You might check your bulk mail or spam folder if you have one - I had a similar experience and the message was in my Yahoo bulk mail folder with a subject line something like "AP Update" and a person's name as the sender.

What is IF, please?

InsideFlyer.

Update
 

Just wanted to give an update - the awardplanner staff got back to me and have been very helpful.

No excuses because I don't know for sure.

However, in Randy's explanation of the term girls, he mentioned that they are the "Vanna Girls" during the annual Freddie awards... which are tonight (4/27.) Perhaps they've been otherwise occupied.

Please do update us.

Any updates? I am seriously considering using them for 2 award trips next year. the major one is J or F for 3, possibly adding one later to Italy, with a stop in MUC & open-jaw FCO//VCE. I am out of town on day 330 & limited computer/phone access, so I'm really thinking this is the way to go...

Brenda, hope you saw the update, two notes above yours. This is a great program, and I hope thye can help you!
Kate

Thanks Kate! After speaking with them, I still desparately need advice from FTers!!

I've booked awards for years, but nothing quite this complicated & the OneWorld awards are new for me and... I have many options with the AA & AX points. Will also be in Hawaii (& would prefer to be vacationing & not stressing) when the 'magic' 330 day window opens.

The woman I spoke to was very honest & said:

1.) The 330 day magic number is not that at all & most a/ls do not load award inventory on that special date
2.) Many carriers will not let you book only a ow, waiting for the return dates to open. I've had luck booking ow's with DL, but not always & we're talking about a whole lot more carriers/possibilities here
3.) TravelPlanners will not book anything until the return is able to be booked, so I am afraid I will lose any available outbound seats (assuming I can talk an a/l into booking a OW & holding)

With the AX points & a LAX/FCO//VCE/LAX itin, I could book AF J through DL, LX J or F

On AA points - AA J (really don't want to do this), Oneworld on BA J or F, but I am really unclear on how that works, if I book it with AA, etc.

Would also like to throw a MUC or CDG stop in there somewhere if possible.

So, quandry - do I start this process on vacation & drive myself nuts, or do I take my chances with Travelplanner & wait until our return (2 weeks later) inventory is loaded? This is the first time I've heard the 330 is a totally pie in the sky number... The $99.95 fee is micenuts to me - well worth it if they can do it! But it will drive me crazy waiting & if they can't find anything after I've passed the 330 day window I don't know if I'll be able to deal!

Awardplanner comes through for us in a big way
 

Am absolutely delighted to report that LaDonna Epler at awardplanner.com came through in a big way for Mrs. Rahmanbar and me.

I had 160000+ "old miles" in my Delta FFP account and wanted to take advantage of them before they were converted to "sky miles" and are utilized on a less-generous schedule of awards.

I gave LaDonna the assignment of obtaining for us (using the orginal Delta Frequent Flyer Program schedule and miles, of course) a BusFirst trip to London.

To make a long story short she not only got us our (essentially) preferred travel dates but also the perfect itinerary for New Yorkers, on the newly-announced JFK/LGW nonstops.

The only compromise we had to make was (for the return trip) was delaying one day and spending an additional night in London. More than we originally planned for but that's not a big deal. ^ ^

Hi SanDiego1k:
I read the same piece but did not realize the reference was indirectly linked to FT. Thanks for bringing this to my attention and I hope LaDonna gets a nice bonus for her reported excellent performance. :D

Not to rain on the parade, but this is not a very complicated booking and could have been done by an avid flyer in about 10+ mins. Again, my experience with awardplanner has been less than inspiring. In every case with them, they've come back with no options, in every case I was able to find not only options, but my preferred options and a couple of others (this after I paid the $99 1 year membership). In my membership year I've tried to sued them 4 times with 4 failures. I've been able to get all the 4 tickets myself on my preferred dates and even in 2 cases on my preferred flights. The simply just did not spend enough time on the phone with the FF program desks. YMMV

Actually I did try to book this trip myself - kept getting nothing but "Sky Choice" on routings involving change of planes in CVG and ATL.

That's when I decided to give awardplanner a try.

When Delta announced it had obtained approval for the JFK-GTW non-stops I began trying again but they kept showing no inventory available on the returns (GTW-JFK).

On top of everything else I had zero flexibility inasmuch as the only way I could claim an award was via the old schedule - didn't have enough miles even for a standard skymiles award under the current one, so I had a limited amount of time to get anything. (From an inventory view Delta considers the old FFP schedule to be for ordinary inventory, hence it is not only viable afterl 12/31 and it's also greatly limited in terms of seats available.)

What it came down to was a calculated risk with $100. and in this case it was worth it (being able to fly non-stop; not getting involved with stopovers, hoping to make connections - if we're late taking off, so what - not the case if I had had to connect.

BTW, another complication is dealing with Delta personnel when it comes to trying to get them to book an award under the old schedule - the ignorance about the myriad of terms, conditions and regulations is incredible.

That was confirmed when I went to pick up the tickets (which you have to do with an FFP award). It took two people at the counter consulting with a person in Atlanta to generate the itinerary (with the indication of seat assignment) representing the electronic ticket.

So, yeah - the itinerary iwa not complicated.

What was was locating and obtaining it as well as actually claiming it.

Frankly I'm much more comfortable with AA's Aadvantrage program - they maintain two sets of miles pertaining to two schedules and I've never had a problem booking an award with them without help using either old or new miles.

In this case I'm glad I had the help considering complexities above and beyond what was my first choice of flights - an admittedly simple itinerary which was very complex with regards to securing it.

Finally, this was my experience - I'm not excluding that others could experience a different one.

Another happy customer
 

About three weeks ago, I was given the opportunity to join an art dealer's trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg. She was taking a number of her customers, including a friend of mine and while my wife and I had expressed interest in going, the dealer's plan was to take her customers, which we are not. At almost the last moment, two of her clients cancelled and we were asked if we'd like to go. We said yes, pending acceptable travel arrangements. I'm AA EXP, UA silver but had no luck with them. I was able to use the outrageously overpriced DL skychoice business award and even then had to back track via Aeroflot on the return from St. Petersburg to Moscow (something I wasn't anxious to do because Aeroflot uses TU aircraft on the route). I decided to try award planner and within three days, Michelle offered me an itinerary using UA miles, on my dates, with a good LX biz connection in ZRH on the outbound and a good LO biz connection in WAW on the return. And, 80,000 miles per ticket, vs. the 250,000 on DL. I thought the service was terrific on a difficult short notice itinerary.

Pay $99 and no guaranty. No way. If perhaps they offfered a second year at a steep discount I'd consider it. Also, if there was a reasonable one trip fee I'd consider it.

Based on the business model this seems more a hobby than a business. Any competition out there?

I sure hope you mean you tried to use them, not sue them :) . Just for not finding seats for you would be a tough basis to sue. Maybe that is why you tried to sue four times, not once, and failed all four times :D