Originally Posted by
drdavidge
Hey, I'm trying to plan a trip for my wife and I to go to South Africa for about 1.5-2 weeks. It seems like the only direct in business is SAA, but no availability there. There are many *A options out there, but its pretty difficult to search segment by segment on ANA's site. I can route through MUC, FRA, GRU, LHR, ZRH, IST, CAI, and maybe some others I missed. If we have to connect, we typically like to stay for a day or a long layover to check the city out while there. In addition, there are some options on OW and SkyTeam as well. What's the best way to search availability on all options for this on award nexus? Is the Trip Pass the best bet? I'm not sure of I understand it.. why wouldn't everyone get that pass instead of paying $60-$250 for the other options?
Also, I've seen others paste screen shots of that calendar availability view and I'd love to have access to that to visualize the options. thanks
The Trip Pass is designed for the case when you have a specific trip you want to search, and then you expect it to be either long-term or relatively point-heavy in usage. It's a great value if you fit those descriptions.
A premium membership works in the case when you expect to search for multiple trips, because in that case, the cost averaging over multiple trips would only be about $20 - $25/trip. It also gives you more flexibility, if you need to search for a trip with more than 2 passengers or greater than 45 days travel period.
I think either product will work very well for you, but given that you are already familiar with Award Nexus, I lean toward suggesting that you get the Premium Advanced (4-8 trips) or Premium Expert (8-16 trips) options, as you can get the highest level of access with the most flexibility.
The calendar view is available to you now. Just click on some of the tabs on the top of the display. The actual date range will correspond to your membership (e.g. 14 days for most paid membership, but some elite Premium Expert members can search up to 29 days at a time).
Let me know if you have more question.