I have found that you need to constantly look at the seats offered. I have continental and they change them, ofthen.

billd

We got our tickets via our Master card World points and they were about 35,000 points each which we had so our tickets for our flight in December cost us ZERO:-)

Lolly wrote:
We have booked our trip for Feb!!!! We have United miles and my husband was playing around with dates last Sun, at one point it was 70,000 mi each,about an hour later it was down to 35,000 each, so we jumped on that! This was on Uniteds web site, now we are
getting our car rental with miles. We have a direct flight from Chicago and 2 stops on the way back.. It pays to do your research!

Molly, I sent you a pm

Hi
Can you tell me who you booked your car rental with and if you're using United miles? I never booked a car with miles but would love to especially with the prices lately. Thank you.

Tmpy (Pat)

Just my humble opinion and one of those makes no matter deals.

I think it's a waste of miles using them to rent a car. In fact, using them for flights under a certain distance are also not using them to their benefit.

Again, just my thoughts on miles.

Hi, United has 4 rentals you can use, Hertz, Avis,Dollar, Budget, You can't take Hertz to StJohn. We are lucky as my husband puts all of his business :"supplies" on a credit card so the whole family benefits from it. That perk doesn't make up for the many years of 24/7/365 he has worked, ....regards,Donna

I tend to agree, certainly for car rental. However, distance alone does not seem to be the yardstick by which airfares are priced and I have found it made more sense to buy the tickets to Europe and use miles to VI. Deals abound to Europe and not so much to VI from Houston and when I can save money while getting more flight miles for the longer flights...

Chris, you're absolutely right on that point with regards to the cost factor. Through my business I generate a lot of miles which allows us easy access to business class and I guess I was thinking in those terms. Last year we flew to Ireland from the West Coast and it made a big difference flying business or what ever they call it on Aer Lingus.

Former Karrie B here, HI to Chris at Work :D! Not to deviate too far from the subject but we've always rented a car from one of the private car rental places on STJ but have tons of miles to use on either Hertz or Avis, thanks to Hubbie's travels. On a scale of 1-10, how much of a pain is it to rent a car on STT and take it over on the car ferry? I have never researched the schedules but seem to remember one or many posts about the problems with que-ing up to take it over and back. Suggestions anyone?

Welcome back! 😎
We have also considered STT rental given the rate difference. I do not believe the ferry is too much hassle since so many do it without problems. Depending on what season you travel local parking might be a big perk if renting on STJ but the main reason we keep doing it is in case we have car issues. I prefer having local support and don't want that "what if" in the back of my mind during my restful vacation. I guess we feel peace of mind is worth the difference.

Good point Chris, I see you are as wise as you were years ago! I personally would worry about breakdowns, particularly now that you mention it:P. Neither Hubbie nor I are good "car people" and the idea of having to figure out an engine problem on a sacred vacation stinks. Ah well, plane tickets were free so I guess we bite the bullet on the car rental. We'll be at Concordia so avoiding a car isn't possible and we can't move to Maho since their Harmony units were already booked this far ahead much to my surprise.