havaiisteve

I'm overwhelmed by the intricacies of booking ff flights. I've got 100+K on US Air, Delta, United, and continental. I'm in Honolulu. I want to take a cruise that starts and returns to Ft Lauderdale (any of 3 or 4 sailing dates are good). I'm considering paying a Mileage Consultant to figure it out for me. Are any of them any good? I read in USA today about The Art of Vacationing.com. Any thoughts on this, or should I bite the bullet and do it myself?

Hertz4me

Where do I send my resume?

Tanic

Welcome to FlyerTalk havaiisteve !

Sounds like a straightforward domestic (HI) award. Any of the airlines you listed can get you from HNL to FLL with one stop.

One of the FlyerTalk regulars runs this award consulting business and could be helpful.

havaiisteve

Thanks so much. How far in advance can I book? Is it best to book RT or two one ways? Do I (should I) have some idea of what the routing options are? Would there be an advantage to routing one airline to LAX (as an example) and another to FLL? I'd be fine with flying to Charlotte and driving to FFL with a friend. What if I book to Charlotte and come back from FFL? I'm sorry, but would like to do this right the first time.

fti

Actually that isn't the only FT'er offering such services. They seem to have popped up quite a bit in the past year or so.

Most FT'ers with a decent sense and a little time can find their own awards. But it does take some time, especially with some programs.

Marathon Man

the only thing an FTer needs --and a mileage user needs --- is TIME

You can do this yourself--no consultant needed--if you have TIME

BigLar

Hear, hear!

And, for a lot of us, the time spent ferreting out the low prices/max return routes is half the fun of the game.

But not everyone is a nut like we are, old boy (I hesitate to relate some of the 'deals' you have put me wise to ), nor do they have the time, nor do they get the rush of scoring the home run. For many (most?) people, getting a decent deal in a short time is the best they can hope for. I have often advised family and friends on working the systems and have even done some of the leg work for them. They're never going to get 'into it' like we do (but they're still nice people, nevertheless).

So, to the OP, track down the FTer mentioned (or one of the other ones) and let him help you. Maybe a glimmer of what we go through (willingly!) will give you some flavor of how the play the game.

Who knows? You might even become a convert.

Marathon Man

hahahaha indeed my friend! indeed!

But if this OP has the bug, it wont be long before the FT addiction sets in. And one day the OP will be showing US some new game!!!!!

hahahaha I am laughin with you from your post

AlohaDaveKennedy

Here are a few assumptions:

Will probably want to arrive at FLL the day before after noon but before 7:00PM

Will probably want a hotel with a shuttle to Port Everglades

Will probably want to leave FLL the day of departure noonish

Flip over the Magic 8 Ball and it shows: Continental

YMMV, but I'd go for the flight sleepover to Houston then FLL and the flight from FLL back via LAX.

One trick is the dates and the cost per flight per date. The other trick to to not get hosed on baggage fees, so Continental would be with a proviso of getting their MC card (or maybe you have an AMEX Platinum registered to take fees off Continental?).

The cruise probably ought to be booked with _mart_ruiser or another discounter rather than the line itself. Your arrival the day before with hotel allows a chance to recover if a delay or lost luggage. Get the passport early.

You can PM me. I've done ships out of FLL since when they still used cargo nets to bring the baggage aboard.

flltravel

Here is a link for a service provided by another FT (Flyer Talker)

http://thepointsguy.com/about/

Basically, you have to give him all your details and then he will tell you how many miles it will cost you and how much you will have to pay for the service.

havaiisteve

I'm afraid of becoming a covert...I'm obsessive compulsive and already have way to many time consuming hobbies. Still, I'm tempted to give it a shot. I guess from reading how hard it is get rewards, I don't want to risk blowing getting the only two seats on a particular day just because I'm a FF virgin. When you don't know what you don't know you can wind up learning the hard way! For example, it is best to try and book on line...or call the airline? What time of day do the seats first come available for a day? Should I be calling or on line at one minute after midnight eastern time? It's probably different for each airline.

Exiled in Express

I am most others here are willing to help you out, gratis. You have a simple Hawaii roundtrip redemption with flexibility in dates and destinations. It isn't like you are trying to get 12 first class seats to Tahiti during a lunar eclipse .

What is the timeframe of travel? This summer, fall, spring 2012?
Are you booking just yourself or 2 people from Hawaii? Coach or First?
Finally what is in the arsenal? How many of each program's miles?

AlohaDaveKennedy

Yeah, you need to sketch the trip out a bit. One thing to note is that FLL now has many more ships coming and going than years ago. This can lead to swings in flight availability. But first, get the passport paperwork going if you have not already.

gj83

Here's another service from FTers
http://upgrd.com/award/

I haven't used any of these, but I've met Mike from Upgrd. I also have a lot of respect for Gary.

The key is to know what you want and any of them should be willing to help. The fee can definitely be worth it if you can only find trips at the standard rate and they can get you an itinerary at the saver rate. They have access to all the same tools you do, but if you don't know how to search for fare classes on routings it may take you more time or miles.

Honestly, I'm thinking about hiring someone to book my trip to Prague if I can't find availability in basic searches.

arollins

Right here is the first part of your problem. You mention having around 100k miles between 4 carriers. Once you get the help you need for your award travel you need to seriously look at which carrier you will like to keep a loyalty and build up miles with that carrier. Good luck.