Sorry, I know I've seen questions similar to this and I tried searching, but I can't find it. Feel free to merge as necessary...

The basic question - can I have two separate award ticket itineraries reserved, which don't technically overlap, but which it's quite clear I won't do both? (I intend to cancel the one I don't use, of course, probably a few weeks in advance.)

Background - we'd like to take a transatlantic cruise this fall. We're indifferent between two cruises, which leave one day apart from different European cities, and we're waiting to see which is the better deal as the date gets closer. I've got award seats to one city already. Right now, there's good saver availability to the other city on the next day, and I have enough miles to book that, too.

Will it create a problem by having a reservation that has me leaving the USA a few hours after a different reservation has me arriving in Europe? They're not actually simultaneous, but there's only about 2 hours in real time between the two. (Landing in Europe at final destination at 11:00 pm local time on a Friday, and other reservation would leave the east coast about 7:00 pm local time on Friday.) If it matters, both will likely be on different Star Alliance partners over the water and in Europe.

Thanks!

While I'm sure this is frowned upon, and shouldn't be habitual...If you have it for a couple of days, I don't see the big deal.

I had a similar experience with a Christmas time award...Found better flights, but wasn't sure if my wife could get the extra day off that the new trip entailed, so I booked it, as it had only 2 business award seats available. Had overlapping awards for a couple of days, then canceled the original one once my wife got things figured out at the office...All in all, less than a week.

Thanks. I would probably have to keep these a couple weeks before we decide for sure. (Waiting and hoping for the cruiselines to offer some great last-minute savings. )

Would it be an option to keep just the one I have, then switch the last leg if we change to the other city? (We already have a connection within Europe for the last leg.) Or would changing the final destination entail an entirely new booking and if there is no space on my current US-EU flight then, I'd be out of luck?

Yes. A good agent doesn't have to touch the transcon.

Ok, thanks. I think I'll just hang on a couple more weeks and see if we can make a decision, then. The reservation we have is to the cruise we'd prefer a little over the other one, so hopefully we won't need to make any changes. And I don't want to risk having them both cancelled on me.

Thanks for the help!