Originally Posted by
elhombre
... They want 155k points for a one way ticket. I know some about points, but certainly not as much as some people here. Am I doing something wrong? Should I wait last minute to book? I want to fly from phx to lhr around 5/2 and CDG to PHX 5/13-14
Award tickets come in different flavors
-- Saver awards have the lowest mileage requirement (60K for business) but also limited inventory availability
-- Saver awards with partner airline flights are a bit higher mileage requirement (70K)
-- EveryDay awards are the highest (variable) mileage price (up to 155K) but greater availability
To get saver awards, every segment needs to be available as a saver type. So from PHX, you will be connecting to a gateway city (IAH, ORD, EWR, SFO, LAX, DEN or potential some Canadain airports). One approach is to look from the gateway airports to Europe /LHR, first and if successful then work of figuring out how to connect from PHX. However, the truth is business savers at this point (3 months out) are going to be very rare.
Fixed dates are not helpful, mid-week is better.
You can waitlist for business if you book an economy saver but the risk is it never clears.
You can wait to book because the EveryDayaward is already maxed out and if you have elite status or the right Chase MP credit cards, available is always an option.This is probably going to take so effort but it is not impossible. There are many examples in this thread of folks finding a solution (but not all).