AwardHacker: a tool we build to tell you how to travel with the least miles
May 27, 2016, 3:05 pm
#16
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 13
What does "MR" mean? Well, I know it means Membership Rewards, but Membership Rewards in which country? MembershipRewards have different partners in different countries.
I think this needs to be clarified, at the very least in the drop down where you current spell out that it means Amex Membership Rewards.
Also, is it really true that CX multi-partner awards are less than single-partner awards? It shows the opposite on MH. A search I tried LAX to JNB round-trip in Business showed CX wanting only 160k+ for multi-partner but 175k for single-partner, while it showed MH wanting 174k for single-partner and 190K+ for multi-partner. I want to make sure this correct and not a mis-labeling.
Another thing: I searched LAX to CDG, and AA came up showing nonstop as well as 1-stop, and "oneworld and more". That's presumably because of Air Tahiti Nui flies it nonstop. But there's no guidance on how to search for Air Tahiti Nui availability; it just says first try aa.com (which doesn't show it), and then it says where to look for oneworld availability (but Air Tahiti Nui isn't oneworld or any alliance). At the very least, if you don't know a better answer, I suggest you add "you may have to call AA for availability on some non-oneworld partners".
And thanks for creating it! ^
I think this needs to be clarified, at the very least in the drop down where you current spell out that it means Amex Membership Rewards.
Also, is it really true that CX multi-partner awards are less than single-partner awards? It shows the opposite on MH. A search I tried LAX to JNB round-trip in Business showed CX wanting only 160k+ for multi-partner but 175k for single-partner, while it showed MH wanting 174k for single-partner and 190K+ for multi-partner. I want to make sure this correct and not a mis-labeling.
Another thing: I searched LAX to CDG, and AA came up showing nonstop as well as 1-stop, and "oneworld and more". That's presumably because of Air Tahiti Nui flies it nonstop. But there's no guidance on how to search for Air Tahiti Nui availability; it just says first try aa.com (which doesn't show it), and then it says where to look for oneworld availability (but Air Tahiti Nui isn't oneworld or any alliance). At the very least, if you don't know a better answer, I suggest you add "you may have to call AA for availability on some non-oneworld partners".
And thanks for creating it! ^
CX award chart is here, and although counter-intuitive, it is true that Multi-partners chart can use less miles than single-partner chart (LAX-LHR-JNB for example).
Another counter-intuitive but true case when debugging AwardHacker is that when using BA avios, 1-stop flights can occasionally use less avios than nonstop flight. For example, BOS-HKG one way eco takes 50k avios, while BOS-NRT-HKG only takes 35k+10k=45k avios, though you have to search by segment by segment on BA.
The non-alliance tip is an excellent suggestion! I've added it to the availability tips. Thanks!
May 27, 2016, 3:08 pm
#17
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 13
What does "MR" mean? Well, I know it means Membership Rewards, but Membership Rewards in which country? MembershipRewards have different partners in different countries.
I think this needs to be clarified, at the very least in the drop down where you current spell out that it means Amex Membership Rewards.
Also, is it really true that CX multi-partner awards are less than single-partner awards? It shows the opposite on MH. A search I tried LAX to JNB round-trip in Business showed CX wanting only 160k+ for multi-partner but 175k for single-partner, while it showed MH wanting 174k for single-partner and 190K+ for multi-partner. I want to make sure this correct and not a mis-labeling.
Another thing: I searched LAX to CDG, and AA came up showing nonstop as well as 1-stop, and "oneworld and more". That's presumably because of Air Tahiti Nui flies it nonstop. But there's no guidance on how to search for Air Tahiti Nui availability; it just says first try aa.com (which doesn't show it), and then it says where to look for oneworld availability (but Air Tahiti Nui isn't oneworld or any alliance). At the very least, if you don't know a better answer, I suggest you add "you may have to call AA for availability on some non-oneworld partners".
And thanks for creating it! ^
I think this needs to be clarified, at the very least in the drop down where you current spell out that it means Amex Membership Rewards.
Also, is it really true that CX multi-partner awards are less than single-partner awards? It shows the opposite on MH. A search I tried LAX to JNB round-trip in Business showed CX wanting only 160k+ for multi-partner but 175k for single-partner, while it showed MH wanting 174k for single-partner and 190K+ for multi-partner. I want to make sure this correct and not a mis-labeling.
Another thing: I searched LAX to CDG, and AA came up showing nonstop as well as 1-stop, and "oneworld and more". That's presumably because of Air Tahiti Nui flies it nonstop. But there's no guidance on how to search for Air Tahiti Nui availability; it just says first try aa.com (which doesn't show it), and then it says where to look for oneworld availability (but Air Tahiti Nui isn't oneworld or any alliance). At the very least, if you don't know a better answer, I suggest you add "you may have to call AA for availability on some non-oneworld partners".
And thanks for creating it! ^
May 28, 2016, 9:48 am
#18
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: GVA (Greater Vancouver Area)
Programs: DREAD Gold; UA 1.035MM; Bonvoy Au-197; PCC Elite+; CCC Elite+; MSC C-12; CWC Au-197; WoH Dis
Posts: 52,139
For a single search, the page had to load four times for me (actually six because I made a mistake and had to correct it) to get all the data entered, so it would save at least 75% of the time.
As a user, I disagree. Having to load the page four (or more) times is painful when a single button click would save almost all that time.
As a user, I disagree. Having to load the page four (or more) times is painful when a single button click would save almost all that time.
May 30, 2016, 11:16 pm
#20
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 13
Oh I think you misunderstand how it works... Each search will start immediately after user change something (not when previous search finishes), and each search is asynchronous which means that they are independent of each other. As long as the server side has idle resources, this will not slow down the loading process at all, because those search are running in background at the same time. In other word, adding the button won't shorten the loading time, it only saves us some server resources. The only reason it is slow now is that the search indeed takes a long time... Furthermore, the additional search are not wasted since the results are cached so that when other users do the same search in the future, no more loading time!
Jun 10, 2016, 12:02 am
#25
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Melbourne
Programs: Velocity Gold
Posts: 1,069
A great tool, good work!
A couple of points:
1. It doesn't appear you have taken in to account the 15% miles discount on SQ awards? This is pretty standard.
2. With the transfer partners you might want to clarify somewhere that they are US based. As MR is obviously different here in Australia, etc.
3. Taxes + approx fuel surcharges would be a great addition but could see it would be much more difficult to add in unless you can get something that takes the taxes and YQ rates out of a breakdown of the fare type.
A couple of points:
1. It doesn't appear you have taken in to account the 15% miles discount on SQ awards? This is pretty standard.
2. With the transfer partners you might want to clarify somewhere that they are US based. As MR is obviously different here in Australia, etc.
3. Taxes + approx fuel surcharges would be a great addition but could see it would be much more difficult to add in unless you can get something that takes the taxes and YQ rates out of a breakdown of the fare type.
Jun 14, 2016, 3:27 pm
#26
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 13
A great tool, good work!
A couple of points:
1. It doesn't appear you have taken in to account the 15% miles discount on SQ awards? This is pretty standard.
2. With the transfer partners you might want to clarify somewhere that they are US based. As MR is obviously different here in Australia, etc.
3. Taxes + approx fuel surcharges would be a great addition but could see it would be much more difficult to add in unless you can get something that takes the taxes and YQ rates out of a breakdown of the fare type.
A couple of points:
1. It doesn't appear you have taken in to account the 15% miles discount on SQ awards? This is pretty standard.
2. With the transfer partners you might want to clarify somewhere that they are US based. As MR is obviously different here in Australia, etc.
3. Taxes + approx fuel surcharges would be a great addition but could see it would be much more difficult to add in unless you can get something that takes the taxes and YQ rates out of a breakdown of the fare type.
Jun 14, 2016, 5:39 pm
#27
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Melbourne
Programs: Velocity Gold
Posts: 1,069
Another point. Something doesn't seem quite right with the JAL redemption rates. Using MEL-BKK as an example it is providing JAL FFP with flights on MH for 65k return in business class. As far as I can tell this isn't possible and should be 80k as the total return miles is 9364 falling in the 8000-10000 band. Do let me know if I have made a mistake!
http://www.jal.co.jp/en/jalmile/use/...rld/miles.html
Jun 15, 2016, 3:42 pm
#29
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 13
Good stuff.
Another point. Something doesn't seem quite right with the JAL redemption rates. Using MEL-BKK as an example it is providing JAL FFP with flights on MH for 65k return in business class. As far as I can tell this isn't possible and should be 80k as the total return miles is 9364 falling in the 8000-10000 band. Do let me know if I have made a mistake!
http://www.jal.co.jp/en/jalmile/use/...rld/miles.html
Another point. Something doesn't seem quite right with the JAL redemption rates. Using MEL-BKK as an example it is providing JAL FFP with flights on MH for 65k return in business class. As far as I can tell this isn't possible and should be 80k as the total return miles is 9364 falling in the 8000-10000 band. Do let me know if I have made a mistake!
http://www.jal.co.jp/en/jalmile/use/...rld/miles.html
Jun 15, 2016, 5:05 pm
#30
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Melbourne
Programs: Velocity Gold
Posts: 1,069
You should look at the single partner award chart http://www.ar.jal.com/ar/en/jalmile/...b_mile_ar.html since only one partner airline is involved. Also see this page for more detailed description http://www.jal.co.jp/en/jalmile/use/...index.html#a02. The chart you are looking at allows the mixture of multiple oneworld operate airlines, and thus requires more miles.