Minter66

I have been watching Continental's site like a hawk for the past couple of months. My wife and I are both very close to the mileage amount so we can do DFW - FCO and do an open-jaw back from CAI - DFW. This has to be done the Sunday of Labor Day 2011 since we get that Monday off.

I have been trying to find saverpass flights in and out and it seems like they randomly appear and dissappear. For instance:

I set up a "sample" trip of July 31 - Aug 13, 2011 and at first, there was a nice departure on Sunday at 2:00p and a return departure from CAI at 10:30 am...all under saverpass economy and to the tune of ~65,000 miles each.

Tried the same thing again, and it is now gone. Are there a certain amount of saverpass reservations allowed on a flight, then no more? I am airline dumb about this stuff, but basically flying on these reward miles is our only chance to get to see Cairo as the flights from/to Athens are really expensive.

TIA

redreusam

It's really still best to call the reward desk at this point as the CO website regarding rewards is very inconsistent (and quite frankly wrong) most of the time these days.

Not that you asked but I've been looking for NYC-EZE in late March/early April and it all lights up a pretty pretty green color showing that business is available from NYC-YYZ-EZE among other routes but go into it and see business is only available on the NYC-YYZ portion. On the return, it is available on the EZE-IAH portion but not on the IAH-EWR/LGA portion. Even the Copa flights show up as available in first but get to the end of the reward booking and says flights only available in economy! Why it shows up as available in business/first until the very end I'll never know! CO should really fix this - they would save themselves a lot of phone calls in the process (or maybe not).

I even called and the agent couldn't see anything different and no UA flights were showing up at all. I'm sure it will get worse before it gets better with the merger "situation."

elcid3

I'm not sure if this issue applies to your situation, but back in June I was having similar problems booking for Memorial Day 2011. What I realized was that Continental will post availability 330 days out. However, although United's availability will sometimes show up on Continental's website, you can't actually book the itinerary until approximately 320 days out. When I called Continental's help line, they actually said the United flights had been canceled which was incorrect. Through trial-and-error I eventually realized that if I wait a few more days my flights would be available.

aacharya

As of today:

Only dates between Sep. 20, 2010 and Aug. 23, 2011 can be accepted for the Depart Date.

Lafayetteflyer

can the return flights be latter than 23 Aug?

if so what is the limit on return flights?

Minter66

Okay, so it just isn't me...that is a relief. I just think based on what I have seen there aren't a whole lot of economy saverpass flights out of Cairo and I really don't want to screw my vacation up. I think I will just call, give them the dates and times I want and see if they can help me out.

Thanks for the insight fellow flyertalkers!

Minter66

Okay...this doesn't make ANY sense.

I called the Reward Travel number (713.952.1630) and spoke to an agent about trying to get a Flight for September of 2011. She politely informed me that those dates are not available...that's fine..I was just fishing to see if they had further dates than online...


Then we got into the discussion of how many miles. I told her that the sample Itinerary I had planned online calculated 65,000 miles TOTAL per person.

Depart: DFW to FCO via ORD and YYZ. That's 27,500 miles (per online)

Return: CAI to DFW via LHR and ORD. That's 37,500 miles (per online)

She argued that it would be 75,000 miles MINIMUM. I tried to explain it was an open-jaw and that we were flying into Rome and then paying our own way to Cairo...then flying rewards back...she just argued away saying I was incorrect and that it was a glitch...yet I have planned 3 separate itineraries like this.

What takes priority? What she says or what I can actually digitally book online? If I wanted to, I could go book that July 31 - Aug 14, 2011 trip...would it be flagged and voided?

channa

What takes priority is what the computer says when she books it. I'm not sure why you would even bother asking those questions. The call center is really just a bunch of robots that punch in what you tell them. The quote comes at the end of the booking, so whatever you're asking is academic anyway since you can't book at the moment.

Minter66

I have one shot at this trip. We have just enough miles to get Saverpass both ways. I am trying everything I can to see when those flights are and when they go away.

Forgive me for trying to do this on a budget.

channa

You'll be fine. It's an economy ticket, so it should be reasonable availability. Just gotta wait til the space becomes available.

Minter66

Thank you. I don't mind being cattle...it's the only way I've ever been able to fly. Just cram me in, poke me with a rod, feed me out of a bucket...just get me there!

The flight that is giving me the most trouble is MS777 out of CAI...seems it comes and goes on the availability

channa

Try not to marry yourself to a flight. CAI is a *A hub, you should find something on MS or someone else. CAI-FRA-DFW is probably the quickest with CAI-FRA on MS or LH and FRA-DFW on LH.

Minter66

I will try not to...according to Horus, the CAI to CDG airport runs will increase 10x on October 30th 2010, so hopefully that will open some new doors for us to return to the States.

Thanks for your insight.

flg8rmatt

If you see it online, book it. If you can't, call the Web Help Desk, NOT the OnePass line.

bj2757

Mrs bj2757 and I each have enough miles for a round trip (25,000) within the US, and we're new to the CO way of doing things. We have used AA previously and never had a problem finding availability of flights for 25,000 round trip. But so far in my searches for different dates on CO I find few if any on any two month calendar.

Is that typical? Are there more seats available for rewards as you get closer to a date, or 10 months out? Or is there even a pattern? :-)