regarding my 7 HKG-SYD v.v. business class award bookings in late Jan...I ticketed two of them, using miles from a friend's account, in early Nov with no problem...but when I tried to ask MPO to issue two more last week, one with my own miles and one with miles from yet another friend's account...I was told, since my travel is more than a month away, they need to charge a processing fee of US$40 or 2000 miles (I don't remember the exact figures here) if I really want to ticket now...

I know, from what I remember from the terms and conditions, we need to ticket at least 14 days in advance...but I don't seem to recall anything about charges for ticketing more than a month in advance...any idea ??

I really don't need the tickets now, but I just feel more secure when I have the tickets in hand (esp when the miles are from someone else's accounts)...in fact, by ticketing earlier, I think I am the one who has something to lose...because the tickets are valid for 12 months (or 6 ?) from the issue date, if it turns out I don't get a chance to use them in late Jan...

When I talked to another rep yesterday, she said they are now very busy for christmas and new year travel, so she said it would be nice if I could wait until early Jan, then they would issue and send the tickets to me automatically...this sounds more reasonable...