Originally Posted by
shipsmail
Which route/airline did you book and which class?
DUS-ZRH-GVA-JFK, JFK-GVA-ZRH-DUS (return flight on day of dep. changed to JFK-MUC-DUS)
I am in a similar situation but I don’t understand the change rules. If waitlisted for a different routing can it be changed at anytime with no cost or only on day of departure? I assume changes to the departure and return airports are never allowed free. I am rather jealous because most bookings seem to have better success than I did this time.
Which route/airline did you book and which class?
ZRH-JFK, JFK-GVA-ZRH with LX in F
How many pax and how many award miles?
2 pax, 150% of M&M mileage, companion award
How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
5 months for mid July
Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel?
No
Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
No not at all. Online is impossible for F. On first call was told that LH would not even allow wailtlisting (which seems strange for SEN). Did a lot of reasearch with EF looking for routes with F8/A6. Narrowed down to JFK or TYO as destinations with complete flexibility for departure airport. On first call found and put a hold on HND-FRA (which strangely only seemed A5 while other flights with up to A7 were not available), as well as ZRH-JFK, but neither had matching flights outbound or return. Called every day for the next week of the reservation hold, except for the IT meltdown day. Fortunately LX SEN line was otherwise quick to answer. In third call got a hold on the JFK return via GVA. But kept trying because that was a last resort and other flight loads were showing up to A7 but surprisingly none of those were bookable. On last day managed to get on waitlist for HND-FRA, but unfortunately it did not clear instantly (how I had the good fortune in the past). Then I had my bigger surprise because I needed to change the feeder flights. This opened a huge can of worms, because they could not be added without cancelling the reservation hold, and risking the F seats being withdrawn. On the outbound I could add a hop from Germany but had to pay extra miles for one way to ZRH, and on the return it was impossible. After 1 hour 15 min with the agent I was just fed up and booked and closed on this routing.
How often did you have to check/call until you got the seats
6 times, including the last call of 1 hour 15min