Flashes of Panic

I’ve mentioned this before. But earlier this week I made reservations for a flight using frequent flyer miles. (Yes, JohnL, you may assume I’m headed your direction again.) I have enough miles for a cheap ticket on three different airlines, assembled over the last six or seven years. (Mergers may bring me another ticket sometime soon.)

I checked Delta, which offered to sell me a ticket on the right dates, but with lousy travel times (arrive at 11 PM, depart at 6 AM). Before committing to this, I tried my other two airlines, and sure enough, Continental would do the same dates for the same price (miles plus fees) with better travel times.

Of course, Continental barely flies out of one of my departing city and doesn’t go to my destination at all. The flights I’m booked on all have Delta numbers. It seems bizarre to me that to get the better flight times on the same airline, what I needed to do was use Continental miles, not Delta miles.