I'm looking for feedback on using RCI points for air tickets and/or car rentals. If I decide to convert my weeks to points, I'll have a few hundred thousand points for weeks that would otherwise go unused. I would be giving up potential income when I deposit my points. But, I've calculated that the projected income is less than the value of the points that I'd receive.
I have plenty of vacation accomodation possibilities right now. I don't need another exchange. Even the kids are tiring of Orlando. So, those new points would be used to offset the costs of getting from point A to point B. I generally fly 4-6 times a year, usually purchasing 4 tickets for each flight and the airfare is taking a chunk out of my bank account. So, I'd love to use my week assets, which I'm not using and are not generating much income and convert them into something I can actually use, like airfare and car rentals.
From looking at the info from the RCI website and from talking to a VC, it looks like flights to HI would cost me about 70K points and flights within the continental U.S. would cost about 40K.
If you've used points for airline tickets or car rentals, how easy has it been to get the flights you want? Have you flown to HI or Europe? Can you get, say a minivan or SUV for points? I've been well trained as a weeks owner, so I plan waaay ahead. Is the availability of flights different 11 months/6 months/2 months ahead? Or is it similar to booking through the airlines? Any other feedback for a points newbie?
TIA
I have plenty of vacation accomodation possibilities right now. I don't need another exchange. Even the kids are tiring of Orlando. So, those new points would be used to offset the costs of getting from point A to point B. I generally fly 4-6 times a year, usually purchasing 4 tickets for each flight and the airfare is taking a chunk out of my bank account. So, I'd love to use my week assets, which I'm not using and are not generating much income and convert them into something I can actually use, like airfare and car rentals.
From looking at the info from the RCI website and from talking to a VC, it looks like flights to HI would cost me about 70K points and flights within the continental U.S. would cost about 40K.
If you've used points for airline tickets or car rentals, how easy has it been to get the flights you want? Have you flown to HI or Europe? Can you get, say a minivan or SUV for points? I've been well trained as a weeks owner, so I plan waaay ahead. Is the availability of flights different 11 months/6 months/2 months ahead? Or is it similar to booking through the airlines? Any other feedback for a points newbie?
TIA