Using our miles and points to book award flights is the reason we all spend hours upon hours of reading blogs, learning the ins and outs of airline programs, and attaching sticky notes to all our credit cards to make sure we use the right one for each purchase! But booking a flight using an award is not without its challenges. If you’ve ever used miles/points for an award ticket either for you or someone else, I’m preaching to the choir because you already know this but………there are tips I can give you that just might make your experience go a little bit more smoothly.
1. Booking one-way flights is actually a tip I received last year from a fellow blogger, and now I do it all the time. This allows for two different benefits. If you need to make a change, you only have to do it on one ticket and not on the roundtrip ticket. I find this easier to do. For me, whether I’m using an award or paying for a ticket, I now book the outbound and inbound separately. Maybe an even greater benefit is that when booking an award ticket you can use two different airlines, different alliances, and different sources of miles/points. This gets you thinking creatively, as seeing a trip as two different segments often means you’ll see possibilities you might have missed otherwise.
2. Learn about transferable points because they give you the most options. I’d say this is one of the first ah-ha moments that so many people have when they “think” they’re saving up miles/points for an award ticket. For instance, they use a credit card that is an airline affiliated card, say United, and accrue lots of UNITED miles. Sure, United miles can be used on United partners. But that really limits options when a Chase credit card or an American Express card would allow them many more airline transfer partners and a wider choice of award options. Remember that there are always other people looking for the same award tickets you’re searching for, so the wider you can cast your net the better. Flexibility is key.
3. Speaking of the actual search, people ask me which is the best tool to use to search for award tickets. I usually tell them that it’s the one they find easiest to use. Whether that’s Award Hacker, Expert Flyer, or the KVS Tool, they’ll all do the job, so find one or use them all and see what works best for you.
4. Speaking of flexibility, having flexibility because you have transferable points/miles isn’t the only flexibility needed when booking award tickets. The more flexible you can be regarding travel dates, destinations, class of service, or how many stops along the way you’re willing to make, the easier it will be to find available award seats. It’s good to prioritize your preferences. I’m able to be more flexible with dates and sometimes with destinations, but I’m more picky about class of service and how many stops I’m willing to make along the way. And this may sound obvious but the sooner you start searching, the better. Remember, other people out there are searching for the same seats you are. I had a crazy experience recently where as I was searching for award seats and taking a few minutes to decide on my routes and dates, I saw these seats disappear. If that’s not frustrating, then what is? Yet I know it happens all the time. After I was done shaking my head in disbelief, I had a good laugh.
Even knowing all these tips, it takes a lot of patience and a lot of time to book award tickets and not everyone enjoys the process.
Recently I got an email from a close friend who wrote, “Since you are the guru of travel I thought I’d ask you. Is there a service or agency out there that would help us book our trips using our airline miles and or credit card points? It’s exhausting trying to do it ourselves and with all the possible ways to make the most out of (or miss) using miles/credit card points we’d like to get someone else to do it.” I’ll admit to being a bit surprised because this guy is a computer whiz and a patient fellow. It made me realize that it’s always good to know when to ask for help because there are great award booking services you can use.
If you’re one of the lucky ones who enjoys and is good at booking your own award tickets, how do YOU make searching for award seats easier? Share any tips you have in the comments below.
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