Bostonians have their own way of getting from A to B. If the walk sign is red and there are no cars, you bet that we’re going to cross the street (the ticket is just $1, I think I can afford that). When two lanes merge into one, we always use both lanes and zipper at the end (which most of you need to learn, by the way). When we’re walking, we always cut the corner to save 2 seconds, but never get in the way of anyone else. In the end, it’s all about efficiency! So living in Boston has shaped me to be as efficient as possible in every way.
My Trip to ORD
I spent a weekend in Illinois to attend Chicago Seminars, one of the leading points and miles conferences in the US. It’s where all enthusiasts (albeit most of them retired age) come together and discuss the world of travel using points and miles. If you know me well, that really does sound right up my alley!
But poor planning and foresight on my part really screwed me over. My flight was for Friday afternoon around 1:15PM, but by Friday morning I still hadn’t done laundry, hadn’t packed, and didn’t plan out anything related to the trip. I didn’t end up leaving home until around 12:05PM – and I live a full 37-minute train ride away from DIA.
Needless to say, I wasn’t going to make the flight, as the train only arrived at the airport around 12:55PM, just 20 minutes before departure. While I would feel confident at an airport like BOS, DEN is a different story. Security can take a while and the train to the C Gates is about another 10 minutes. Absolutely no shot!
So I started looking for options…
The Easy Option
I have an A-List on Southwest, so I qualify for free same-day changes. That means I can switch to any other flight that same day at any point before departure, regardless of whether it’s before or after my original flight.
Now here’s the problem. Because Southwest prioritizes point-to-point and more nonstop flights, there are fewer flights between two points. So the next flight to ORD after mine was…7:30PM…a full 6 hours after. Now as we’ve established above, I don’t have that kind of patience…
The Alternatives
Cash prices for a new flight were about $330 minimum, so that wasn’t going to work.
It’s all about the miles and points, right? I know that ORD is a hub for both AA and UA, so I started with AA. The cheapest flight was at 9PM for 12.5k miles, which isn’t bad. Technically, Alaska Airlines would charge a little less than that, but I didn’t have any AS miles on hand at the time.
Now checking with UA, I saw three flights with the earliest being 6:45PM. Each of those were priced at a Saver (X) fare of 15k.
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know about my favorite award “sweet spot” with Turkish Airlines. And sure enough, they were all there at 10k+$5.60 each.
United allows for same-day standbys for flights earlier than the originally scheduled time of departure. So since my flight was 6:45PM, I was able to standby for the 3PM flight for no charge. Long story short, I got a flight that left earlier, got in earlier, and cost less than my original! My Southwest flight was $160 but this new flight was 10k+$5.60, the equivalent to $105.60. A win all around!
Do I do this often?
The short answer is yes and no. Most of the stars in the universe will have to align to pull this all off. If United didn’t have saver award availability for a later flight, then standby wouldn’t have been possible. If Southwest didn’t allow for free cancellation or changes, this wouldn’t have been possible. If O’Hare wasn’t a hub with that many United flights, this wouldn’t have been possible.
But having the right miles and points really enables a new world of possibilities. Even if you’re not a huge points and miles nerd like myself, building up a healthy stash of reserves is still a good idea, just in case of “emergencies” like this.