How to call in and book an award booking? Advice?
Sorry for the newbie question. I have looked around Flyertalk and haven't really seen a good explanation on how to best call in and make an award booking. If there is a post I have missed please let me know.
I see a lot of different award flights online for where I want to go with several different airlines (I have Amex and Chase points to transfer). But for business class the online offerings aren't great. Super long itineraries and/or mixed class bookings. It has been suggested here that the online offerings may not be accurate on what is actually available and by calling in I can do better.
My question here is how can I best call in. There are slam dunk straight flights I would like to be on. Should I ask for awards on those flights, even though I can't find any online award bookings on those flights for any date? The airline that seems to have the best redemption value is part of Star Alliance. I have gone to the Star Alliance site, is this a good way to see flights that are partners for potential flights/legs?
When I call should I have list of possible routes with flight numbers ready? Or do they make recommendations? Will they help you even though you have 0 miles? Do they ever make mistakes and say there is availability when there isn't? When are you comfortable enough to transfer miles? The program I am looking at transfers instantly, can you transfer while on the phone? Anything I am missing?
Again, if there is a place on flyertalk that talks about this process please let me know. Thank you for your time.