Flight Plans

“I want to go to the wedding, Dad, but a ticket from Beirut to Chattanooga costs $1500, Dad.” Darius explained.

“That i$ a lot of money, Dar,” I replied.

“Or..”

“Or?”

“Or – I could use 100,000 frequent flyer miles.”

“Do you have 100,000 miles?”

“No, but I have 90,000 miles and Qatar Airways is a member of ‘my’ alliance. Do you think I should go to Bangladesh or Sri Lanka?”

“Excuse me?”

“I can take either trip for $350, earn the 10,000 miles that I need and get a free trip to Chattanooga. I even get to visit a country that you’ve never seen. Bangladesh or Sri Lanka?”

“I better book my trip to Antarctica if I want to stay ahead of him,” I thought. “Well...” I said.

“It’s a great idea, Dad. Right?”

“Are you sure you’ll get full mileage credit for your trip to, eh, Sri Lanka?” [“Bangladesh is under water,” I thought.] “Sometimes cheap flights don’t give full mileage credit.”

“I’ll probably..”

“Probably? Have you confirmed that frequent flyer seats are available on the day you want to go to Chattanooga?”

“Hmm..”

“Don’t worry,” I replied. “If you have scheduling difficulties, I’ll just ask Nazy to ask Saphura to change the wedding day.”

“You’ll do what?” Nazy interrupted.

“This is a man-to-man conversation with my son, Nazy. Why are you listening in?”

I will provide an update on whether this worked after the wedding.