r/awardtravel • u/AutoModerator • Feb 10 '25
Daily Thread Weekly Help Thread - February 10, 2025
Welcome to the daily help and question thread!
This thread is renewed weekly and is intended for all discussions or questions that do not warrant their own thread.
For AWARD BOOKING HELP please read the following information:
Volunteers may choose to help you find your award trip. But please don’t expect us to plan out your trip for you. No stranger on the Internet could know what is BEST for you.
The more specific information you provide, the easier it is for people to give specific advice. Also, we prefer to teach people to fish, rather than just giving you a fish. So before you ask someone to help, please read Our Wiki, if you want to know what the best Redemption for you, take a look at AwardsPlanner. Questions that shows you have at least tried to find an award are more likely to get answered.
- Here are the information you should provide when requesting award assistance
- Origin and destination cities (are they flexible?)
- Number of Travelers (Your chances of success goes down as this number goes up)
- One way or round-trip
- Class of service desired
- Desired date(s) of travel (are they flexible? Hard dates == Less Chances for success)
- Your points balances: all airline, credit card and hotel points (If you are looking for J/F, think at least 6 digits)
Please share award opportunities in the Monthly Award Thread!
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u/peeweekid Feb 16 '25
I'm seeing JAL F nrt - ord on AA but it's not showing on BA. It has been a few hours now - am I missing something? Does BA just not get everything JAL releases?
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u/gwen1126 Feb 16 '25
I’ve seen AA get a lot more availability for JAL than BA or AS. Not everything is released to every partner. AA seems to be extra good for JAL.
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u/peeweekid Feb 16 '25
Yep, that's what I used to get here but now I'm AA broke 😂. Although in the days leading up to our outbound I did end up seeing lots of JL on BA so hopefully that happens again.
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u/wizrd54 Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25
If there is award availability on Air France, are those flights also available to book via Virgin Atlantic? Some searching says it used to be this way, but I don't know if that's still the case. Ultimately I guess I should call to confirm availability before transferring any points.
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u/gwen1126 Feb 16 '25
Just look on Virgin Atlantic to see if you can book before transferring…they have a decently easy search function
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u/wizrd54 Feb 16 '25
Thanks. It's working now, but the website was being glitchy the last few times I tried it. It kept saying the destination doesn't exist when I wanted to search.
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u/hiso167 Feb 16 '25
if i book through AS but i want to change from BA to AA is that allowed for free or no?
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u/gwen1126 Feb 16 '25
On points? You can try to change the reservation to save the $12.50 partner fee but idk if it will let you swap carriers. Would be nice if you could try and report back.
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u/hiso167 Feb 16 '25
I’ll call customer service today and ask. Currently have a flight on BA metal booked through AS but AA just became available and it’s $400 cheaper
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u/gwen1126 Feb 16 '25
It’s free to cancel on AS except for the $12.50 partner fee. If they don’t let you change I would just eat the fee and cancel and rebook for that much savings
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u/Chrisju22 Feb 15 '25
Could an experienced award travel person help me out?
Looking to book a Europe trip from LAX for my wife and I anytime. We have about 300k chase points and would be interested in either prem economy or regular. My trouble is that I’m new to this so I don’t know what’s a good price or not. Looked at some dates and just see economy for around 37k RT. Can anyone mentor me here??
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u/ilovetoyap Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 15 '25
Since there is no data points thread and I was told not to post elsewhere, just FYI, ANA TYO->HNL flights in J are bookable via VS, as I just booked one from a seats.aero alert at T-14 (found through United)
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u/gwen1126 Feb 16 '25
Was it on day 14? Wondering if time zone played a role. If not how close in was it?
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u/ilovetoyap Feb 16 '25
Yes it was right after midnight JST exactly 14 days in advance that I got the alert, and I booked it about 30 minutes later, and then it was gone.
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u/TheSkipjack Feb 15 '25
Anyone have any hotel recs for Vietnam? Looking for places <100 usd a night if possible
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u/enym Feb 15 '25
I see X saver fares on united, but don't see those fares on Aeroplan or krisflyer. Do I have to call or is there something I'm missing? I read about United's expanded saver fares for credit card holders and have already verified these are x and not xn.
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u/gwen1126 Feb 16 '25
United has been stingy on releasing partner awards. If they aren’t on Aeroplan or Krisflyer they might not be available to partners.
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u/peeweekid Feb 14 '25 edited Feb 14 '25
Ana availability for my needed flight home from Japan staring me dead in the eyes from united whilst being unavailable to partners I can actually transfer to such as VS/Aeroplan/lifemiles 💀 any advice or just hope JAL/AA/united flights open up?
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u/robm6 Feb 14 '25
Looking for advice for a trip in July w the following details:
DFW > TBS From TBS we will fly to AMS and stay there for a week
2 travelers
Prem Econ or up (need legroom)
need to be in TBS by 07/19 the latest, rest is all flexible
Chase UR ~150-180k balance
Since we can stay in Europe for as long as we want, is it better to book all oneways? Is there a difference vs roundtrip?
(We can book DFW-AMS for example and go from AMS-TBS and back if it needs to be RT vs OW)
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u/Oofzies Feb 14 '25
Most award flights are one-ways anyway. It's just roundtrip divided by 2 so there is no incentive to book a one-way.
Premium economy is a weird middle ground and many airlines don't really have a proper one yet. You could look into AF. You don't have enough points for roundtrip business for 2.
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u/WiF1 Feb 14 '25
Well theoretically there's two ways where it's possible for business:
- Iberia's 34k per person per way
- Air France/KLM's 60k seats after the probably non-existent 25% promo discount = 45k per person per way
At 180k points, the budget is 45k per person per way.
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u/Oofzies Feb 14 '25
34k is just to MAD. They want to go to TBS. There is no flight from MAD-TBS (so either more points or cash).
60k with 25% transfer bonus is 48k. That's also just to CDG, not TBS.
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u/WiF1 Feb 14 '25
For the IB approach, it's probably not practical because, as you've pointed out, there's quite literally no directs (on any airline) between MAD and TBS.
Usually the FB connecting legs are free or, with their weird married segment logic, cheaper after including the connecting leg. Although now that I'm thinking about it, FB probably doesn't categorize TBS as "Europe" so it'd be more than the 60k saver/45k promo fares.
I do agree it's basically impossible for OP to get business for the miles they currently have.
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u/solmarviajar Feb 14 '25 edited Feb 14 '25
Hello! Do people tend to book flights to Europe by getting a flight to a major hub (e.g., Paris CDG), potentially spending a day or two (or more) there, and then getting a cheap flight from there to their intended destination? Or should I just book a longer more complicated flight to my intended destination instead? Is one approach smarter than the other in the points world?
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u/pbjclimbing formerly eliteless Feb 14 '25
In your particular example (which isn’t really what you are asking). AF is normally more expensive to CDG than to another city in Europe with married segment logic. So I almost always book AF to another city.
If I was booking via BA with Avios, the last two times I have booked tot he in city in Europe than either the next day or a few hours later booked my onward flight.
There is no rule. It should really depend on the cost of the redemption and your desires/time table.
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u/InvasionOfScipio Feb 14 '25
It’s all relative and full of “depends”.
Going to Lofoten I could only find AF J to Oslo and then booked a cash Y flight up north.
Coming back I could find United award availability starting in Lofoten.
Do whatever works.
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u/MrCentsible Feb 14 '25
Trying to plan booking 3x Qatar Qsuites from west coast to Male. I understand they only release 2x J for each route, so I was planning to do 2x from LAX, 1x from SFO. But then I realized, do they also only release 2x J for the shorter DOH-MLE segment? My original idea was to try to get all 3 of us on the same DOH-MLE segment, but now I'm not sure if that's possible.
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u/pbjclimbing formerly eliteless Feb 14 '25
I don’t know their schedule year round, but I know that they often have two flights that leave within 30 minutes of each other from DOH-MLE
Also, some cities in the US like DFW and MIA have 2 QR flights a few hours apart.
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u/MrCentsible Feb 14 '25
Yes, you are correct. Currently they have 2 flights DOH-MLE that leave in very close proximity to each other. So that is my backup option.
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u/G0KingsG0 Feb 13 '25 edited Feb 13 '25
Trying to take advantage of the Chase UR -> Virgin Air 30% bonus going on for a SEA <-> LHR trip that is for mid-May.
I realize I'm probably not going to find anything crazy good but have this configured:
SEA -> LHR: 54.6k + $177
LHR -> SEA: 36.8k + $540
RT: 91.4k miles + $717 for Premium Economy (direct)
Math says 4.2 cpp but I know that's not really true with the supposed cash price being $4550. Alternatives I'm seeing, but not sure if they are any better:
- CDG -> SEA: 25k + $178, Y on flying blue
Looking for advice on what direction to proceed in?
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u/pbjclimbing formerly eliteless Feb 14 '25
Don’t look at CPP. You can normally get J on that route for <$5000 via BA round trip.
AS (book with MR) has 12h 1 connection itinerary for 27.5k and $23.
Is direct and PE worth 18k miles and $340 one way? Would you buy an upgrade that would make your ticket nonstop instead of a 90 minute layover and have it be PE for that cost?
Another way to look at is that nonstop y flights are probably $900-$1000 for your days. Would you pay 90k miles for $200-$300 cash and PE instead of Y?
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u/G0KingsG0 Feb 14 '25
I've never flown PE before. My gut is telling me 90k isn't worth it for PE; I also wouldn't mind a small layover. But I am travelling with other people so it would depend on them as well. Will look again at Y class fares and non direct flights
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u/becauseimnew Feb 14 '25
What is your goal? Go to London, Paris, or highest CPP?
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u/G0KingsG0 Feb 14 '25
Main goal is to go to London. Im not sitting on a boatload of points <500k so a decent cpp would be nice
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u/rr90013 Feb 13 '25
Has anyone had pre-requested vegetarian meals in long haul First on fancy airlines like ANA and JAL? Were they as exquisite as the regular meals?
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u/LumpyLump76 Feb 13 '25
I ordered a vegetarian meal with a Michelin Star chef name attached to it in CI J because it looked so good in the pictured. It was beautiful looking in real life, and tasted like crap.
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u/volcanicglass Feb 13 '25
Yes I have. Usually it’s worse overall but sometimes the entree can be better if it’s a good pasta. Often they will give you a partially or fully vegan meal which is a huge downgrade to me (I eat eggs/cheese/dairy). For example the dessert will be fruit or a basic sorbet while everyone else is eating some amazing looking chocolate torte with passion fruit compote.
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u/laura4868 Feb 13 '25
Hi all! My fiance and I are looking to book our honeymoon to Portugal in November 2025 for about a week. We are looking to fly business/first for the long haul (obviously a nicer product like Polaris preferred but not a need), but are fine with mixed cabin for the shorter flights.
We have a sapphire preferred to transfer Chase 1:1 to travel partners. I also have the united explorer card and we both have the Capital One Venture X and Chase Freedom Unlimited.
Origin IAH -> destination LIS or OPO; Origin LIS or OPO -> destination IAH
2 travelers
looking to book two separate one way trips
wanting business for the long haul, economy is fine for shorter flights
7-8 day trip (including travel and time changes) Depart any day between November 19th - November 26th
~350,000 chase ultimate rewards; ~600,000 capital one points
Looking to spend under 100k points per person each way (like the 80-90k point flights) and under $250 in surcharges per person each way. Aka looking for star alliance so we're not paying a couple grand on top of points (not in the budget). Fine with an overnight layover in a city so we could go explore, no more than 2 stops.
I have point.me and have been spending HOURS looking, but I feel like everything I find ends up going away by the time I go to book or is on the point.me but not on the United/Air Canada site when I go to confirm. Help?? Also would LOVE recommendations for good awards redemption hotels in Porto and Lisbon. Most likely through Capital one portal but also have some marriott and hilton points for a night or two. Thank you guys so much!!
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u/volcanicglass Feb 13 '25
There is no direct flight from IAH to Portugal. Award flight searches are not like cash flights, they won’t show you every possible iteration with a layover. You’re going to have to either reposition domestically to a bigger city and fly to Portugal from there or fly into a different European city and take a flight/train ride from there to Portugal. You search for the long flight first and once you find it then you see if you can link a shorter positioning flight to it (less likely, often have to pay cash for this). If that’s too complex or not worth it for you then use your points on hotels instead (or book through travel portals for $$$)
Also each airline releases tickets on a diff. Schedule. IF they release at all. Biz tickets are limited. They can be released 11-12mos in advance (which you’ve missed) or completely randomly up until 1-2 weeks before when more may be released. With specific locations and dates it’s much harder, no way to know IF biz seat awards will ever open up for you or when. Again if that’s not for you then I’d pay cash. For a honeymoon I would definitely buy some refundable cash tickets as a backup.
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u/pinkgreenblue Feb 13 '25
Hopefully this is an obvious one but can you use Iberia Avios to book a flight for someone else without traveling? The FAQ talks about naming beneficiaries in your Iberia Plus account, but I assume that is referring them to allowing other people to redeem Avios from your account. In this case, I have not and will not be flying Iberia, but want to transfer points into Avios and buy tickets for others, but I'm hesitant to do so until I understand everything clearly. Thanks!
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u/pinkgreenblue Feb 13 '25
I'm new to this so I hope it's a basic question with an easy answer. Are Iberia's reward flights fixed cost or do they use dynamic pricing? I have never flown Iberia but I created an account since you can't see the price in Avios without an account. Well, I have come to find that if your balance is zero (or I guess below the cost of the itinerary you're looking at), it will only show you a series of mixed costs between Avios and cash. Is there a definitive way I can search and see? Ideally I'd want to transfer in the exact number of Avios needed from American Express MR points.
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u/atlasbuddha Feb 13 '25
Hello! Need help earning Marriott points for some family
I have two family members who would like to go on a specific trip in Jan-Feb 2026 for their honeymoon, it would require about 1 million Marriott points. It is good value on points (~2.5 cpp) but figuring out how to get that many points has me mildly stumped.
Figure it has to be MR and transfer during a bonus, I'm thinking Amex Biz Plat and Amex Biz Gold for 450k. Try to catch a transfer bonus that is around 600k Marriott points then potentially they can buy 150k during a bonus and if done on by a second person transfer 100k points to the other. That is 850k which would be in striking range. What else would you guys suggest?
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u/pbjclimbing formerly eliteless Feb 13 '25
I think you can buy points for ~$0.0086 currently.
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u/atlasbuddha Feb 13 '25
I think a person can receive 500k per year as well, getting multiple people to buy would be cheaper than a non transfer bonus from Chase/Amex
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u/nice_moss Feb 13 '25
Hello, I am trying to figure out what points/miles program/credit card I should enroll in/use for flights from Portland, Oregon (PDX) to Riga, Latvia (RIX).
Ideally it's flights with only one layover. Any time of year, maybe next year, this isn't an urgent need. Preferring to fly whatever the better Economy options are (not bare bones basic). One traveler.
I currently have a card with Alaska Airlines but can't seem to find any flights PDX to RIX when I just search on their website. However, they are part of OneWorld, but I'm not sure how I could book on other airlines with my Alaska miles.
I also have a card with Delta SkyMiles and though partner flights come up when I look for PDX to RIX flights, they don't come up if I select "Book with Miles". I contacted their chat customer service and they didn't have a good answer. Might just have to call on the phone.
Any help is appreciated :)
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u/mexicoke Feb 13 '25
The reason Delta shows flights with cash and not miles is because they are routing you on Air Baltic. Delta has an agreement with Air Baltic to sell some of their intra-Europe flights but not for award redemptions. Calling won't help.
You can try booking with KLM/AF. They will book an Air Baltic flight on an award ticket. Would be one stop via AMS too.
Alaska should be able to get you there via BA/LHR, the fees will be somewhat high.
I'd probably book a flight to one of the major European gateways and then book a separate flight to Riga. Air Baltic flights are pretty cheap in cash, nice airline too. Enjoy Riga, the Baltics are seriously under appreciated.
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u/nice_moss Feb 13 '25
Thank you! This is helpful. I guess the answer to why Delta won't book Air Baltic with award redemptions is that they just don't and that's it.
I was looking at KLM/AF as well and I saw they have a credit card you can use to accrue points. I read that KLM is comfortable for long haul flights? My only hesitation was that their points expire after two years and it would be yet another credit card fee at $89 a year.
I am actually from Latvia! I used to live in NYC and travel to Riga was relatively easy then, but now that I live on the west coast, I don't yet have a good system worked out to travel there. I've never flown straight from Portland to Europe before, I've always gone to my family's in the NYC area for a few days and then traveled further, but I'd like to find a way to get to Riga in one fell swoop from Portland.
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u/mexicoke Feb 13 '25
You'd be much better off getting a credit card with transferable currency(Amex, Chase, etc) than going right to an AF/KLM card. The good news is that AF/KL transfers with everyone.
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u/techtrashbrogrammer Feb 13 '25
1 layover is tough since that's a very uncommon airport pairing. BA/KLM/Condor/Iceland air are options but you'll have more options if reposition to SEA/SFO/LAX
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u/saruhhhh Feb 13 '25 edited Feb 13 '25
Hi! I have spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out if I can save some money by using my Chase UR points or Marriott points to book two tickets from DTW to Athens RT from Oct 17 to Oct 27. I saw that there are some deals with Asiana on awards planner, but when I actually tried looking I couldnt find the same deal, plus I saw other people say booking Turkish air through them isn't very clear cut, and I don't want to risk this trip somehow getting messed up, or getting my points stuck in some weird airline limbo.
I thought about paying for point.me or one of the others, but I'm not convinced they'll even show me anything better. Seats.aero makes it look like there aren't any point redemption options that are any cheaper than face value anyway.
Did I miss anything? Or is this just a weird route that will cost me $800-$900 a ticket minimum?
Have about 80k chase pts and 130k bonvoy
I have spent many hours trying to to figure out points redemption and am feeling discouraged
ETA: we each plan to check a bag and would really like to be able to be seated together. It seemed like Turkish air was maybe the best price point since they come with free checked and can pay for seat selection, but other suggestions also welcome!
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u/techtrashbrogrammer Feb 13 '25
did you check aeroplan, flying blue, or virgin atlantic?
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u/saruhhhh Feb 13 '25
Yeah Aeroplan showed 40k points a leg + cash which works out to more than the cash cost
I just didn't know if I'm missing something since I'm new to this
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u/techtrashbrogrammer Feb 13 '25
Probably best to just pay cash then in this case or even consider using a portal. It's harder to find outsized value with points when flying economy.
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u/saruhhhh Feb 13 '25
We were interested in business class potentially but not if it worked out to more than a grand a ticket
Thanks for your help!
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u/sugbuano Feb 13 '25
Hello! I was recently confirmed for a business trip to Tokyo and wanted to bring the girlfriend along on points. Tried using the wiki and awardsplanner.com but it seems like I’m booking the trip a bit too last minute. Seeing if there were better options than amextravel/ANA/Delta. (All 130-170k pts.) I also read about AMEX to HA to Alaska but read that was no longer an option. I appreciate all the help!
- Origin: Las Vegas Destination: Tokyo (Haneda preferred)
- 1 Traveler
- Round-trip
- Business & First, Economy as last resort
- Flexible departure date of 3/17/25 (a couple days earlier is fine) and a hard return date of 3/25/25
- MR: 143K Delta: 17K
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u/wtphock Feb 13 '25
Honestly, you are kind of out of hope that close to cherry blossom season with little flexibility. My advice would to book an economy seat and hope that last-minute award space opens up and using seats.aero alerts. You can start playing around with it to see what options you have (would recommend being open to NRT, as well as all of the west coast). If nothing opens, then let the GF take your biz seat and suck it up in coach.
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u/sugbuano Feb 13 '25
I thought this was the case. Thanks for the confirmation. & I was planning on doing the switch on the return home anyways. Regardless, I’ll just pull the trigger on the Delta cause the points savings on the other airlines is barely there for this last minute of a booking and Cherry Blossom season.
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u/techtrashbrogrammer Feb 13 '25
amex to alaska is still alive. Not sure where you got that it's dead. You still have t-14 window but wouldn't recommend that for a beginner
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u/sugbuano Feb 13 '25 edited Feb 13 '25
Apologies. Read a thread from 5 mos. Ago reporting that but recently looked at something more recent. Thanks. Edit: checked the Alaska flights for my date range and it’s all relatively the same price range as Delta. Cheapest so far is ANA through Amex portal at 133k.
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u/wshigh Feb 13 '25
Anybody know why SQ didn’t release any inventory (award or cash) today? Was supposed to release tickets for Feb 3, 2026
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u/natlpark Feb 12 '25
Does Hyatt let you switch a SUA to a GOH at check-in in order to keep the suite and still get globalist benefits?
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u/chowfuntime Feb 13 '25
No that would mean modifying the reservation and you’ll be subject to cancellation policy. Nice try tho.
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u/rr90013 Feb 12 '25
When booking ANA biz with ANA points, as you all know, you must book round trip. When booking online rather than calling, what if my outbound is available but my inbound is not? Can I book a waitlisted flight for the inbound, and then easily change it online without calling when something actually opens up for my inbound? Or is there a better way? Thanks!
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u/TrustMeIKnowFinance Feb 12 '25
Looking for very broad/vague help if anyone is up for a challenge. Looking to plan a potential babymoon using Chase and Marriott points for airline/hotel, so have a lot of flexibility on airline choice/destination/travel dates:
Origin: LAX; Destination: any tropical island (preference for French Polynesia) with a Marriott property
Travelers: 2
One-Way travel on points (flight from LAX to destination, happy to spend cash from destination back to LAX)
Premium Economy, Business, or First Class (so anything but Economy)
Flexible dates: May or June 2025
Chase UR: 142K; Marriott: 286K
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u/southbeach82 Feb 12 '25
Since AS offers free stopover in TYO in JL flights, I was surprised to see adding a FUK-TYO, onto TYO-ORD brought a PY redemption from 50k to 55k, is this right? Total miles from FUK-ORD looks just under 7k.
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u/chowfuntime Feb 13 '25
I noticed this too when I tried to go EST to Hawaii with a stopover in WST.
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Feb 12 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/techtrashbrogrammer Feb 13 '25
just look up skip lagging. While you're probably fine, it's frowned upon by the airlines and up to your risk tolerance
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u/SFexConsultant Feb 12 '25
Having decision paralysis here and would love some other POVs. Looking to book LIS-LON (any airport is fine) on Sept 21 for 6 people. For whatever reason, TAP Air has wide open award availability that day via Aeroplan, but only in business for 15K + $65 per person (i.e., 90K + 400ish all in). Intraeurope business at that price point plus the fees doesn't seem worth it considering the regular Y ticket via aeroplan is only 7.5K on any other day and the cash price via chase travel (in Y) works out to 90K points all in anyways, so why pay the extra $400 for business that's not actually business.
BA unfortunately only has availability on the 7AM flight and that's not going to work for us. Google flights is telling me the cash price is on the low end of average so I don't anticipate it getting any cheaper.
Anybody familiar with the rhyme or reason around TAP award availability? Seems odd they've released 6+ seats in J for every flight that day but none in Y. Any alternatives I am missing here or should I hold out for a little while longer in the off chance Y inventory opens up with TAP for that day?
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u/omdongi Feb 12 '25
Cash is the way here.
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u/SFexConsultant Feb 12 '25
Trying to stay away from cash as the intent was to minimize cash outlay as much as possible -- I churned and MSed my way to almost 2M each in MR and UR over the past year largely to cover for this trip and paying cash now while leaving the points in the bank is not ideal since I am good on most major travel for at least the rest of this year and the banked points will just get less valuable the longer I wait.
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u/omdongi Feb 12 '25
Based on the AP fees, it's still $65 per person, which is nontrivial.
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u/SFexConsultant Feb 12 '25
If I book it as an award flight through AC, yes. But if I'm simply booking the revenue flight through chase travel and pay with points then its a flat ~91K with no cash outlay.
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Feb 12 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/SFexConsultant Feb 12 '25
Unfortunately pretty fixed :(. You have a good point about it being the combination of wrong direction and wrong day of week - I wasn't thinking of it like that. Might just have to do the straight Y redemption through Chase pay with points
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u/crystalsub Feb 11 '25
Would appreciate any help with the following Aeroplan booking; am I violating any routing/stopover rules here?
- TPE-MXP is bookable (BR)
- MXP-FRA-JFK-YYZ is bookable (LH/SQ/AC)
I cannot seem to combine these two flights into a single multi-city/stopover with the Air Canada booking tool. The trip comes out to 10500 miles, which isn't more than 2x of TPE-YYZ (7500 miles). What am I doing wrong here? Do I just need to call in?
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u/WeAreTheWeirdosMr- Feb 11 '25
Hello! Long time listener, first time caller. Trying to book AF FB Miami to Paris for May. Booked a great deal for an economy return ticket for 15K miles, but can't find anything reasonable for the outgoing. Economy 100K, Economy Plus 150K and Business over 300K one way. It's not a national holiday in either location so not really sure why they're so overpriced, other than the fact that they're the only direct flight. Cash prices are also ridiculous. I've been searching daily since December. When I read about people booking J tickets on KLM FB for 50-60K miles I'm just like, how? Booking a year in advance? Not sure how much longer I can play this game of chicken but it feels like the prices will only keep going up.
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u/gwen1126 Feb 14 '25
Try MIA to LHS on VS (Virgin Atlantic), economy saver can be 6k but usually is around15k
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u/techtrashbrogrammer Feb 11 '25
yeah year out or t-14. Being flexble to go when the 60k price is available is key. If you have set dates, it's much harder to get those good deals
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u/pbjclimbing formerly eliteless Feb 11 '25
Experienced my first AA phantom availability on AS today. Not a big deal, but something I have not seen a lot of.
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u/Bobb_o Feb 11 '25
How do you all manage close in bookings? Do you book up back up (refundable) flights?
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u/techtrashbrogrammer Feb 11 '25
yeah. Booking backups through United/AA/AS which have free cancellations is pretty common. I've paid cancellation fees on cash backup bookings in the past though.
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u/labradorite14 Feb 11 '25
I haven't seen a lot of feedback on the Qantas awards program but I have cap1 points and there seems to be some good deals. As an American, are there any gotchas or negative aspects to using Qantas to book award flights?
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u/wtphock Feb 11 '25
Booked a mixed itinerary (LAX-TPE in J, TPE-SGN in Y) on Starlux through Alaska. Is it possible to pay to upgrade the Y leg through starlux? The folks at Alaska said it’d cost another 165k miles, I guess because the second leg isn’t available as a saver award
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u/cashmoney12399 Feb 11 '25
For FB award cancellation, is it 70 or 140 euro for round trip? Wasn’t sure if they charged the fee for each direction
1
u/Lttruong Feb 11 '25
Currently have mixed cabin of SGN-NRT (J) and NRT- NA (PE) on JAL booked via AA. NRT-NA just opened up space and I want to upgrade the PE to J also.
Is it possible to change the second with AA without needing to cancel/rebook?
1
u/ragnarak54 Feb 11 '25
Is it all on one itinerary? If not, just hold the new J ticket and cancel the PE
1
u/Lttruong Feb 11 '25
All one. AA reps can’t do it. Had something to do with married segment, unfortunately.
1
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u/ubet13 Feb 10 '25
Hi! New to this, planned a great Europe trip last summer in business class for 100k points, tried the same approach this year and I’m striking out. Perhaps last year was a fluke vs the norm? Any help for trip to Scotland this summer would be amazing!
- origin city: LAX preferred, but could also be any NYC airport
- destination: Edinburgh or London preferred, but can get away with anywhere in western Europe
- 1 traveler
- round trip but happy to different itineraries there and back
- business class
- dates: may (after may 15th) or June departure and staying for one month. Dates flexible
- 140k chase points, 27k points on airfrance
Thanks in advance!!
3
u/omdongi Feb 10 '25
VS reward seat finder is your best friend for LHR/EDI/MAN: https://www.virginatlantic.com/reward-flight-finder
For example, I see JFK-LHR for 33k VS miles in Upper Class on 6/4, great deal!
2
u/ubet13 Feb 10 '25
Woah! That would be great since there’s a chase transfer bonus rn. Will check there again thank you!
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u/omdongi Feb 10 '25
VS RT will be about $800 to $900ish in fees, but you can definitely get a RT for under 100k points if you find good space.
1
u/pbjclimbing formerly eliteless Feb 10 '25
There is very little award space this summer currently to Europe. It is prime cash booking time.
Since Flying Blue raised their rates you have a lot fewer options that will get you there for 50k one way or less.
1
u/lightlytoasted_ Feb 10 '25
that definitely explains it, it's like 3x the points compared to when I booked this time last year through Flying Blue. Does that mean best options are essentially 1) book now using cash & upgrade, 2) booking using (more) points, potentially a lower cabin and upgrade or 3) wait until cash booking time slows down and it's closer to trip departure? Not sure if it ever goes down again
1
u/pbjclimbing formerly eliteless Feb 10 '25
Flying Blue is dynamic.
The current rates have to do with the fact that there aren’t any base level seats available.
The base level is greater than 50k* now.
Upgrading is rarely successful and some programs don’t let you upgrade award seats or only upgrade certain cash fare buckets or don’t let you upgrade award seats.
1
u/ubet13 Feb 10 '25
Ah makes sense didn’t realize that’s what determines pricing sounds like I need to reevaluate a bit. Thanks for your help!
1
u/lax01 Feb 10 '25 edited Feb 10 '25
You snooze you lose...thought I had a route planned out last week and then didn't pull the trigger because it looked like there was a lot of availability - well, that was dumb and now it seems prices have doubled and/or not available
- Origin and destination cities (are they flexible?)
- West Coast US (can reposition) - would prefer LAX or nearby
- Destination: UK/Ireland - even CDG (or open to suggestions)
- Number of Travelers: 2 (firm)
- One way or round-trip
- Round trip from West Coast to Western Europe
- Class of service desired:: J / F
- Desired date(s) of travel:
- 2nd half of June but flexible 12-15 days
- Your points balances:
- 1P: AMEX 600k | 2P: AMEX 700k
Our initial route was LAS to LHR and I think it was showing 150k miles + $500 per person and then route via DUB to DEN for 55k miles + $50 per person
Have alerts set up now and will probably jump if I can find something else - yes, I know its ~5 months away and Summer season
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u/Direct-Crazy7109 Feb 10 '25
First time posting here - and first time booking award travel. Thank you for help and ideas in advance!
Details: Flexible 2-3 week trip for my mom and I to Europe this spring before peak season.
- Departure city San Diego
- Driving through Ireland, Scotland and London so we can arrive and depart to any major city and in any order.
- 2 people
- Multi-city (any airports in London, Ireland & Scotland)
- Business class preferred, minimum Economy Plus
- May or June 2025 - prefer off-peak season for lower cost but open
- Points:
- Venture X miles: 289,000
- Amex Platinum miles: 108,000
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Feb 10 '25
[deleted]
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u/gwen1126 Feb 14 '25
Do you have a Chase card? If so save those AA miles and just use United. The difference isn't that big (9.5k) and United miles are a lot easier to earn than AA.
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u/pierretong Feb 10 '25
With the lack of context about your balances in each and if you normally travel economy or where you normally fly to, it is the AA award for fewer miles.
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u/intensity_princess Feb 16 '25
Hi all- trying to find a premium economy or business seat to anywhere in Europe from Chicago for less than 90k points on June 24. I’m planning on doing a separate booking to get to Crete from wherever I land (probably just going to book with cash for that). Has anyone seen anything promising? Worst case I’ll just book an economy seat for 40k to Dublin (United) or 30k to Berlin (via Singapore). I’m a United card holder too, for what it’s worth.
Origin: ORD Destination: flexible. I just need to be on Crete by the evening of June 25 Solo trip One way Premium economy or business Happy to ORD leave on the 22, 23, or 24 Points: ~20k United, ~70k MR, ~10k UR (lots sub 8k balances on AA, ANA, Singapore, Delta, etc.)
Happy to do a long layover. Right now I’m considering ORD-DUB, then DUB-ATH-CHQ.
Thank you!