Don't forget TWA's new partner - Air Malta! Do they fly to Denver? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

Thanks for the thought Jamiel. Icelandair is a new partner and inflation is the issue.

Freakflyer, at the present time Air Malta unfortunately does not fly to Denver, but maybe next year. When they do they can charge a hefty mileage premium and have no award space.

Have heard that Kona, Hawaii (KOA) will be a new destination this Spring/Summer out of LAX- probably as a tag to one of the STL flights. Might be something to look into, though getting to LAX from DEN through STL isn't exactly ideal.

I've had good luck recently with the Aviators Service Center. The reps were more than happy to check several months at a time through a variety of cities.

I am hoping that on-line award booking will soon become a reality. This is one of the most useful features of UA's website, as much as I hate flying them. I also wonder if at some point in the future, an airline will waive blackout dates for award travel earned on full-fare of paid FC travel. Sounds like a good idea to me, especially to reward those high-yield passengers.

Thanks Socalterp.

I will call the service center this morning and ask if they know anything about the KOA flight.

I find the helpfullness of service center varies greatly depending upon the agent. Sometimes they seem to try hard before saying they have no availability. This seems especially true of the supervisors. At other times they really seem act in a proforma fashion and seem to just be going through the motions - telling me that TWO is so popular they have no room for awards. Seriously, I have been told this on several occassions.

By the way, do regulars on this forum know if someone from TWA lurks here? Have they ever come out in the open as Starwood has done on their forum?

Thanks again.

I wanted to add that I just booked a seat using 40,000 of my Aviator miles to Paris next April on TWA with no problem, whatsoever.

I think the key to booking any award travel, though especially on TWA, is doing it as far ahead as humanly possible.

Call me crazy, but I love free tickets to Europe! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Cheers.

Hi
Yesterday, I ticketed a FC award seat to OGG (Maui) using 60k miles, outbound on a Wed, June 28- returning July 3. It was the *only* seat I could find, and there was just 1 (ok bc no one will fly this carrier with me!! ).
That pretty much depletes my miles. Before that I had a rez to Vancouver - which took 40k miles- but waitlisted on my preferred flights. That's a nice place , plus I think the award seats are generally avail. The rez I cancelled was for July 4 weekend.

I too had a lot of difficulty booking my ticket, I had them check all Fri/Sat STL-HNL/OGG from Jan- Apr 2001, and not one seat was avail. Nothing to LHR either at that time.
I am glad to be done with TWA. I was afraid that I'd be stuck with these miles -- I'm not optimistic re their financial future.
I think America West is a partner now too; perhaps you can do something there?

I also agree that it's hit or miss with the agents checking avail and dates-- I'd keep calling back till I got a good agent and THEN try to check dates; I have "elite" status with them, but I don't think that helped me.

Good luck!

The OGG flights are pretty good. Just returned from my trip this past weekend, using 1 Free FC ticket for 60,0000 and 1 upgrade to FC for 30,000. Traveling on the weekends too- I got lucky. Anyways, not a bad flight at all- I wrote a report that can be found under the trip report section.

YVR is a great place as well. Beyond cruise traffic, not sure how many people TWA flies, as it is a new market.

BIL_Flyer and others who replied:

Thank you so much for your messages! My situation is not much different from yours, BIL_ .

The Internet and the Web are a wonderful tool to bring people together, and just trying to FIND everybody out there who is disturbed by what TWA is pulling off can be daunting.

However, you might want to look at the following:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/crossro...meset&active=5

The alternate way to get there is first, go to: www.fodors.com
then select "Forums"
then select "United States"
then look for the subject "TWA Frequent Flyer Award Travel - A Legal Remedy?"

I wonder if part of our problem is "critical mass" because we are so spread out. I hope to cross-link various sources so that everybody can get everywhere else to see what is happening.

PLEASE add your input/comments over on Fodors so that I don't just look like a lone chattering magpie. I will also be cross-linking from Fodors over to this board. Also when you're there, I'm adding additional references to other Web sites that might help you and the general consciousness about this real problem.

I may also put a Web site together later on to coalesce the various sources. What do you think? And, of course, any ideas you have on what we can do would be appreciated by all.

I hope that people who responded on this board won't mind an email contact from me ([email protected]). Obviously you can just ignore the message or tell me to buzz-off and I'll cooperate. But I'd also appreciate replies!

Thanx, I'm glad I found all of you!

--mark--

Mark,

I posted a response to you on the Fodors board...just to summarize, my opinion is that you have more of a complaint about the expiration of the Equity miles than with award availibility...it's just the way the game is, and we all have to remember that miles are not a privilege.

I am glad, however, that the certificates are gone, and that one can redeem miles with a simple phone call. I am just looking forward to the day that on-line award booking arrives at TWA.

We too had problems with TWA and using are frequent flyer milage. We had enough in my account and my daughters account to get a free tocket to Israel (to visit the family). My husband was buying his ticket. First, we were on hold for very long periods of time (once it was over an hour!!!). We booked the flight 50 weeks prior to the travel date (which is the earliest), and mailed our certificates. Then they lost them!! and cancelled our reservation.... Some more phone calls, more waiting on the line. Everything was booked (obviously!). We finally got the dates that we wanted, but we had to go through several supervisors and yell. Not a pleasent experience. I hope somebody from TWA is lurking and realizing the damage that they are doing - they are no longer my first choice!

TO ronirp:

Thanx for your response. I've noted your clear message about having to yell, and would dearly love to know how to do that effectively. Care to share what and how you did that in your case?

--mark--

Well, first of all my husband took care of that - he can be pretty intimidating when he wants to (it's a eral talent). But he was basically relentless, refusing to give up, going from one supervisor to the next, and stating that we will not use TWA ever again. I also think it has helped that we were planning on buying one ticket (which have not done at the time), stating that we will fly another airline. Obviously, that will not be helpful in your case, but I would just refuse to disconnect and talk to as many levels of supervisors as you can.
Roni