United,Award Booking,Anatomy of an Award
Anatomy of an Award: Negative 7,500 Miles to Fiji/Bora Bora Using United Miles
March 19, 2013
At MileValue, we constantly champion the free oneway on award tickets. Adding a free oneway is possible (to varying degrees) using all four legacy carrier's miles. For more information, make sure to check out Scott's comprehensive posts below:
Master Thread: Free Oneways on United Awards
Master Thread: Free Oneways on American Awards
Master Thread: Free Oneways on Delta Awards
Master Thread: Free Oneways on US Airways Awards
Free oneways are great, but nothing gets us more excited than "negative" awards.
The Trick to Hold United Awards
March 17, 2013
Update 3/6/14: This post is outdated. See Master Thread: Holds on United Awards
The ability to hold awards is extremely valuable especially at our increasingly popular Award Booking Service. Our clients might need to transfer their Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards into their frequent flyer accounts. They might need to purchase additional miles to reach the next award threshold or just simply firm up their hotel plans. Having a few days to hold an award is critical in these cases.
Of the four legacy carriers, American Airlines is the most generous.
United,Anatomy of an Award,ANA,Award Booking
Beware Phantom Award Availability on United.com
March 12, 2013
Searching for award space can often be an exercise in frustration. The dates you want don't have availability and premium cabin seats are often scarce. There is nothing in the world, however, more frustrating than phantom availability. You think you've found your dream trip only to have the rug yanked out from under you.
We recently received a request through the Award Booking Service where this came into play. A family of four was looking to travel from New York to Johannesburg, Africa in July using their US Airways miles.
Airline Elite Status Isn’t Worth It: An Expansion on Bill’s Piece in the New York Times
March 6, 2013
Greetings, MileValue readers! You may have noticed that I haven't posted recently, as I've been helping out Scott and Tahsir with our increasingly popular Award Booking Service.
I did want to take a few minutes and explain my stance on airline elite status which was featured in today's New York Times. [Scott: Everyone should click just to see Bill's photo. The pose is hilarious.]
“I’ve definitely noticed an erosion in benefits since I became elite,” said Bill Wilkes, a Delta SkyMiles Gold member, the second-lowest rank in Delta’s four tiers of elites.
Trip Report,Membership Rewards,Singapore,Star Alliance,BengaliMilesGuru
Fantasy Becomes Reality: Singapore Suites From Singapore to Los Angeles
February 23, 2013
Pack your bags folks. Today, we're going on one of the most coveted First Class products out there. It's so luxurious that it's not even called First Class.
Singapore Airlines Suites were introduced in 2008 exclusively on their flagship A380-800. Ever since then, people have been hoarding their points for a chance to fly this room in the sky. For years, Singapore Suites could only be booked by using KrisFlyer points at an astounding 1 million miles roundtrip!
At the end of 2012, Singapore released their Suites product to saver availability on KrisFlyer.
Hotel Review: The Ritz Carlton, Kuala Lumpur
February 21, 2013
Elegant, Opulent, Grand, Colorful and Detailed.
These are all traits that describe the Ritz Carlton in Kuala Lumpur.
I stayed at the Ritz Carlton for a night and here's what I found:
Check in
As soon as our car arrived, the door-man helped us out of the car. He took the luggage to a holding area as I checked in. At the check in desk, there were three employees that had all welcomed me with a smile. After asking for an upgrade, I was given the executive room. This room was said to be bigger than a normal room.
Singapore,Award Booking,BengaliMilesGuru
My Experience With Booking Singapore Airlines Awards
February 15, 2013
Singapore Airlines is probably one of the best airlines in the world.
I've had the privilege to fly Singapore Airlines almost 2-4 times a year since I was born. I was even one of the first "children" to fly the nonstop LAX-SIN flight which was then dubbed as the A345 Leadership. Although I always flew in Economy, in the next few days, I'll be flying Singapore's Suites product from Singapore-Los Angeles. I've dreamed of this day since I first knew what the First Class product looked like.
United,Award Booking,BengaliMilesGuru
How To Get A Discounted Stopover on a United Airlines One Way Award
February 14, 2013
By now, you may be well aware of the rule that on a United oneway award, you can't take a stopover. On a roundtrip award, you get one stopover. (This is just for awards booked with United miles.
Where is the Award Space to Australia and New Zealand? These Exact Routes
February 7, 2013
One of the most frequent requests we get for our Award Booking Service is finding premium cabin tickets between the US and Australia/New Zealand.
Southwest and AirTran Get Cozier: What It Means For You
February 3, 2013
According to this thread on FlyerTalk, Southwest Airlines has started to display bookable AirTran flights on its own website. The first AirTran city pairs offered on Southwest.com are Atlanta <-> Fort Lauderdale and Atlanta <-> Fort Myers. A sample screenshot of the newly available flights is below.
These flights are still bookable on AirTran's website.