Finding award space - Revision history

Editor: /* Manually searching different websites */

2021-08-12T23:39:26Z

‎Manually searching different websites

Editor at 23:19, 12 August 2021

2021-08-12T23:19:14Z

Editor at 21:44, 21 February 2021

2021-02-21T21:44:50Z

Show changes

Editor: /* Searching for space on additional airlines */

2021-02-21T20:10:25Z

‎Searching for space on additional airlines

Editor: /* Searching for space on additional airlines */

2021-02-20T06:37:22Z

‎Searching for space on additional airlines

Editor: /* Manually searching different websites */

2021-02-20T00:26:33Z

‎Manually searching different websites

Editor: /* Juicy Miles */

2021-02-19T23:58:10Z

‎Juicy Miles

Editor: Editor moved page Finding Award Space to Finding award space without leaving a redirect

2021-02-19T04:35:18Z

Editor moved page Finding Award Space to Finding award space without leaving a redirect

Editor: /* Manually searching different websites */

2021-02-16T18:46:50Z

‎Manually searching different websites

Editor: /* Manually searching different websites */

2021-02-14T03:49:56Z

‎Manually searching different websites

@@ Line 41: / Line 41: @@
 === <span id="Award Search Websites">Manually searching different websites</span> ===
-Unlike with regular airfares, there is no behind-the-scenes system where airlines post their award availability. Other than tools like Juicy Miles, airline websites are the only the way to check awards space and each airline's website only searches for awards on some of their partner airlines.
+Unlike with regular airfares, there is no behind-the-scenes system where airlines post their award availability. Other than a few specialized tools, the airline's own websites are the only the way to check award space and each airline's website only searches for awards on some of their partner airlines.
 As a result, you'll need to use multiple websites to search all your available options. And even doing that is more complicated than we wish it would be.
@@ Line 56: / Line 56: @@
 For United partner availability, check '''[//www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home.html#/home:flight Air Canada’s Aeroplan]'''. For Delta partner availability, check '''[//www.virginatlantic.com/us/en Virgin Atlantic]''' because they often require far fewer points (or '''[//www.airfrance.us/US/en/local/process/standardbooking/SearchAction.do?MABT=true Air France / KLM's Flying Blue]''').
-<li>'''If you know you want to fly on Air France, American Airlines, British Airways, KLM, United Airlines, or Virgin Atlantic, give [//www.seatspy.com Seat Spy] a try'''. This awesome tool will quickly show you availability for an entire year at a time in every class of service, but only for a single direct route on one of a few airlines.</li>
+<li>'''If you know you want to fly on Air France, American Airlines, British Airways, Etihad, KLM, United Airlines, or Virgin Atlantic, give [//www.seatspy.com Seat Spy] a try'''. This awesome tool will quickly show you availability for an entire year at a time in every class of service, but only for a single direct route on one of a few airlines.</li>
 {{Image|SeatSpyResults.png}}
-<li>'''For international flights, you should search on the best websites for finding award space on each alliance'''. Since all partners generally have access to the same award space, you can choose a partner that has the best website. Some program’s websites search all or most partner airlines and other websites will only search a small number of frequent flyer airlines. You want to concentrate on the most comprehensive and convenient websites. After you find availability, you can book your award using any of the airline’s partners, not just the website you used to find it.</li>
+<li>'''For international flights, you should search on the best websites for finding award space on each alliance'''. Since all partners generally have access to the same saver-level award space, you can choose a partner that has the best website. Some program’s websites search all or most partner airlines and other websites will only search a small number of frequent flyer airlines. You want to concentrate on the most comprehensive and convenient websites. After you find availability, you can book your award using any of the airline’s partners, not just the website you used to find it.</li>
 With SkyTeam, you almost always need to search both Delta and Air France / KLM's Flying Blue. Because both these major airlines have dynamic pricing, it is hard to know which flights are available to partners and which are not. You'll need to search on a partner website instead. Conversely, since it is easy to get miles with both of these programs, you are going to want to search directly on the program's website to see if there is any reasonably priced non-saver award options.

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 <blockquote>
-Unfortunately, there is no magical tool that lets you easily search for award availability across every possible airline. A service called Juicy Miles does a decent job, but costs money to use and doesn't check all your options. Otherwise, you can are going to have to search several different websites.
+Unfortunately, there is no magical tool that lets you easily search for award availability across every possible airline. You are going to have to search several different websites.
 </blockquote>
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 {{TOC}}
 *[[#Manually searching different websites|Manually searching different websites]]
 *[[#Award search tips|Award search tips]]
@@ Line 38: / Line 37: @@
 '''Even if a cash reservation is a better deal, you can often still use your points for a free flight'''. Depending on what credit card you have, you can use Ultimate Rewards points at 1.5 cents each and ThankYou points at 1 cent each to buy any ticket through Chase's or Citi's website. If you have the Business Platinum card, you can book some tickets at the equivalent of 1.54 cents per point through Amex's site. {{Link|Fixed Value}}.
 {{/Box}}

@@ Line 167: / Line 167: @@
 {{Image|FlightConnectionsNonstops.png}}
-<li>'''Cross off any unaffiliated airlines that you already searched with the key websites above'''. If you've started with the major sites, you don't need to search any airlines that belong to the three big alliances. If you already used the listed website, you don’t need to individually check the partner airlines listed below.</li>
+<li>'''Cross off any alliance airlines and any unaffiliated airlines that you already searched with the key websites above'''. If you've started with the major sites, you don't need to search any airlines that belong to the three big alliances. If you already used the listed website, you don’t need to individually check the partner airlines listed below.</li>
 <ul>

@@ Line 156: / Line 156: @@
 === Searching for space on additional airlines ===
-'''Searching the key airline websites (listed above) WON’T search all the airlines that you can book with your points'''. They only search the airlines that are part of the big alliances plus a set of additional partner airlines. Because you can transfer your credit card points to a large number of different frequent flyer programs and each of those programs has a large number of airline partners, there are dozens of additional non-alliance partners which you may be able to use. And many of these aren't being searched by our recommended frequent flyer program websites.
+'''Searching the key airline websites (listed above) WON’T search all the airlines that you can book with your points'''. They only search the airlines that are part of the big alliances plus a set of additional partner airlines—a total of 60-80 airlines depending on how many sites you use.
 <ol>
-<li>'''Find all the unaffiliated airlines that fly where you want to go'''. There is no sense in searching every single airline that you can book with your points. The first step is to figure out which airlines offer flights to where you want to go. You can use several different tools described in our guide to {{Link|flight options}}.</li>
+<li>'''Find all the airlines that fly where you want to go'''. There is no sense in searching every single airline that you can book with your points. The first step is to figure out which airlines offer flights to where you want to go. You can use several different tools described in our guide to {{Link|flight options}}.</li>
 {{Image|FlightConnectionsNonstops.png}}

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 For United partner availability, check '''[//www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home.html#/home:flight Air Canada’s Aeroplan]'''. For Delta partner availability, check '''[//www.virginatlantic.com/us/en Virgin Atlantic]''' because they often require far fewer points (or '''[//www.airfrance.us/US/en/local/process/standardbooking/SearchAction.do?MABT=true Air France / KLM's Flying Blue]''').
-<li>'''If you know you want to fly on Air France, American Airlines, British Airways, KLM, United Airlines, or Virgin Atlantic, give [//www.seatspy.com Seat Spy] a try'''. This awesome tool will quickly show you availability for an entire year at a time, but only for a single direct route on one of a few airlines.</li>
+<li>'''If you know you want to fly on Air France, American Airlines, British Airways, KLM, United Airlines, or Virgin Atlantic, give [//www.seatspy.com Seat Spy] a try'''. This awesome tool will quickly show you availability for an entire year at a time in every class of service, but only for a single direct route on one of a few airlines.</li>
 <li>'''For international flights, you should search on the best websites for finding award space on each alliance'''.</li>

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 Unlike the normal method of finding award space, Juicy Miles allows you to avoid searching across multiple airline websites. You just enter your origin and destination and it searches almost all the major airlines—kind of like an Expedia for award tickets.
-It doesn't search all the options or find every possible award seat, but it does a "good enough" job that many people will choose not to bother with a more time-consuming approach.
+Unfortunately, it doesn't search all the options or find every possible award seat. But it does a "good enough" job that many people will choose not to bother with a more time-consuming approach.
 {{Image|JuicyMiles.png}}

← Older revision	Revision as of 04:35, 19 February 2021
(No difference)

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 <ul class="bulletlist">
-<li>If you have Alaska miles, make sure to check their well-designed [//www.alaskaair.com/ website]. They have some unique partners and some unique limitations, such as only supporting each partner for certain regions. The best way to be sure you can book tickets with your Alaska miles is simply to use their site.
+<li>If you have Alaska miles, make sure to check the well-designed '''[//www.alaskaair.com/ Alaska]''' website. They have some unique partners and some unique limitations, such as only supporting each partner for certain regions. The best way to be sure you can book tickets with your Alaska miles is simply to use their site.
 However, Cathay Pacific and LAN are both important partners of Alaska Airlines and aren't fully supported on the Alaska website. You’ll need to use a Oneworld search site to check for availability instead, and then call in to Alaska to double-check.</li>