How to get to the Galapagos?
 

I am trying to plan a trip to the Galapagos Islands for sometime next August or September (but this is quite flexible). I need to get from UIO or GYE to GPS or SCY and back, doesn't matter which one, I am not picky. I have Avios and AA miles that I can utilize, with AA seemingly being the better deal (5k miles each way).

The route/s I am interested in flying are flown by XL. Due to this, searching for availability on AA is out. I have tried searching on both BA and Qantas, however their award search engines are less than ideal for these destinations (Qantas doesn't have the destination options in it's city list making it impossible to search for availability; BA you can search for in a roundabout way by looking for roundtrip tickets out of, instead of into, the Galapagos). Regardless, there is no availability, but when I log into Lan's website and search award tickets on these routes for my desired time period I see a ton of availability in the cheapest redemption category (theoretically the seats that should then also be available to BA, AA and all the other partners).

I have already tried calling AA and even asked them to search XL and not LA, but was told they can't do this and that LA covers all the LAN subsidiaries flying in S. America. The rep found no available reward inventory.

So, my question is how do I go about finding bookable award inventory to the Galapagos? It obviously exists, but how do I get either AA or BA to see it and book it for me?

Really appreciate any input and advice. I have searched all over and as best I can tell the best solution is to just keep calling until you get a competent phone agent.

See this thread (start at the last page and work your way forward):
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...iversal-6.html

Yep, I read through that whole thread before posting. Wanted to see if there was anything else that could be done instead of just calling AA over and over:)

How to get to the Galapagos?
 

I had the same problems last yr. They kept searching LAN Peru availabilty which doesn't work. When I finally told them to look at XL and/or LNE they found it. That was through a BA agent. Mine was just one leg of a bigger itinerary but it should still work. Good luck. If you strike out with one agent just hang up and try again. Let us know how it goes.

How to get to the Galapagos?
 

Maybe you can try out sth with 2K/GLG Aerogal airlines which is part of Star Alliance I believe. Though prob not BA/AA compatible, but might be worth to check if u can get a separate ticket.

Thanks for the info, I will keep calling.

Aerogal is part of Avianca now, and that's how I'd be able to get their flights via Star Alliance partners, right? (I do have ANA and United points so booking with Star isn't an issue for me, just finding bookable availability).

Okay, called BA and AA a number of times today. And kept getting the same message from both of them: "We can only book flights coded LA. We cannot book flights with the airline code XL." The message was fairly uniform, which I didn't expect since these are different carriers. Requested a long sale on the tickets but no dice. Super frustrating because the LAN site literally has every single day from Mid-August through late-September open on their website at the cheapest rate!

Both also said that these flights can't be booked with their points. Any other thoughts, other than going through Star Alliance?

I think I am about ready to give in and just transfer some SPG points to LAN to book these damn tickets! So tired of beating my head against the wall with these agents. Hate to spend so many SPG points on such a short flight!

Can imagine, why don't you just book the short flight in $ ?

The flight is about $400-500 there and back. At least with two of us, and transferring over 20k SPG pts I get the 5k bonus, and the 1:1.5 transfer ratio ends up coming out to almost 3cpm if we use the lowest priced tickets as the benchmark.

Spring 2013 we did an 11 week trip to South America using reward points and companion voucher for the LHR-Sao Paulo-LHR legs. That meant we were eligible for the OneWorld SouthAmerica Pass but found we could not book tickets to/from Galapagos on that pass.
Found a site where I could book them for about the same cost as the SouthAmerica Pass price (which is mileage-based) but was told by the agent organising our Galapagos boat that the LAN Ecuador flights arrived in the Galapagos too late for us to join our boat and we ended up going on the Galapagos Air flight.