Booking CO award travel with NW miles
Jul 5, 2003, 1:13 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Louisville, KY, US
Programs: QF Plat - OW EMD | DL Gold / Starwood Gold
Posts: 6,106
Booking CO award travel with NW miles
Greetings -
I found a schedule I'd like to book using award miles (SDF-EWR-MAD) on CO. According to the NW website, availability exists at the standard 50,000 mile level. Each time I try to click it, I get a:
The flight you selected is currently not available. Please make another selection. (Message 101)
The return has a long layover (more than 4 hours). Does this have anything to do with the "married pairs" that I saw mentioned in another thread? I found flights with less than 4 hour connections and they do work, but all of those are "Award Buster" tickets at a higher mileage level with multiple connections (EWR & CLE or IAH).
I guess I'll have to wait until the WorldPerks Service Center opens in the morning -- just hopefully the seats I want will still be there...
Best,
SDF_Traveler
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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin
I found a schedule I'd like to book using award miles (SDF-EWR-MAD) on CO. According to the NW website, availability exists at the standard 50,000 mile level. Each time I try to click it, I get a:
The flight you selected is currently not available. Please make another selection. (Message 101)
The return has a long layover (more than 4 hours). Does this have anything to do with the "married pairs" that I saw mentioned in another thread? I found flights with less than 4 hour connections and they do work, but all of those are "Award Buster" tickets at a higher mileage level with multiple connections (EWR & CLE or IAH).
I guess I'll have to wait until the WorldPerks Service Center opens in the morning -- just hopefully the seats I want will still be there...
Best,
SDF_Traveler
------------------
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin
Jul 6, 2003, 2:17 am
#2
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: LAX
Programs: NW Plat Elite, SPG Gold, National Emerald Club
Posts: 465
This actually happens to me when I try to look up award travel on NW/KLM flights (LAX-AMS-LHR-AMS-HKG-NRT-HNL).
Did you hear from the WP service center?
Did you hear from the WP service center?
Jul 6, 2003, 1:27 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Louisville, KY, US
Programs: QF Plat - OW EMD | DL Gold / Starwood Gold
Posts: 6,106
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by aaronma:
This actually happens to me when I try to look up award travel on NW/KLM flights (LAX-AMS-LHR-AMS-HKG-NRT-HNL).
Did you hear from the WP service center?</font>
This actually happens to me when I try to look up award travel on NW/KLM flights (LAX-AMS-LHR-AMS-HKG-NRT-HNL).
Did you hear from the WP service center?</font>
The MAD-EWR-SDF does have a 6+ hour layover in EWR and I'm wondering if that was the problem (not a married pair ? -- but I mentioned that to the WP desk and they said it was fine). If I booked travel via IAH or CLE that left EWR within 4 hours of the MAD arrival, the NW website allowed it. However, everything into SDF via a 2nd hub (CLE/IAH) was in the rule buster category.
While a 6+ hour layover in EWR may not sound great for most, the layover is great for me. It'll give me time to go into NYC city and also meet with relatives for a few hours (who live in the EWR area).
The lady I spoke with at the WP desk did a good job and got me First / WBC seats on my outbound and we did an open jaw to Barcelona with outbound in Business on NW/KL and return on CO via Madrid.
Now I just need to find a cheap one-way BCN-MAD ticket to complete my journey.
Looks like I have a choice of Spanair & Air Europa for ~ $60 or Iberia for ~ $120. Best,
SDF_Traveler
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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin
Jul 6, 2003, 2:01 pm
#4
Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: Alexandria, VA, USA NW Platinum Elite Since 1999, United GoldMM, Hyatt Plat, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold, Hertz #1 Gold, IC Ambassador, Avis Chairman's
Posts: 7,445
I was about to suggest you call... I ran into the same thing when I was trying to arrange a NW award flight using my CO miles (yes I actually got to use them!!!) CO's system was coming up with flights I didn't like, so I called and got the ones I did like. Sometimes the system is screwy and you need human intervention.
Jul 6, 2003, 3:34 pm
#5
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Texas Hill Country
Programs: AS MVP Gold 75K, Hyatt Explorist, UA 1MM
Posts: 2,118
Enjoy, SDF_Traveler! Can't get enough of Ben's quote with which you close your posts.