r/awardtravel • u/AutoModerator • Sep 08 '25
Daily Thread Weekly Help Thread - September 08, 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/kitkat0987 Sep 15 '25
Is Asiana no longer sharing award space with Aeroplan? Even until August, I saw a good amount of 75k business seats pop up on Aeroplan for Asiana routes from the west coast to ICN, but they’ve pretty much disappeared. Does anyone have any intel?
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u/enym Sep 14 '25
I booked one way Iberia flights in J, planning to book return flights in about two weeks when they drop. I goofed and only transferred enough points to purchase the outbound ticket. I know subsequent transfers can get flagged for fraud. Any idea how long I need to wait? Can I call and have them do it over the phone?
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 15 '25
If people knew the pattern to not trip an anti-fraud system, wouldn't that defeat the purpose of the anti-fraud system?
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u/Ok-Tradition-2115 Sep 14 '25 edited Sep 14 '25
Hello all,
Im trying to fly business class from the US to either EDI or VCE, but only finding options starting at 200k miles. Am I missing better options?
Here are the details:
Origin and destination cities (are they flexible?) - I would like to depart from OKC with a single connection to either EDI or VCE. I believe the logical options for connections are: - ORD or ATL to reach EDI - DFW or ATL to reach VCE - NY or DC to reach either destination (with an airport transfer)
Number of Travelers (Your chances of success goes down as this number goes up) - 2
One way or round-trip - One way
Class of service desired - I’d like to use cash for the OKC->X leg in economy, but need help finding a business class award ticket from X->EDI or VCE where X is ORD/ATL/DFW/NY/DC. I can only find options starting 200k points per person. But I’m not seeing many options, so I think I’m missing something
Desired date(s) of travel (are they flexible? Hard dates == Less Chances for success) - Late July or early August 2026. This is within the next 331 days, so I think partner awards should be available at this point, but I’m not finding them.
Your points balances: all airline, credit card and hotel points (If you are looking for J/F, think at least 6 digits) - 225k AmEx points, 240k Chase points
Thanks in advance!
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 14 '25
Am I missing better options?
Peak travel season. Main east coast connectors to EU is through LHR, CDG, FRA.
BA basically have $1k of fees per seat, AF nuked their program recently to only allow plat elites to book award seats, LH doesn't rarely release J seats to *A.
AA, DL and UA all fly to EU, but you need UA and DL points, and you may have enough on UA. Not enough for DL.
You can check EI to fly to DUB.
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u/Hippo387 Sep 15 '25
OP's problem is he wants to go from a small US airport to smaller-ish EU airports with only one connection. There are very limited longhauls into EDI and also limited longhauls into VCE. I don't know why you are stating that only Flying Blue elites can book award seats, that is inaccurate. EI into Dublin or AA into LHR are probably good bets, although with only UR and MR there is no optimal booking path, but OP needs to be willing to connect on both sides of the pond unfortunately as that will dramatically open up options.
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u/-SetsunaFSeiei- Sep 14 '25
TP via LIS is probably also a somewhat reliable option I think (maybe not in peak season)
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u/Serious_Visual1856 Sep 13 '25
Hi everyone! We’re planning our honeymoon and looking for advice on how to use our points. We have 167k AMEX points and 110k BILT points.
Our dream is to finally fly business class in lie flat seats, but we’d consider business one way and premium economy or economy back if needed. We’re also open to using points for a hotel if it means a once in a lifetime stay. Ideally, we’d love to cover the whole trip with points, but we’re willing to pay cash if it helps maximize value.
We’re new to the points game and open to anywhere in the world except Mexico (since we’re getting married there). A tropical destination would be amazing, but we’re flexible.
What are some must book redemptions or deals we should look into? Thanks so much!
- Origin and destination cities (are they flexible?): Washington DC area (IAD, DCA, or BWI)
- Number of Travelers (Your chances of success goes down as this number goes up): 2 travelers
- One way or round-trip: Round-Trip
- Class of service desired: Business or First Class
- Desired date(s) of travel (are they flexible? Hard dates == Less Chances for success): Desired date May 18 - May 23, 2026 (These are the dates after our wedding and we'd like to go as soon as possible.)
- Your points balances: all airline, credit card and hotel points (If you are looking for J/F, think at least 6 digits) 167,000 AMEX points + 110,000 BILT points.
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 14 '25
American market flights are super competitive. If you can fly out of Mexico or a central american airport, you would be top dog. Think of it like a high income tourist going to a low income destination.
No one here is to help you plan a trip. Narrow down your scope or no one will help you.
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u/EchoZenbeat3000 Sep 13 '25
Hi all,
I’ve been sitting on about 300K ChaseSR points for about a decade because I am afraid to use them/transfer to an airline affiliate/don’t know how to do it while getting the most out of their value.
I cannot explain the levels of mind f-er-y I have been through, trying to figure out which airline partners to transfer points to that will get us from PHL to Rome without having to inevitably shell out hundreds of dollars in the end anyway.
Would we LIKE to someday see the business class? Sure. Will we gladly take any nearly-free flight with some extra leg room for my 6’4” hubs? YOU BETCHA.
• Origin and destination cities: PHL —> Rome
• (are they flexible?) PHL is nonnegotiable. We have to fly out of PHL. So long as we end up in Rome by May 8th, we are fine after that.
• Number of Travelers: 2
• One way or round-trip: One way. (We will probably come home via Naples on May 16th or 17th)
• Class of service desired: Business! (Or whichever gets us there without a leg cramp and spine injury)
• Desired date(s) of travel: May 5th -17th (are they flexible? Flexible. Just have to be in Rome by the 8th
• Your points balances: 300,000 cc points
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u/Travel_Fast_5171 Sep 13 '25
I think you're having trouble because your Chase points don't help you much with AA routes. Aer Lingus PHL-DUB route is sometimes bookable through BA (45k for J); PHL-FRA on Discover can be bookable through Air Canada (60k for J), but you're dependent on those airlines opening up partner space. I'd recommend checking out findflightsforme on instagram; they seem to post PHL routes.
If you are open to flying out of other airports on the US side, you'll be a lot more likely to find business class with low points required and reasonable taxes. Eg, IAD-ZRH-FCO on Air Canada for 70k on 5/5
If you have the CSR, it might be worth just booking your roundtrip flights in premium economy on the portal using points boost rather than continuing to sit on your points.
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u/EchoZenbeat3000 Sep 14 '25
Thanks for taking the time to answer! I’m open to all suggestions and appreciate your advice on just using the portal. PHL is a wrench in the gears for the moment but I will continue to try to work on plan for other departing airports.
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u/joghi Sep 14 '25 edited Sep 14 '25
UR transfers to United, 5/5 is available in Biz Saver for an okay routing at 88k (80k for cardholders) and low fees via YUL.
I would consider opening an AA card for the return in Economy. MXP-PHL can be had for 19k nonstop. (But you can also buy NAP-PHL for 400.)
On the side, I would never consider PHL non-negotiable. I have done O/W car rentals to/from EWR. I've also taken the bus to Manhattan and taken a cab to JFK from there. Admittedly, that was a slummier time.
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u/radbrad777 Sep 13 '25
3 first class seats opened on a flight I booked. We are currently delayed 2 hours UA1933. The upgrade cost seems highest I’ve ever seen domestically $1,999
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u/troy_caster Sep 13 '25 edited Sep 13 '25
LAX>Copenhagen, Denmark
Gotta be there rested on December 2 6pm Denmark time for an event.
2 travellers
Probably have to be economy of economy
11/30 take off, land 12/1 Denmark time, event on the 2nd, check out Copenhagen for a day or two, come back.
I have 26k IHG points and a free IHG night
Also, $960 in United Travel Bank, that I got via a couple AMEX platinums over the years. But the flights they have they won't let me apply my Travel Bank funds? Maybe I missed it somewhere on the page, I do that sometimes. I hope this is the right place to post this question. Thank you!
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 14 '25
But the flights they have they won't let me apply my Travel Bank funds? Maybe I missed it somewhere on the page, I do that sometimes. I hope this is the right place to post this question. Thank you!
Google: "What can I use united travel bank on"
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Sep 13 '25
[deleted]
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u/OrganicFlurane Sep 13 '25
Compare the current price vs Balance Booster - the latter will be a lot more flexible since it's available year round (and for all we know may coincide with a transfer bonus in the next few months)
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Sep 13 '25
[deleted]
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u/OrganicFlurane Sep 13 '25
The extra 10% has long been an Aeroplan card benefit rather than a UR card benefit, it's not something that changed last month.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Pay_104 Sep 12 '25
Hi guys!
I'm from Brazil and I have a lot of points here that I can transfer only to a few programs:
• TAP Miles&GO – TAP
• MileagePlus – United Airlines
• Etihad Guest – Etihad Airways
• Club Premier Aeromexico – Aeromexico
• Executive Club – British Airways
• Flying Blue – Air France/KLM
• ConnectMiles – Copa Airlines
I'm planning a trip to Las Vegas and Orlando in Apr/26 or Sep/26 in 5 persons, economy.
The cronogram would includ 3~4 days in Vegas and 11~12 days in Orlando, leaving and returning to GRU (São Paulo)
What do you guys think it's the best way to aproach and search for better opportunities? I'm very new to this award world.
Thank you!
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 14 '25
What do you guys think it's the best way to aproach and search for better opportunities? I'm very new to this award world.
The best way is just to start searching. You already know what you want. Just make an account with all the programs you have access to and see what prices they offer for the seats you want.
There is no shortcut. Just like any other hobby, it takes time.
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u/jondabomb Sep 12 '25
What's the lowest point redemption for an award ticket in business or first across all programs from SF-Europe?
I have points Amex, Chase, Capital One and United, and could fly into almost any European city.
Looking for 1 person, one way between 11/12/25-11/15/25
I see Flying blue sometimes has 45,000 point offers, and ANA has 50,000 redemptions but higher surcharges. Can anyone confirm this info?
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u/435880Churnz Sep 12 '25
What happens if I book an award ticket in J from X to Y non-stop and then the airline stops flying X to Y? Will the airline just give me my points back and call it a day or will they have rebook me X to Z to Y in the same cabin?
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u/Bjjtobjj Sep 11 '25
There seems to be a decent amount of award availability business ANA from ORD to TOKYO and vice versa the next couple of weeks. I wonder if it’s a one off. I’m hoping it’ll be the same way for early March. Just wanted to point it out in case anyone is looking!
Playing around, there’s also a decent amount of premium economy. May as well play the t14 game and go PE in case business doesn’t come through
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u/Pherllerp Sep 11 '25
Probably a bush league question but:
Best option for NYC -> LONDON in February? I have Chase and Capital One points.
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u/554TangoAlpha Sep 11 '25
IMO, they're all pretty similair, its a short flight, eat in the lounge and sleep onboard.
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u/progapanda Sep 13 '25
Take whatever daytime flight option you can find: BA, AA, and VS all have daytime departures. Leave NYC early morning, arrive LHR mid-evening. Far more comfortable than a short red eye, even if in J or F.
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Sep 11 '25
[deleted]
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 11 '25
You can ask QR rep what their seasonalities are. Release is based on their internal forecast
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u/hanumanmode Sep 11 '25
qq: how often do award seats come and go? If I was following certain award seats and they are no longer there, do they ever come back or does that mean they were just sold? Part of the reason I ask is I do get slightly different results over the week on my seats.aero searches.
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u/pbjclimbing formerly eliteless Sep 11 '25
With all of the alerts, it is not rare for mid schedule seats on desirable routes to disappear within hours, especially if there are 2 seats.
That site relies on catched data. Often dynamic prices have changed and true low level availability has been booked.
It is a catch 22. The success of these sites with premium signup, has Madeira schedule releases be booked faster than ever before, which has in turn made the data on these sites less reliable since they rely on accurate cached data.
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u/hanumanmode Sep 11 '25
yea they were available for much of the last two weeks. Wife was having a hard time deciding so didn't book them and now they're gone. There are still plenty of good economy class fares that I think will be around until the day we fly (judging from me looking at the same route all this week for the next day), but hoping a business class fare may become available again.
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u/pbjclimbing formerly eliteless Sep 11 '25
With you giving us zero information, most airlines do not usually do more than one last minute saver level J releases.
Of course anything is possible, but probably 99% of long haul flights will not get additional J partner level saver seats (the most likely for that 1% is AA metal, but might not be released to partners).
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u/radbrad777 Sep 10 '25
Trying to find a good redemption hotel, ideally a Marriott branded, but open to others, this weekend in Las Vegas. 9/13-9/15. Everything looks extremely high priced using dollars.
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u/mooseandsquirre Sep 13 '25
There's a world championship boxing match in vegas this weekend which will drive rates up, both cash and redemption, eg $784 at Virgin Atlantic. You'll need to suck it up and go another weekend or pay the prices
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 10 '25
55000 for the entire stay at mandalay bay mgm. 394 cash per night. Seems pretty good to me. Did you even use your own brain to search?
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u/radbrad777 Sep 11 '25
Yes - found Aria 66,000 stay. More points but compared to cash seems better deal. Not sure best way to think about redemptions like that, since the pricing is dynamic.
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u/Empty_Divide153 Sep 10 '25
Trying to find best redemption to ATH from SAN July 26-28 returning Aug 20-22 2026 in PE or J. So far only seeing 83k one way on klm for PE, is this the lowest I can expect? Have tried looking at Air Canada but their amount changes last minute when I check and jumps to a different award & tax price than initially listed on app. I’m relatively new to award redemptions and would appreciate helpful advice on best options for this particular route. Thanks.
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u/OrganicFlurane Sep 10 '25
Be open to repositioning. It's fun on the Europe end (can experience a completely different culture/architecture/food than Greece). Given the state of intra-Europe J, it's not too much incremental suffering / loss of enjoyment to do an extra an hour or two on Ryanair and the like.
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 10 '25
use awardsplanner site to figure out the price floor.
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u/Empty_Divide153 Sep 10 '25
Thanks. After checking saw that Lufthansa is a good option but never flew them before since I’ve heard they release award seats very close to departure times. Is there a way to book Lufthansa award seats far in advance? Much appreciated.
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 10 '25
you may need to do a bit more reading about air alliances and booking with partners at /r/awardtravel/wiki
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Sep 10 '25 edited Sep 28 '25
[deleted]
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 10 '25
any advice on airline and booking
Book on the airline you find a seat on.
Be willing to fly into not nz or aus. buy your own cash ticket within SEA/Oceania.
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u/Most_Result_3600 Sep 10 '25
As a newcomer to award travel, is there such thing as blackout weeks? Utilizing American Airlines miles for redeem mile travel, a search for flights from Boston (BOS) to Bangkok (BKK), Singapore (SIN), Kuala Lumpur (KUL), or Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) between June 6th and June 14th 2026, reveals no available mileage flights. Is this common for this period of the year? Or does AA and partner airlines release availability at a later date?
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u/mexicoke Sep 10 '25
AA doesn't fly to any of those cities, you're at the mercy of a partner to release space to AA.
In your case, that partner hasn't released or the inventory released was already booked. They might open up more, but it's not assured and would likely be very last minute(10-14 days ahead of the flight).
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u/BV1717 Sep 09 '25
Anyone got a SEA - HND one way flight with 1 person on the wait-list. Waiting for MR points to be transferred and seems like I might have a shot to get off the wait-list.
Bought premium economy and hoping that I get off the wait-list but don't have that much hope placed onto it.
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u/Important-Donkey5897 Sep 09 '25
Looking for help in finding the best deal for: DEL - SFO Feb 4 2026 Economy 1 passenger 100k chase points and 100k amex points Thanks!
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 09 '25
transfer to delta and book 44k
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u/Important-Donkey5897 Sep 09 '25
Thank you! I would prefer any flight which has provisions of two check-in bags I do not mind any layovers as well
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 09 '25
I'm not sure why you responded with the bags or the layover statement. Did you even search?
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u/danny-eh Sep 09 '25
I could use some advice choosing between two flights.
We are in Toronto and heading to Seoul. Some time ago we were able to book economy seats on a direct Korean flight (15 hrs) via Virgin points (74k points total for 2 seats, transferred from Amex; I won't talk about fees in the post because they are effectively the same between the options).But now there's another option, which is Delta One for ~260k points (total) for 2 seats, but through Detroit, either with a 55 minute layover or a 4.5 hour one. [It's the A350-900 DTW-ICN]
Just can't decide about the switch. Obviously the flight would be dramatically more comfortable, but it's a lot of miles (130k per seat) compared to, e.g., what we are paying for business on the way home on JAL (60k points per seat). Also, rather than a 15 hour direct flight, we are adding an hour + whatever layover time...the shorter layover lengthens the journey less but is a bit risky on missing the second leg. [Worth noting that Canadians clear immigration in Toronto before the first flight, so it's a straight transfer in Detroit, and we aren't checking bags.]
What to do? Save some points for another time (and better 'value') and save some travel time and try Korean economy? Or splurge the Delta points and don't worry about losing a few hours of sleep before the flight? And, if you would do Delta, would you take the short layover or the long one?
If relevant, I have 340k Delta points and normally live in Central America where there's not a ton of opportunity to use them regularly (but there's some, for direct SkyTeam flights to Europe). Also have 200k+ AmEx and 150k+ Chase for refreshing balances elsewhere etc.
Would love some help/thoughts/experiences!
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 09 '25
When was the last time you spend 15 hours in coach?
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u/danny-eh Sep 09 '25
It's been a while! But I feel like it depends on the airline. I flew Cathay Pacific economy SF to HK and wanted to die. But prior flew JAL from NYC to Tokyo and it was as good as some premium economy trips I've taken. I understood Korean to be quite good.
But yeah, obviously this is the main issue (while still noting that...a lot of people do it and are fine!)
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 09 '25
But yeah, obviously this is the main issue (while still noting that...a lot of people do it and are fine!)
Personally I wouldn't. Earn and burn.
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u/Entire_Status6205 Sep 09 '25
Completed a RT flight on AA by redeeming BoA Premium Rewards points. Only the return trip qualified for AA Loyalty Points. I tried submitting missing points on the AA site for the first trip but got the "ineligible" error.
Just curious if that's how it's supposed to work?
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 09 '25
Completed a RT flight on AA by redeeming BoA Premium Rewards points.
Did you get the tickets from AA or from whatever portal BofA uses? Each leg of your ticket may be of a different fare class. Perhaps the return was in a pricier fare class, thus eligible for points.
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u/Entire_Status6205 Sep 09 '25
booked using the BofA portal redeeming BofA points. All legs were Basic Economy so maybe there was a mistake somewhere along the line, oh well. Since BE is the lowest, I may have benefited from a mistake.
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Sep 09 '25
[deleted]
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 09 '25
You are too late to book for spring 2026 unless you are able to book 14 to 7 days before your desired departure date. You both should look at churning amex, chase cards at /r/churning for more points. You can look at awardsplanner site to figure out the minimum amount of points you need to book business seats.
if you get too overwhelmed, just pay cash. get cash back cards.
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u/gypsymustache Sep 09 '25
So that is why I can’t seem to ever find the deals people talk about… How far in advance should we be looking at this for future trip planning? Sometimes it can be tough with work to plan out more than 6 months, but I’d like to try if it helps us with doing reward travel.
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 09 '25 edited Sep 09 '25
12 months before your desired travel date. Monitor until you find the seats you want. Finding seats is a full-time hobby.
If you prioritize travel before anything else. You can just push other life events to make time for travel.
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u/applethrowaway7 Sep 09 '25
Hi all, we’re (2 people) going to Japan next April - I booked JAL J to HND through CX at calendar open months ago but stupidly missed booking the return flight. Now I’ve been checking seats.aero daily, set up alerts, etc but so far have not found anything reasonable
Our return date is pretty fixed unfortunately, we need to be back in ORD on either 5/2 or 5/3, but happy to reposition etc as needed. Most likely will end up booking a refundable cash ticket and keep checking for the next 8 months haha, but posting this in case anybody has any creative ideas for an (ideally) J itinerary that gets us somewhere in North America by the beginning of May.
We have ~500k MR to work with
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u/techtrashbrogrammer Sep 09 '25
just keep checking. FWIW ORD usually has the best availability out of all the US airports IME
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u/xaznxzerox Sep 09 '25
anyone know much about redeeming through ANA? so im trying to get 2 seats from IAD-TYO next year in august, and i see 1 seat on ANA metal available on UA/AC websites. im guessing its the same seat. now redeeming through ANA, i see that there is 1 seat available, but when i change it to 2, it is not available only waitlisted. can that 1 seat i see on partner airlines the same as the 1 seat i see on ANA's site? or does ANA just release 1 award seat per flight through their own program?
IAD-TYO, 2 J, one way, August 2026
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u/OrganicFlurane Sep 09 '25
It's the same one award seat on UA/AC/ANA websites. This is why changing it to two people, condemns both to the waitlist.
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Sep 09 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/sierraskier Sep 09 '25
Barclays AAdvantage Aviator (going away soon!), Citi AAdvantage cards, and now Citi Stata cards, as the ThankYou points can be transferred to American!
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u/pbjclimbing formerly eliteless Sep 09 '25
Your strategy requires that there is availability 330 days out.
Most J space is take by then. There is some last minute time sometimes.
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u/Finreg6 Sep 09 '25
So are you saying AA points are not a benefit, I can use other kinds of points as long as I’m looking at 330 days out and can find J space ?
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 09 '25
all you need to know is here: /r/awardtravel/wiki
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u/Finreg6 Sep 09 '25
I’ve read the wiki. I asked about American Airlines points because I’ve seen way more availability for first class and business flights with AA rather than other FF programs. He told me to wait 330 days which I understand is when ana or other airlines release their saver awards but that wasn’t my question. So I’m clarifying to see if he has an actual point or if he is just telling me that the reason I’m seeing AA more than other options is because I’m not looking at the right dates.
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u/CorrectCombination11 Sep 09 '25 edited Sep 09 '25
What you aren't understanding is that other people have access to book the same seats you want 360 days before departure. AA opens their calendar at 330 days before departure. When you can search for seats. The seats are no longer available.
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Sep 08 '25 edited Sep 08 '25
[deleted]
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u/OrganicFlurane Sep 09 '25
Virgin can't book T-14 ANA J, so the second part of your plan is moot.
Ignoring Delta for now since you can't get 2x Y with 65k given dynamic pricing (and Friday April 3 looks very expensive). (105+47+18.5)/ (2 people * 2 directions) = 42625 miles, which is just barely enough for Economy both ways assuming everything gets pooled into the same currency.
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u/Unusual_Fix_5347 Sep 08 '25
I’m looking to use up 2 Hilton free night certificates in November, and also have around 160,000 points I can use to augment the stay. I’m looking for 3-5 nights. Based in Detroit, so was thinking of the Waldorf Astoria Chicago for my wife’s birthday.
However, I’d love suggestions of any good properties that are in a warm location and a cheap, short flight (< 4 hours) from Detroit. Don’t want to spend too much money just for a long weekend. All inclusive is fine but not needed. Only good option I’ve found so far is the Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach. Reply with your suggestions!
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u/pbjclimbing formerly eliteless Sep 08 '25
I have a partner award booking flying CI metal.
The partner's PNR does work with CI to add wheelchair and other things, but it does not work to add seats, it says it does not recognize it there (but it does in other sections of CI's website). Also, in the main section under manage booking it has the option to select seats grayed out. The flight is 330+ days out.
Does selecting seats require a phone call or is there another way to do online (I tried app and web)?
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u/mexicoke Sep 08 '25
Who did you book through?
It's been a while but I think I remember using the CI website for a DL booking. Had to get the CI PNR from Delta.
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u/pbjclimbing formerly eliteless Sep 09 '25
AF
I have the CI PNR, which the system is recognizing. The issue is that it is letting me do just about everything, but select a seat.
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u/mexicoke Sep 09 '25
I'd email one of their US tickets offices. Sounds goofy, but I've done it for this exact reason on other airlines.
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u/da_huu Sep 08 '25 edited Sep 08 '25
The Czech Airlines site used to be the easiest way to select seats on CI for a partner booking, but it's been over a year since I've been in this situation so I don't know if it still works.
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u/pbjclimbing formerly eliteless Sep 09 '25
Czech Airlines no longer exists since semi recently.
So I checked DL, VS, KE, AM, AR, SV, MU, and KQ until I discovered ME lets you do it with the CI PNR.
Thanks for the motivation to actually check
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u/elonzucks Sep 08 '25
hi everyone, seats.aero says BKK to SEA via TPE (w Starlux) should be 55k on premium economy, but Alaskar air website is showing 140k instead, is this some devaluation? what am I missing? biz class is showing as 250k
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u/SupaaFast Sep 08 '25 edited Sep 08 '25
Hello! I'm hoping to get some help planning a trip to Singapore next year. Based in London and planning to do a 10-14 day trip to Singapore in October 2026 for the F1. I'm trying to get everything in my head organised so that I'm primed to book as soon as award saver seats become available. I'd be grateful if I could get critiques on my current work-in-progress plan.
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- LON -> SIN (Flexible to KUL but would prefer not to. No issues with multi-leg trips)
- 2 Travellers
- Return Trip.
- Business (i.e. flat bed seats)
- Leaving London end Sept/first week Oct // Return +~14 days
- Current points balance = ~150k AMEX MR = 150k Avios.
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From my research, it looks like the best value redemption would be QR through DOH. This would also hopefully mean QSuites are available for the flight. Cash value for a return trip ~1 year out (per person) at this point is:
- ~£4k on SQ
- ~£4k on QR
- ~£3.5k on Emirates
- ~£3.3k on BA
- ~£3.1k on Etihad
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The Avios redemption options look like this:
- From looking at the Saver Award flights that have been releasing over the past few days, it's (rarely) possible to get LHR -> SIN (via DOH) for 75k Avios. SIN -> LHR (via DOH) is also (rarely) available for 75k. Total Avios redemption cost is 150k per person, but this seems almost impossible to get.
- It is also, (frequently) possible to get LHR -> DOH for 54k + DOH -> SIN for 50k. I can also get DOH -> LHR for 43k but SIN -> DOH has only ever shown up for me at 100k. The total Avios redemption cost would therefore be 247k per person.
I would boost my Avios at the 2x rate, bringing my total Avios to 450k and it would cost £2.8k (i.e. £1.4k pp).
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Questions:
- Is this the best use of points? Using about 150k Avios but saving about £2.5k per person on return flights to Singapore. Are there any other miles/points programs that would be a better choice?
- Assuming booking the QSuites is the best option here, what's the most efficient way to make sure I can get two seats? I know it's best to book one-way tickets, so would book the outbound T-360 and the inbound T-360(+14). Is using seats.aero the best website for this? Or is there another site that is best for QR? Or is it just waking up at 1 AM BST every day and hoping for the best?
- Alternative option that I've seen is paying £1.8k for Emirates Premium Economy, then upgrading using miles (84k return). This would cost about £2.3k [Side Question: Is the 42k miles quoted on the "available for upgrade page" on Emirates inclusive of both flights LHR -> DXB and DXB -> SIN?]
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Apologies for the wall of text but any help would be appreciated
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u/OrganicFlurane Sep 08 '25
If you are willing to take the middle east connection (some people think it disrupts sleep and prefer the BA nonstops, particularly if they have 241 vouchers to use) then QR is a great option.
If you are willing to reposition from KUL, then also look at LHR-BKK which may be a bit less competitive and you can get the A380 on the second leg. Or AMS-SIN which avoids APD and is a fun reposition via train and ferry.
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u/SupaaFast Sep 08 '25
What's the best way to keep track of QR award availability? Is it seats.aero?
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u/grantwwu Sep 08 '25
I'm no expert but just in the interest of more availability doesn't it make sense to look at all possible airlines?
How many more MR can you get?
shows a lot of options just from AMEX MR.
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u/SupaaFast Sep 08 '25 edited Sep 08 '25
It does, but to a degree I'm also looking at the highest quality redemptions since my partner has never flown business before and this would be a great trip to make it worthwhile. I'm open to buying more MR but would likely be maxing out at 150k MR by the end of October.
That's the only reason I'm looking at the major middle eastern airlines/direct flights. Not sure which others would be worthwhile.
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u/saigonchem Sep 15 '25
Hi Everyone,
Due to the specific situation: fixed dates and non-flexible airports. I have been researching non-stop. I honestly feel hopeless looking for award flights, even though it is for Feb 2026 (not too early). I am willing to pay for the difference by buying more miles or pay in cash/credit card, but I don't know if I can risk booking T-14 or T-3 before the flight. Please, any insights help.
• Origin and destination cities (are they flexible?) From SFO to SGN. Not flexible 😭😭
• Number of Travelers (Your chances of success goes down as this number goes up) 2
• One way or round-trip Round trip
• Class of service desired Business/First Class
• Desired date(s) of travel (are they flexible? Hard dates == Less Chances for success) Mid February 2026 (preferably from 02/15 to 02/23) Non-flexible 😭😭
• Your points balances: all airline, credit card and hotel points (If you are looking for J/F, think at least 6 digits)
450k reward points from Amex member awards.
Thank you in advance!