Have the airlines made it more difficult to use one's award miles?
Oct 17th, 2009, 08:34 AM
#1
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Have the airlines made it more difficult to use one's award miles?
I'm looking at British Airways to Europe for this spring....I'm startled at the unavailability of award-miles seats. Are others finding this to be a trend, also? Are the pickin's from FF and award-miles getting leaner?
Oct 17th, 2009, 08:37 AM
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I know that UA has fewer business class seats on the USA to Asia routes I fly regularly. But that's because they have upgraded to lie-flat seating!! Love it!! Hoping I get my upgrade next Wednesday to BKK. I've already been confirmed in business class for my return, but want to ride in style on the way over as well.... waaahhhh! Crossing my fingers.
Oct 17th, 2009, 09:22 AM
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good morning dear - wake up! things are simply getting harder for FF travellers. Airlines noticed that we are stuck, can't really take our miles and move to the competitor, so terms are deteriorating by all means
Oct 17th, 2009, 05:21 PM
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I must agree with bettyk. As long as I book a few months in advance I almost always get the routes and dates I want. Maybe not my first choice for routing, but when it's free you take what they offer.
Oct 17th, 2009, 05:31 PM
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Here are a few suggestions for getting what you want:
It isn't always enough to look at the web site for availability because the airline's web site doesn't always display partner availability. Call the airline and if the person doesn't seem to know anything or to care about helping you, hang up and call back. You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard completely different info by calling back 10 minutes later.
Look up the partner airlines that go to your destination and when you call, ask about flights with the partners. Believe it or not, it's been my experience the agents don't always think to check partner availablilty. Call every day if you have to, more than once a day. I know it sounds like a hassle but to me it's such a victory when I finally get what I want, I really get a kick out of playing this game. You might have to pay a fee for booking by phone but if that's the only way to get the freebie then it's money well spent.
It isn't always enough to look at the web site for availability because the airline's web site doesn't always display partner availability. Call the airline and if the person doesn't seem to know anything or to care about helping you, hang up and call back. You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard completely different info by calling back 10 minutes later.
Look up the partner airlines that go to your destination and when you call, ask about flights with the partners. Believe it or not, it's been my experience the agents don't always think to check partner availablilty. Call every day if you have to, more than once a day. I know it sounds like a hassle but to me it's such a victory when I finally get what I want, I really get a kick out of playing this game. You might have to pay a fee for booking by phone but if that's the only way to get the freebie then it's money well spent.
Oct 17th, 2009, 06:41 PM
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I've found flexibility and traveling at off-peak times to be the key for me, and I've had good luck with AA. If you're a family of four and want to fly with FF miles to Hawaii for Christmas, and need to leave and return on specific dates, it's going to be very tough.
Oct 17th, 2009, 06:59 PM
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Another satisfied AA customer here.
Got award flight Boston to Vienna; Budapest to Boston this past Spring. Booked just 1 month in advance and got the exact flights on exact dates I wanted.
Got award flight r/t Boston/LA for next month. Again, booked less than 1 month in advance and had my choice of dates and departure times.
Got award flight Boston to Vienna; Budapest to Boston this past Spring. Booked just 1 month in advance and got the exact flights on exact dates I wanted.
Got award flight r/t Boston/LA for next month. Again, booked less than 1 month in advance and had my choice of dates and departure times.
Oct 17th, 2009, 07:17 PM
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I've had great luck with oneworld booking Y, J, and F awards for international travel. My most recent booking was for a J award on CX next Spring. I got the exact date and flights I desired. Sky Team has been another story.
Oct 18th, 2009, 07:53 AM
#11
<i>I'm looking at British Airways to Europe for this spring....I'm startled at the unavailability of award-miles seats.</i>
Are you using BA miles or some other airline's?
I have not had much difficulty at all on redemptions, but it very much depends on your route and specific dates.
Are you using BA miles or some other airline's?
I have not had much difficulty at all on redemptions, but it very much depends on your route and specific dates.
Oct 18th, 2009, 08:33 AM
#12
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Most airlines have cut capacity to keep load factors high. So, one may indeed find availability a little bit tighter than before. But like others have said, it depends on your route and date. If you're flexible, you won't have problems.
Oct 18th, 2009, 12:31 PM
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In the case of AA, it has different tiers of mileage-redemption rates. Its AAnytime awards are double the requirement, but you can find pretty much anything, even at a late date. The MilesAAver awards offer you a lot (and I mean a LOT) fewer choices, but require fewer miles too. Those do require much advance planning and flexibility.
So, at least with AA, if you loosen the pursestrings of your mileage account, you can find what you want.
So, at least with AA, if you loosen the pursestrings of your mileage account, you can find what you want.
Oct 19th, 2009, 05:57 AM
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I should add that those award tickets I mentioned above (to Europe this past spring, and to LA next month) were both MileSAAver Awards. 40K for r/t to Europe; 25K for LA, even though both were booked <1 month in advance of travel.
Oct 19th, 2009, 06:18 AM
#18
<i>Yes, Gardyloo, I'm using BA miles on the Phoenix-London-Paris route.</i>
In which case I'm a bit confused. According to the availability calendars on the BA website, there appears to be pretty good availability in both economy and business throughout both April and May from PHX to LHR, and virtually every day from LHR to CDG. I didn't check WT+ (premium economy) but would be surprised if it's anything different. Of course some days aren't available, but it's maybe 7 or 8 days out of each month, i.e. 20+ days that are available.
Are you looking for several seats on the same flights, or something else unusual?
In which case I'm a bit confused. According to the availability calendars on the BA website, there appears to be pretty good availability in both economy and business throughout both April and May from PHX to LHR, and virtually every day from LHR to CDG. I didn't check WT+ (premium economy) but would be surprised if it's anything different. Of course some days aren't available, but it's maybe 7 or 8 days out of each month, i.e. 20+ days that are available.
Are you looking for several seats on the same flights, or something else unusual?
Oct 19th, 2009, 09:49 AM
#19
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Up until now I've always pretty much had no problem obtaining seats using miles for my desired routes and dates, but I do tend to book as soon as the seats become available, which is almost a year in advance.
For the first time I've been having problems booking award seats, but it's really because *A doesn't have good routes into South America in the first place. I could have booked a 4 segment 30+ hour oddessey to get there, but I didn't want to do that. I'm currently waiting for Continental to join *A on 10/27 to see if I can snag award seats, but I'm not especially hopeful.
For the first time I've been having problems booking award seats, but it's really because *A doesn't have good routes into South America in the first place. I could have booked a 4 segment 30+ hour oddessey to get there, but I didn't want to do that. I'm currently waiting for Continental to join *A on 10/27 to see if I can snag award seats, but I'm not especially hopeful.
Oct 19th, 2009, 10:21 AM
#20
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Gardyloo:
Curious. Your results are different from mine. I'm on the BA website just the now. It shows pretty fair outgoing availability, but no return seats available at all for the months of May, June, July or August of 2010.
Oh well. Stranded in France. There are worse things
.
Curious. Your results are different from mine. I'm on the BA website just the now. It shows pretty fair outgoing availability, but no return seats available at all for the months of May, June, July or August of 2010.
Oh well. Stranded in France. There are worse things
.
