Earlier I did a $0 trip all with miles and points to Latin America (Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Guatemala). The concept was to spend zero dollars on flights and hotels. That trip was nearly free in every other way too as taxis and what not were paid for via the hotel which I had reimbursed with credit card points.
I’m just finishing up another free trip, this time to Muscat, Oman. So let me introduce the trip with a quick overview.
Free trip to Muscat via Mistake Fares
If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been sharing a lot of mistake fares on the Travel Is Free Facebook Page for the last year or so.
One of these mistake fares included mistake fares to the Middle East and Africa for ~$200. We were able to book this ticket not only to Kenya with a bunch of friends but to Muscat as well the week before.
The best part is that we’re earning miles the entire time. I wrote about these fares in Mileage Running Is Still Alive For Me, and how I’ll be earning miles for the trip. Unfortunately, since booking this trip (and the one to Kenya), earnings on Delta were devalued. The good news is that Alaska now gives its top tier members 125% bonus… on the 50% we earn.
This trip will earn us at least 10,000 miles each (based on what’s already posted). So we spent $200 each, and earned 10,000 miles each. It’s half of a oneway to Europe.
However, when these mistake fares came out, I put them on the Barclay World Arrival card so I can reimburse the flights. Since the flights were a little over $400 and since the Barclay card earns 2% on everything spent… I basically have to spend $20,000 on the card to earn enough points to cover the flight.
I wrote about a previous free MS method of mine, but since that’s not available to me, I’m using a slower method, similar to Target’s RedBird. RedBird can give $5,000 of spend a month for free, per person! Similarly, we’ll need about two months to rack up the free spends to get the $20k and therefore, get the flights covered.
The reason I love mistake fares so much is three fold.
1) This ticket is basically the same cash price as an award ticket because it was nearly 100% taxes… which would be passed on anyways. So if $200 is our standard for an award ticket, this is basically the same. It’s not really more expensive in any way, so passing up the ticket because of the price doesn’t make sense. And yet…
2) You don’t have to use miles at all! Now I can save my miles for another trip and still get to go someplace cool.
3) You earn miles. It’s the opposite of using miles.
What’s better than free?
The flight was long, DC to NYC, to Amsterdam, to Muscat. On the KLM flight to Muscat I was out. I basically woke up for landing.
While getting off the plane the FA apologized for the in-flight entertainment being broken and handed me a voucher.
Broken? I was asleep and hadn’t known. But even if I was awake I’d probably be working. I basically never use the IFE anyways.
Turns out we got €100 in vouchers to Delta, KLM, and Air France. Plus, we also get 4,000 Flying Blue miles. Now in the best circumstances, a oneway to Israel from the US could be as low as 12,500 Flying Blue miles. (See my post on the Best Use of Flying Blue Miles).
I’m sure this will be 1/3 of a ticket to Israel, and basically a free $115 for two tickets that totaled $400 and are going to be reimbursed by my Barclay card.
I’m taking the return ticket today, so wish me a bump!
Muscat, Oman trip Overview
But that’s just the flight to Muscat. Turns out Oman is beautiful, interesting, and a really friendly country for tourists. Women can drive, for example. Which for us isn’t a big deal, but considering that the neighboring countries (except UAE) prohibit such a thing, it’s a big deal. But in general it’s easy to travel around in and very safe.
There are a number of points hotels, so all of our nights were covered with points or free night certificates.
I’ll talk hotel details in an upcoming post, but more importantly is how interesting the culture is. It has been an awesome visit and I can’t wait to show more pictures from the trip.
I guess I have to get onto your Facebook as well!
What method, similar to Redbird, do you use?
I’m with Rick, would love to know what similar method to Redbird you use. Thanks!
I’m glad you got to visit Oman. It definitely has a ton to offer as a tourist destination and you visited at the right time of the year. It should be noted that while, technically, Qatar isn’t a neighboring country, it allows women drivers as well. Qatar certainly doesn’t have as much to see/do as Oman, but if you get the chance I’d definitely recommend spending a few days here (I’ve lived in Qatar for about a year and a half).
Matt – What would you recommend to do on a long layover in Doha?
Going to Oman myself later this year, can’t wait!
Concur with the question, what would be your favorite suggestions for visitors to do in Qatar these days? I haven’t been there in over two decades, and I can see that they’ve been building and building and building….. (and all the controversy over that….) Yet comparing Oman to Qatar…. wow, the ultimate in apples and oranges.
I got a taste of Oman last Dec for 2 nights, it is a nice place. I will definitely come back again with my parents and rent a car to drive around. I slept in the airport the first night I arrive.
A fourth possible reason for liking “mistake fares” is when earning frequent flier loyalty program miles becomes significantly more difficult to earn for those customers who try to save money.
I am scheduled to be in Muscat next month…
I would have just tried to stay in Amsterdam maybe got off for a hidden city. Or is there a way to have a long layover in Amsterdam before the final leg?
How do you find mistake fares? Do you just keep searching flights until they quote the wrong fare?
gooood, loaded question Sylvia…. this is one of those fuzzy areas where Drew will waffle and him and haw (politely, usually ), about how he doesn’t want to “kill a deal” – and thus won’t post tips on how to get mistake fares (and when he does, those posts will get deleted, lest he run afoul of the FT brotherhood.) Yowser. But then, as in here, he builds a post on how he traveled to Oman for free….. but then leaves out the key by which it was free…… And so it goes.
Self-correction, sorry I got toooo snarky in that dated reply. In fairness, yes, I see in going back through the TIF facebook page that Drew indeed posted various alerts last October and November about mistake fares (usually with links to FlyerTalk forums — for which you need to do a lot of code deciphering). Nobody now yelling about “killing a deal”…. Guess we’ll have to follow the TIF/FB page.
A friend & I just returned home last night from our mistake fare trip to Oman. Loved it! We saw so many beautiful places during our 5 day day stay. Thanks for posting the mistake fare; it was a wonderful trip.
Diane, any tips? self-drive trip or did you select a day tour operator? Any suggestions are appreciated.
Drew,
Any thoughts on the best award program to credit these flights to/from Oman on Delta/KLM?
Anybody else come to a conclusion as to where the best place is to credit these KLM (and Delta segments) flights among the various partner programs?