[russia06]

As we are now waiting for Trip Two, and we am going through some financial stuff, we thought we would mention a few ways we have learned to save a few dollars while going through this (We just wish someone had told me about this before hand).

If we were to do start now, with what we know now, first thing we would do is get a Marriott Rewards Number and then apply for a Marriott Visa card. Put all your adoption expences on that card, so you get the reward points. You also pick up 15,000 points for simply signing up. Also start talking to your friends and family and find out if anyone has reward points that they can give you to help you out. Marriott will let people transfer points to you (there is a trap we will get to in a moment). We have in less then 2 weeks been given almost 100,000 points (about 1/3 of what we will need for trip 2). At the same time, talk to people about frequent flyer miles. A friend of DH's sister had 170,000 miles on US Air that they donated to our cause. We are going to use them on trip 2 to fly Business Class round-trip. We figure that gives us a little extra leg room with our little guy. Lastly (and we did this one), get your own FedEx and UPS accounts, and give them a credit card number to charge to. We then gave our agency our account numbers, and had them charge all of our shipping costs directly to us. This avoids a mark up, also both shipping companies have lower rates if you have an active account and autobill to a credit card.

Now for the Marriott trap. . .

Call Marriott and let them know what you are doing. Get the name of one person at Marriott and deal exclusively with him/her. What will happen is when you get a list of people, get all their information (Name / Account # / Phone / Fax). When your are ready to make a reservation, call your person at Marriott, make your reservation , and then FAX to the person you have already talked to all the information and have them send all these people the formal request for transfer form. Your friends / family will sign it, then get it to you to sign, and you will FAX it back to Marriott. The trap is, technically Marriott can not transfer points until with those points there is enough to complete the reservation. Since we are getting the points peace-meal (3,000 here, 10,000 here, 17,000 here, etc), some people who contacted Marriott were told that even with their points we would not have enough to complete the reservation. DH had to call Marriott several times, before getting a person who understood what was going on and would then be our point person.

(An 18 night stay is almost 300,000 points.) You can also buy points. They cost $10 per 1,000 points. This is still cheaper then the outragous prices at the Marriott.

Knowing how much we are all spending, and how expensive the travel costs are, anything you can do to reduce that is a good thing.

Now here's hoping we get our date for trip two soon. . .

JB (RB's DH)

[SingleMama2B]

HI JB.... My best friend and her husband did this for me for both of my trips! I was extremely lucky. They both traveled for years (with their jobs), and insisted do ing this for me (very grateful to say the least). I also wanted eveyone to make sure they use the "Adoption Code" when making reservations, as this will help alittle with the daily rate....

Here is an example:

USING the Adoption Code of A23:
Renaissance Moscow (Marriott owned)
2 adults, regular room (crib not extra)
$270 per night

Compared to:
No Adoption code used:
2 adults
$395 per night for the same room!!!

This is just an example, so if you go with Marriott, make sure you use the Adoption Code!!!

[GCS]

we had so many Marriott points saved and a bunch of freq flier miles we thought we were going to really save a lot of money.

In the end we got our referrals from Vladivostok and our agency does not even have you fly into Moscow when you adopt from the Far East. We never got to use the Marriott points for the adoption (although we did get to take a nice family vacation with them later - so not all was lost) as there was not a Marriot in Vlad. As for the freq flier miles. We had so little notice we could not use them at all trip one - we did get to use them trip 2 and that saved us a lot of money, but it was disappointing that all our savings didnt help much towards our bottom line!

[NeedsANap]

Thanks! Ideas like this are brilliant for those of us who haven't even really begun the process...if I get a Marriott CC now it could really add up by the time I actually get to that point!

[pequele]

yes I thought tix bought with FF miles aren't changeable. Use or lose was my understanding. I've been saving them for the adoption but once I heard this I figured why bother?

For anyone who has successfully used them, did you ever have to change dates after the purchase? How did that work out?

[SingleMama2B]

Hi Pequele.... I wasn't able to use or even have enough, as I had 5 days notice to be IN Russia, but I have heard that IF you purchase the "Changeble" ticket. In 2004, an aquaintance did this, as their tickets where more expensive (more points) as if you where paying $$$. I would check into this to see if it still holds true.... They returned earlier then booked, and it didn't matter as they had a changeable ticket. Just a thought to see about..... I did not, and flew with Delta, I had to spend $200 in Moscow to change my return date with a encono, non-changeable ticket!

[Ktates]

I have read on this board that some people had a hard time using their Marriott points in Moscow. We signed up and I get the frequent flier miles to my American Airlines account, rather than actual Marriot rewards.

We did use Frequent flier miles on American with 4 days notice (in December) with no problem - We had to change our tickets trip 2 and we had no problems with that either (in Jan with 2 weeks notice) - they didn't charge us extra either - so it was worth it for us to do the ff miles on American.

[Katie63011]

We used Delta Frequent Fliers on three of our six flights to Moscow on our last adoption. On some we were able to use 50,000 point tickets which are hader to use and to change later. On others we used 100,000 pt tickets and they were as good as adoption fare. As long as their was a seat on the plane available, you could change the ticket. It was 100,000 points for a coach ticket. We never had a ton of notice for our trips, anything from three days to 10 days. You have to be persistent and call back often to see if any have come available. In one case, we flew into Atlanta and stayed over night as the domestic portion was available on one day, int'l the next. A lot of the time there more issues getting us to JFK or Atlanta than to Moscow. Get a reservationist who wants to help you and you will be amazed at what they can find.

Katie

[pequele]

thanks for the info on the tix. will have to check into my program as it gets closer....in the meantime it is accrue accrue accrue!!!

[Jamie_McCue]

Ktates,

Good to hear about the American miles. We are banking on using ours as well. I have been a bit concerned about the short notice dates but it does not seem as though that will be a problem. Hopefully that is just one less thing we have to worry about .