AwardBookig

Hoping someone here might know a way out of this situation. I booked 4 one way tickets from Barcelona (BCN) to JFK for August using 80k Avios + about $500 in taxes/fees. Shortly after booking, the plans for that part of the trip fell apart so I contacted Iberia on WhatsApp...

Ran into a situation that made me question whether booking round trips is even worth it anymore. I flew the outbound of a trip and needed to move the return flight LAX → BOS (Flagship First on the A321T) by one day. When I called to change it, they told me it would cost an extra...

Had a difficult experience using a Star Alliance award ticket booked through Air Canada for an Air India flight. Online check-in had already been completed and boarding passes were issued. At the airport, baggage tags were printed at the kiosk without any issue. But at the...

Planning an international trip this winter and want to fly business. It’s an expensive destination, but I have a good stash of miles with two different airlines. Thinking of booking one airline outbound and a different airline for the return, both as one ways using points. Has...

Seeing reports that Alaska jacked up Mileage Plan rates for 2027 flights. ANC to Juneau apparently went from 5k minimum to 10k. A lot of West Coast routes out of Anchorage that used to price around 10 to 12.5k are now showing 17.5k. That’s not a small tweak. That’s basically a...

Booked an economy award through Avianca LifeMiles for ORD to IST to DAM, all operated by Turkish. My ticket only shows 1 personal item and 1 carry on. No clear info about checked bags. Called Turkish and the rep said most international flights from the US in economy usually get...

Looks like Hyatt is introducing Category 9 at 50k and Category 10 at 60k per night. Most of the big Park Hyatts that are already Cat 8, like Paris and Tokyo, are expected to move up to Cat 9. Sounds like Cat 10 will be very limited, maybe even just Park Hyatt Kyoto at launch....

I have seen posts where people say award stays booked fully with points sometimes get canceled by the hotel. This time I used Points and Cash instead. The cash part was authorized right away and actually charged the next day. Now I am wondering if that makes the booking safer....

Looking at Miami to Madrid round trip in May. Option 1: Chase portal for 40k points + about $198. Option 2: Transfer to Iberia for 40k + about $256 in taxes. Cash fares seem to be around $700 depending on dates. So portal is cheaper out of pocket and same points. On paper that...

Yeah, this situation makes everyone nervous the first time. S.Aero is great, but it’s not perfect and it doesn’t always show the same inventory AA does, especially close in or with dynamically priced awards. If AA’s own site is letting you get all the way to passenger details...

This is one of those rare cases where the answer actually feels pretty clear. If the flight is AA operated, same availability, same price, and the onboard experience is identical, I’d have a hard time giving up Alaska miles. Alaska miles still feel more “special”. Harder to...

This one hurts to read. The OP had 2 business class seats LAX to FRA on Condor, fully ticketed with Alaska miles. All they did was call to ask a question about possibly adding FRA to PRG later, nothing more. Agent puts them on hold, then goes ahead and changes the booking...

I managed to grab amazing award flights for my 12/24 trip from BNA to BZE on AA. 7k miles. Booked exactly 331 days out like everyone recommends. So I did the same thing for the return. Set an alarm, woke up early to book 1/1 and… everything is terrible. Like 100k miles terrible....

You’re not crazy. This does work cleanly on revenue tickets, but award tickets are a different story and JetBlue has never really fixed it. What you’re seeing is normal behavior unfortunately. The “change flight” flow often shows a 0 point difference even when the award price...

Does anyone else feel like certain Hyatt properties are artificially inflating cash rates, especially ones with pretty weak hard product? Carmel Valley Ranch is the one that really stands out to me. Cash rates are constantly listed at $900 to $1,200 a night, so on paper the...

Might be an unpopular opinion, but I really don’t like the new Aerolopa. Navigation feels clunky and everything is huge now. Way more scrolling just to see what used to be obvious at a glance. It’s slower to use, especially when you’re quickly checking seat layouts. The account...

Posting this as a warning because I wish someone had smacked me with this advice earlier. I’ve been saving Amex points for about 5 years for a long haul trip. Did a ton of research using point.me, checked Qatar and JetBlue directly, and found award space to Sri Lanka. Decided to...

Looking at a US to Southeast Asia trip and noticed it’s way cheaper in points to book two one-way awards instead of one full itinerary. Example: BOS to DOH, then DOH to SGN. Both in business, total around 140k. If I try BOS–DOH–SGN as one award, it jumps to ~190k for basically...

Is anyone else annoyed by this? When you look at LHW award stays, it looks like there are no taxes or fees, similar to most other hotel award bookings. But once you actually transfer the points and try to book, suddenly there’s a surprise charge. In my case, it was $52 in “taxes...

Anyone else feel like the 1–4 free night certs have quietly lost a lot of value? Years ago it felt like there were tons of solid resorts sitting in category 3 or 4. Now most places that feel like a real vacation are category 5 or higher, with only a few exceptions. I still like...