viperbrown

Hello,

Applying for Schengen then UK visa, and waiting for ideal award flights to open up. So I can apply for the visas, need a service/travel agency that provides a confirmed flight reservation without paying for the flight itself.

Any recommendations and their respective fees? See a few of these services online with a quick Google search, not sure who to trust.

Thanks!

viperbrown

Hello - just circling back on this to see if anyone has ideas.

Often1

Few TA's do this for other than very good customers. It's a hassle and risks administrative issues for the TA with the carriers involved, so they save this perk for the top-end customer. If you aren't one, see if you can find someone who is and who can lean on a bricks & mortar TA to help you out.

viperbrown

Thanks Often1.

Apart from TAs, anyone have any experiences with the services one can easily find via a Google search?

Need

If you have the points already, couldn't you just book a non-ideal award ticket and change it later? For UA, you are Silver so only need to pay $50 to $100 award change fee depends on when you change it. The other way to do it is book a paid ticket yourself, print out the ticket... and cancel it within 24 hours. I don't think the consulates would check the ticket, but it is a risk you would be taking... personally I would just pay the award change fee.... and don't have to deal with the TA or other things.

joejones

Why not buy a fully refundable ticket and cancel it once you have the visa?

viperbrown

Agreed, I don't want to run that risk given the in-person interviews and effort it takes to apply for both the Schengen and UK visas. Wish these were "mail-it-in" applications.

I've thought about that exact award change strat. I've been compelled to consider these other services only because some of them are quoting cheaper fees (in the range of $20-$30 for 2-4 flights) than what an award change fee would cost.Agreed though, that this would be a clean path.

That would be the BEST option indeed! That's how I plan to show confirmed hotel bookings, but I've had trouble finding refundable international flights. For example, I need LON-SFO one way and the AA website for example shows "Economy Fully Flexible" or "Business Fully Flexible". When reading the T&Cs, they don't make it crystal clear whether the fare code its booking into is fully refundable, not just changeable. Similar issue when searching on BA.

Would LOVE to get your recommendations on websites/airlines where I could book fully refundable international flights.