1) Route and date of travel: 15-Mar-2012 -24-Apr-2012
YYZ-TPE-HKG-TPE-YYZ
2) Date of request and how made (eg at an office/online) approx. Dec. 2011 request for award and then booked in Feb. 2012 via online website*
3) Class of free ticket requested or original booking class (for upgrade)
Premium Laurel
4) Evergreen Club status (if any) Gold
5) Outcome Success*
6) Any other information - what you were told, whether paid for tickets were still available when you were declined etc.
Was attempting to book TPE-BKG but no availability, despite there being plenty of seats available for sale. Ended up taking the route to HKG. I had to do this as I would have lost 100,000 points on Dec. 31, 2011. EVA has expiry dates on its points, even though one is an active PAX. (I take at least 2 roundtrip transpacific flights with BR every year)
Could not book an upgrade from EVA Deluxe as there was no availability roundtrip on any route. The value isn't worth it anyway if one compares the points for an upgrade per sector flown vs a roundtrip ticket.
As a tip to anyone considering an EVA redemprion, I suggest you consider the low load routes such as YYZ and SEA. I connected to YYZ and it was still worth it for me.
With the implementation of the new Royal Laurel service I have a feeling the redemption point requirements are going to get boosted within a year.
First redemption for me and a heck of alot smoother than the misery of my former American Airlines or the impossibility of getting a seat on Delta. Not as easy as Aeroplan though.