Using miles CLE to London
 

Hi! I'm not really a frequent flyer but have enough One Pass miles for one standard reward CLE to London (50,000). I'd like to take my teenage son to London this summer (will have to buy one ticket) but when I search the One Pass site there are standard reward outgoing flights available almost everyday in June and July but very few return flights for the standard reward??? We would like to fly out on 06/19 and return on 06/29 but the closest return in July 5 or 6. I keep checking seats on the 06/19 flights and they do not appear to be any more booked then the few open dates. Any thoughts? How likely is it at this point that additional return flights will open up?

Tough one
 

Unpredictable. You might have to buy some miles and get an Easypass return. I've done that before. Many of the airlines do a little shell game where they wait to see if they're going to have empty seats, then add reward capacity at the last minute, in order to be able to say, "We offered X% of rewards seats on our flights this year!" You may also get better results calling Onepass and having them check other carriers. Finally, you've picked high season, so it'll be tough.

edit:mispost soory ---thought I had something ...but I don't :(

The problem may be the domestic flights. But, if you can swing one extra day, then try:

1) CLE to LGA on the 19th, cab to JFK
2) VS from JFK to LHR on the 19th
3) VS from LHR to JFK on the 29th
4) Overnight in New York
5) LGA to CLE on the 30th

You could also fly out to JFK or EWR on the 18th and overnight to catch the morning flights on VS on the 19th, and save jet lag

I think there should be availability, but you will have to tell the agents exactly what is above, as most are either lazy or inept and will not check VS on their own and will tell you there is nothing.

To be on the same flights, I think you will be best off just buying yourself two separate tickets (CLE-LGA and JFK-LHR), which looks to be as cheap as buying a single ticket ex-CLE.

Not ideal, I know, but it is close.

Good luck.

Why London?
 

Widen your search. When I was a teenager--many moons ago--my father took me to Europe (three times, actually) to Holland, Germany, Austria, Belgium and other places. Since then, I have been to almost every country in Western Europe, and it's hard to find one that both father and son wouldn't enjoy. More to the point, all those destination options make finding standard rewards a lot easier. ^

Actually I'm a mom. It's my son who picked the itinerary-10 days England, Scotland and Wales. He loves history and especially wants to see England. He has maps of ancient England and some English WWII posters on his bedroom walls insted of rock bands...He'll be a senior next year so this is really the best time for us to go.

Anyway, I never thought of buying CLE to NY then trying for miles NY to London, going to go check that now. Hate to sound like a novice but what is VS?

Virgin Atlantic

The itinerary I posted should work with just miles. You are allowed one free stopover, so the overnight in NYC falls within the rules.

In general, always break down a trip like this. For example, I always ask the agent to look for flights from Amsterdam or Paris to wherever, knowing that is the hardest part. Once I have that I worry about getting from Copenhagen to either place. This way, the agent can find a routing that might include Air France to Paris, Delta to Atlanta to Las Vegas, Northwest to Minneapolis to Amsterdam, and KLM to Copenhagen. The system would never find such a routing if I asked for Copenhagen to Vegas.

I didn't know about the free stopover. I think I understand what you're saying. I do now see that some of the flights listed on the Continental reward search are actually VS flights but I don't see one on the 29th. Is there a way to search the VS site or should I call Continental or Virgin? I've never flown VS. I usually fly Continental because they have a hub here in Cleveland and the most flights. How do they compare to Continental for international flights (we'll be flying coach)? I still think it's odd that Continental has so many standard reward seats available for CLE to London, the reward charts for June and July are almost all yellow, but very few over the same months for return...

You can search VS's availability by signing up for a FF account with them. Then it is easy as pie, just click the "redeem miles" button on the fare search on the main page. But, I already searched for you, and there was something showing for the morning flight on the 29th (leaves LHR at 9 am or so).

VS is comparable or better than CO for TATL Y. You will get significantly better in-flight entertainment, free booze, maybe some sort of amenity kit and, on the A340, a 2-4-2 layout, where the two-somes are nice for a pair. You will also get an inch or so more legroom over CO Y, on most planes.

Oh, and you will have to call CO for any of this, as they have the miles.

Well I called Continental One Pass this afternoon and the woman I talked to was not helpful at all. She told me that the outgoing flight I wanted was not available even though I had just checked it before I called to write down the flight numbers and times. Then she said there were two reward seats at the 25,000 level but they were for elite only. Has anyone else ever heard of this? (After the call I checked the Continental site again and put in my One Pass number which shows I'm not elite and it let me pick the outgoing flight on the 19th.) She was not able to find me a return flight on Virgin on the 29th even though I told her the Virgin site shows one available in the am. I think I'll just sit on the miles for now and continue to check prices each day at kayak and hope for a sale on any airline. There seems to be a lot of empty seats on flights to London, not just on Continental so maybe something will come up.

CO doesn't have access to 100% of the VS inventory, so that won't be definitive. That being said, there are several VS gateways to the USA, and most of them have connections to CLE. You can try for BOS and ORD, in addition to the NYC options.

And there is some inventory that is elite only, so you can get hosed there. That being said, there is award availability on the outbound, though only via IAH, JFK or EWR; the non-stop no longer has availability (even when I signed in as a platinum). The returns are not showing anything that I can see, but if you can delay your trip a couple of days there is plenty of availability both directions.

Good luck.

I would call them back. Explain to the agent that you're signed in and showing the flight as available, and you're not elite.

See if they can see the Dulles flight on the 29th, which VS shows having availability. Or the VS flight to ORD on the 30th. Just make sure that any routing they give you can be replicated with a paid ticket, without paying a huge premium. They will courtesy hold the itinerary for a week or so, which will let you price out the various options for the paid ticket.

This is a risk that CO's availability doesn't exactly match VS, but it has usually been close enough for me. Sorry about that.

I'm not sure that's it. I recently learned that CO's site (and CO's back end system) do not always accurately report partner inventory.

It is possible that the VS flights are available and would confirm, though CO's system aren't showing them as available.