The Definitive "How To Search for Low Tier Business Awards"
Sep 17, 2012, 8:35 pm
#1276
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2001
Programs: DL 1 million, AA 1 mil, HH lapsed Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 28,190
Are you trying to use NYC as an airport code? That may work in revenue bookings but reports are varied for award bookings. Try JFK. Yes, there is low band award inventory CDG-JFK on 26 Sep,
Sep 17, 2012, 9:14 pm
#1277
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: New York City
Programs: DL Diamond
Posts: 124
Yes, I was using NYC instead of JFK, so thanks for correcting me there. However I'm still not getting anything really on the search. When I choose Business/First in the drop-down menu, then I start getting 300,000+ mile tickets, but only the inter-european segment is business and the EU-US segment is in economy. What am I missing here? Where do you see the low band inventory?
I wasn't looking for Business.
Sep 18, 2012, 6:43 pm
#1281
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: SFO
Posts: 28
Does anybody have problems booking AF award business class for the last couple of days like me from North America to Paris? I'm using KVS tool and Expert flyer, both show available seats LAX-PAR,ATL-PAR or NYC-PAR, delta.com doesn't show them at all, and phone agents can't see them too.Like they are blocking them/ Phone agents pretend where is no problem and it's supposed to be like this/ Same thing was back in March http://thepointsguy.com/2012/03/delt...-class-awards/
Last edited by DennisSFO; Sep 18, 2012 at 6:52 pm
Sep 18, 2012, 7:08 pm
#1282
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: MSP
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM (FO soon), A3 Gold, TK Classic Plus, SPG Plat, HH Gold, Hyatt Diamond, National EE
Posts: 1,003
Does anybody have problems booking AF award business class for the last couple of days like me from North America to Paris? I'm using KVS tool and Expert flyer, both show available seats LAX-PAR,ATL-PAR or NYC-PAR, delta.com doesn't show them at all, and phone agents can't see them too.Like they are blocking them/ Phone agents pretend where is no problem and it's supposed to be like this/ Same thing was back in March http://thepointsguy.com/2012/03/delt...-class-awards/
Sep 18, 2012, 8:16 pm
#1283
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: SFO
Posts: 28
I'm using airport codes. was trying to look for November.tried APR and May also,same thing.for example NOV 4th ATL-PAR AF689 shows on KVS.but delta agents can't see it. Website shows only Delta coded flights for 325.000 miles.no thanks,I want AF for 100.000! 
Sep 18, 2012, 8:44 pm
#1284
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Worldwide
Posts: 12,949
Please see our reply in the http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...l#post19341014 Thread.
Sep 18, 2012, 9:17 pm
#1285
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: MSP
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM (FO soon), A3 Gold, TK Classic Plus, SPG Plat, HH Gold, Hyatt Diamond, National EE
Posts: 1,003
That availability does not show on expertflyer which pulls from a data source more similar to what delta sees. As kvs mentioned, availability from kvstool is currently only valid for AF, which is where that data comes from.
Sep 18, 2012, 9:35 pm
#1286
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Worldwide
Posts: 12,949
Sep 20, 2012, 12:27 pm
#1289
Join Date: May 2008
Location: PHL (kinda, no airport is really close)
Programs: AA Exp, but not sure for how long. Enterprise Platinum woo-hoo!
Posts: 4,550
Searching RDU-OTP
I am trying to find award space RDU-OTP and back. The outbound will be early August 2013, return mid-August. The over-the-water segment must be business class.
I realize that for some carriers, these flights would not be loaded this soon, so I have searched some other dates to try to refine my search skills.
I learned from my trip this year to search segment by segment, and that sometimes you can put together an award at low miles if you fly coach on the domestic segment, which is fine.
The problem is the European segment. I've found that sometimes it's necessary to book on Tarom from AMS or CDG to OTP to make the trip work. (FCO would be possible also.) But I can't figure out how to actually search on RO. The only tools I'm familar with are DL.dumb and awardtravelr.com. Awardtravelr.com did not come up with any flights at all in August, and I tried another week in April and it came up empty also.
Can someone give me advice on how to search AMS/CDG/FCO-OTP and back? And perhaps also how to search AZ from the USA to FCO? What are the "must-have" tools for this?
I realize that for some carriers, these flights would not be loaded this soon, so I have searched some other dates to try to refine my search skills.
I learned from my trip this year to search segment by segment, and that sometimes you can put together an award at low miles if you fly coach on the domestic segment, which is fine.
The problem is the European segment. I've found that sometimes it's necessary to book on Tarom from AMS or CDG to OTP to make the trip work. (FCO would be possible also.) But I can't figure out how to actually search on RO. The only tools I'm familar with are DL.dumb and awardtravelr.com. Awardtravelr.com did not come up with any flights at all in August, and I tried another week in April and it came up empty also.
Can someone give me advice on how to search AMS/CDG/FCO-OTP and back? And perhaps also how to search AZ from the USA to FCO? What are the "must-have" tools for this?
Sep 20, 2012, 1:08 pm
#1290
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: SUX
Programs: BA Silver; HHonors Gold; SPG Gold; Points but dirt with everyone else
Posts: 8,050
AZ and RO should both show on the FlyingBlue engine. However, if you're looking more than 10 months out, that won't do you any good. AZ is also available on ExpertFlyer, although DL agents often need to do a long sell to get the award space. I'm not sure if RO is on EF, but it is available for free through the Wandering Aramean tool: http://www.wandr.me/Award-Search.aspx
The FlyingBlue engine is by far the easiest to use, as it searches several weeks at a time, but it does have some limitations.
The FlyingBlue engine is by far the easiest to use, as it searches several weeks at a time, but it does have some limitations.