|
Nothing Better than Successfully Booking a Complex Itinerary using Points!
I have just completed the booking of a rather complex vacation for my wife and me in early 2014. This trip will take us from midwestern USA to Tokyo, Singapore, Bali, Perth and return. I used United award miles, Air Canada award miles (transferred from AMEX), AAdvantage Miles, Hilton HHonor points and purchased the DPS-PER leg in business on Garuda.
All in, my costs are less than about $1500 for a two week, first/business class trip with accommodations in upper end Hilton properties along the way. Few people, other than Flyertalkers, can appreciate the complexities involved in making sure that each leg is available and is booked at just the right time. There's a moment of exhilaration, when you've booked one leg and are hoping you can get the next leg booked (another airline award program) before someone else grabs available seats. As I look at my two-page itinerary, it makes me smile. Success! And people say you can't use points... :) |
Congratulations, but maybe we could appreciate it more if you outlined the routing and carriers.
|
As this is not a trip report I shall move it on over to TravelBuzz!
Moomba Moderator: Trip Reports |
Yeah, can you please post routings/costs/etc? Looking to do something similar and would love some pointers/hints/etc.
|
Absolutely. The worst part is the time between the planning/booking and departure though...anticipation. I have some good ones coming up soon.
|
Originally Posted by flyupfront
(Post 20380975)
I have just completed the booking of a rather complex vacation for my wife and me in early 2014. This trip will take us from midwestern USA to Tokyo, Singapore, Bali, Perth and return. I used United award miles, Air Canada award miles (transferred from AMEX), AAdvantage Miles, Hilton HHonor points and purchased the DPS-PER leg in business on Garuda.
All in, my costs are less than about $1500 for a two week, first/business class trip with accommodations in upper end Hilton properties along the way. Few people, other than Flyertalkers, can appreciate the complexities involved in making sure that each leg is available and is booked at just the right time. There's a moment of exhilaration, when you've booked one leg and are hoping you can get the next leg booked (another airline award program) before someone else grabs available seats. As I look at my two-page itinerary, it makes me smile. Success! And people say you can't use points... :) You are 100% correct. If I even start to talk about booking one of these awards to friends or coworkers, their eyes start to glaze over, so I just keep quiet on the whole topic! I view it like doing some kind of 10 sided rubik's cube in the air..everything has to be examined, rotated and then hopefully, finally, it all clicks together and the puzzle is complete. You should see the spreadsheets and calendars I use when planning one of these. Sometimes I think invasions of countries have been planned more easily. Best of luck on your trip. |
I completely get this. I love it when I am able to finesse a booking that is complicated. Congrats, and enjoy the trip.
|
Curious, how long did it take you to amass the miles needed for the flying portion?
|
Originally Posted by flyupfront
(Post 20380975)
and purchased the DPS-PER leg in business on Garuda.
Congrats on the rest though. :) |
Dunno, haven't redeemed any points yet.
No experience.
|
| All times are GMT -6. The time now is 1:49 pm. |
This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.