Going to Italy for Spring break and was able to get 3 RT Y awards from ATL-FCO for 59,400+$74.49 each. The cash RT fare is $1,426 so that works out to 2.3 CPP. Now, maybe I should factor in the $150 I had to pay to get the 15% points discount with the Gold card but I also got a 40,000 SUB so I call it a wash. The biggest surprise to me was the return leg, if I booked it as a one way it was about double the cost but when I did a RT I was able to get it down to the same cost as the outbound.

I just reported https://www.reddit.com/user/EarCurious1147/ on https://www.reddit.com/r/BotBouncer/ (since they commented https://www.reddit.com/r/awardtravel/comments/1x4lcho/comment/pgeosl6/?context=3 ) and they told me that that user was already banned from BotBouncer communities **6 months ago**. See https://www.reddit.com/r/BotBouncer/comments/1sk77g7/overview_for_earcurious1147/

Per https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/1x3wwka/comment/pge0bih/?force-legacy-sct=1 it seems like r/churning is already having a good experience with BotBouncer.

It's just very tedious dealing with the bots. It's been grinding me down.

I want to talk to humans about flying on points. I don't want to talk to these digital zombies, wearing our flesh and skin, reflecting back at me the consensus of the internet from six months ago.

EDIT:

THANK YOU MODS!!!

FYI: You can still do manual reports to BotBouncer for whichever bots still leak through by pasting their profile URL as a post on /r/BotBouncer (automod will catch and process it)

Hi everyone,
Looking for some advice from frequent Qatar Airways flyers or anyone who has navigated a tight connection at Hamad International Airport (DOH).
Here is my situation:
Route: SFO to DOH to NBO (Nairobi)

Ticket Type: Business Class (Award Ticket) on a single booking reference

The Change: Qatar updated my flight (QR 738) out of SFO, shifting departure 35 minutes later.

New Schedule:
Arrive DOH at 18:00
Connecting flight (QR 1341 to NBO) departs at 19:00
Layover: Exactly 1 hour

I called Qatar Airways customer service to see if I could proactively move to the next flight to Nairobi (QR 1335 at 2:10 AM). The agent said:

1. Because the time shift was under 45 minutes and the connection is still at/above the 45-min (MCT) for DOH, it’s considered a minor change, so normal change rules apply.
2. Because this is an award ticket and there’s no award availability on the 2:10 AM flight, they can't move me in advance without charging fare differences.
3. The agent mentioned that if my first leg is delayed on the day of travel, the airport transfer desk in Doha would protect/rebook me onto the 2:10 AM flight (and possibly in Business if available).

I have a safari starting in Kenya on arrival day, so I’m trying to balance the risk:
1. How realistic is a 1-hour Business Class transfer at DOH? Since I'll be among the first off the plane and can use the priority transfer line, is 60 minutes doable if SFO departs on time?
2. Luggage risk: What are the odds checked bags make a 60-minute transfer at DOH?
3. If I misconnect: How smooth is the Al Mourjan transfer desk experience for placing misconnected Business Class passengers onto the 2:10 AM flight (or 8:40 AM flight) if award space wasn't open ahead of time?
Would you recommend keeping the itinerary as-is and trusting Qatar's misconnect protection on travel day, or pushing harder/paying to change ahead of time?

Thanks in advance for your insights!

According to DOC

Scammers Stealing Points via Amazon Shop With Points

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/scammers-stealing-points-via-amazon-shop-with-points/

Looking for advice from anyone who has dealt with this specific LifeMiles issue.

I booked an award ticket for a United-operated flight (SFO \rightarrow AKL) through Avianca LifeMiles. I have the electronic ticket receipt from Avianca showing:

Ticket Number: Starts with 134...

Booking Ref / PNR: 6-character alphanumeric code

Status: Confirmed / Issued

Entering the 6-digit PNR on United’s "My Trips" gives an error / cannot find the reservation.

Entering the 134 eTicket number on United’s site/app also brings up nothing.

United Phone Support says they cannot find any record of the ticket or reservation on their end using my name, flight details, or eTicket number.

Avianca/LifeMiles Support insists that the booking is fully issued and that the United confirmation code is identical to the Avianca PNR, so they "can't do anything else."

Asiana is leaving Star Alliance at the end of this year.

Searching J-class redemptions for YYZ to INC only shows AC flights (and some economy-only United bookings). Are there any viable partner redemptions for next year?

I built a new tool: Qatar Airways Award Fee Checker

Qatar Airways is annoying in that it hides the taxes and fees on award flights if you don't have enough Avios in your account. Now you can quickly see the taxes and fees for your route before transferring Avios over.

Just plug in any two airports Qatar flies to and it shows the one-way cash cost in economy, business (Qsuites) and first, nonstop or connecting in Doha. For example, New York (JFK) to Bangkok through Doha is $163.90 in economy and $288.90 in business, and London (LHR) to Doha is $273.25 in economy and $527.15 in business.

It's free and you don't need an account. It's only Qatar Airways Privilege Club pricing and the numbers are estimates for 2027 travel, so they might be off by a few dollars. If you see any big discrepancies (>$5), let me know and I'll fix it. Hope it's useful!

Want to travel YYZ-TPE, have 2 choices:

YYZ-DEL on AI J (new dreamliner ?)

5.5h layover in DEL

DEL-TPE on BR A330 J

102.5K Aeroplan

Or

YYZ-SEA on AS Y

6h layover in SEA

SEA-TPE in JX A350 J

85K Atmos

I have 10x more Aeroplan than Atmos

300k + $1800 / 2ppl lie-flat business JFK-CDG, CDG-JRO. 

Thanks to this sub! Thought I’d share as a datapoint since there isn’t so much out there on stopovers and AF is changing so much this year. 

Been tracking JFK/JRO via CDG business since March, for late Sept/early Oct. 2027 travel. Back in June, took advantage of the 25% AmEx transfer bonus to total 230k, the going price for 2ppl at the time. 

As everything started to shift w/ FB, kept focused on “Standard,” since economy is a nope and while the “Flex” is cheaper w/ taxes, wasn’t going to spend that many miles. Meanwhile the award price had jumped to 295k. Right at the end of September, it edged up to 298k, 299k, and then 300k. (Also, they seem to have added 2 more weekly flights on the CDG-JRO leg: Usually Tue, Thur, Sun; adding Monday & Friday, but Fridays weren’t showing up as affordable at all). It certainly wasn’t going down, since there was still availability at those prices throughout August. 

We set on a Tue. exit, 24 hours in Paris, and the Thurs. flight to JRO. The Thurs. leg finally opened up showing a 299k total availability, and I braced myself for an agonizing phone call. 

I was on the phone for only 24 minutes. 

Likely helped calling on a weekday, mid-afternoon in Paris. Agent put me on hold to make the booking, while I transferred the necessary AmEx points —having JUST realized the day before that the 25% bonus was back! Paid the taxes (ouch), done, ticketed. 

What airline is everyone using for award flights now that Airfrance has stopped service? Is United the only player at the moment? I have capital one and chase and am trying to figure out the best transfer airlines. Interested to hear everyone’s techniques!

Booked a JAL premium economy award via AA, itinerary ITM-NRT-SAN. A month after booking, for reasons unknown to me, I got an email notifying me that the first leg was modified to an ITM-HND flight, with a 3.5 hour connection time.

This is very tight to make an inter-airport connection across Tokyo. I spoke to 3 different AA reps, and all said they could not modify the first leg because there was no longer any award availability on any other Osaka-Tokyo flight. I also asked if I could just cancel the first domestic leg and take a train, but they said no partial cancellations are allowed on award bookings, which seems a bit ridiculous as I’d be doing them a favor opening up a seat for free. Further, they said if I miss my connection due to traffic or whatever, then I’d be on my own to find a way home.

Do I have any options other than (1) praying that everything goes right and I make the connection, or (2) cancelling the whole thing and taking a worse economy redemption?

I've been planning a trip to Japan for our honeymoon, will just be 8 days since my fiancee is in med residency and they won't give anyone more than a week of vacation at a time sadly. I stumbled upon 4 days at PH Kyoto so immediately booked that (Globalist) and then was able to book return flights on ANA J as they released. However, I missed the departing flight as points didn't move over fast enough.

So now I've been looking at other options for business class there and it seems like Alaska is seen pretty unfavorably for this route. Living in Seattle, I have the Summit card and will hit the 60k spend threshold to get the 100k companion pass. Alaska J is normally 150k so with the companion fare we could get 2x J tickets for 200k pts. Obviously this isn't as good as snagging ANA or JAL flights as they release but it's most likely too late for me to get those unless I can snag at T-14. SEA-TYO is Alaska's launch route for the upgraded 787 suites so hopefully the experience is pretty fleshed out by the time we go around this time next year.

I would love any opinions or advice on this as a potential redemption. I will of course keep an eye out for JAL/ANA availability opening up but mainly wondering if I'm way off base treating this as a backstop option; with the 100k companion fare it feels not too terrible to me. Thanks in advance!

Guys am trying from almost a month did emirates stop releasing seats to jal? Am trying to book ewr to ath route no matter what I don’t find any emirates availability on jal at all

Hey everyone,

I’m planning a trip from Orlando (MCO) to Dubai (DXB) and looking for some advice on the best strategy using my Aeroplan points.

Right now, I have 90,000 Aeroplan points to use. I am looking at two options and trying to figure out which makes the most sense regarding cost and the likelihood of upgrading:

• Option 1: Book Premium Economy outright. This is costing exactly 90k Aeroplan points + $1,300 CAD in taxes/fees.
• Option 2: Book a Standard Reward Economy ticket for 90k Aeroplan points (with much lower taxes/fees).

My ultimate goal is to fly Business Class or bare minimum Premium Economy. If I go with Option 2 (Standard Economy), what are the actual realistic chances that Emirates will offer me a last-minute cash upgrade to Business Class at check-in or via the app?

Does Emirates frequently offer cash upgrades on partner award tickets booked through Aeroplan? If they do, what kind of cash co-pay should I expect to see for the MCO-DXB leg?

Would love to hear from anyone who has tried to upgrade an Aeroplan-issued Emirates ticket with cash recently. Thanks in advance!

I am late to the game for booking business class at a decent mileage redemption. Departing after May 16, returning May 30-June 4. DFW to HND or NRT.

I am debating whether to just pay for business. Thoughts on PE on EVA thru TPE? If I did this, would you prefer the long layover and see Taipei for the day and then just go TSA to Tokyo so I don't have to go back to TPE airport?

I have 150k Chase,100k Citi, and 90k Capital One however I am putting my two older teens in economy. My husband and I are looking for Business or maybe PE.

Singapore Airlines out of LAX is an option too. $5800 for business. :/ $2300 PE.

OOP it looks like my best bet is to book the 2 EVA economy sets on points and pay for PE OOP?

I only see economy class rewards from East Coast airports to Dublin (and Shannon) in September 2027. Generally 3-6 economy rewards seat per flight, but zero business class. Even immediately after new flights go live when zero seats have been booked. Nothing in the summer months either.

Why is that? What's going on?

I was looking to book a Qatar flight using Avios. I did a quick search on point.me to see if other partners had cheaper fares. I was surprised to see JetBlue had a crazy good deal. So I check their site, and its not there. No worries, point.me has been wrong before.

But then I check back the next morning, and it shows availability again. I hurry over to Chase to transfer some points. Right before I click the button, I refresh the JetBlue page and its gone again.

At this point I'm just confused and not sure what to do. Does anyone know of this issue or what to do? Support was not helpful at all.

Going from JFK to HND direct using AA via Qatar Avios points. Does this fee sound right? Though my points cover a round trip, the fee is 700.00.

Has anyone had any luck booking Cathay Pacific first class award tickets from the US to Asia or vice versa? I’m pretty sure I saw more award availability last year, but I’ve been checking this year and haven’t had much luck. I just wanted to see if they’ve stopped releasing first class award seats on their own website or if people are simply faster than me. Thanks!

I booked a flight through Bank of America with a Turkish and JetBlue leg. I was sent confirmation numbers for both TK and Jet Blue, but the ticket numbers is a different format than TK usually is. I was able to add them to the TK app so I can see my flight, but I can’t select a seat on the TK leg of the trip on either TK or Jet Blue websites. I’d ideally like to upgrade my flight with points, but I am seeing no options to do so.

I’ve tried contacting customer service for both, and both say the other carrier can help. TK seems completely stumped there is not a “235” ticket number, but that doesn’t seem to exist. Has anyone else dealt with this?

I'm looking to book a flight for the end of October 2027 from the US > Tokyo. Anywhere in the US, I'm flexible. 2 tickets in Business or First class (probably Business, but I can dream).

I'm wanting to use my Capital One rewards miles, so I'm fairly limited to who I can transfer my miles to and it seems JAL is the best value from what I'm seeing on JAL vs ANA.

However, when I try to do some searches now to get familiar with the system, I'm just seeing a very difficult UX. I will find a flight that says 55,000 award miles, but if I move forward in the process it all of a sudden will jump to 140,000 miles or just say not available. I was thinking it might be because I'm requesting two tickets, so I'll try with just one ticket and get the same request.

Am I doing something wrong? Does anyone have any tips for navigating this site? Or a better recommendation for booking award points to Tokyo with Capital One points?

Hi, visiting in January. Been reading about tipping and have 2 q's - 1. Who did you tip please? I read one post that read 7 different people were tipped. This seems excessive. 2. How did you tip? I read USD but did you pack a mountain of cash? Any other feedback/suggestions welcome. Thank you!

Does anybody have any experience with this? Does it have limited availability like AA? Have been checking dates that have availability on JetBlue and haven’t been able to find anything when searching on JAL.

Is there a weird process where you have to call in? Or are they just severely limited in US J flights.