zainman

I would like to offer my services as an award booking consultant. Please PM me for any queries.

Booking: $200 first passenger, $100 each additional passenger; change fees vary

cajunguy

I've reached out to a couple of these asking for help with my complicated itineary, you'd swear we were going for an Amazing Race leg with this.

I got a quote from one, it's double what was was advertised. Over the entire trip we're doing 4 RT flights which included the RT from home. I was a little surprised with the quote from this one, it seemed excessive over the advertised price. I was expecting an increase but that was more than I thought.
Waiting to hear back from the other service.

Anyone else experience something like this?

RTW1

It's like any other business... nobody likes having to spend a lot of time for the standard fee with complicated itinerary's.

ALadyNCal

I've done a ton of research myself (including EF and AwardNexus) but doesn't mean I've found all the availability or routing options. My tentative goal:

International trip with stop over in business class
Using SkyMiles for partner awards

One of the things I hate is an hour on the phone with the airlines to sort out a booking Can anyone recommend one of the booking services that has done a great job with a SkyMiles booking?

Thanks ^

flatseatlover

Does anyone have some suggestions for good bookers?

RTW1

So this is the 4th review from a member with just 1 posts.... please stop pumping your own service!

Kenny Lok

I am interested in learning about how to best redeem my award miles. Basically what I am looking for is the most efficient way to redeem my miles on different routes. This means you will need to teach me what each program offers, what airline is more preferable, how to use AwardNexus or ExpertFlyer, among other things.

Is there an expert that offers this kind of service?

Kenny Lok

For Matthew from upgrd.com: Not too pleased with how he responded to a potential client. I emailed him (& others) in regards to getting taught his skill of finding award bookings since a couple people here raved about him. To my delight, he charged the least, $80/hr, so I accepted even though I didn't feel welcomed by him as he would deny my request of getting acquainted over the phone. Then I changed my mind an hour later as I found Andrew from shrewdtravel.com. I told Matthew to which he responded, "Thanks for wasting my time."

Matthew's responses didn't cater well to me but I gave him the benefit of the doubt because of the reviews he got here. He solidified my thoughts with how he handled me denying his service..

Than there is Andrew from shrewdtravel.com. He has been very informative via website/email/phone. You can tell this guy knows his stuff, and it was confirmed when we talked on the phone. I accepted his service even though he charged me $20 more than Matthew!
Can't wait to start my sessions with Andrew.

-K.

spainflyer

I’ve now read through the entire thread, and not found anything on award services booking upgrades. My situation:

Looking for help booking travel Europe to Asia (usually MAD, LHR or ZRH to SIN, HKG or SYD), simple return trips, rarely with stopover or open jaw.

Upgrade would be economy or premium economy (paid, obviously) to biz. Preferred airlines in order SQ, VS, BA, QF. Will consider Gulf carriers if schedule is not too bad.

Is it worth my while to use an award booking service (assuming this is offered) to get the upgrade? And, who among all those mentioned on this thread might have skills in this area?

Many thanks!

spainflyer

Sorry! Forgot to mention that I have 100K miles with UA, and most of my points with AmEx. Flight upgrades would probably be coming out of AmEx account.

RTW1

That is something completely different.... no "company" in their right mind will offer such a service or the fee will be substantial. There is no way to easily see upgrade potential online and to complete a transaction first a paid ticket has to bought.

These guys are not TA's, they are simply a person with a computer/phone and a bit of knowledge about FFP's and award search engines. It's not su much about the skills but more about the spent time vs the reward.

edog22

Two months back I didn't have time (nor ability to phone US Air) to book a U.S.-N.Zealand business class award, so I went through Book Your Award on a Thursday - they responded to the initial request within a few hours, and after several back and forth emails over possible options, we agreed on an itinerary that they would book. Later that night we received a notice that they couldn't get the itinerary to book and would re-try again; on Friday they said it wasn't working and we would re-group after the weekend.

On Monday we went through several new options and on Tuesday they booked us to SYD instead (we later booked one-way flights to different parts of NZ so it worked out better anyway).

I would have preferred to keep working on the itinerary over the weekend, but people have lives I did like using the award wallet interface as it kept a useful running record of our conversations. Altogether the experience was pretty good, but it would have been somewhat confusing if I didn't know anything about the process already (i.e. if my parents were using the service).

Kagehitokiri

at least one award booker on FT is a TA

RTW1

Then their regular business must be really slow... But the exception proves the point :-).

BearX220

Well, with due respect to your freedom to choose, you did waste his time. And you committed to using Matthew's services, then bailed after he booked your business. That's not being a good customer. As an independent consultant myself (in a whole different line of work) I have had prospective clients lean on me repeatedly for proposals, free wisdom, orientation calls, revised proposals, etc. -- all of which they get for free obviously -- then suddenly go quiet when the hiring decision comes. This syndrome has a name in the professional services field: Super High Interest to Total Silence, which adds up to a rude acronym, which is what those clients are. You went one step worse by agreeing to retain Matthew, then reneging. This stuff is incredibly frustrating and Matthew, no doubt figuring he had nothing to lose because a client like you isn't worth the maintenance headaches, simply wrote what we have all dreamed of writing many times.

I am actually more inclined to retain Matthew myself after reading your story to compensate for the ethics and expectations of some of his other prospects.