But forget which ones.

and just FYI Seeing on Delta using miles, 70K plus 87 bucks

Play with dates and specific cities. But not too encouraging with first look.

Wish I knew how to buy economy and upgrade. The last time I looked into it it said you had to buy the tickets and then kind of just hope that you're upgrades get approved

I don't fly first or business class, but the points required to go to Europe have jumped.

On Delta. It was wonderful with a map on a monitor so you can see where the plane was. We had cocktails then filet mignon dinner and good wine. I know it's extravagant but I truly do not think I could handle being scrunched up in a seat... Too antsy.

This was pre-pandemic, so I'm not currently dealing with this.

I used to be able to buy a ticket with my points for some other person or give my points to my family. Now it cost a significant amount to transfer points to my sister around three years ago.

I traveled so much for work in the 90s, the last thing I wanted was to fly somewhere, so I handed out tickets as gifts. At some point they started to charge $50 for non-electronic tickets and I had to pickup at at the airport. I haven't looked at gifting tickets for a decade or more, but assume it is much more expensive.

Tickets under a generic fake name that could be used by a guy or girl. That was when they didn't even ask for ID .. pre-9-11

is there a fingers crossed smilie?

Too many restrictions and not subject to upgrade. Rather, I’ve been using them to purchase my status each year. I had to achieve status the first time thru the normal course, but since then, I get an annual offer to maintain my status by purchasing it with my miles plus a few (or several) bucks.

The key is sticking with one airline. Always chasing price by jumping around to different airlines won’t get you there.

I’m all for equality until I get on an airplane! Lol (halfway joking!)

To pay for that because you get free bag? Free upgrades etc etc

We have been putting everything we can think of on the AA credit card just to get points. And paying it off every month. But hell if it'll never get us to the point where we want two free tickets it will go on ad infinitum

Although gold won’t get you many upgrades to first. There are a lot of gold status folks. It will help you some in the event of a hiccup during a trip. If there’s one seat left and the other passenger has no status, you win! Also, with gold, you get to board in an earlier group, and you get a free checked bag.

I fly only American Airlines, so that’s the only one I’m familiar with. I’m a fan of the AA Elite Mastercard. Although, it costs $400 a year, it gives you access to the Admirals Club, two free checked bags, group four boarding, and other benefits. Having access to the Admirals Club is worth it. You can get away from the masses, get free Wi-Fi, plenty of phone charging, snacks, free alcohol, and much shorter lines to a customer service agent. And you can get all that even if you have no status.