America West FlightFund (Discontinued Program) - International reward travel procedure work-around?

Hi,

I'm glad I jumped over here in time to check out the 30 day increase on British. Bummer. Anyway my wife and I have 71K and 65K respectively. We want to either get 2 business or 2 first on BA for travel in June, 2004 to Europe. Very flexible as to date and basically any destination in Scandanavia is fine.

The snafu is this. I need to top off these account either with SPG transfers, up-to-15K purchases, or both, and I need to do it quickly. However, I don't want to send a bunch of points over or spend a bunch of cash to top off, and then have them deny my reward request.

I first spoke with the FF Service Center (Laura) who was very nice, said she was "sure" they would work something out b/c America West would not want their customers to be in such a situation as spending $ then being denied. But told me the int'l desk would have to help me.

Spoke with Faith at the int'l desk, absolutely no help (she was polite at least).

NO checking avails prior to miles in account
NO reversal of transfers if no avails
NO refund of pruchased miles $ if no avails

Anyone have any brilliant ideas for a work around? Or should I just get a couple F/C Hawaiian tickets with what I have and blow off BA? For the first time in a long time, I feel like HP's actions really stink all around. Just when I was beginning to think they were the new customer-friendly airline.

Thanks for any ideas on a work around?

I can't really think of any work-around ideas, as they're very strict about the policy of not looking into availability until you have the miles available for the award. But I can tell you from lots and lots of experience that I think the Flight Fund International people are extremely good and will do whatever they can to help you get your itineraries. In my experience, they're the best department in the entire airline.

If it were me, I'd focus on getting the miles into your accounts first, then submit your request via FAX or on-line and go from there. Given your flexibility in terms of dates, outbound BA gateway & destination cities, they'll be able to get you there. I've booked well over a million miles with them on BA F and 90% of the time I got exactly what I wanted in terms of exact dates and itineraries and the other 10% I got very, very close. I've never come up empty. I think they are the one HP department you can still have faith in. Plus, they know the gun we're under and I know for a fact most of them have a lot of sympathy for what HP has done to us with these huge increases with almost no notice. They'll go out of their way to make it happen for you.

I think it is definitely a risk worth taking -- but you better get on with it. Clock's ticking!

thesilb, if you have any status on HP, perhaps a mileage run would get you to at least a ClubWorld BA ticket. A run to the east coast should get you about 12K including bonuses. For the account 65K with miles, purchase 3K more and you are good to go.

In this week's weekend specials, you can fly out from SFO/OAK to PHL for $228, and SFO-MIA for $218 plus tax and fees.

How about going to Philadelphia for a long weekend, and catch either Mama Mia or Evita in the Philly theatre row?

Edited to add that I don't believe you can book travel for next June before the new redemption level take effect 7/1. The 11-month booking policy means that the latest you can return is probably mid to late May 2004.

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[This message has been edited by Jet2K (edited 06-06-2003).]

Thanks folks...the kicker is the last comment - I realize now they have a 10 1/2 month cap which means travel in our time period is not possible in any event, at least not at these mileage levels.

Hawaii, here we come. I appreciate the suggestions, though.

AZ, I guess I will see how helpful the partner desk is with my Hawaiian Air reservation.

Best of luck to you on the Hawaiian tickets. It would be great if you can post whether you are successful in getting the dates you wanted.

If for whatever reason you couldn't get any awards, feel free to drop me an email and perhaps we can do something mutually beneficial.