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When it comes to booking award travel, scheduling flexibility is usually the best way to get a good deal. But what happens when you have no flexibility? That was the situation I found myself in when trying to book flights over Columbus Day weekend. I needed to get my whole family to Albany, NY, for a wedding, and the dates were set in stone.
Like many smaller regional airports with limited service, Albany can be tricky to book flights to. Booking for four people on a holiday weekend made things even tougher. All of the available itineraries were either difficult or outrageously expensive.
Here's how I used a positioning flight to create our own practical solution to a common problem — and saved 44,000 miles in the process.
Page Contents
Reviewing My Flight Options
I started my flight search on Google Flights and didn't find promising options. As I knew, there are no direct flights between my home airport of Houston and Albany, and unfortunately, nothing I found was both affordable and practical. So, I started checking mileage options.
On American Airlines, the least expensive awards were priced at 34,000 AAdvantage miles one way. That would have been 136,000 miles for my family of four. That's a painful amount to spend, especially considering the itineraries weren’t even good.
The options required very long layovers in Charlotte or Washington, D.C., stretching out what should be a relatively short trip into a long travel day. For any more convenient options, the airline demanded upwards of 66,000 one-way per person. No thanks.
Southwest wasn’t any better. Yes, it had flights to Albany, but many required overnight connections or marathon travel days with two stops. The idea of dragging two kids through an overnight connection or sitting in airports all day on a holiday weekend was also a hard no.
United offered 5 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. flights that would have cost nearly 40,000 MileagePlus miles per person, proving to be both inconvenient and expensive. Ideally, we needed to leave in the afternoon because of work schedules.
In short, the options were either too costly, too exhausting, or too early to be practical.
The Lightbulb Moment
When you’re stuck, sometimes it helps to zoom out. Since there weren't any great options from Houston, I pulled up FlightConnections to see which airports offered nonstop service to Albany. That’s when I spotted a gem: American Airlines flies nonstop from Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Albany (ALB).
Even better, there were evening flights available for just 18,000 miles each, which worked significantly better for our schedule. Compared to the 34,000-mile multi-stop itineraries out of Houston, this was a huge win — both smoother and cheaper.
Related: Practical Airline Award Sweet Spots for Families
The Solution: Booking a Positioning Flight
There was, of course, one catch. We’d have to get from Houston to Dallas on our own. Since we will be on a bit of a time-crunch this trip, I eliminated the option to drive between the cities.
Instead, I hopped back on Google Flights to check out flight availability. Luckily, several airlines offer daily service on this popular route, including low-cost carriers, like Spirit, with flights as low as $39.
The option that ended up working best for us, both in timing and cost, was a United segment that I was able to book for just 5,000 United miles per person. Here’s how the math worked out:
- Houston–Dallas/Fort Worth on United: 5,000 miles × 4 tickets = 20,000 miles
- Dallas/Fort Worth–Albany nonstop on American Airlines: 18,000 miles × 4 tickets = 72,000 miles
- Total: 92,000 miles
If I limited myself to booking from Houston, it would have cost at least 34,000 miles per ticket — or 136,000 miles total. By positioning, I saved 44,000 miles. In addition, I saved my family from a stressful itinerary of overnight flights and/or multiple stops.
The Risk Factor of Booking Positioning Flights
It should be noted that booking positioning flights comes with a risk. Having separate tickets means that if the first flight is delayed or canceled, the second airline won’t be aware of it, nor will they protect your connection. You’re on your own.
We felt fairly comfortable with this risk for two reasons. First, there are plenty of flights between Houston and Dallas every day, so I knew that worst-case scenario, we could likely make a last-minute schedule change. We also gave ourselves a generous buffer before the Dallas to Albany departure.
Typically, I like to position the day before when possible to avoid catastrophic delays. This is especially true when positioning for international flights, such as when we positioned to Washington, D.C., for a flight to Spain.
It’s not a strategy I’d use every time, but for this trip, the savings and smoother itinerary made the gamble worth it. All of our fingers are crossed that it pays off. And we will be keeping a close eye on the AwardWallet app for any delays.
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The Bigger Lesson About This Experience
We always say flexibility is the key to good award redemptions. But flexibility doesn’t only mean being open to different dates or destinations. Sometimes it’s about thinking outside the box in other ways. This can include:
- Looking at alternate airports and positioning flights.
- Booking more than one airline or program to make the trip work.
- Spending a little in one currency (cash or miles) to save big in another.
Final Thoughts
By adding a short positioning flight, I was able to save 44,000 miles and book a more convenient itinerary to New York on a busy travel weekend. It took a little extra planning and a willingness to take on some risk, but we're hoping the payoff will be worth it.
Flexibility will always be the cornerstone of award travel, but this experience was a good reminder that flexibility can take different forms. Even when your dates and destination are locked in, creative solutions like positioning flights can still unlock big savings.
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