{"id":4549,"date":"2022-05-24T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesearnandburn.com\/?p=4549"},"modified":"2023-04-18T11:41:02","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T17:41:02","slug":"last-minute-airfare-and-mileage-hacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesearnandburn.com\/index.php\/2022\/05\/24\/last-minute-airfare-and-mileage-hacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Last-Minute Airfare and Mileage Hacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h4>\n

This weekend\u2019s thunderstorms in Maryland<\/a> and DC<\/a> wreaked havoc on travelers all over the US, primarily because canceled flights led to lack of crew and aircraft downstream. With US carriers seeing load factors above 90%<\/a>, recovery times are long and last-minute fares are sky-high to boot. When events like this happen though, it\u2019s an opportunity for travel hackers to get (relatively) inexpensive last-minute fares provided that the weather can somehow work its way into your travel plans.<\/p>\n

Booking Into a Waiver<\/h4>\n

Let\u2019s say on Saturday I decided that I wanted to fly from BOS to MCO on Sunday or Monday because reasons. Unfortunately, last-minute airfares were north of $500 one-way for a desirable, direct flight, and because mileage rates are often directly tied to fares in the US market, mileage redemption values were terrible too.<\/p>\n

But, there\u2019s a way out. It starts with checking for travel waivers with the major airlines, and then trying to shoehorn a bad, cheap itinerary into what you actually want. To pull the stunt off:<\/p>\n