If you aren’t already reading Cruise Critic boards (they’re like this board, for cruise life), I highly recommend it. Me personally, I love taking cruises, especially with multi-generations as there’s something for everyone, and being able to visit several locations over a week/ten days while only unpacking once, is divine (to me). Unfortunately these days I wouldn’t even consider a cruise. The thought that we could all end up in quarantine in our cabins would be something I wouldn’t like at all. That said, if I was going to take a cruise these days, I would absolutely require a balcony cabin. This way if there was an issue, or if I felt uncomfortable I could at least have a small slice of outdoor space. Several years ago my best friend and I took a cruise out of LA (home port) and didn’t do anything at all except relax and enjoy the trip (no excursions, etc.) and it was wonderful. So I might do it that way. Might. Cruise Critic is your friend.
We’ve never used points before to make plane reservations. I’m curious how things work if you need to change or cancel. We used points for the first time, and don’t have plans to change at this time. I’m just wondering how it works with points. It is SO easy on SW airlines to change to another date and either bank or pay the difference.
When you book on another airline (ours was American), and you want to change the flight, do you first have to cancel, and receive the points before booking another flight, or is it just as easy to reschedule and the former points are automatically applied? More specifically, if you need to cancel and wait for points to return to your account, and it takes several days, that could present a problem if your new flights costs change while you’re waiting.
To confuse matters even more, we used American points to book another airline in the OneWorld system. That means we got an American confirmation number for another airline company. Very confusing (to me).
I could be wrong, but once you book with AA, I don’t think you can cancel or change your flight when using points. It is possible things have changed because of COVOD, but I’ve never heard of being able to change or cancel on AA and getting points back.
ETA - if you’re going on another carrier, you MAY have trouble getting notices from that carrier.
We just got back from a trip from Phoenix to Philly on AA to visit our daughter and her SO. All of us are vaccinated. Overall it was a good trip, but it got off to a bad start. We had a morning nonstop flight, and 5 minutes before boarding was about to start, we left the lounge where we were waiting to head to the gate. Just then our phones buzzed and we were notified that our flight was cancelled. We never found out why and I’m sure the flight was fully booked because we had been getting messages on the app about volunteering to go on a later flight. We were able to quickly rebook on our AA app to a 4 pm nonstop, but the delay meant we missed out on our Thursday night plans with our D and arrived at our hotel after midnight. Not the end of the world but an annoyance. The flights both ways were full, and I really didn’t notice any serious mask defiance – just the occasional saggy mask below the nose. On Friday night we went to a concert at the Philly Pops and had to show proof of vaccination, ID, and wear a mask. There’s definitely better mask compliance in Philly than in Phoenix. All in all it was a good trip except the hiccup at the start. In a few weeks we are headed to NYC and have Broadway tickets.
DW and I just returned from two weeks travelling in Portugal with a one day stop in Munich. In short, we were able to get around and do so much without the typical numbers of tourists. It was awesome.
In both Portugal and Germany, there are various testing requirements but they are not really being followed. Oftentimes, if you just show something they say ok without really looking at anything. The airports, trains, buses are relatively strict on wearing masks and the airlines ensure you have the required documentation but the hotels and restaurants we experienced were not overly strict.
From the AA website “ Changing flight awards
If your travel plans change, you can contact Reservations to change your flight award. There is no fee to make a change. Keep in mind, you still need to redeem miles for any award price difference when making a change.
While you may not make changes to a trip that includes a Web Special award, you can cancel it and reinstate your miles at no charge.”
“ If the change is significant enough and there are no other flights that work with your schedule, you do have the option to request a cash refund (even with a normally non-refundable basic economy fare). Again, this varies by airline; for United it’s two hours, for Delta it’s 90 minutes and for American it’s 4 hours.” So the trick is to watch the flights, and if they change the times again, the minute they hit or exceed their limit, call for a refund. Worked for me.
That sounds like something mechanical with the plane. I was seated on one once (years ago, but memorable) when the pilot came out loudly saying, “I don’t care, I’m not flying this plane.” It’s pretty obvious he wanted at least the front passengers to hear him. Those of us on the plane looked at each other. If the pilot won’t fly this plane…
Fortunately, within 5 minutes or so they came and took us off. They gave us a flight later in the day. I know at least for me it was a sigh of relief rather than a quite worrisome flight that might not have ended well if the pilot’s concern materialized.
Sometimes the flight crews time out and they can’t get another flight crew in so have to cancel the flight.
Yeah, but 5 minutes before boarding on a flight that wasn’t delayed makes that unlikely.
Sooo… this happened today. Friends in a nearby state suggested we meet up for a weekend. Good news- we are vaccinated and boostered, but…. we are being careful b/c we will be traveling across country 2 weeks later for a week for Thanksgiving; Older s’s 2 kids are too young to be vaccinated and our younger s’s wife is pregnant with their first. Our friends wanted us to share a 2 BR condo for the weekend. I proposed we stay in separate condos in the same complex but they thought that was “silly and twice as expensive”. The price difference isn’t really all that much (not double) and we can each easily afford it. While I’d love to see them for a weekend (its a long drive but thats ok), its just not worth it to me to spend a weekend in close quarters with people from a state that has a high covid rate (so does ours) even though we are all vaccinated. Its a luxury, not a necessity, and just doesn’t seem like its a risk I want to take, since we have several planned trips out there (to our kids’), and the flights (with everyone masked) is the biggest risk we want to take. I suppose we could all wear our masks in the condo the whole time, but it was a little disappointing to not hear any willingness to consider our concerns (they have no kids so kinda don’t get it). I hope we aren’t being unreasonable. We are attending some events (an upcoming wedding of the son of very good friends- we will wear our masks) but the weekend trip just seemed, while it would have been fun, not worth the risk. Its just bad timing. While risks are low, if I brought anything to my grandkids/future grandkid (the adults are vaccinated) I couldn’t live with myself. And if one of us happened to get a breakthrough case and it messed with the plans we have for Thanksgiving, for December with family etc, I’d not be happy. A friend thought she was being careful and fully vaccinated- she and her DH both got breakthrough Covid and over a month later she is still sick. So, we are not going to meet up with our friends. Please someone tell me its ok.
@jym626 I think your concerns are reasonable. These are still not normal times and your concerns should be respected.
I will tell you it’s ok. It’s like when my husband says he doesn’t think the milk smells off, or that week old leftovers are fine if they don’t look or smell funny. Probably safe, likely safe, but why take any unnecessary risks? Especially if you could not relax and enjoy yourself either on the trip or for the time after.
Perfectly right - separate places in the same complex seems fun to me.
With SW, it is so easy with award tickets. You can cancel up to 10 minutes before departure and get back all your points and award ticket fees/taxes. I generally cancel at least several days ahead once I know I’m not going on that trip. I really do recommend canceling and rebooking a new points itinerary with SW, because then you’ll get the $5.60 one way fee as a refund to the original method of payment as well as all your points back. Once you change a ticket though, then you can’t get that refund other than as travel funds, which expire 12 months from original date of booking. Another tip is to book one ways instead of round trip to allow you to change one leg of your trip as needed. There’s no financial benefit to booking a round trip ticket with SW. You do have more confirmation codes to keep track of, but that’s really not too bad.
I have booked AA flights on miles in the past, and found calling in and speaking with a representative to be helpful in making changes. They can do things instantly on their end, so there’s no waiting days for the miles to be redeposited into your account. It’s very common for airlines to codeshare flights, so while at first it seems confusing for you to have an AA confirmation number for a different airline, as long as you are seeing the flight under your AA account then you are all set.
I would fly SW all the time too if I could too, but there are so many places you can’t get a direct non-stop flight to on SW. Both of my kids happen to be at places where I can’t fly SW to get to.
At my son’s college, the closest SW flight is more than 3 hours away. And for my daughter who is living across the country, I would much rather take a 5-1/2 hour non-stop flight than SW’s 10+ hours to get there.
We like our BFFs but we would never even imagine sharing a 2-bedroom condo with them, Covid times or not! Both couples here enjoy their privacy. Unless the condo is approaching the size of the Bill Gates’s compound, I would politely decline sharing it. 
oh yess… i also love travelling
Look for the recent NY Times article, “My Family was a COVID Cluster.”
The husband had a breakthrough case of COVID and passed it along to kids as well as to his vaccinated wife and the vaccinated grandparents.
I think it was perfectly okay, especially as you suggested a reasonable alternative to address your concerns.
Makes sense to prioritize the safety of your unvaccinated grandchildren and not risk an exposure prior to seeing them.