Originally Posted by
trademarkedTM
It's weird that they would not be happy about newbies and award travel because that's sort of what they signed up for when they agreed to let Chase and Citi transfer to them.. right? Maybe it's the ones that didn't get on board with that, that are more pissed off.
Most programs do not have such restrictions, so no need to be overly worried about this. It's nothing to do with CC transfers, but with fraud and mileage brokers, focused more on brand new signups followed right after by large transfers in. Of the programs you'd likely be using with the bank points programs you mentioned, the only one I know of to watch out for is Air France which can sometimes lock an account (requiring a visit to an AF ticket counter to unlock usually) if a bunch of points are transferred in with no organic mileage earning activity, especially soon after signing up - but many people have had no issues with this, too.
The choice is yours of course, but there is no need to spend money on an award booker unless you simply don't wish to spend time searching, as they don't have access to any more tools than anyone else and can't open up more availability than what you can already access. Most of us do our own searching and booking. It isn't that anyone sucks at it, but...for one thing in many programs availability isn't what it used to be and flexibility in dates and routing is your friend. Granted, there are nuances with each program but like anything else, after you do it for awhile you become more skilled and it becomes faster. I've never failed to find award seats for the trips I wanted to take; sometimes it just takes more effort than other times. Perusing the forum on here for a given FFP will help - in some cases there are dedicated threads about awards, availability, newbie questions, etc.
But you can also improve your efficiency. One tool is Award Nexus which will conduct multiple searches in parallel. You can use it for free by logging in with your FT login.
https://awardnexus.com/user/login?url=%2F
Expert Flyer is another useful tool, in that for many airlines you can set alerts for award seat availability, giving you a headstart in grabbing an award seat. It also has other useful tools for airline travelers. Subscription is $9.99 a month (5 day free trial) but you can cancel at any time without any hassle...and re-activate again if you have future need for it.
https://www.expertflyer.com/