award redemption

Tag Archives for award redemption.

The New Reality Of Booking American Airlines Awards

by Gary Leff on August 2, 2023

Aug 02 2023

A reader, Tommy, reached out surprised by American Airlines charging 250,000 miles for a business class award to Tokyo on a flight the next day with plenty of seats available. I’ve flagged that, though American’s new Flight Awards chart that shows ‘starting at’ pricing is supposed to give members an idea of what to expect, for international business class especially the price American is asking for awards often would make even Delta blush.

But that’s not all you need to know.

Hang Up, Call Back: Changing American Airlines Partner Awards

by Gary Leff on November 5, 2022

Nov 05 2022

I’ve heard from several readers that have had problems changing American Airlines partner awards. They’re told that unless all flights in the itinerary that they want to keep are available with award space at the time they’re making the change, they’re out of luck. They can’t just keep the award flights they have, and change or drop a segment.

50% Rebate On All Virgin Atlantic Redemptions, Not As Great As It Sounds

by Gary Leff on October 28, 2022

Oct 28 2022

Virgin Atlantic is offering a 50% rebate when redeeming their points for award travel on their own flights by November 7 for travel through March 25, 2023. While there are ways to get more value out of this than it first appears, simple business class redemptions – even with 50% of your points back – aren’t such a good deal.

No Award Availability? Try Waitlisting Business Class Awards To Asia

by Gary Leff on August 27, 2022

Aug 27 2022

Business class award space flying long distances can be tough to get when you want it. There’s one approach that isn’t written about very much, but that can get you the seats you want – when you want it – on a great airline: waitlisting.

Update On My Award Booking Service

by Gary Leff on August 6, 2022

Aug 06 2022

I started helping readers book their award travel with an award booking service, Book Your Award, in 2009. Ten years ago Steve Belkin came on as my partner. Steve literally wrote the book on large scale mileage exploits. He’s been famous in mileage circles for 30 years, we’ve known each other for 20 years, and for a decade now he’s helped redeem billions of miles.

I can’t do it all myself. There’s too much at stake. And there are very few people that I trust to deliver at the level I’m committed to. Steve, my partner and friend, has decided to step back from award booking after 10 years.

Alaska Airlines Introducing Dynamic Award Pricing On American Airlines Flights

by Gary Leff on January 30, 2022

Jan 30 2022

Alaska Airlines says they’re introducing dynamically-priced awards on American Airlines. There are some folks freaking out and I am not sure that they should be.

There’s a note on the Alaska Airlines partner award charts saying that American Airlines award prices are going to start to “vary depending on demand.”

Sheraton Hotel Charged “Bonvoy Rewards Service Fee” When Members Redeemed Points

by Gary Leff on January 29, 2022

Jan 29 2022

Marriott doesn’t have control over its hotels, and properties tend to run amok. So it really shouldn’t come as a surprise – yet still seems more egregious than most anything that I’ve seen – when a reader shared that the Sheraton Puerto Rico Hotel & Casino is adding two separate fees onto award redemptions,

Not only is a ‘Bonvoy Fee’ something that isn’t disclosed to guests during booking, it’s forbidden by the program’s terms and conditions.

Wow: Hawaii Just 3154 Points Each Way During Peak Season On Southwest

by Gary Leff on December 7, 2021

Dec 07 2021

Hawaiian, United, American, Delta and Alaska are all running sub-$100 each way Hawaii fares from the West Coast. Southwest Airlines has matched the lowest of these ($62 each way) and that makes their flights available super-cheap on points as well.

You can book Hawaii for just 3154 points each way, or 6308 Rapid Rewards points roundtrip ($5.60 in security taxes each way as well). The best part of Southwest redemptions is that they are fully refundable, you can cancel and redeposit your points at no charge.

United Now Lets You Search Award Availability With An Interactive Map

by Gary Leff on July 12, 2021

Jul 12 2021

United Airlines introduced map-based flight search last year for revenue flights. And the increasingly revenue-based MileagePlus program now has this new feature as well. This allows filtering awards by non-stop vs. connection, dates, one-way vs. roundtrip, along with an “interest filter.”

The New, Easy, And Cheap Way To Book JetBlue Mint (Business Class) Awards

by Gary Leff on July 9, 2021

Jul 09 2021

The Emirates frequent flyer program has just introduced award redemption on its partner JetBlue. It’s easy to get Emirates points. And the award prices for JetBlue’s ‘Mint’ business class are surprisingly reasonable. You can often book JetBlue business class seats for more than one third fewer points than JetBlue would charge in its own program.