What I like about Alaska is that I can log into my H’s account (I am basically his travel agent, LOL) and use his mega miles to buy D’s ticket - no questions asked. I hope this perk does not go away.</p>
<p>American Airlines frequent flier since 1980s. I find that it is now nearly impossible to use the miles. Particularly if you are traveling on the college kid peak schedule/holidays times. DS is in BOS and we are near LA. He always goes SW or Virgin. He prefers Virgin. The seats are better, there is more room, personal DVD players, etc. In all his SW flights he hasn’t ever gotten close to a free ticket. For credit cards with “miles” I would go Capital One. Not tied to one airline.</p>
<p>I’d suggest flying to Providence, RI. That airport is closer than Manchester, NH.</p>
<p>We have used AA miles almost every trip for DD-even at school breaks. But we always book well in advance and we live at a hub city; maybe that makes a difference.</p>