Can a trip with an infant be a vacation? I’m about to find out. We are about to head to Europe for a quick family trip. As usual, I’m excited for some new destinations, like orlando hotels near disney, and experiences, and want to share it here.
Yep, another excuse to show off this photo
Trip preview
We are going to Denmark (a new country for all of us), and then a have a few days in Switzerland (using a free night from the Milestone promotion, and then points to stay at the wonderful Park Hyatt Zurich) before heading home. We picked some very expensive cities, and even though neither place is on the Euro, the US dollar is still doing pretty well against those local currencies. Our stays are fully covered with hotel points, many of them nearly for free from a Club Carlson promo from a few years ago. Redeeming Club Carlson in Scandinavia is a good option since there are multiple options there.
For our flights, we are burning through my stash of United miles for Lufthansa Business Class. Both longhaul flights will be in Lufthansa’s newest Business configuration with a flatbed seat. This will be my first time in this seat, and only my second flight in Lufthansa Business Class long haul. I didn’t plan ahead well enough to get the reduced rates United was offering earlier this year, so it was a painful 140,000 United miles per person for Business Class on this trip. I have paid less than that for First Class to Asia via Europe…oh well. That’s where we are today since the massive devaluation of Mileage Plus. I still have quite a few miles to burn, plus a stash of Chase points. Even at this high price, this is my preferred use of Mileage Plus: Zero flights on United.
I’m excited to bring my daughter on our first adventure to a foreign country. The first flight is a late night departure, so hopefully she’ll be able to sleep for most of it. That’s the plan anyway! We didnt’ book a seat for her, rather we reserved bassinet seats. Since it was a United redemption, we had to pay 10% of the full fare for this cabin for the lap infant.
United ticketing issues
Not surprisingly, dealing with United was a hassle. I have to admit, it has been pretty refreshing not to deal with this regularly anymore. I had to call back once to deal with a ticket syncing issue since Lufthansa didn’t see the infant request. Of course both airlines played the blame game, but it was a United issue. I later added a few more flights within Europe, and this didn’t ticket properly, so I had to call back and get United to re-issue these yet again. But I now have both confirmations and receipts, so I *think* things are good to go. We have the 2 longhaul flights on Lufthansa, plus intra-Europe flights on Lufthansa and Swiss, all in Business Class.
Looking forward to a fun trip with the family. Any recommendations for Copenhagen or anything else?
