Hurrah for frequent flyer miles (not mine though)

Earlier this academic year, I did my first transfer flight to Oxford. There are no direct flights out of Bradley, my local airport, so usually we drove down to New Jersey and I'd fly from there. As my third year rolled in, this got to be troublesome. And when my parents came to visit me, they did a transfer flight out of Bradley (through Canada) and survived, so I figured, why not give it a shot.

My regular airline is Virgin Atlantic. When I did my first transfer, I flew United down to Washington (IAD) and transfered to Virgin from there. The experience was not pleasant. It seemed as though neither airline had ever dealt with a transfer flight before. So, for my next flight, I decided to explore alternative options.

When I found out I'd be going home over the Easter vac (I don't usually), I decided to take a trip to San Francisco to see my friend and old neighbor Chrissie. My dad offered me his frequent flyer miles, which happened to be on US Airways. While I was looking up flights, I decided to see if the miles would cover Bradley to London, which they did - and left him miles to spare! My dad was happy for me to use them - he got the miles from his business trips and had no plans for redeeming them any time soon, so it worked out well. I got to fly round trip for $137 (the cost of fees), and it was very easy. I also liked dealing with a single airline much better.

Anyway, now it's time for me to plan my next trip back. I'll come back after my sister's wedding and return in August this time around. My dad didn't have enough miles for another trip on US Airways (he still has enough for a good local trip, though), but he had plenty of miles on Delta this time. I got a flight on Delta (actually, operated by Northwest) for $221. This time it's routed through Michigan, but I don't mind because my parents' flight through Canada was similarly routed. And on the way home I fly Business Class into Detroit, and First Class home to Bradley!

Yay for frequent flyer miles. I may have used most of them up now, but it's made my year much cheaper.

Off to the Hertford College library to copy verses out of the Bible. Yay!