Just booked two one way awards for June/July 2009 for 4 pax;-

EDI-FRA (LH in Y) - IAD (LH in F) - MCO (UA in Y)

TPA-ORD (UA in Y) - FRA (LH in F) - EDI (LH in C)

Total cost - 360,000 miles (I've taken the advice to burn miles to heart) and just under £1,400 taxes etc.

A couple of points to note;-

1. I originally tried to go out GLA-LHR(C)-IAD(F)-MCO(Y) as ANA showed availability. All went well until the final IAD-MCO sector. Agents could see availability on this sector but couldn't book it. I've since learned that this is an UA married segments problem.

2. The first time I tried to book the outward journey, the agent could only see availability in Y from FRA-IAD, despite my telling her that ANA showed 4 F seats available. I adopted the trusty old tactic of hanging up and re-dialing. I then spoke to Mohsin, who dealt magnificently with the booking

I'm looking forward to playing with my rubber duck in the FCT