Really? I suspect the problem is that there is no date for a year where availability is open right now. There will almost certainly be flights on this routing most days -- maybe even every day -- from here to the end of the year that will have travelers on redemption bookings. If OP waitlists, he may get such a seat himself.

In this respect, it's not much different from what happens with discounted revenue bookings. Most flights go out with tickets that were sold at the cheapest fares, but that doesn't mean the cheapest fare for a particular flight will be available for purchase on the particular day you want to buy it. (Status even comes into it, with upper-tier MPO members getting access to lower buckets via the seat guarantee that may not be available to the general public, in the same way status holders rank higher on the waitlist for awards.)

In any event, I doubt kicking up a fuss is likely to yield much in the way of increased availability, especially since it sounds like the OP doesn't have any MPO status....

Well, I just realised this. Unfortunately too late...and very disappointed with this AsiaMiles. Well, they have been very clever, they advertised that you can redeem a ticket....where as you all saying is pratically impossible for this route.

I suggest the clever AsiaMiles frauder, next time, to advertise Auckland to Rome, one way, for just 10 AsiaMiles points....this way you will attract even more customers. Yeah..till they try to redeem an "impossible" ticket lol

Thank You. To be honest, I have to admit that the operators on the line have been very nice...they quickly answered my phone calls. I rang them twice...first call they put me on many waiting list....next time I asked for updates...but they told me just to wait and see (pray??? lol).

I told few people around me about this situation, maybe Ill ask someone of my friends to be the "angry person" on the phone eheheh.....

I'm not gonna go through everyday for you, but for example..17-19 March offers:
QF156 AKL-MEL 21:35-23:45
CX178 MEL-HKG 00:50-07:00+1
-or-
QF148 AKL-SYD 17:45-19:20
CX138 SYD-HKG 22:20-05:00+1

17 March offers CX293 HKG-FCO Direct in economy
or other days where you can take HKG-LHR-FCO.

There's definitely spaces out there for redemption. You're just not trying hard enough.

AsiaMiles is a Joke? [redemption difficulty]
 

Tried KUL - LHR on MH then LHR - FCO on BA?

Other options include starting your award journey in SYD/MEL and then booking a cheap flight with cash (if one is available) from AKL to the starting point of your journey. Or... booking with AsiaMiles from AKL to a point in Europe like LHR, HEL, etc and then booking a cheap flight from that gateway to FCO.

Is this 100% "free" the way an AKL-FCO redemption would be? No. But depending on how much the connecting flight costs, it can still represent an enormous savings compared to the cost of buying a cash ticket AKL-FCO.

ETA: There's mid-week availability on AKL-HKG-LHR in either economy (70,000 miles) or premium economy (84,000 miles) in either of the next few weeks, so far as I can see. You'd then buy a ticket LHR-FCO (on BA running around GBP150). That GBP150 cash outlay is guaranteed to be markedly cheaper than buying an AKL-FCO one-way flight without using miles on the long legs of the trip.

It has been noted many times in this forum that CX is really trying to hold on to the hope that somebody else will pay cash for the empty seats as long as possible. Therefore, less and less award seats will be open and even release. There are many DMs and GOs in this forum complaining that even they cannot get award seats in a timely matter anymore, and CX made them sweat to the last minute, so it is no surprise of what you are experiencing.

Also, the date and time of your travel matters. If its a route that CX is confident they will sell out, they will be very reluctant to give you this seat for lesser charge.

Is CX a fraud? Far from it. At the end of the day more often than not you will get it when you are waitlisted, but yes, CX makes you sweat till like 2 weeks before actual flight time. Last year as a DM, they made me wait for my family's tickets 2 weeks prior to departure, this despite my bookings are "Top Priority" and ExpertFlyer says the plane is pretty empty.

Now if you want a fraud, try BI. Nobody I know that flies with them is able to secured any award seats from them.

Done everything..thank you so much for your Support :)

Just booked my tickets...next Ill have to cancell all their waiting lists!! lol
I had to use 40,000 + 48,000 points...plus money. 88,000 points...and this is ok.

Well, what a waste of time ringing AsiaMiles....they should just say "Contact FlyerTalk and you will get what you want" ....Cheers

Out of curiosity, what did your routing/carriers end up as?

I don't know how you managed to get 70,000AM. I got 110,000 for AKL-HKG-FCO return economy. And I assume there's no availability for that from CX.

AM/MPO agents are not that helpful.
In your case, they won't proactively offer up partner airline routings (unless it's direct).

You need two tools, both free:
1. The oneworld map http://onw.innosked.com/
2. A British Airways Executive Club membership https://www.britishairways.com/trave...club/_gf/en_hk

But it's not easy. Neither FCO or AKL is easy.

The innosked map only suggests AKL-HKG-FCO as a routing but searching the number of airports I can get to directly from AKL I identified KUL as another likely candidate for redemption (being the home base of MH).

I came up with the following itinerary with BA.

2 Sep AKL-KUL MH130 1315 2020
2 Sep KUL-LHR MH2 2340 0550
2 Sep LHR-FCO BA560 1245 1610

18 Sep FCO-LHR BA571 0655 0840
18 Sep LHR-KUL MH3 1200 0735
19 Sep KUL-ALK MH133 0845 2245

Ugly, and I wouldn't want to find another one. But this is all available for at least one passenger in Economy.

It's a oneworld redemption of approx 25,743 so it should require 130,000AM http://www.asiamiles.com/am/en/redeem/charts#2 . You are allowed five stopovers, two transits and two open-jaws but you can convert two unused stopovers for the two extra transits required for this itinerary.

I wouldn't expect any AM/MPO agent to be able to find it. But I expect them to be able to book it if I see it in BAEC.

edit 17:08 - oh, one way...

Ended up...as you guys suggested. 2nd April.

Auckland to Brisbane, then to Hong Kong (using 40,000 points); this service thanks to Qantas and Jetconnect for Qantas.

Then about 7 hours wait in Hong Kong (and this is ok...not a problem...i love Hong Kong airport) then the next day Hong Kong to Rome direct (using 48,000 points). Cathay Pacific.


Well, again thank you...you did help. now I have 2 different bookings...but im sure i can handle this lol.

How come they dont link those opportunities on their website? I mean...at least for their support care team, at least they can support customers in a better way. I just cancelled my waitinglist 1-2-3-4-5-6 april...bla bla...
again you have been the REAL Customer Care Service :) you should get paid!! lol

Milan might have been easier? Daily flight at least.

Anyway, all sorted out now.

Their IT system is badly hobbled - limited functionality, incomplete data loading, sporadic downtimes - really competing for the bottom with SQ.

Their agents (whether English or Cantonese) are outsourced and sometimes inadequately trained but I expect they are also hobbled by the same bad IT as we are.

(if you want the reason PM me)

Congrats on the happy ending :D

Try joining the Qantas program - then you would really understand what the word "challenge" means.