Fellow Planners,
We fly out of a small regional airport to Philly (American) or Newark (United) and their listed tickets in coach are pricey. We get around it two ways. We charge all our monthly paid in full expenses against Cap1 Venture card. That racket up 2 points/$1 spent. Cashing points cab be cash or travel with no blackout dates. It cost us about 60,000 points for two tickets on United this year. The other trick that we've used is the 50,000 miles signing bonus for charging $3,000 in the first three months of an airlines credit card. We flew to Jamaica last winter and we're flying round trip to SFO this fall and Barcelona next winter. That's 3, free round trip fares for 2 people in less than 12 months!
Cash in on your monthly expenses and charge them to a good rewards card. As good planners know, prior proper planning prevents piss poor performance!