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Award booking services - a list and some reviews

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Old Feb 3, 2014, 1:11 pm
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This list is not an endorsement of any particular award booking service.
Please do your research and read this thread.

Please refer to the FT Disclaimers for disclaimer of responsibility for use of these services, etc.

Please feel free add other services and options you are aware of to this wiki.

Also, please post any personal experiences you may have with any of these services in this thread.

Reviews which appear to have been solicited by the service providers based upon content and posting history will be deleted. If you are a brand new or a member with a low post count and wish that your post not be deleted, please be sure to include the following details in your review: program(s), number of miles or points and the desired destinations and hotels. Please also include the itinerary booked by the service including the airlines, routing and hotels, the number of points needed to book that trip and the fee charged.

Award booking services (alphabetical):
  • Award Advocate - Domestic $100 p/p International $125 p/p, no additional charge for last minute. Changes $50. Also 10% discount for families traveling with children and active military
  • Award Booking Service - $25 up front search fee plus $150/ticket & $49 per 30-minute skype consultations (ask anything!)
  • Award Butler - Award Search: $79 for up to two passengers; flight info provided but does not include booking. Booking starting at $149 for first two passengers.
  • Award Chaser - Search fee starting at $79. Itinerary only - no booking provided
  • Award Expert - (MatthewLAX on FT, Live and Let's Fly blog) $150 first passenger, $100 each additional passenger; $250 per person for RTW; $50/ticket booking fee.
  • Award Flight Assist - Specialising in Australian frequent flyer programs; from AU$199 for the first passenger, additional charges for complex itineraries and more passengers
  • Award Planners - One way $129, additional person $99; Round trip $199, additional person $99; Multi City $249 additional person $149
  • Award Travel Consulting - Award Search: $125/person; Booking ticket: $75/itinerary; changes: new trip
  • Awardmagic - $179 per person OW/RT plus one stop or $279 per person for three or more destinations
  • BoundlessMiles - (Dominik Żmuda/Travelling the World): Booking: starting at $50 per passenger; Changes: half of award flight service fee paid
  • CabinChief - Bookings are $49 per pax
  • CatchUsFlying - $125 CAD/person for round-trip, $225 CAD/person for complex round-the-world. Consulting available at $75CAD/hour. (loganre17) on FT
  • Chatflights - Use app to chat in real time with real travel hackers to book travel for points or cash. Booking fee $295 pp coach and business, $395 pp first class.
  • Cranky Concierge - $75 per person each way domestic; $95 per person each way international
  • First Class and Beyond - "Concierge-style" bookings. Fee is based on the value of the retail ticket, $250/person minimum.
  • Flightfox - Consultative flight searching; fees start at $100 (requires credit card authorization up front)
  • Flyermiles - (Graham / YOWgary) $150 + 50 per additional person, $250 for RTW awards. Offers detailed information on how to book your own award.
  • iflywithmiles.com - (Mike/Melissa): 150 USD first person, 85 for additional person on same itin. Change fees vary.
  • JJ Award Travel - FT Member since 2012 - No upfront fees. Basic one-way or round-trip air award travel consisting of a total of 8 legs or less for the entire itinerary: $250 for the first person and $125 for each additional person. Complex one-way or round-trip air award travel consisting of a total of 9 or more legs per direction is additional. FT members get a 10% discount.
  • Loophole Travel - Award Travel Coaching $150 for first passenger and $100 for each additional passenger. Points Earning and MS Coaching also available.
  • Luxury Travel Consulting - (Jasper2009 on Flyertalk): $150 per person per ticket
  • Miles Help - Domestic: $100 OW; $140 RT/complex. International: $150 OW; $200 RT/complex. $50 each additional person
  • Miles Momma Booking Services - Airline Booking: $200 up to 2 passengers. $75 additional passengers. $50 non-refundable up front. Changes $50
  • MileValue Award Booking Service - (Scott Grimmer): Booking: $125 per person per award; $15 up front. Full payment required for successful search even if not booked. Change fee not currently listed; previously $79
  • PMM Travel Consulting - (Miguel R. Quinones/AwardWallet Blog): Booking: $125 per passenger for the first two, $99 for each additional. Additional charges for complex itineraries. Credit card advice and travel planning services.
  • Point.me - merger of services formerly provided by PointsPro (Ben Schlappig/One Mile At a Time) and Juice Miles
  • Reward Flyer - Domestic: $50 first person; $25 each additional person. International: $100 first person; $50 each additional person
  • SFO777.com - (SFO777 on FT) Booking: $200 first passenger, $100 each additional passenger; change fees vary
  • Travel Codex - Per person pricing: $50 for North America award / $100 for International award.
  • The Flying Mustache - $100 per ticket; additional fees for more than eight segments. Change fees vary
  • The Short Final - $100 per person. $100 upfront deposit that is fully refundable if no itinerary found.
  • Travel Is The Point - USA, Canada/Mexico & the Caribbean – starting at $50 per person. All Other International Destinations – starting at $100 per person.
  • zainman - FT member since 2009. Booking: $200 first passenger, $100 each additional passenger; change fees vary, consultant services for $ as well
  • Zero Hassle Rewards - $100 per person. Discounts for domestic and one-way
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Award booking services - a list and some reviews

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Old Jul 28, 2013, 3:17 pm
  #166  
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Originally Posted by yerffej201
You are misunderstanding what I am saying.
I respond to requests within 48 hours. I will tell them that if they want to continue the request, expect to wait 15+ days in the queue. I'm not even accepting their request at that point, so there are no issues associated with customer service or losing seats because until I accept the request there is no searching.

As I said should the client need seats urgently they should go find someone else.
Thanks for highlighting my point^

Personally I would never use any award searcher who claims there is no issue with potentially loosing any seats if you wait 15 days. Lets please end this partly off topic discussion. Anyone wants to use his service after reading this, will just contact you. Straightforward. Good luck.
travelkid is offline  
Old Jul 28, 2013, 4:30 pm
  #167  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
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Originally Posted by travelkid
Thanks for highlighting my point^

Personally I would never use any award searcher who claims there is no issue with potentially loosing any seats if you wait 15 days. Lets please end this partly off topic discussion. Anyone wants to use his service after reading this, will just contact you. Straightforward. Good luck.
I am not saying that there is not seats that are going to be lost if you have to wait 15 days. If your request is urgent, then contact someone else. That is honestly all I can say. There is no issue with my service. period.

If you want to stop what you claim as off topic discussion, then you can stop replying to my posts.
yerffej201 is offline  
Old Jul 31, 2013, 2:43 pm
  #168  
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
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I recently used http://www.worldclassperks.com/ with great results
newaarondavidson is offline  
Old Aug 4, 2013, 1:24 am
  #169  
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
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I recommend worldclassperks

I had a GREAT experience with http://www.worldclassperks.com/ [email protected]. He explored multiple routes for me. We exchanged 20 emails over 2-3 days and he offered twice to walk me through options on the phone. Very responsive. And for me, that matters.

I had a POOR experience with UPGRD.com -- initial email contact, followed by silence and un-returned emails
shanshan is offline  
Old Aug 5, 2013, 2:12 am
  #170  
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shanshan, I appreciate your comment and regret our service did not meet your expectations. I was prompt to address your request and was working on your tickets when I noticed your post here on Flyertalk. Though I would welcome the opportunity to work with you again, I would appreciate next time if you contact me first if you felt I was taking too long to address your award trip, particularly when I provided a detailed e-mail update that I was assembling itineraries for you at the "saver" levels that most effectively used your points such that you would not have to use standard awards. I was taking a bar exam (which is thankfully over!) and thus my works hours were more limited last week. I am back on a full-time schedule now. I am glad your trip is now booked.

-Matthew
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Old Aug 5, 2013, 2:27 pm
  #171  
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Originally Posted by MatthewLAX
shanshan, I appreciate your comment and regret our service did not meet your expectations. I was prompt to address your request and was working on your tickets when I noticed your post here on Flyertalk. Though I would welcome the opportunity to work with you again, I would appreciate next time if you contact me first if you felt I was taking too long to address your award trip, particularly when I provided a detailed e-mail update that I was assembling itineraries for you at the "saver" levels that most effectively used your points such that you would not have to use standard awards. I was taking a bar exam (which is thankfully over!) and thus my works hours were more limited last week. I am back on a full-time schedule now. I am glad your trip is now booked.

-Matthew
I think this proves that all these services are side businesses, so you need to contact more or have a dedicated relation if your booking is urgent.

Even the best services can be unavailable for a few days. They travel as well^
travelkid is offline  
Old Aug 5, 2013, 6:03 pm
  #172  
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
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Outside of this thread, is there a yelp/tripadvisor for award booking services?
xiKiNGix is offline  
Old Aug 5, 2013, 7:26 pm
  #173  
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: BDL/PVD
Programs: UA, Marriott, Amex
Posts: 226
Originally Posted by shanshan
I had a GREAT experience with http://www.worldclassperks.com/ [email protected]. He explored multiple routes for me. We exchanged 20 emails over 2-3 days and he offered twice to walk me through options on the phone. Very responsive. And for me, that matters.

I had a POOR experience with UPGRD.com -- initial email contact, followed by silence and un-returned emails
MY only issue with World Class Perks was that he was faster than I thought and almost pushy, as in "Hey I found what you are looking for lets book right now." I expected the process to take longer. I was busy at the time I could not respond as quick as he would have liked?

In the end I got 2 awesome tickets far cheaper than I thought.
newaarondavidson is offline  
Old Aug 5, 2013, 7:35 pm
  #174  
fti
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Originally Posted by travelkid
Personally I would never use any award searcher who claims there is no issue with potentially loosing any seats if you wait 15 days. Lets please end this partly off topic discussion. Anyone wants to use his service after reading this, will just contact you. Straightforward. Good luck.
How do you know that more award seats might not become available 15 days after you ask about an award? It can work both ways. Not all award inventory is made available 330 days out.
fti is offline  
Old Aug 6, 2013, 2:26 pm
  #175  
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Originally Posted by fti
How do you know that more award seats might not become available 15 days after you ask about an award? It can work both ways. Not all award inventory is made available 330 days out.
Absolutely, lots of seats are releaesd close to departure. Thats a strategy if you want to risk that, but cetainly not seats to expect if they are that slow in response
travelkid is offline  
Old Aug 6, 2013, 2:32 pm
  #176  
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I would also say that conversely, when an award booking service has found award seats, they might encourage the traveler to book quickly to avoid losing those seats. When I find long haul F seats, I'm almost frantic to get on the phone asap before they disappear. Here's an example. I wanted F for two people from LHR-LAX on OneWorld. There are 3 BA and 1 AA flights a day. I had been monitoring the route daily. 8 months ago, I found 1 seat each on the 3 BA flights. I grabbed 2 of the 3, putting my husband and I on separate flights. I thought surely in 8 months a 2nd seat would open up on the other's flight. I set up an awardnexus search. It never happened. We flew separate flights two weeks ago.
SanDiego1K is offline  
Old Aug 18, 2013, 9:07 am
  #177  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
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Originally Posted by newaarondavidson
MY only issue with World Class Perks was that he was faster than I thought and almost pushy, as in "Hey I found what you are looking for lets book right now." I expected the process to take longer. I was busy at the time I could not respond as quick as he would have liked?

In the end I got 2 awesome tickets far cheaper than I thought.
Aaron - Thank you for your sincere review and I'm glad you enjoyed your trip. I'm sorry you thought I wanted to get you booked sooner than you had expected. The service I provide is the service I expect from my service providers.

I try and book travel as soon as it's possible for reasons that others have shared on this forum. The primarily being that we may loose seats. I've seen that happen more often than not and we have to go back to the drawing board to review the information again.

I strive on getting award travel booked within 24-48 hours.
WorldClassPerks is offline  
Old Aug 19, 2013, 7:25 am
  #178  
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: BDL/PVD
Programs: UA, Marriott, Amex
Posts: 226
Originally Posted by WorldClassPerks
Aaron - Thank you for your sincere review and I'm glad you enjoyed your trip. I'm sorry you thought I wanted to get you booked sooner than you had expected. The service I provide is the service I expect from my service providers.

I try and book travel as soon as it's possible for reasons that others have shared on this forum. The primarily being that we may loose seats. I've seen that happen more often than not and we have to go back to the drawing board to review the information again.

I strive on getting award travel booked within 24-48 hours.
It was meant as a positive toward fast service, I just had no idea it would be so quick.
newaarondavidson is offline  
Old Sep 21, 2013, 6:36 am
  #179  
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: ATL
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In order to use these services and have them book a ticket for you, do you have to hand over your log in info for your mileage accounts?
Richklhs is offline  
Old Sep 21, 2013, 10:20 am
  #180  
b8b
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: SXSW
Programs: DL Plat; HH Diamond; SPG & Hyatt Plat
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Originally Posted by Richklhs
In order to use these services and have them book a ticket for you, do you have to hand over your log in info for your mileage accounts?
Yes. After having well over a million miles/points over almost two years with UPGRD, I wouldn't hesitate to trust him with any of my accounts.

These folks are professionals and reputation is everything when doing business online.
b8b is offline  


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