Thanks. I booked the ticket on Chase Unlimited Reward's travel site. I used a bunch of Ultimate Reward points to pay for a portion of the ticket. But United issued the future travel credit, because they said I had to cancel the trip on their site before I could submit the request to see if I could possibly get a refund. (The site would only submit the request for a canceled ticket). But the credit was issued to Chase Ultimate Rewards travel. When I go to travel credits and look it up on United's website, all that shows up is a blurb that says "This reservation is already canceled. Please contact the original ticketing agency to rebook your trip." And it says the credit is good until December 31, 2023. That's it. So I have to do any rebooking through Chase, who are considered the ticketing agency. But it hasn't shown up on Chase's site yet, either. Chase's site still shows it as an active trip (and I did call Chase to let them know the ticket had been cancelled on Friday). I'm hoping it hasn't shown up yet because it's the weekend, and I'll see the credit there tomorrow some time. I will be calling Chase tomorrow to verify what's going on. And calling United. And calling my trip insurance company. Sigh. Such a mess for half a day!
You answered your own question.
You are talking about traveling with your family, not alone. I *do* travel alone. I mentioned in the post you quoted that I wasn't comfortable traveling alone in a country where I don't speak the language. I got lost in Florence, and it was quite uncomfortable not being able to communicate with anyone who could tell me how to get back to where I wanted to be. No one I spoke to spoke English. I lucked out that it was the middle of the afternoon, I had plenty of time to figure it out (it was before cell phones) and I did eventually make it back to my destination. And that's really only one reason (not that I really need to provide reasons -- it's just how I feel). I like knowing that someone expects me to be at a certain place at a certain time and will come looking for me if I don't show up. I will do short trips on my own in foreign countries, but I'm just not comfortable with doing it for 11 days. I also like the continuity of having the same people around for the duration of the trip, that shared experience, who you can turn to and say "OMG, did you see that?". Who can understand what you're seeing in the context of the rest of the trip. I just enjoy that.
I love Chase points, too, but I will never book through their travel portal again!
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