jms_uk

I shall give it a go and update here afterwards.

jms_uk

OK, third time lucky

First they wanted to charge too many miles and correct taxes.

Then, they corrected the miles, but taxes increased [15EUR booking fee + 1EUR].

Eventually, after being on hold for a bit, they've managed to charge correct miles and taxes.

17 minutes all together - me happy.

Concerto

I tried to book a one way ticket from Russia to Geneva tonight. There was lots of availability along with low taxes on Aeroflot. At the last stage of the booking I got a screen saying the booking was too complex and I would have to call to complete it. The booking appears to be on hold and there is no ticket number. Am I going to get refused when I call?

I've been trying to ticket a similar itinerary using soon to expire Saudia miles and have reached a wall of obstacles, disinterest and incompetence that just beggars belief. One agent said Samara is too "far" away to ticket. Another said Skyteam systems are down. Another said they just can't ticket on Aeroflot and with this one I got the impression that Moscow might have worked, but Samara is just off the radar somewhere on the dark side of the moon.

Am I going to get the same rubbish from Flying Blue agents? Can it be that they show loads of availability in the system, but just refuse to ticket what's there?

Ditto

Why don't you call, and then report back your experience?

Concerto

Very good point. I just did that and it took forever to book a simple one way. The agent was very nice but kept disappearing for long stretches. At one point I feared I had lost him. And I called the French speaking FB number, thinking they might be more adept at doing what is apparently a complex reservation. Got it ticketed in 28 minutes.

jix

Does flying blue have the same inventory as other partners' site and expert flyer?

I'm looking at simple VN flights and both EF and delta.com show availability for multiple passengers but when I do the same search on AF it's not there. Even some single passenger flights are not available on AF but show available on EF/delta, is it a website issue and will phone agents have more access?

Goldorak

No.

Sometimes yes. No risk to try.

Keter

FB does not show all VN flights, moreover it does not calculate taxes and charges as for revenue tickets. From what i spotted if current taxes and charges are lower for revenue tickets than on the web then calling an agent will probably get you these lower taxes and charges.

VN avialbility is not sophisticated (no PoS variation etc) so using Expertflyer/ KVS or similar will give you pretty much accurate info. Next step is to call if this is not seen on the web.

MattTaiwan

Searching for flights availability between TPE and BKK and FB website displayed 25,000 Miles Biz award available for transit via PVG or CGK since direct flights was not available for redemption. But Air France App required 30,000 thru PVG and CGK required 50,000 Miles instead of 25,000.

Contact UK and FR call centers but informed that these’s no any GA flights from CGK to BKK Biz award available for redemption. Asked for TPE-CGK by China Airlines than connecting with MH CGK-KUL-BKK. FB three agents said nothing available with MH but KVS tool shows a least 2 seats on the day I requested.

In the end I contact KLM Twitter team and ask for assistance. Finally they secured TPE-CGK-KUL-BKK all the way in Biz Class and provided confirmation code. Called back to FB call center once again and the ticketing this award with 25,000 Miles and EUR 118.01 taxes.

So far, its all set but MH sectors booked as U Class ( Oneworld Business Class Award) will displayed Economy Class on AF website when you check your itinerary online. But eTicket itinerary receipt was correct.

Total working hours: 4 hrs to dealing with call center, 40 minuets with Twitter team but it works great!

Concerto

Seems terribly fiddly. Like I was saying, it's becoming difficult to ticket even mildly complicated itineraries these days.

no1cub17

First time trying to book a flying blue award and have some issues - would like to fly LAX-FCO-DEL on AZ then take a 9W domestic flight in India. I want to book it all on one ticket but when I call in the agent said it's 55k miles not 40k because they charge extra for the 9W domestic segment. Is that correct? I'm wondering why the entire ticket can't be purchased for 40k. Thanks

princesakura

Trying to book an SU award that's available on Delta.com and EF, but two out of three Flying Blue agents said they didn't see availability. The third agent said it was available but I got disconnected while the agent was processing the hold. Now I'm wondering, are ex-US awards on SU actually bookable? Sometimes I see SU flights within multi-leg awards ex-CDG while searching airfrance.us but I've never seen a non-stop ex-US award on SU appear online.

irishguy28

40k is the "starting from" price. If you can get to Delhi for 40k - and are already lucky enough to obtain this cheapest rate on your preferred airline and routing - it doesn't necessarily mean that you can also add a new sector without influencing the price of the ticket. (Each time a new partner/sector is required, you are increasing the chances that your luck will run out as regards getting a ticket at the absolute cheapest mileage price).

Check if your 9W flight is bookable separately for 10,000 miles, and then see if you can just have two tickets issued. Or, check the cash price - it may be that you are able to just buy a regular ticket for not much more.

(If ticketing separately, take all necessary precautions - i.e. maximise your buffer time for safely connecting between tickets at DEL, as you will not be protected if you miss the second ticket due to irrops, delays or problems on the first)

irishguy28

The booking tool is generally only optimised for AF and KL flights, and while other partners may show up on some routes (you're more likely to find SU offered on routes from AMS and PAR than from, for example, JFK - remember that AFKL are in an immunized joint venture across the Atlantic with AZ and DL so are *far* more likely to find sufficient capacity on flights operated by their closest partners or themselves on tickets from the US to Europe/Asia/Russia), the general advice is to call.

It is rather pointless to check availability in Delta Skymiles or any other non-FB booking system if you are intending to use FB miles to make that purchase. It's kind of like checking if Costco has something in stock, then driving to Walmart expecting to find the same availability on their shelves.

Making the most of Flying Blue means not having a personal requirement to travel on a non-AFKL airline, and being able to use your miles on routings that are more naturally/easily ticketed on AFKL.

groundzero2121

I recently as of about a week or 2 ago found an LAX - LIH 1 way award ticket for 15,000 miles per person. I just now transferred my points over to Flying Blue to try and book it this morning. Its now showing no flights are available and when i call i get the same answer from 2 different reps. Should I wait and continually check every day to see if it shows up in the flying blue search engine or are the chances unlikely that anything will change?