Pre-booking flights for weekend trips

After a recent long weekend trip to San Francisco, I’ve become quite amenable to taking more trips on weekends. As I live in Seattle, Alaska Airlines has become my primary go-to airline, since this is their primary hub. Combined with my AAdvantage Platinum status, which is oneworld Sapphire, I get comfortable benefits when flying on Alaska.

I have an Amex Platinum card that I use to book airfares. Recently, Amex had their Membership Appreciation Week, and one of the offers they provided for a limited time was this amazing deal where you get $100 back if you spend $500 or more on Alaska airfares. That’s up to 20% back if you spend exactly $500, and that’s on top of the 5x points you always get on airfare.

As all this requires is $500 in spend, I’m planning on booking a few weekend trips to reach this amount. At my current job, I can work remotely on Mondays and Fridays as needed, so my goal is to fly out on Thursday evening and fly back on Sunday afternoon or evening.

Usually, I book refundable tickets in case a last-minute work cancelation requires me to cancel, despite the higher cost associated with them. If I need to change plans, I’ll be sure to book a nonrefundable fare (that’s not basic economy). Now, why would I go out of my way to book a fare with worse terms? If I want to keep this $100 statement credit, I can’t be getting refunds. Therefore, I want Alaska trip credits instead if I really need to cancel the flight. I travel on Alaska frequently enough that these trip credits will be usable in case I must cancel.

So now, I must decide by November 14 where I wish to go! Plane tickets to West Coast destinations from Seattle are looking very appealing, and I’m looking for a way to escape the winter depression.