michael_v

Why having two threads? Why not just having the information in the first few posts and the rest can be questions? With two threads, it would be easier for newbies to simply ask questions before reading the information first.

mtkeller

Inevitably what happens with one thread is that good information gets buried on page 131/845, and those of us who frequent a thread know it's there, but it's hard to advise someone on what they should read before they start asking questions. With one thread, the assumption in a lot of corners in FT is that the OP isn't necessarily up-to-date, so people come in and ask the same question over and over. (With US, it's "Can I get LH/LX F?" With BA (who have a much better structure for their info, so I'm just giving the common question) it's "Why so much cash to redeem?") This leads to snark from regulars, but there's not a clear place to go for the lastest information. A sticky that screams READ THIS BEFORE ASKING ABOUT SKYPESOS REDEMPTIONS!!!! and concludes with "If you need help, please post in this other thread thread" can help a lot of people (provided that the top posts in the thread are kept up-to-date). In particular, an advantage for newbies is that after reading to the end of the informational posts, they know that they can stop reading and go ask their question if it's not been answered there. In the mega-threads, the amount of stuff that someone is "expected" to read before posting is so overwhelming that many don't read any of it before posting something that's been asked and answered 5000 times (and is answered in post four of the thread).

I'd like to see one place that's focused on laying out the rules of SkyMiles (as we know them) and recommending search tools that receives few posts other than things like "Hey, I just redeemed for J LAX-BNE on VA without fuel surcharges!" that result in updates to the helpful info at the top of the thread (that'd be the most important stuff from this thread) and a separate place ("clinic thread") that's focused on helping people debug their own individual problems. Anything of general utility that gets discovered through discussions in that thread could be moved/copied into the sticky by the mods.

I hear that FT is trying out some Wiki-like things in a few of the forums, and that's really what we need here, but until we have one, I think a two-thread solution is the best route.

RealHJ

+1

Or rather, IMO, not two thread, but really different questions (on bigger topics) deserve different threads for easy searching, while the "how to" thread such as this should be only for questions directly related to it, and other misc posts posted in it should be moved out of it, each to its own separate thread with a proper title, so that there is not one gigantic thread, like that one on the US forum, that is far too big to be of use and very hard to find the information one is looking for in, so it's just forever replaying the same things (with a few different nuances at best) over and over and over and over and over (...) again.

mnredfox

Fair points, I suppose one alternative solution is for the OP (me in this case) to keep reading constantly and update the first few posts.

Good points, do you have any thoughts on mtkeller's points above?

michael_v

Or people can mod alert to have the information added/updated. It does not have to be your effort only.

I guess I did not take into account the fact that people on FT expect first posts to be not updated and jump to ask questions, which is a fair point.

However, with 2 threads, I still think there is a possibility that people will find the "clinic" thread first and just ask questions (since the "clinic" thread says "questions welcome" in the title) and not read the reference to the "information" thread in the OP first. I still think a single thread with the theme "read up-to-date OP then ask questions" with OP updated by OP and mods alerted by users makes more sense to me - at least until/if we get wikis.

LAXHOUND

I have pieced together a very nice 8 segment LAX-Europe Business class award with one open jaw and one stopover routing below:

LAX-SEA-CDG-CPH (dest.) (open jaw) TXL-PRG(24hr transfer)-AMS(24hr transfer)-CDG (Stopover)-CVG-LAX

both routings LAX-CPH and TXL-LAX are under the MPM thresholds as far as I can tell also verified by the rates desk

the Award is currently pricing out at 145k SM and not the 100k that I beleive it should be. The fare is breaking at the Open Jaw and Charging TXL-PRG-AMS as a separate 45k inter-europe business award.

I had a conversation with the rates desk late at night and "Abdul" from the India call center specifically said that it was because there was both a stopover and an open jaw that it was pricing this way. I'm leaning on you other expertflyers out there to help me out of this pickle. Is there really no documentation of the ability to have both a stopover and an open jaw on an international award ticket? can't really point to a pointsguy blog post as gospel to delta's rate desk. And I do see where online under the SM Progam Guide Award section it actually defines an open jaw as a stopover and then says under stopover that 1 is allowed. Any help or suggestions on how I might get this work at the 100k level would be much appreciated.

-LAXHOUND

mtkeller

You have five segments on the return. It's very clearly stated in the part you quoted that you only get four segments each direction.

llamagatekeeper

Correct. But I think you mean four and not five .

michael_v

Also the agent's explanation does not make sense because even without TXL-PRG-AMS, it is still an open-jaw and 1 stopover.

mtkeller

Ugh. This is what I get for posting while half awake. Thanks for catching, and I'll edit my post to avoid confusion.

mnredfox

Def NOT because of SO and OJ. It's cause it's 5 segments as mtkeller states.

Is there a reason you want to connect in PRG and AMS? I would skip PRG, AMS, or CDG and go with two of them. Intra-EU segments should be easy to find low in J, so drop one of those.

MichaelKade

Trying to search Alitalia inventory but it wants me to log in to see Award inventory. Any easier way to do it than day by day via EF?

nittany987

Accidentally booked an award ticket for 2 on 7/7, SIN-CAN-LAX on CZ. Need to get on a 7/6 flight. Hopped on expertflyer, show I availability with 3. Confirmed with KVS that 3 are open.

Call in to DL PM desk, and 3 times have been told that the SIN-CAN leg is unavailable. Can't get them to see the inventory, but they do show it on the 7th... so it seems like something odd is happening here.

Any thoughts on why this might be? I can't find any other routings/airlines that would make this work (other than the helpful suggestion that DL flights are available at the 'High' level )

mtkeller

EF can search a week at a time. FlyingBlue works as well, but I don't know any good way to avoid it showing you AF/KL inventory that might not be bookable through DL.

mtkeller

There was another report of some intra-Asia issues with CZ recently. Don't remember the final resolution. If you're not up agains the segment limit, you might try VN via SGN/HAN.