OK - i can't believe i managed to miss this deal till now! that'll teach me for not looking at FT more regularly...
still, i have 90k TYP to go right now, and should make it to another 90K before the cut-off date for fixed flight redemptions.
i've been scouring Expedia for non-refundable trips close to 2700, but at least one thing is still unclear to me:
several good flights have other carriers (ExpressJet/Delta/Horizon) as part of the journey but they are all still coded as Continental on Expedia - does this count as a code-share (no mention of this on Expedia) or are these ok to book without hassles later?
thanks for all the help/suggestions/sheer genius in these forums!
Assume I have redeemed the required 90K points for a $2700 (approximate) domestic business class ticket and have subequently cancelled the reservation.
I know I could use 100K for the Carribean, but I won't have 100K
Can I than use the voucher on an international ticket or am I limited to domestic?
do any airlines allow credit to be used on codeshare flights?
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmychang
For UA, your origional ticket can be changed to any UA coded flights. You can do this online or via phone. However, the voucher of the residual value can only be applied to UA metal.
Anyone aware of airlines that DO allow you to use credit for codeshare flights? Do Delta or NWA allow such? What about CO?
A frequent destination of ours is only served by SAS (codeshare with UA) and KLM metal (codeshare with NWA) -- trying to figure out if there is anyway to get credit I might use with SAS or KLM in the future.
Programs: AirTran Elite, Hilton Diamond, DL FO, UA 2P, Hertz Five Star Gold
Posts: 502
Quote:
Originally Posted by ingy
DL = Brunswick Georgia only carrier
This doesn't work for the business class 90K redemption that we're trying to make happen with DL. It's pretty hard to find a good non-refundable business-class only ticket near $2700 in value.
OP is right about non-refundable being the suggested way to go, but it is possible to do this with a refundable ticket, but you need to investigate, and things can go wrong doing this trick, even if you know what you are doing. Just a heads up on a Delta experience last year: I found out the hard way that you need to make sure that you talk to the re-issue desk and not just any agent. In short, I would not recommend it, same as OP says -- but in a pinch, talk to the re-issue desk and not a normal agent. (I had one Y ticket get a voucher after talking with the re-issue desk (ask for it!) and one get refunded against my wishes after talking to a normal agent who thought they were issuing me a credit.)
Last edited by Milesjamie; Jan 4, 09 at 9:31 pm.
Reason: clarified point
Programs: Continental onepass, Delta Skymiles, AAdvantage, Lufthansa Miles & More
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Thanks to the OP for posting this!
I've never done this before as I've always booked fixed points flights for ones I was actually going to use. But, with the devaluation coming, I must do something with my accumulated points since I don't want to see them going to 'waste' - a 1% return to me is pretty much of a waste when compared to fixed flight redemptions as outlined here.
I am however having an extremely hard time finding routes and dates that are close to the caps. Maybe someone can post suggested routings and dates for the airlines this works with - UA, CO, DL, and AA? It doesn't matter which one since I'm not planning to travel for leisure until summer 2010 so I'll be selling the vouchers and putting away the money. (I don't pay for my business travel, so I can't use the vouchers for that - it gets charged to a corporate card.)
I did find refundable fares on CO, but I'm afraid to book them for fear of having them refunded to citi instead of a voucher. Unless there's a way to avoid that it's not a good option. If, however a refundable fare can be credited to a voucher, I want to know if it's better to have the base fare ay $2600 or at $2725 and 'pay' another 5k points - I couldn't find anything in between, but then again, I'm really new and unexperienced in this game so any help and advice is appreciated!
Also, is it better to book a couple of 90k/$2700 tickets and have a few smaller vouchers or go with an international ticket of 180k/$5400, 200k/$6000, or 240k/$7200 and have one large voucher?
Thank you ! Thank you! Thank you!
I redeemed a business class ticket on AA for 90,000 points. Value of the ticket about $2676.20! Some 200 bucks in fees, but I just cashed out over $2400.
Programs: BMI Gold, UA 1K, AA Gold 1.7MM, DL Gold, CO Plat, HH Gold, SPG Gold, Marriott Gold, Hyatt Diamond
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EmoryFlyer
This doesn't work for the business class 90K redemption that we're trying to make happen with DL. It's pretty hard to find a good non-refundable business-class only ticket near $2700 in value.
And why doesn't it work? Brunswick to a small west coast city via ATL. If you don't like Brunswwick, try HHH with flights starting after 3/1/2009. Not all legs need to be in Business, in fact most of mine only have one business leg.
Then identify its mega fortress hub (e.g. AA - DFW, DL - SLC). Find a small city served *only* by your carrier's affiliate airline. That'll likely be a small regional airport near that megahub. For example, only AA serves GGG.
Finally, look for a business class tix from a big business-traveler city (e.g. JFK) to your small city. JFK-GGG should work.
In most cases that will be enough. If it's not, pick travel dates on Monday where the outbound is less than 7 days out, which will force the outbound to price in J or F. The inbound should be further enough out to be in I, which will make the ticket non-refundable.
Is there a way on the Expedia site to find out which letter class of fare you are booking?
Clearly it shows, economy, business, first, and one assumes that if you do not check the "find refundable fares options" it should avoid showing you refundable fares.
However, I would like to verify that there are non-refundable class legs on my trip to ensure that I don't accidentally buy a fully refundable ticket.
