cajunguy

I'm so confused! It's my fault for waiting this long. I should have pushed to get the flights done earlier.

I've contacted a few different services and waiting to hear back on options. I got a few so far while I've been trying to walk through the thick weeds and see if I can figure it out on my own.

Oye!

HMPS

Why not the rest of us too ?

cajunguy

teehee

mca311

I had a pretty straight forward itinerary, but with family commitments and just lack of time to do the legwork, I used awardadvocate.com and worked with Kam. He replied to my mail on a Sunday and within a few hours got me a good itinerary reserved by AA.

My details were 2 first class one way flights from SFO - HKG in November. Cathay was difficult to lock down 2 seats so he suggested JAL for SFO-HND and then HND-HKG on CX.

I understand I could have tried to do this myself, but it's kind of like paying for a car wash or house cleaner. It all depends on how you value your time vs the effort involved. Kam was great and charged $75/person since it was a one-way. I'd definitely use them again.

Yeah, flame me for the low post count, but I'm generally a lurker on threads to learn how to build up miles.

HMPS

Que ?

jc8097654

New to using Award Booking Services and want to have realistic expectations... I know that services provided will vary, but in general how do the services respond to the following questions:

Do Award Booking services provide support when things go wrong i.e. winter storms, cancelled flights, missed flight?

Will the Award Booking services need very propriety info from me (ex: Amex Membership Rewards login)? Will I need to be on the phone when the booking involves use of a credit card?

Thanks.

pkerr

cajunguy

I contacted a few services, some that don't require payment or CC info upfront and 1 that does. The time frame we want to go is the highest peak time for Europe and award seats were eaten up a year ago. This is another reason I contacted the award services, figured they'd know more tricks than I could possibly. 2 of the services couldn't find anything(no fee), they simply gave up. The one paid is certainly earning their fee.

Flight Fox

I was actually handed off from one expert to another, I think it had something to do with their location. The current expert is located in Europe and has found some really decent connections on the outbound but the return is proving to be even more challenging. There can be a little lost in translation at time with the emails.

This service does not log into your miles/points accounts, they explain how to contact the airlines and what to tell them for the bookings.

So far it's been fine, challenging but fine.

Retale_88

Some will provide 'service after the sale' but others don't. You would need to ask if that's included up front.

This will depend on whether the award service includes the phone booking as part of their service. I would highly recommend you choose a service that does provide the phone booking, as even if they tell you what to say or what segments to ask for, it can be a painful and extremely time consuming process.
To answer your question about proprietary info, yes, if you're having the award service do the booking - then you'll need to provide them with your credentials and CC info to make the booking for you. I was not required to be on the phone when I had an award booking service use my CC info (to pay for taxes/fees), FWIW.

HMPS

This issue of giving up such data bothers me too. I suppose I can change the PW on related sites immediately but not the CC numbers unless I report it lost.

I am reluctant to give up data on the basis of someone " hanging out a shingle"
Of award booker.
That is why it is of utmost importance that names are named.

abaheti

The person I have used asked, and I allowed him to use the card I had on file. In another case, he added his credit card to my profile with a note "award booker" or "awar consultant". I paid him back afterwards. He didn't seem concerned, but I deleted his card info as soon as I was booked so I wouldn't accidentally charge a ticket to his card. I guess he (like me) doesn't mind getting the miles for the purchases. :-)

jackal

How is giving your credit card number to an award booker any different than giving it to any other merchant?

PCI compliance issues aside, if the business is trustworthy enough for you to use them, then they should be trustworthy enough to use your credit card information responsibly and delete it when they are finished with it. Many POS systems allow businesses to retrieve credit card details after you are gone, and the very nature of some credit card transactions (such as ones where your full number is imprinted on carbon paper) means that your credit card information remains accessible to the business after you finish the transaction.

seoyandira

thank information ^

HMPS

there are some valid points in what you say. Of course I make sure the websites on which I part with my CC etc has been verified as to the " https" , reputation, physical address, etc. Even thenI do pray.

In the award booking sector, reputations have not yet solidified, forget about physical address or company registration, many have declined to give out phone numbers. Those who ask for payment upfront with no avenues for redress take the cake.
yes I have used a booker once.....since then the first or second contacts with a couple have left me disappointed.

photoagent101

I have never used an award booking service, but I decided to try Matthew at upgrd.com in February, to try to book a business class round trip from the Bay Area, California to Scotland (Glasgow GLA) in July 2015. This is the summer peak season so I did not expect to find good biz class award travel available, particularly using United Saver awards.

Matthew was indeed "tenacious, intelligent, responsive" as another forum member has written. He was able to find me several possibilities and was very patient. We ultimately decided on an itinerary that just got me to LHR that cost only 52.5K miles each way, rather than a standard biz class ticket that would have cost 150K miles each way. This was a huge savings in miles. His fee of $150 to arrange this ticket was very reasonable and did not reflect his many hours of research and work in figuring a final itinerary.

My only concerns were that Matthew sometimes would take a while to reply or get back to me. Often he would promise to get back to me in a few hours, then get back to me much later, and I was then put in the position of having to reply very quickly.

I am not complaining because I know that these folks are doing difficult (and thankless) work for me and I expected potholes. I warn anyone who uses award services -- these folks are doing hard work, are extremely busy, and often don't have the time to read your emails. In Matthew's case, he often ignored questions that I put forth in emails and does not seem to want to talk on the phone to clarify things. Most of us are indeed addicted to emails, but complicated itineraries sometimes mean that picking up the phone will be easier and more efficient.

Regardless of the above, I highly recommend Matthew at upgrd.com for arranging award travel, and I doubt you can find anyone else who is as committed, hard-working, and has as much expertise.