Paris Redux: The 107,000-Mile Ticket?

During the winter holidays in Paris the Eiffel tower and the Champs Elysees are strung with twinkling lights. I’m imagining how beautiful that must be, even as I’m writing from the winter wonderland of Jackson Hole, where our Town Square with its famous antler arches is draped in sparkling blue lights. Still, I dream of visiting Paris at the holidays one year.

For my amusement, I decide to check out flights to Paris in June. As appealing as a winter visit to the City of Lights may sound, I love Paris’s summer café society, the ability to walk everywhere, the parks… I can almost taste the tarts at the charming neighborhood patisseries now.

I know I can’t really take off a month and head to Paris again this summer. I have a business, a daughter, a life. But I figure it won’t hurt just to look to see what tickets are available.

Last year I was surfing the web site and found an irresistible roundtrip ticket to Paris for 60,000 miles – which started this blog in the first place. This year, after plugging in dates, the lowest mileage ticket I can find is 107,000 miles. Convinced that the mileage needed for a ticket will only go up I take a deep breath and press “reserve.” Next I call my credit card company to transfer miles and discover I have exactly enough for the ticket. When I go back to the site to apply the miles to my ticket, however, for some reason my initial reservation is gone and the 107,000-mile ticket has evaporated like morning fog. Now the only available ticket is for 132,000 miles.

I will not have enough miles for a 132,000 mile ticket even if I cash in every mile I have! Panicked (although this all started as an exercise in “what if” to begin with), I call the airline where a very kind person actually manages to find another 107,000 mile ticket. Of course I bought the ticket. So 107,000 is the new 60,000 – and Paris, here I come.