Award booking services - a list and some reviews

My website now has a new URL- see link below

I have contacted all consultants mentioned to date in OP with a challenge. Will report progress.

Worth noting is that several dont publish their contact mail, and you have to use a form. This to me is inconvenient.

Please do report back.

I have always wonder what goes on when an consultant engages with a client to help with an award trip. Do they talk on the phone? Do they email back-and-forth? Do they finish within a day or two (successful or not), or do they work with the client longer-term to secure and optimize the redemption?

i like your site, but the blog hasn't been active in months

+1 (or ExpertFlyer)

I used a service (none of the ones listed here) about 10 years ago that I thought was responsive, treated me well, and would be perfect for someone who is "new to the game"...but...they ended up finding only the same routing I had already found on my own, which made me think they were using the same tools I was. It was a semi-complicated oneworld itin nested inside a more straightforward Star Alliance itin, but nothing overly crazy. Couple hotel awards in there too...

It was cheaper then - something like $49 per trip. I paid it thinking they'd magically find some partner or routing I didn't know existed, but I was wrong. Not really their fault...it's just that if you know how to use a lot of the tools listed here on FT (whether for mileage runs or for award searches), you're likely fairly high up on the proficiency scale already and therefore less likely to overlook a nugget that a true "pro" will find. At the end of the day, the $49 bought me assurance that I had indeed found the optimal route and not missed something.

Where I can see using a professional would be on an RTW, simply because of how long it would take to put that one together. Anything that gets into long phone calls to airlines starts to sound worth it to me. Plus some good local knowledge of hotels in places where I'm not using points would be worthwhile.

Out of curiosity, was it a prepaid type of consultation, or was it contingent on acceptable itinerary found? Did you talk to the consultant about what you already found, or did you wait to hear from them?

Also, before you engaged them, how much time do you estimate yourself having spent to find the same routing that they did?

I imagine that's part of the pricing situation with these kinds of consultations. The consultant has to average his work complexity - if everyone booked the easy trips themselves and only come to the consultant for the extremely complex trips, the cost (and price) will have to be well north of $200 - $400, instead of just $49.

one more i found recently when searching but haven't used any of them yet..

http://crankyflier.com/

10 years ago!? Did you account for inflation?

My service is that you don't pay if I can't find you anything.

I prefer not to have my e-mail published on the website simply to prevent automated bots from filling my inbox with spam. If it is really an issue for people, maybe I will reconsider. Either way though, simply drop me a PM or fill out the form, and I will be happy to reply with my e-mail.

Thanks! Yes, I am working on getting it back up and running. Look for a new post coming this weekend.

You could use this format; award at travel.com

In any case many prefer using their mail client, which also keeps a copy in the sent box.

I worry about this as well. One way to at least limit the exposure is to encode the email address. Something like this http://www.wbwip.com/wbw/emailencoder.html

You can see an example of it on my website (view the page source code).

I've added mine--see link below-- thanks for the feedback!

I don't recall the specifics, but I believe the $49 was contingent on them finding an acceptable itinerary. That is, if they had totally struck out, I wouldn't have had to pay. But since I knew in advance they wouldn't totally strike out, I knew I'd be paying the $49.

Maybe an hour or so...

To pay $200+, I'd probably want someone who could not only execute the reservations for air/hotel but who also had solid local knowledge of my destination. For that kind of money, I'd want them to book local reputable guides/drivers and that kind of thing. In fact, I'd probably pay more for the local knowledge...even if they weren't any better than I am at using award searching tools.

I am fairly sure my agent was U.S.-based, so I guess that'd be about $62 in 2011 dollars. Like I said, I was fine with it in the end since it gave me peace of mind that I had indeed achieved the optimal itinerary. And the agent *did* make the phone calls to place the reservations on hold and get the seat assignments with several airlines: I only had to make the two calls to actually issue the awards from my accounts.

Tonight I'll go looking through my old emails to see if I can find out any further details...and also maybe figure out if this agency is still in business.

Mine, too. No special website for the bookings (I get enough business through referrals without it) but contact info is, among other places, in first link below in my signature line.

Honestly, that's not really all that much to be paying for what is effectively travel agent services. Unless you're also willing to let them handle all the bookings and take a commission on that work, the $200 is likely not worth it based on the hourly.

Hello there,
If there are more than 1 person on the SAME itinerary do you still charge $90/person for complete booking that itinerary? Thanks

Thx, OP updated.

For the sake of the master list I hope to have an as complete list as possible.

You and others, especially of the long time runners, have enough clients - as we all know its time consuming as well.

Gleff sent me a very polite reply as well, point also being that they are happy to let new people develop their service, as they already have their market.

Prime market is in any case outside FT.