Feb 3, 2014, 1:11 pm
Last edit by: PointsNmiles
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Members with 90 posts and 90 days on FlyerTalk can edit this Wikipost to update.
This list is not an endorsement of any particular award booking service.
Please do your research and read this thread.
Members with 90 posts and 90 days on FlyerTalk can edit this Wikipost to update.
This list is not an endorsement of any particular award booking service.
Please do your research and read this thread.
Please refer to the FT Disclaimers for disclaimer of responsibility for use of these services, etc.
Please feel free add other services and options you are aware of to this wiki.
Also, please post any personal experiences you may have with any of these services in this thread.
Reviews which appear to have been solicited by the service providers based upon content and posting history will be deleted. If you are a brand new or a member with a low post count and wish that your post not be deleted, please be sure to include the following details in your review: program(s), number of miles or points and the desired destinations and hotels. Please also include the itinerary booked by the service including the airlines, routing and hotels, the number of points needed to book that trip and the fee charged.
Award booking services (alphabetical):
- Award Advocate - Domestic $100 p/p International $125 p/p, no additional charge for last minute. Changes $50. Also 10% discount for families traveling with children and active military
- Award Booking Service - $25 up front search fee plus $150/ticket & $49 per 30-minute skype consultations (ask anything!)
- Award Butler - Award Search: $79 for up to two passengers; flight info provided but does not include booking. Booking starting at $149 for first two passengers.
- Award Chaser - Search fee starting at $79. Itinerary only - no booking provided
- Award Expert - (MatthewLAX on FT, Live and Let's Fly blog) $150 first passenger, $100 each additional passenger; $250 per person for RTW; $50/ticket booking fee.
- Award Flight Assist - Specialising in Australian frequent flyer programs; from AU$199 for the first passenger, additional charges for complex itineraries and more passengers
- Award Planners - One way $129, additional person $99; Round trip $199, additional person $99; Multi City $249 additional person $149
- Award Travel Consulting - Award Search: $125/person; Booking ticket: $75/itinerary; changes: new trip
- Awardmagic - $179 per person OW/RT plus one stop or $279 per person for three or more destinations
- BoundlessMiles - (Dominik Żmuda/Travelling the World): Booking: starting at $50 per passenger; Changes: half of award flight service fee paid
- CabinChief - Bookings are $49 per pax
- CatchUsFlying - $125 CAD/person for round-trip, $225 CAD/person for complex round-the-world. Consulting available at $75CAD/hour. (loganre17) on FT
- Chatflights - Use app to chat in real time with real travel hackers to book travel for points or cash. Booking fee $295 pp coach and business, $395 pp first class.
- Cranky Concierge - $75 per person each way domestic; $95 per person each way international
- First Class and Beyond - "Concierge-style" bookings. Fee is based on the value of the retail ticket, $250/person minimum.
- Flightfox - Consultative flight searching; fees start at $100 (requires credit card authorization up front)
- Flyermiles - (Graham / YOWgary) $150 + 50 per additional person, $250 for RTW awards. Offers detailed information on how to book your own award.
- iflywithmiles.com - (Mike/Melissa): 150 USD first person, 85 for additional person on same itin. Change fees vary.
- JJ Award Travel - FT Member since 2012 - No upfront fees. Basic one-way or round-trip air award travel consisting of a total of 8 legs or less for the entire itinerary: $250 for the first person and $125 for each additional person. Complex one-way or round-trip air award travel consisting of a total of 9 or more legs per direction is additional. FT members get a 10% discount.
- Loophole Travel - Award Travel Coaching $150 for first passenger and $100 for each additional passenger. Points Earning and MS Coaching also available.
- Luxury Travel Consulting - (Jasper2009 on Flyertalk): $150 per person per ticket
- Miles Help - Domestic: $100 OW; $140 RT/complex. International: $150 OW; $200 RT/complex. $50 each additional person
- Miles Momma Booking Services - Airline Booking: $200 up to 2 passengers. $75 additional passengers. $50 non-refundable up front. Changes $50
- MileValue Award Booking Service - (Scott Grimmer): Booking: $125 per person per award; $15 up front. Full payment required for successful search even if not booked. Change fee not currently listed; previously $79
- PMM Travel Consulting - (Miguel R. Quinones/AwardWallet Blog): Booking: $125 per passenger for the first two, $99 for each additional. Additional charges for complex itineraries. Credit card advice and travel planning services.
- Point.me - merger of services formerly provided by PointsPro (Ben Schlappig/One Mile At a Time) and Juice Miles
- Reward Flyer - Domestic: $50 first person; $25 each additional person. International: $100 first person; $50 each additional person
- SFO777.com - (SFO777 on FT) Booking: $200 first passenger, $100 each additional passenger; change fees vary
- Travel Codex - Per person pricing: $50 for North America award / $100 for International award.
- The Flying Mustache - $100 per ticket; additional fees for more than eight segments. Change fees vary
- The Short Final - $100 per person. $100 upfront deposit that is fully refundable if no itinerary found.
- Travel Is The Point - USA, Canada/Mexico & the Caribbean – starting at $50 per person. All Other International Destinations – starting at $100 per person.
- zainman - FT member since 2009. Booking: $200 first passenger, $100 each additional passenger; change fees vary, consultant services for $ as well
- Zero Hassle Rewards - $100 per person. Discounts for domestic and one-way
Award booking services - a list and some reviews
Jan 27, 2017, 2:51 pm
#527
Moderator: Travel Safety/Security, Travel Tools, California, Los Angeles; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: LAX
Programs: oneword Emerald
Posts: 20,626
Feb 21, 2017, 2:23 pm
#530
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 2,203
UA & Ulitmate Rewards
I successfully formulated my own RTW in F with AA miles this past year. But is was very straightforward - a bunch of one ways. The changes to the UA program (like the 'free' flight) and the multiple ways of using Chase UR may be beyond my brain (actually available time).
Can anyone recommend a service that is both familiar with United Mileage Plus AND Chase UR programs, i.e. the best use of those points? More specifically, it would be for some sort of RTW in J, sometime in 2018 (assuming no award charts change unexpectedly).
Thanks.
Can anyone recommend a service that is both familiar with United Mileage Plus AND Chase UR programs, i.e. the best use of those points? More specifically, it would be for some sort of RTW in J, sometime in 2018 (assuming no award charts change unexpectedly).
Thanks.
Mar 10, 2017, 7:15 am
#531
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: New Orleans, LA USA
Programs: United Lifetime Gold;SPG Gold (occasional platinum);SW;etc.
Posts: 245
A somewhat overdue review: in November I contacted Christopher at JuicyMiles. He was able to find bus class seats for my family of five (!!) to travel to and from Paris to visit our oldest son who is studying abroad. We were traveling in the off season and the itinerary was simple but we were only booking a couple of months before departure. What impressed me most was the service Christopher offered. Weeks after the whole thing was booked, paid for and finished, the airline (DL) changed the schedule. I contacted Christopher who contacted the airline for me and changed our return flights to improve the connection and flights-no additional charge.
Mar 23, 2017, 2:27 am
#532
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 29
Other Award Booking Service
Hello,
I would like to have my award booking service added to the list. I have been booking award for people through my site for the last couple of years and have booked hundreds of awards in first and business class. I charge $100 per passenger and there is no rush fee for last minute bookings. You can find out more at http://theflyingmustache.com/awardbooking/
Thank you,
John
www.theflyingmustache.com
I would like to have my award booking service added to the list. I have been booking award for people through my site for the last couple of years and have booked hundreds of awards in first and business class. I charge $100 per passenger and there is no rush fee for last minute bookings. You can find out more at http://theflyingmustache.com/awardbooking/
Thank you,
John
www.theflyingmustache.com
Mar 31, 2017, 5:29 pm
#535
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 4
Great Service from Awarding Canada!!
Used successfully the services of Awarding Canada (www.awarding.ca). Wanted to redeem 300k aeroplan points for 2 business class tickets to India with stopover in Spain and an open jaw with layovers. I tried searching it myself, but did not get anything significant with matching dates and the taxes were high. Avery got us an itinerary very close to what we wanted with very cheap taxes/surcharges and we exchanged a lot of e-mails (& I mean a lot!!) He was very professional and tried to find us the best deals and accommodate our changes (not easy in our case as we were coordinating with other family members).
In the end, I am a very happy client and I think the fees is justified by the amount of time he put and a huge amount of money he was able to save us on taxes. He even suggested an alternate which we did not think to avoid taxes in one particular segment and it turned out great for us!!
All in all, great customer service with great knowledge and workarounds.
Thank you once again!
^
In the end, I am a very happy client and I think the fees is justified by the amount of time he put and a huge amount of money he was able to save us on taxes. He even suggested an alternate which we did not think to avoid taxes in one particular segment and it turned out great for us!!
All in all, great customer service with great knowledge and workarounds.
Thank you once again!
^
Apr 3, 2017, 8:20 pm
#536
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 308
I HAVE to put in a good word for Adam at The Points Jetsetter.
I have used a few award booking travelers and I am confident in saying that Adam is easily the best one I've used by a country mile.
He's a lot of adjectives, but above else...he's organized, proactive, and knowledgeable. He's a superb communicator, welcomes questions, and is just a pleasure to deal with. He listened to what was important to us, which meant a lot. We were initially having some trouble finding the award booking I was after, but he kept at it and although he couldn't guarantee we'd find something, he was confident we could and he was right. We found an amazing reward booking that we were fully satisfied with.
I absolutely plan to use him again and he will be my only choice moving forward. I just hope he doesn't fade away like some of the others have!
I have used a few award booking travelers and I am confident in saying that Adam is easily the best one I've used by a country mile.
He's a lot of adjectives, but above else...he's organized, proactive, and knowledgeable. He's a superb communicator, welcomes questions, and is just a pleasure to deal with. He listened to what was important to us, which meant a lot. We were initially having some trouble finding the award booking I was after, but he kept at it and although he couldn't guarantee we'd find something, he was confident we could and he was right. We found an amazing reward booking that we were fully satisfied with.
I absolutely plan to use him again and he will be my only choice moving forward. I just hope he doesn't fade away like some of the others have!
Apr 15, 2017, 7:10 am
#537
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: DC
Programs: AA Plat, MVP Gold, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 116
I HAVE to put in a good word for Adam at The Points Jetsetter.
I have used a few award booking travelers and I am confident in saying that Adam is easily the best one I've used by a country mile.
He's a lot of adjectives, but above else...he's organized, proactive, and knowledgeable. He's a superb communicator, welcomes questions, and is just a pleasure to deal with. He listened to what was important to us, which meant a lot. We were initially having some trouble finding the award booking I was after, but he kept at it and although he couldn't guarantee we'd find something, he was confident we could and he was right. We found an amazing reward booking that we were fully satisfied with.
I absolutely plan to use him again and he will be my only choice moving forward. I just hope he doesn't fade away like some of the others have!
I have used a few award booking travelers and I am confident in saying that Adam is easily the best one I've used by a country mile.
He's a lot of adjectives, but above else...he's organized, proactive, and knowledgeable. He's a superb communicator, welcomes questions, and is just a pleasure to deal with. He listened to what was important to us, which meant a lot. We were initially having some trouble finding the award booking I was after, but he kept at it and although he couldn't guarantee we'd find something, he was confident we could and he was right. We found an amazing reward booking that we were fully satisfied with.
I absolutely plan to use him again and he will be my only choice moving forward. I just hope he doesn't fade away like some of the others have!
Apr 15, 2017, 8:11 pm
#538
Join Date: Nov 2013
Programs: AA Lifetime Platinum; Amex Plat; Four Seasons; Fairmont; HH; etc.; "Retirees-In-Training"
Posts: 658
Yes, I can confirm that people are willing to pay for an award booking service.
There are dozens of award booking services out there incl. myself and a few other FTers. Some are better than others...most are travel bloggers, a few just turned their knowledge into a (side) business and a few are travel consultants who also operate an award booking service.
There's a fairly comprehensive list here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...e-reviews.html
IME there are three main group of clients:
1) people who lack the knowledge / experience to find availability themselves
2) savvy FFers / FTers who could do it themselves, but who value their time (even for a very experienced FTer, finding award availability for a complex trip can take several hours)
3) FFers / FTers who are quite knowledge (at least when it comes to their primary FFP), but see value in having someone else optimize their award (e.g. finding the most cost-effecient way for a trip with five stopovers etc.)
There are dozens of award booking services out there incl. myself and a few other FTers. Some are better than others...most are travel bloggers, a few just turned their knowledge into a (side) business and a few are travel consultants who also operate an award booking service.
There's a fairly comprehensive list here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...e-reviews.html
IME there are three main group of clients:
1) people who lack the knowledge / experience to find availability themselves
2) savvy FFers / FTers who could do it themselves, but who value their time (even for a very experienced FTer, finding award availability for a complex trip can take several hours)
3) FFers / FTers who are quite knowledge (at least when it comes to their primary FFP), but see value in having someone else optimize their award (e.g. finding the most cost-effecient way for a trip with five stopovers etc.)
We've now used him several times, after a terrific first experience.
On relatively short notice, we wanted to change our dates for our return to the USA for next month's trip to Asia. He somehow managed to get us the flights we like, for 2 days later, still with F, and he's monitoring in case something opens up allowing us to stay another night or two.
He also found us 2 F seats to Europe in the future, with tricky routing due to a small town destination.
He's presented us with quite a few options with several different carriers, and a variety of routings, including CX F, SQ J or F, EK F (and we might have him monitor for LH F, which wouldn't be available until last minute because we'd be using Amex MR, not LH points).
It was also really good to start learning about a few unusual awards strategies with different programs, ones that we hadn't known about.
It turns out he's also a regular travel agent, so he got us hotel reservations for the extra nights as well. Nice combination, to be sure.
He also booked us an available prime suite on a Northern Lights cruise with a smaller cruise line we weren't so familiar with.
He also can get perks similar to Amex Plat Travel or Virtuoso, but with much better service. Win/win.
His response time has been excellent, especially when there is any sense of time urgency.
And he has a great sense of humor
That never hurts.
Apr 19, 2017, 5:41 am
#539
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 10
Hello,
We would like to have our AwardBird booking service added to the list. We charge:
- Economy Class Tickets: $39 for the 1-st passenger and $19 for each additional
- Business/First Class Tickets: $69 for the 1-st passenger and $39 for each additional.
We do not charge expedited service fee.
Other details can be found here: https://awardbird.com/how-it-works
Best regards,
AwardBird Team
We would like to have our AwardBird booking service added to the list. We charge:
- Economy Class Tickets: $39 for the 1-st passenger and $19 for each additional
- Business/First Class Tickets: $69 for the 1-st passenger and $39 for each additional.
We do not charge expedited service fee.
Other details can be found here: https://awardbird.com/how-it-works
Best regards,
AwardBird Team
Apr 23, 2017, 7:36 pm
#540
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 1,535
Juicy Miles Review
Hello there.
Another positive shout-out for Juicy Miles. I worked with James and I thought I had everything all planned out, but sadly I didn't understand all the details with Delta Skymiles and KE Skypass.
I was searching for the elusive Unicorn:
Low/milesaver/whatever award from East Coast to Hawaii. 2 Seats. In Business/First. On Delta via KE awards.
I knew it would be difficult but didn't realize that the 25k Skypass (KE) flights booked on Delta metal were for Delta's lowest awards. Which never happen (at least from East Coast).
So, I sent many long, machine-gun emails and James happily and quickly answered every one of them. Since we didn't want to chance not flying in FC, after I listed every single airline and award program we were in, James suggested that perhaps we'd be better off using my AA miles (I was saving those up for Australia, but it seems AA is not the one you want to use for that). Coming from East Coast I learned that apparently Alaska Air only has one seat (never two it seems) at the 40k AA awards. However, James was able to find us lie-flat seats at the 67.5k awards. This was far better than the 220k Delta wanted (each way, mind you). Had we been willing to travel in economy we could've done things more easily.
He was also able to suggest how to best plan for our future trips with our UR, SPG, Delta and UA miles.
I am quite happy with the service they provided.
Another positive shout-out for Juicy Miles. I worked with James and I thought I had everything all planned out, but sadly I didn't understand all the details with Delta Skymiles and KE Skypass.
I was searching for the elusive Unicorn:
Low/milesaver/whatever award from East Coast to Hawaii. 2 Seats. In Business/First. On Delta via KE awards.
I knew it would be difficult but didn't realize that the 25k Skypass (KE) flights booked on Delta metal were for Delta's lowest awards. Which never happen (at least from East Coast).
So, I sent many long, machine-gun emails and James happily and quickly answered every one of them. Since we didn't want to chance not flying in FC, after I listed every single airline and award program we were in, James suggested that perhaps we'd be better off using my AA miles (I was saving those up for Australia, but it seems AA is not the one you want to use for that). Coming from East Coast I learned that apparently Alaska Air only has one seat (never two it seems) at the 40k AA awards. However, James was able to find us lie-flat seats at the 67.5k awards. This was far better than the 220k Delta wanted (each way, mind you). Had we been willing to travel in economy we could've done things more easily.
He was also able to suggest how to best plan for our future trips with our UR, SPG, Delta and UA miles.
I am quite happy with the service they provided.
