Originally Posted by jatink129

For some people who've done their share of research and reading, it may seem like baby steps but for others it may seem very intimidating.

Now I'm not talking about a simple EWR-BDL flight.
I'm talking about a BDL-EWR-LHR-BOM-EWR-BDL partly in Business, partly in Economy and partly in First Class.
And heck even that seems a little simple to me... But when I first started out a few months ago, it seemed insane why I couldn't find any availability on UA when doing a multi-city search.
It seemed insane when ANA wouldn't allow me to do *A searches if I didn't have ANA miles (had to use a script to get around that, courtesy Wandering Aramean)

But slowly and steadily I got the hang of it. With many thanks to the multitide of excellent people here who helped me.

Now compare this with my father. He has points that he got from cc sign-ups and from flying internationally on various airlines now and then. Most of this is beyond his ability. He's a smart man but this is just not his cup of tea. So I do the booking/searching for him.

Similarly people find that paying someone $100-$150 for really complicated itineraries is totally worth it. It's not about being lazy, it's about convenience.
Some of the really good award booking people know tricks that I don't.So when I have a couple of hundred thousand points with UA, AA, BA, etc, for a convulted itinerary I may find it worth my while just paying $150 to have them search the best route and get the best use of my points.

But that's my opinion.

Originally Posted by pssteve

Here is a link to a previous thread on award booking services...http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ices-list.html

Originally Posted by nature1370

I just dont get why people are paying a high amount of fees ($100-$150) for such simple mouse clicks and searches. Is it really hard to learn all the tricks? From my point of view, they are easy like baby steps. If you do not have search tools like them, just sign up for expertflyer site or buy some special searching tools advertised here on FT. Besides, you are safe with your private information. It is much better with the idea "they can do it, you can do it too". Your personal information is important and think carefully before giving it to a random dude on the internet. You never know what they are going to do with that information. Oh well, this is my opinion and correct me if you have good views on this.