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Looking for advice for a family of 8 traveling from either DAY or CVG to RNO (Reno/Tahoe) next summer. Exact dates TBD but probably towards the end of July / beginning of August.

I have about ~110,000 Chase points. I applied for both the Southwest cards last month in hopes of getting the companion pass but was denied for the Business card . I am hoping to apply for it again in a few months if/when the 50K bonus re-appears in hopes of getting the companion pass for 2013-14. I also have a smattering of other points in other places, and have at least one churn coming up between now and then in case I need to stock up on some things.

I do realize that conventional wisdom says that redeeming for domestic travel is usually not considered "optimal" but with a family of 8, booking some of those more "premier" rewards is a bit... tricky shall we say.

I know that Southwest is devaluing on March 31st, and that currently I can't even book for July or August, but I did take a look at far out availability and it seems like:

DAY-DEN-RNO is 15,300 miles ($277) one way, which would be 214,200 Rapid Rewards points for 7 seats (+1 if I can't get the companion pass). That compares to $3,878 if I bought 7 tickets at that price. I am not clear as to how much prices will fluctuate.

Anyone out there have better options?

Our itinerary is potentially fairly flexible, in that if the deal was right, we might be able to spend a day or two as a "stopover", though obviously with small kids, non-stop flights are even more preferable than they usually are.

 

I can't suggest a particular alternative, but you may find it helpful to split your party into two groups. Finding eight award seats on the same flights will be challenging, to say the least.

 

If you want the CP, don't spend the $2000 on your SW card until after your December statement posts, and apply for another SW card next Feb or March. Then your points will all count for 2014, and you are likely to be able to get the CP. If you have other good uses for your Chase points, they may be worth more. If not, go for it but check out booking with points through the UR mall first. Also, check the points price an Southwest for less passengers; 8 may be pushing your fare up. If it is lower for 3 or 4, you can book those at the lower price and the rest at the higher price.

 

Southwest might have a sale between now and next summer too

 

You are very close to qualifying as a group. Southwest is 10 people. Not sure about the other airlines but group bookings sometimes offer a nice discount or flexible items not offered in normal tickets such as name change or date changes. Might want to pay for tickets and use miles for something else