Amex gold holder looking to get the Sapphire Reserve. I would purchase the flight on the chase portal for ~$1,000 economy. I also want to use my Amex points, so afterwards would I be able to upgrade to premium economy with those points?

The Alila is much cheaper cash price, but fairly the same in points. Any other differences? Is the best way to fly there via Doha from the US?

Looking to fly in to and out of Athens for a trip spanning June 22 to July 5/6. Flying to Athens from the east coast (BOS, NYC area, PWM) and back from Athens to DFW.

It looks like the total mileage for 2 people is anywhere from 200,000 to 280,000 depending on the departure city. Unfortunately the most convenient option is the 280,000 option.

Initially I also looked at flying from Athens to somewhere else in Europe and then flying back to the US from there, or initially flying into another European city first, but there don't really seem to be good or convenient options to do that just for 2 days in another city.

Is 200,000+ too high of a number for a trip like this? Should I hold out or maybe change the dates of the trip (less likely option)?

Any insight or help would be appreciated!

I haven’t been too savvy with my points over the years and trying to see how I can make the most out of my various airlines now. Does anyone have any advice on what I can do with them, or is it a lost cause?

Velocity - 40k Emirates - 17k (half expiring mid-year) Thai Royal Orchid - 12k Jeju Air - 22k (random and likely useless outside of Asia?)

Based in Australia, looking into credit card to boost more points. Will be booking return flights to Europe this year and potentially relocating back to Ireland next year so want to make the most of what I have! Will also have some domestic Aus flights this year.

Thank you!

This thread is for sharing valuable awards you may have found in your searches.

It can be rare J/F seats that you don't normally find and also award nights at popular destinations.You can also coordinate cancelling flight and hotel reservations.Asking for compensation of any type is not allowed.

Off topic posts will be removed.

I have suite upgrade certificates that will expire on Feb 28th, 2025.

Unfortunately, my next stays START on Feb 28th, which means that these upgrade awards cannot be redeemed for these stays.

Any suggestions on what I can do with these expiring awards?

1. Has anyone had any luck requesting an extension?
2. Or is it possible to trade with someone for example who has a category 1-4 certificate that may expire much later?

I recently started travelling for work and dont know anything about American Airlines Award Miles and Advantage Status.

Have about 15000 Award miles and 12000 Loyalty points.

Also have American Airlines Gift cards for $300.

Can I use them (AA miles and GC) on Oneworld partners like Cathay/Qatar? If yes, how to do it?

Loyalty points has an expiry date in March. Any way to avoid this?

Also have Mariott and Hilton points. Any good use of them in transferring for better than free night stays at hotels?

As Title says, end of Christmas is available for standard booking, 5th night free. Won't last long...

Direct Link

Question: can i transfer miles to Air Canada, then somehow use those miles to book a Copa airlines flight?

For example, NYC to PTY.

Background: My original plan was to transfer miles to United in order to book a business flight operated by Copa. However, neither card seems to offer transferring miles to United.

Thanks!

As we're mostly out of the 2025 Xmas/NYE calendar-open bookings, and still getting "Why can't I get 2J to/from Oktoberfest in Germany" or Sakura season in Japan, etc... well, first of all, those awards aren't just lying around and that shouldn't surprise anyone. Of course, it is still possible to get these trips to work out and here's what's worked for me in the past, for Biz and Economy...
- Wait 'til schedule open next year and save your points to book reliably then. Of course, your chosen points currency could also devalue by then, but hey...
- [RARE nowadays]: Figure out a last-minute release schedule, like the T-14 JAL First Class drops of 2022. I'd only personally count on this if I found a pattern within a month of my trip, as these can go from predictable releases to absolutely nothing at a moment's notice.
- Sign up for an award alert tool. Occasionally there's random drops of plentiful space, even to top destinations at peak times. They usually last at least a couple hours to a day before they're all booked, which is more than enough time to make a booking.
- Set award alerts for EVERYTHING between the continents you're looking at. Occasionally someone cancels a ticket over peak season that goes back to inventory. It probably won't be _exactly_ what you want but if you reposition, you can be creative & use these.

- Biz for USA => EU specifically: Find an award flight USA => EU in non-peak season, then get a cheaper cash business class ticket EU <=> USA roundtrip. (It's even cheaper if you do the daytime EU => USA flight in economy or premium economy). Typically the cash charge to return to the EU isn't elevated, even in peak season. Then return in economy on an easier-to-find award
- Economy to Asia over Xmas / NYE: Similar strategy to ex-EU tickets but generally only works for economy fares. While say, SFO to Taipei for December 21 - January 3rd can be ~$2500 r/t, Taipei to SFO for like, November 29th to January 3rd might be <$1000 as the holiday surcharge sometimes isn't factored into the return leg of a roundtrip. Then you can nest that w/ say, SFO to Taipei November 24th to January 3rd for ~$1000 and pay less for both flights than the single holiday one would've cost, with an extra mini-vacation as well!
- For US <=> Asia specifically: Go via Europe in non-peak times. QSuites in particular is incredibly easy to find between Europe and Asia except for blackout periods, a stark contrast to DOH-USA. US <=> EU awards show up a lot more often at random times than US <=> Asia awards.

Or... every now & then there's simply no deals to be had and you have to eat the expensive cash ticket in coach. If you're financially stable enough to do it, just do it. You'll probably cherish the memories of your holiday trip far longer than you'll be fuming about how much money you paid!

I'm looking to book a roundtrip United / ANA from Newark to Tokyo in April. If T-14 days there is a Premium Economy or Business Class seat that becomes available for my departure flight, am I able to upgrade my Main Cabin seat to it if I purchase through UR portal?

Been getting into it recently. Feels like a trophy, especially because of the sense of achievement felt by booking these cabins with points. Would love to know from the community which ones they loved the most!

If I cancel my EVA award flight booked through AC, will that seat become available again immediately on AC?

It seems like it's been awhile since a worthwhile transfer bonus from AmEx / CapOne / Chase has been announced. I know AmEx had the Virgin 40% recently, but since then it's been pretty bleak out there.

Any reason to think there will be some new ones announced soon? I recognize that it's somewhat rare for Cap One to offer a worthwhile transfer bonus.

Slight churning + award travel adjacent question:

So we know over the years benefits, cards, sweet spots will come and go. For those who have been churning for a long time, what were some highlights of the past? What were the best years?

Was having better cabins and sign up bonuses worth devaluations, being "bonvoyed", etc..

Also what was award travel like in the 90s? 80s? 70s? 50s?

From what I vaguely remember:

2025 (ongoing): Alaska $400 credit card, possibly Citi strata Elite, new EKb777 cabins

2024: Plat Equinox Massage loophole, VS 40% bonus, VS dynamic pricing 29k, SQ x Marriot promo, D1 lounges open, JAL A351, MR > HA > AS loophole, Ink train, Amex 175k-300k SUB, Turkish deval.

2023: Finnair, Air France mistake fares (some refunded), Bilt > AA, Centurion 75k spend for guests, DL skyclub limits, etc.. introduction of JX, C1VX biz avail to public, not just for corporate relationships)

2022:?

2021: dirt cheap cash tickets cuz the airline/hotel industry was dying from covid. Extremely low Hyatt globalist requirements. Bilt card was launched

2020: covid?

2019: ?

2018: Centurion Lounges on arrival, WeWork Plat benefit (allegedly). LGA was (apparently) shitty at the time.

2017: Starwood merger with Marriott? 100k Sapphire Reserve SUB?

2010?

2000?

1990 and prior?

I am working to book a round trip for my family this summer. In the past, I would book many months in advance, United would make a significant change to the flight departure time, they'd offer me the possibility of changing to a different flight within 24 hours (same cities). Sometimes I would lose out- ie. I booked non-stop and now there were no non-stop flights- but sometimes I'd luck out- ie. I booked a less desirable cheaper departure time and could change to the more desired departure time for free. My question for this string is whether if I book round trip (vs 2 one way tickets), and United pulls their normal thing of changing around departure times of the flights significantly, will United give me the opportunity of changing both legs of the round trip flight (so each within 24 hours) or just the one way flight being affected? If I can rebook both outbound and inbound flights, even if only one is affected, I'll book round trip (so I can keep the same duration of the trip even if I have to move one leg +/- 24 hrs) but if not I'll book two one ways so to retain more flexibility if I want to initiate a change in flights. Thanks in advance for any insight you can share.

I booked a business award through LM for asiana. However, when I searched for asiana seat reservation, it said I have to Pay? Anyway around this?

How many JL F seats are released to CX at T-360 release time? What about J?

Hello all,

Forgive me if this isn't a great question to really ask.

I am looking at flights from HGK -> IAD and see one that is HKG -> DOH -> IAD.
The first leg is first class and the second is business (both flexi). For 2 adults this would be 380,000 points.

I'm not sure what the I guess regular costs are in points and wanted to get a feel for if this would be a decent deal or not.

Retail price for business both legs on google flights is $9500 before taxes for 2. This would be 2.5 cents per point I think?

I just so happen to see this and if this isn't that great of a deal, Ill likely just take economy. Just wanted to get a sense of what the value is normally. Thanks!

Hello! My go to is using Hyatt points when travelling. Family wants to visit BI and the only points hotels are Marriott, Hilton, and Wyndham. The Marriott properties are insane. 90,000 points a night and cash rates are well over $1,000 a night all in. I'm considering visiting a different island with these rates. Is there some redemption option I'm missing? The Wyndham properties aren't very nice so I'm not interested in them. Thank you!

https://ibb.co/gLcsw00L

Keep getting this error. Literally went down the list and chose every different flight option and kept doing this. Switch dates, same thing. Even tried booking revenue which was a really great price and same deal. Anyone ever run into this and/or know why it's happening?

Been trying to search for award space on FlyingBlue and continue to get a “Sorry, something went wrong… Please try again” in a red box back on the search page error. Tried different browsers, different computers, clearing cookies, changing location (from US to France) on the site, changing flight routes/dates, all with no luck. Is there a trick I am missing here?

Wanting to travel to Maldives from Boston with points.

Is this correct?: Most people who want to try Qsuites book a 1-way ticket from Boston (or NYC, etc) to Doha for 70k Avios points (transferred to Avios vs Amex or Chase)? We then book Doha to Maldives round trip, and Doha to Boston for return (because we can only afford the Buisness class for one leg)? And you have to book like 1 yr in advance via Qatar's website.

Is that the basics or am I missing something?

If I book a one-way business ticket on Qatar from Boston to Doha, and then fly to the Maldives in a separate economy ticket, do I get access to the Doha business lounge for our 6 hour layover?

I've got 80K hyatt points and 140k alaska. It will take me until late spring to get a few 100k more. Trying to book Maldives via Qsuites in Feb 2026. I can afford the flight now, and hyatt late spring, or the other way. What should I prioritize? Should I jump on the Qsuites booking or jump on the hyatt availability?

I have about 80k bonvoy pts and w the devaluation I am wonder if I should move - a 3-1 transfer to United. I know bonvoy pts are worth .5 cents. Currently there is a 10k bonus miles for every 60k pts transferred so it would essentially be 30k miles which would make the 60k transfer worth .5cents.

I don’t have a plan to use either bonvoy or United any time soon but I have the United card so the card saver fares could end up giving a 10-20% bump

Any suggestions

I haven’t been too savvy with my points over the years and trying to see how I can make the most out of my various airlines now. Does anyone have any advice on what I can do with them?

Velocity - 40k Emirates - 17k Thai Royal Orchid - 12k Jeju Air - 22k (random and likely useless outside of Asia?)

Based in Australia, looking into AMEX Velocity/Explorer card to boost more points. Will be booking return flights to Europe this year and potentially relocating back to Ireland next year so want to make the most of what I have! Will also have some domestic Aus flights this year.

Thank you!

Hello all,

Just curious on what your thoughts are as far as picking the most well-rounded program with decent award availability for transfer from Amex MR? I used Flying Blue (mostly non stop to Paris from JFK in premium economy), Virgin Atlantic (LATAM to South America - we go to Brazil about once or twice per year), and BA Avios (reasonably priced AA domestic flights). However, now that I can use Hawaiian as a “middleman” of sorts, I am looking at Alaska. Seems like they have cheaper options to São Paulo vs Virgin, excellent domestic availability, and JFK to FRA in Condor business looks particularly appealing for cross-Atlantic journeys… what are your thoughts? Is it a pretty good reward program, or do you prefer something else? Thank you for your suggestions!

Hello my fellow award travelers, I have another conundrum for you. And I really do appreciate all the opinions.

So, based on my earlier post today, there was unanimous consensus that I do not double connect from Tokyo to Osaka, back to Tokyo just to save 15k miles. Thank you for that, it was crazy that I was considering that in the first place, so I will not be doing that.

Now, I have 2 awards booked leaving on the same day, but at very different times and would like your advice. I made a post about it recently, and a lot of the comments ended up being just take whatever is available. But now I have an actual situation, where I have 2 very similar awards, but massively different scheduled departure times

• 80.5k Finnair Avios for NRT-HEL-LHR all on AY metal leaving at 11pmish (total is 18 hours)
• 75k Alaska Miles for HND-HEL on JAL metal leaving at 8am + a self-connect to LHR (possibly next day repositioning), since I don't feel confident making the 4pm flight (only 50m to connect) there's only one frequency afterwards, making it still somewhat risky to same-day connect. This means I'd likely end up at LHR on the same day as the above flight.

In your expert opinions, do I just take the late night NRT flight and call it a day?

With the merger finalized end of 2024, is Asiana officially part of skyteam and their flights should be credited to a skyteam partner? Or can I still enter a star alliance frequent flyer number and credit Asiana flight there? Flight is in march FYI

I exclusively travel for work and must stay within GSA per diem rates. We usually travel between Ft. Walton Beach, Colorado Springs, Fayetteville, and the DC area. My team usually stays at Marriott properties and I have a high status but it just doesn’t feel like there are many promotions or rewards with them. I started midway last year and accumulated barely enough points to stay a couple days at a decent hotel. And on the flip side, I stayed probably less then 2 weeks each at IHG and Wyndham properties and have already earned a couple free stays at each. Are the rewards for the other hotel chains that much better or should I stick with Marriott.

Whenever I travel on personal time, I don’t stay at any lavish hotels and don’t really intend to. I try to spend as little time as possible in them. IMO, there isn’t much that separates the three chains when it comes to sub $300/night hotels. So would you guys continue with Marriott with my higher status or start over at another chain?

How do I use expert flyer to see what routes Delta is flying the 75s on 3/22/25?

Sorry if this is the wrong sub. Trying to find one for expert flyer and coming up short.