Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Travel&Dining > Travel Tools
Reload this Page >

Award booking services - a list and some reviews

Old Feb 3, 2014, 1:11 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: PointsNmiles
Wikipost instructions: Signed in members can minimize or maximize Wikipost by clicking on [-] or [+] box upper right of post.
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
Print Wikipost

Award booking services - a list and some reviews

Old Dec 30, 2011, 8:29 am
  #16  
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: ROM
Programs: BA Silver, UA, DL Gold, HH Gold
Posts: 321
http://pointspros.com/

http://pointspros.com/

I recently used this service. I wanted to book a round trip to Asia, but one way with OW, and the other with *A. He presented me with a schedule that I hadn't thought of, but that I liked.

I believe the price was worth it, considering I didn't have to deal with any airline, and everything was done through e-mail.
MrDplus is offline  
Old Dec 30, 2011, 1:37 pm
  #17  
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Programs: CO, BA, UA, AA, PC, HH, MARRIOT, HYATT, MR, STARWOOD
Posts: 287
Originally Posted by MrDplus
http://pointspros.com/

I recently used this service. I wanted to book a round trip to Asia, but one way with OW, and the other with *A. He presented me with a schedule that I hadn't thought of, but that I liked.

I believe the price was worth it, considering I didn't have to deal with any airline, and everything was done through e-mail.
How much?@
finite7777 is offline  
Old Dec 30, 2011, 1:38 pm
  #18  
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: ROM
Programs: BA Silver, UA, DL Gold, HH Gold
Posts: 321
Originally Posted by finite7777
How much?@
$150.
MrDplus is offline  
Old Dec 30, 2011, 2:06 pm
  #19  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,731
Originally Posted by World-Wide
What is even more interesting is instead of helping "friends & family" he will rather have them pay. (wow)

And I don't see the point of paying someone for that.
Obviously you have not ever booked a complicated routing involving very hard to find award seats segments, at the peak seasons or last minutes.

There are times the money paying for the experts to hunt these down for you is money well-spent when you either dont have the knowledge or the tools to look for such, or you simply dont have the time to hunt for such.

Last edited by Happy; Dec 30, 2011 at 2:13 pm
Happy is offline  
Old Dec 30, 2011, 2:11 pm
  #20  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,731
Originally Posted by amolkold
I would, but OP clearly says "at times its quicker to pay for the help as Im on travel etc"

Award booking is time sensitive
And it is time consuming.

Above all things, it is the KNOWLEDGE that one is paying for.

Those pros know the alliances route maps like the back of their hands. They can come up with routing that none of the newbies here can think of, or know about.

Of course if your award idea is a r/t to Hawaii, or a r/t to Europe / Asia with the basic routing, you would think paying for such service is crazy... UNTIL, you have a very difficult time finding award seats on the basic routing you know about... such as just to get to Rome in July by business class to meet your cruise ... Then those services may come up with very unusual routing that have seats to get you there... just an example.
Happy is offline  
Old Dec 30, 2011, 9:44 pm
  #21  
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: DXB, IAD, SAN
Programs: PC Plat, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold, Hertz Gold, UA Gold, DL Silver
Posts: 76
I've used travelconcierge before (twice now) and Roland has been very good at finding what I want and from different alliances. I think he is Australian based, but is very knowledgable in finding routings for me that work. ^

I used up *A miles for my first trip and this time I am using up my *A miles one way and BA/Avios miles on the way back. Being able to fly the A380 on Air France was nice.
ademarco is offline  
Old Dec 30, 2011, 9:49 pm
  #22  
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: most of them
Posts: 3,283
I agree on the knowledge thing....and they have a wealth of experience working with awards, thinking outside the box and making things work. They know not just alliance partners but non-alliance partners, etc.

Granted with a bit of work anyone can figure this stuff out...with the right tools. I would certainly consider using a consultant like this though if I had special needs beyond a simple, straight-forward ticket.
glennaa11 is offline  
Old Jan 1, 2012, 3:01 pm
  #23  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Programs: Gold, plat, diamond and more
Posts: 3,360
Originally Posted by philemer
You really think your friends & family will pay for this service when they know that you will help them if they bug you enough?
Fair point

Originally Posted by World-Wide
What is even more interesting is instead of helping "friends & family" he will rather have them pay. (wow)
Ridiculous

Originally Posted by mike2200
Agree with why wouldn't you help family/friends???


Originally Posted by amolkold
I would, but OP clearly says "at times its quicker to pay for the help as Im on travel etc"

Award booking is time sensitive
Ive spent more than 300 hours on phone with US, burning millions of miles. There is no way I can help all friends and family with the time consuming ANA searches and phone calls with various US agents. However most I have done have been for family and friends. I have never charged any fees for helping anyone spend their miles. I even pay for it my self when urgent due to timing, travel etc. Will update with my experiences.
travelkid is offline  
Old Jan 1, 2012, 7:53 pm
  #24  
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: LAX
Posts: 2,851
Which award service would you recommend and how much would it cost?

Need to book with U.S. Airways dividend miles for Biz or 1st class from LAX to SGN, PHN to YVR and YVR to LAX for late December 2012 to January 2013, approximately 3 weeks total for trip.
metoo is offline  
Old Jan 1, 2012, 10:28 pm
  #25  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 5,438
My service is in my signature line.
belfordrocks is offline  
Old Jan 3, 2012, 11:42 pm
  #26  
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 12
I would also like to recommend Award Travel Consulting and they only charge $100 per booking: http://www.awardtravelconsulting.com/ I am new to the game and ATC helped book two F class award tickets using US Airways DM. They take consulting to a new level because we experienced a bump on one of our segment back home and could not get in touch with US Airways but luckily I was able to get access to a computer before boarding and emailed ATC with the predicament. They gave US Airways a call and had the problem resolved when we arrived for our next connection flight.
somempire1 is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2012, 9:16 am
  #27  
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Programs: *G, SPG, OW Sapphire
Posts: 2,565
Originally Posted by somempire1
I would also like to recommend Award Travel Consulting and they only charge $100 per booking: http://www.awardtravelconsulting.com/ I am new to the game and ATC helped book two F class award tickets using US Airways DM. They take consulting to a new level because we experienced a bump on one of our segment back home and could not get in touch with US Airways but luckily I was able to get access to a computer before boarding and emailed ATC with the predicament. They gave US Airways a call and had the problem resolved when we arrived for our next connection flight.
I'm glad you enjoyed your trip...hopefully we'll get to see some pictures of you in the BKK Thai Airways First Class lounge soon! To clarify, we charge $100/person to put together an itinerary and $50/itinerary to call in and book. We have a full explanation (along with a picture taken in TK first class suites with wine and canapes ) available--see link below.

Last edited by philemer; Jan 9, 2012 at 8:16 am Reason: removed commercial link
johndeere19 is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2012, 3:02 pm
  #28  
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: PHL
Programs: Marriott Lifetime PLT
Posts: 1,229
Since people asked, I'll throw in a shameless plug for my service:
see link below

Last edited by philemer; Jan 9, 2012 at 8:17 am Reason: removed comm. link
doctor15 is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2012, 4:06 pm
  #29  
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: NY, NY
Posts: 695
Back in November I was looking for help in getting some award travel booked. I got in touch with both Ben (aka lucky) and Gleffp (aka bookyouraward.com). Gleffp never bothered responding to me. Ben responded to me within a couple of days (the delay being due to his being on the road). Thus of the two ben gets my vote. However, in the end I decided to plump down for KVSTool, do some research and booked my travel by myself.
ukinny2000 is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2012, 4:16 pm
  #30  
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: PHL
Programs: HH Diamond, SPG Plat; no plans for chasing any more airline status.
Posts: 880
First Class and Beyond

Don't forget about the First Class and Beyond award booking service (see link below)!! It's been around for about 16 months and has serviced clients around the world. With the exception of being out of town - and even then, only sometimes does the following not happen - you will always get a response within 30 hours!

Thanks for your consideratoin!

Last edited by philemer; Jan 9, 2012 at 8:18 am Reason: removed comm. link
ariyo15 is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.