Author Topic: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?  (Read 888631 times)

Offline beastieb

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4700 on: July 31, 2019, 01:47:46 PM »
A couple minor updates on this.. The LAX-IAH initial leg had a schedule change of about 30 minutes, I was able to cancel this flight, get the points redeposited and have the redeposit fee waived.

Also, the DXB-MLE EK F leg plane has changed from the old 777 to the new 777, so pretty excited to get to try out the new suite... even for a shorter flight. So will get to be on EK F A380 and New 777, EY F, A380 and AA Flagship F A321T on this upcoming trip in a few months. Pretty excited.

Originally on the outbound we had LAX-IAH-DXB-MLE and then were able to get LAX-SFO-DXB-MLE.
I had set up some EF alerts for LAX-DXB for each day of the 2 weeks before our flight was leaving so I could see how they were releasing last minute availability.

Started to notice they were releasing extra award seats between 3-5 days out when the cabins were relatively empty.
I was finally able to switch our flight to LAX-DXB-MLE 4 days out and while I had to pay the AS change fee its worth it for the peace of mind about not worrying a delay will mess with anything and to have an extra 4 hours at home in the morning before we go.

 I actually caught the award availability before any EF alert came through on that specific flight while they previous alerts did help me get an idea of when to keep checking to see if they opened up. Really looking forward to our trip in a few days.



Offline KSMH

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4701 on: July 31, 2019, 02:41:46 PM »
Originally on the outbound we had LAX-IAH-DXB-MLE and then were able to get LAX-SFO-DXB-MLE.
I had set up some EF alerts for LAX-DXB for each day of the 2 weeks before our flight was leaving so I could see how they were releasing last minute availability.

Started to notice they were releasing extra award seats between 3-5 days out when the cabins were relatively empty.
I was finally able to switch our flight to LAX-DXB-MLE 4 days out and while I had to pay the AS change fee its worth it for the peace of mind about not worrying a delay will mess with anything and to have an extra 4 hours at home in the morning before we go.

 I actually caught the award availability before any EF alert came through on that specific flight while they previous alerts did help me get an idea of when to keep checking to see if they opened up. Really looking forward to our trip in a few days.
In your experience what time do they release and how many seats were unbooked.
Always praying for delayed baggage.

Offline beastieb

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4702 on: July 31, 2019, 02:55:39 PM »
In your experience what time do they release and how many seats were unbooked.

It's mostly happened in the morning by 11AM PST at the latest, I found the availability I needed around 7 AM and immediately called in to change, I had checked the night before when I went to bed around 11PM.  It does not seem to be a set time and seems to vary by day. There were typically 5-7 open seats left and anywhere from 1-3 F seats were opened up for saver awards. There were a couple times however where EF alerted me around 11PM but that was the exception.

Offline brodes18

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4703 on: July 31, 2019, 03:07:16 PM »
JFK - TLV LY in Y Qantas 37.5K

Offline JACKBLUE

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4704 on: July 31, 2019, 04:20:05 PM »
JFK - TLV LY in Y Qantas 37.5K
txt?

Offline brodes18

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4705 on: July 31, 2019, 04:26:53 PM »
txt?
Called, txt took too long. First guy was lost, second guy in Cape Town call center wanted to know what's going on in tlv that everyone in ny wants to go there.

Offline 12HRS

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4706 on: July 31, 2019, 04:35:42 PM »
second guy in Cape Town call center wanted to know what's going on in tlv that everyone in ny wants to go there.

Mashiach is coming...

Offline davidrotts63

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4707 on: August 12, 2019, 11:07:22 PM »
JFK-AUH EY 388 F
AUH-CMN EY 789 J (fingers crossed on F opening)
120k AA+$16.50
@AJK wanna do the math?
(Quit) pulling out the flowers, and watering the weeds. -Peter Lynch

Offline KSMH

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4708 on: August 12, 2019, 11:54:04 PM »
JFK-AUH EY 388 F
AUH-CMN EY 789 J (fingers crossed on F opening)
120k AA+$16.50
@AJK wanna do the math?
That's an awful long way to get to CMN, are you at least going to be enjoying AUH?
Always praying for delayed baggage.

Offline davidrotts63

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4709 on: August 12, 2019, 11:56:42 PM »
That's an awful long way to get to CMN, are you at least going to be enjoying AUH?
The more time in the air the better. Will be spending some time in AUH.
(Quit) pulling out the flowers, and watering the weeds. -Peter Lynch

Offline BarryLincoln

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4710 on: August 13, 2019, 12:34:10 AM »
JFK-AUH EY 388 F
AUH-CMN EY 789 J (fingers crossed on F opening)
120k AA+$16.50
@AJK wanna do the math?
Great redemption!!  You will not be disappointed...

Offline AJK

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4711 on: August 13, 2019, 09:57:50 AM »
That's an awful long way to get to CMN, are you at least going to be enjoying AUH?

Agree, especially considering Royal Air Maroc has a pretty good product, flies non stop, and is cheap.
2015: 116K bkd | 1.6M brnd | F: OZ,NH,AA,EK | J: UA,CA,TK,DL,TN,AF,VA | LIH,NRT,ROR,PEK,CNS,BOB,MEL,TLV & Pacific Hopper

Offline davidrotts63

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4712 on: August 13, 2019, 10:34:18 AM »
Agree, especially considering Royal Air Maroc has a pretty good product, flies non stop, and is cheap.
Awards weren't available, I had it for 1.4k (roughly 90k UR/MR, or a little more with bags) in J but I chose to do this;
A. Because who doesn't love burning some AA over MR/UR.
B. I've been waiting to fly EY A380 F for a while, and since I've been/am being to Asia twice this year with the flights already booked, the next opportunity could not come for a while.
C. AT timing meant I would have to leave the next day which means (I would be in the not so lovely 788, and) I would arrive later than if I was flying this.
D. I'm meeting up with friends in AUH.
E. I love flying and anything that involves it, I'd honestly prefer to fly even if I didn't have to.

And that is why I chose to fly 13 extra hours in Etihad Apartments.
(Quit) pulling out the flowers, and watering the weeds. -Peter Lynch

Offline shapsam

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4713 on: August 15, 2019, 12:12:56 AM »
TLV-MAD-JFK IB J A332/A359
39.5k MR = 55,250 IB, + $180 x2

Offline hvaces42

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4714 on: August 15, 2019, 12:34:06 PM »
Nothing earth shattering but first time booking this...
JFK-TLV LY J 78k QF +$9.60 booked online.

No issue finding the direct flight. Didnt have to SMS or book through other city etc.
« Last Edit: August 15, 2019, 12:41:31 PM by hvaces42 »
Fair warning - Any PMs sent in response to forum posts are fair game for ridicule in public.

Offline elya

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4715 on: August 15, 2019, 12:39:18 PM »


No issue finding the direct flight. Didnt have to SMS or book through other city etc.
Yup. Its been showing online for around 2 weeks now. (Albeit not all flights)

Online Something Fishy

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4716 on: August 20, 2019, 12:15:56 PM »
Sometimes the beauty of this game is in the little victories.

I needed to fly a specific AA EWR-MIA flight. Costs $179 in Y, but only award availability is in F.

So I went and bought the miles needed for F... for $170.
« Last Edit: August 20, 2019, 12:31:41 PM by Something Fishy »
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Offline Davidp

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4717 on: August 20, 2019, 12:31:09 PM »
NYC-LHR-TLV
VS PE
33,500 + $275
X6 + lap child (4,000 points)

(Oct 6)

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4718 on: August 20, 2019, 06:24:40 PM »
I am just unstoppable today!

Booked 3 WN flights. Was 1 point short, obviously not gonna transfer in 1k points for that. Called them up, and they were happy to book it over the phone for me.

Best part? Instead of adding 1 point to my account, they lowered the price of each flight by 1 point.

Now I have 2 Southwest points in my account!
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Offline AJK

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Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?
« Reply #4719 on: August 20, 2019, 06:30:15 PM »
EWR-ATH in EK F for 85K + $170
2015: 116K bkd | 1.6M brnd | F: OZ,NH,AA,EK | J: UA,CA,TK,DL,TN,AF,VA | LIH,NRT,ROR,PEK,CNS,BOB,MEL,TLV & Pacific Hopper