Travel Delays, Voucher, More Personal Travel?

Yesterday I flew back home from BWI to Atlanta on Delta. I arrived quite early to the airport to beat traffic and get a little work done on my laptop. I was on the last flight out of the day. The plane we were supposed to get on had mechanical issues.

Two hours later than the scheduled 7PM departure we are boarding. I get in my exit row seat (as usual) extra tired from the long day. Once in the air I write my official complaint to Delta. It was their fault I got home after midnight end felt they should compensate me somehow for it.

Today I got a response and they are giving me a $50 travel credit. Fair considering we left 2 hours later than scheduled. This got me thinking and now I am looking into a weekend trip to New Orleans (one of my favorite cities in the US) for voodoo music fest in October. Between the $50 and another voucher my ticket should be close to free.

I am not completely done planning for Asia but mostly there. I am waiting on airfare sales from the discount airlines there and have a few loose ends to take care of but I am ready to go tomorrow if I had too. I am excited!

This got me thinking about next year and the 100,000 mile British Airways bonus I am sitting on. Thanks to some learning about the ins and outs of their system I determined that I can use the miles to get myself and my girlfriend to Easter Island off of Chile for 40,000 miles round trip in coach. Awesome! I have always wanted to go to Easter Island and it is a very expensive place to get too. This is my chance!

This is a great case for planning ahead. I start figuring it all out now and nab the award tickets when available. In this case I am thinking April 2012 for a week and the rules allow me to include 2 stops in Argentina on my way back. It will be a bit of a fast trip but it makes the best use of my miles at the same time. Either way I am excited for the possibilities!