busterbaxter

I just called with the same result. They just told me they didn't see those "near perfect" flights even though I could see it in Expedia

I tried LAS-ORD 7/2-6 on UA and some other $20-40 below cap flights too. They always reported back saying that they couldn't see those, and gave me only options $50 or more above the cap.

I also tried "For UA JFK - KOA; 20 -27 Dec; 2 fllight choices @$2994.40 or $2792.58 W/O Taxes/Fees. All $150 change fee; All UA Metal" as indicated in a previous post, and it was not in expedia anymore. I am now trying to dup it with other dates without much success. Well I guess even if I can, it will not "show up" in TYN system.

Did anyone succeed in booking a "near perfect" UA routing today?

Thanks for those who post their itineraries anyway!

edit: Just succeeded with IAD/BFL 7/13-17 UA $1915. Virtually no hold time but had to call in several times due to they "not being able to see the flight".

Happy

Yup, cannot just look at Fare Code and make assumption - must read the Fare Rules. We have found many Fare Codes that should not be refundable, like the YUP type, are in fact refundable when checking the fare rules, and many instances the Fare Codes are supposedly fully refundable, turn out Not! Only the Fare Rules can tell you what it is, and that governs your ticket.

Good job for finding one that works!

You are Welcome! Glad to know that you can use it. 2 days ago when I checked, the mainline was priced the same as the RJ, but I did not know CO's layover rule and felt a 4+ hour layover might create some problem ... although once tkt is ticketed, it should just be fine.

AFAIK, AA, CO & DL dont have restriction on credit derived from International tickets. UA is absolutely no good. NW and AS are no good for anything.

In general, Domestic X fee 150, Asia X fee 250, so you minimize 50. Other things to look at are the tax paid upfront out of pocket (you get it back as part of ticket value).

brownie20

[QUOTE=Happy;11287411]Yup, cannot just look at Fare Code and make assumption - must read the Fare Rules. We have found many Fare Codes that should not be refundable, like the YUP type, are in fact refundable when checking the fare rules, and many instances the Fare Codes are supposedly fully refundable, turn out Not! Only the Fare Rules can tell you what it is, and that governs your ticket.

Good job for finding one that works!



thank you so much Happy for all your help! unfortunately, the ticket although on continental was not available on expedia for some reason so i'm back to looking from scratch. truly is hard to maximize out points!

brownie20

expedia's website has NOT been cooperating today. i keep getting "opps one of your flights is not available at this price."

i havent successfully been able to find an itinerary on continental that's also available on expedia. is it pretty safe to say that hawaii is much tougher to book than domestic business class?

scottsd

I am settling on two choices for my 90K itinerary:

1) DL: SFO-YYZ, 11/23 & 11/25
Displayed price: $1783.82 + taxes/fees $ 212.29
TOTAL: $1996.01

2) AA: EYW-FAT, 8/17 & 8/24
Displayed price: $1934 + taxes/fees $ 56.60
TOTAL: $1990.60
The $1934 breaks down to $1799 base fare + $135 Excise Tax

Financially, they are almost identical. I am trying to pick one or the other; here are some considerations:

1) DL: I already have some FF mi on Delta/CO, so it would be nice to continue adding to that account with the "free" flight from this deal;
BUT -- I understand the DL voucher is only good for 1 year after your
initial rez, and it does not seem clear here that it was possible to extend it.

2) AA: I understand extending the life of your voucher is real easy, since each time they reissue it the residual gets a new 1-year life;
BUT -- AA flights on the itins I might actually use are somewhat higher
than DL.

FY, I am nearby (1-hr) PVD and BDL, and 2-hr from BOS.
Typical destinations for me are: FLL/PBI/MIA; LAX/BUR; and this year, DTW.

So any last words of advice, besides "pull the string, make the deal and stop fretting already" ??

Thanks to all
Scott

Happyfeet

Try JFK - KOA 19 - 24 Dec; 16 UA flights shown between 2979 and 2996.
Book fast before they change them

brownie20

just realized that the pts from the last statement had not posted to my acct when i checked yesterday. apparently i have closer to 170K pts in my acct, so i think i should be aiming for a 90K X 2 redemption? was planning on having 2 passengers fly the same route for ease of booking. is this a bad idea?

also the bf's acct has 67K pts and my sister's has 36K. i think i might have him buy the 23K pts to get to 90K and my sister will probably just forgo a redemption (she doesnt have a pp elite card anyways). is this what you guys would do? thanks!

busterbaxter

I have used up 90k today for a ticket in my name. Since I have 141k left (aiming for Hawaii thanks to Happyfeet^), should my next booking be done in my name or my wife's to reduce future booking fees? I understand that each ticket will incur the $150 cancellation fee, but what about agent fee ($25@) when I rebook each of them? Will it be easier if each of us has our own ticket to cancel/rebook, or should I just do it all in my name and just go to airport to book first in my name, then use residue for wife per previous posts?

I am planning to rebook both for an international trip for me and the wife.

Thanks to Happyfeet and iahphx for itinerary help, and Happy for steering me clear from international bookings!

MilesTalk

As a point of reference, called at 5pm, hold time 15 mins and 40 minutes of time with an agent to do four itineraries. With an experienced agent (he was able to leave or deduct the excise tax based on my asking) it was easy as pie. Still not happy about all the lost opportunity on the 3c vs 2c but I did all I could to make the best of it........

brownie20

congrats on getting 4 itinerarires in so efficiently! may i ask if you booked different itineraries to get different airlines or for some other reason? i now have 180K pts (just purchased some to get to the amount), and i was wondering if there was a reason i should split the 90K into 2 itineraries or just book under 2 people for the same itinerary?

i was on the phone w/someone from the travel rewards ctr, and for some reason she couldnt get it to submit at the end (computer updating?) she asked me to call back in 20 minutes. i hope they're not doing away w/fixed price altogther before i get my booking in

Happyfeet

Brownie
I was trying to help you with those CO flights to Hawaii, Expedia/Continental are not co-operating and I'm afraid it will get worse as we approach the deadline.
I can get tickets that are $4 over (you would have to buy up with 5000 miles?) or $2800 tax/fees included but that's not close to perfect.

Also the refundability issue with Continental is totally unclear to me. And I don't know how CO treats the Hawaian Air Inter-island flights to OGG, KOA etc. If they would refund the whole ticket it would give us more options.
Good Luck.

brownie20

THANK YOU SO MUCH HAPPYFEET for trying to help! i really, really appreciate it! i think i've given up on hawaii, especially since i apparently had more pts than i thought (almost 170K today vs not even 160K yesterday). i've gone ahead and purchased the remaining pts to get to 180K to redeem for 2 business domestic flights. not sure if there will be any problems if i redeem 180K at once w/2 passengers?

next i'll just have to find a way to kill the bf's 67K pts - i'm leaning toward having him buy 23K and then looking for a decently priced delta flight, since we sometimes fly nwa (the horror! ).

thank you again HAPPYFEET for your kindness. you and Happy truly are terrific people!

Happy

Try to do your search by specific time of departure to match what you found on CO site - sometimes it would bring it up on Expedia. As long as you can bring it up on Expedia, TYN reps should see it.

busterbaxter

I would advise preparing for 2 itineraries. Me and another poster today both reported that the TYN reps couldn't see some "near perfect" routings that showed up in expedia. I gave the agent exact flight numbers and he just said it was not in their systems. This happened for several routings that are $5-10 below the cap.

Be prepared and pull 2 routings up in different browsers, you might be able to save yourself from calling in again.

Happy

It does not matter to have 2 passengers fly on same route - the change fee is per ticket anyway.

It is $25 per 1K, so 23K would be $575. Even if you can redeem at 3c per pt (assume you have Chairman Card or SB FMA), it is not a very good deal. If you can only get 2c per pt, there is no reason to pay 2.5c to get back 2c value to instantly lose 0.05c for the 23K, plus tkt change fee.

Dont get carried away by this process. Do your math first.

You bf's best bet is to do a South America at 1200 cap 200 change fee 87 tax & fee. Then he can either extra 3K in coming weeks/months, to top off the 7K so he can redeem a $100 GC to clean out the account.

No apparent solution for the 36K as the value is too low. You have to remember, unless you can find something to actually fly on, the $150 X fee would wipe out whatever efforts you have, and then some. You would actually lose money.