Even though it is becoming easier to search for award flights with the addition of Singapore, EgyptAir and Air China to Continental.com there still remains a myriad of rules that might confuse you. In addition to booking awards through...
Reminder: Aeroplan Award Chart Changes on July 15th
For those of you sitting on Aeroplan miles and considering a trip up to 330 days in the future, it might be wise to get your trip booked before July 15th. On Friday, the many award rates changes and...
United’s New Award Chart a Better Deal for the Savvy Traveler
It came a complete shock to me when United updated their award chart this week and did not introduce across the board price increases. On the contrary, United cut the number of miles needed to fly to Europe or...
British Midland’s Disgusting Award Surcharges
British Midland’s (bmi) Diamond Club award program boasts on its home page, "Free airmiles. Free flights." After forking out over £1,100 (~$1,800) in taxes and surcharges for two business class tickets, I think it is an insult and a...
United Loosens Routing Rules for Star Alliance Awards
IslandSkies, a UA employee who is active on Flyertalk, posted the following details about changes to United Airlines’ Star Alliance award rules coming on 15 Februrary: Steps to Validate Routing for One Award: *Outbound and return routings must be...
One Last Call to United Reservations to Finalize My China Award Trip
Over the last couple weeks another two schedule changes hit my upcoming 10-segment award trip to Southeast Asia and China. The changes were minor, but one change, a delay in the departure of my Los Angeles to Chicago flight...
One-Way Star Alliance Awards Coming Tomorrow on United Airlines
As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, United is on the brink of an announcement introducing one-way Star Alliance (and perhaps partner) awards. It is still not clear whether stopovers will remain on round-trip awards, Star and partner flights...
British Midland to Serve Tripoli, Libya
When it comes to picking a travel destination, not only am I attracted to places off the beaten path, I am attracted to places prone to violence or relegated to "axis of evil" status. Libya has fascinated me for...
My Recent Experience Booking an Aeroplan Award
I assisted a client in procuring two award tickets from Sydney to New York earlier this week and thought I’d give you a run-down of how booking though Aeroplan (Air Canada’s frequent flyer program) compared to my numerous telephone...
Thai Airways Equipment Change Knocks Me Out of First Class…And How I Fixed It
The ongoing saga of perfecting my award trip to China continues. A couple weeks, if you recall, I received a telephone call from United about a schedule change on my brother’s identical award trip. His segments in Lufthansa First had been cancelled. United...
United Torpedos My Lufthansa Award Flights
I got a call from 1-800-United1 yesterday while I was on another line and sent it to voice mail. A recorded message was left and I figured it was just an upgrade notification for my flight to SFO on Friday....
Another Thaw in StarNet Blocking – My Award Trip is Now Complete
It’s too early to tell if StarNet blocking is gone on UA or just on another hiatus, but I was able to book transatlantic Lufthansa flights today–a marked change from last week. As I mentioned in an earlier post...
Partner Blackout Dates on United Airlines
Beyond the scope of StarNet blocking by United, some Star Alliance airlines simply do not make award travel available on specific dates, usually around major holidays or in high tourist season. While UA is very cautious about releasing any...
Tinkering with my award reservation
Perfecting an award itinerary is an art requiring patience and skill. With the ability to make free and unlimited changes on United awards (1K/GS benefit only), segment by segment you can construct an ideal award itinerary. As I mentioned earlier, when I booked my trip China...
30% Off United Airlines Mileage Economy Awards (<700 miles only)
For a limited time, economy award trips under 700 miles in the U.S. and Canada are 30% off on United. These flights must be on United metal and be booked at least a week prior to departure. Only economy...
More on my award trip booking
I’ll just give you a quick recount of what I had booked and what I have booked now for my trip to China. As I mentioned in a previous post, my trip to China was supposed to be this...
StarNet blocking is back—at least on Lufthansa flights
After two hours of searching on the ANA tool tonight, I assembled a decent itinerary for my December trip to China. It wasn’t perfect, but it was workable. As I reported yesterday, no StarNet blocking on any Star Alliance...
ANA restricts ability to search for Star Alliance awards
After performing my daily search for LH award space from FRA-NRT last night, I was surprised this morning to find this message today: The Partner Flight Award search function is not available for passengers who do not have any...
