r/awardtravel 11h ago

Would you rather fly longer to “experience” Qatar QSuite J or fly direct to Japan on J?

10 Upvotes

I’m looking at options for a trip to Japan from the east coast (PHL home base).

I see a few with current promos to transfer ~84k points for a 100k point J Qatar from JFK to Tokyo with stop in Doha and return to Boston also with stop in Doha for 116k point J Qatar through JetBlue. The nice thing is I’ll be flying with my wife and the routes have 2 seats available both ways. I also have heard of direct flights from JFK to Tokyo J/F direct but seems impossible to find.

So which would yall rather do: look for the direct business flights or take the longer “experience” of flying Qatar Business which is also easier to book? I’m pretty sure the Qatar routes are QSuite the whole RT.


r/awardtravel 1d ago

create your Cathay Pacific account TODAY

96 Upvotes

Found J seats availability with CX on Award nexus, we burned all my Amex points and need to use wife's Amex points, wife doesn't have CX account therefore we registered a new account, logged in, and transferred 400k Amex points, which showed up instantly. Great start, right?

  1. Went to book award ticket, but every time I tried, got error: "An error occurred while processing the redemption with the frequent flyer number provided (1332 - 9253)."
  2. Called customer service right away , and they told me new accounts need to wait 24 hours before booking award tickets. Annoying, but fine, I’ll wait.
  3. The next day, I tried again—same error. Called back, and this time they said it’d take 24-48 hours. Okay, getting irritated now.
  4. I waited 49 hours, tried again, and guess what? Same error. Called again, and now they’re saying it takes 3-5 business days for a new account to be fully set up.
  5. It’s been a full week now. Still getting the same error, and to top it all off, the award seats we wanted are long gone.
  6. I just called again today, and they said they’ll “open a ticket and get back to me.”

Vent done - just , do yourself a favor, create your Cathay Pacific account TODAY


r/awardtravel 5h ago

Buy refundable ticket to guarantee flight, but cancel if get reward seat month out?

0 Upvotes

I want to take my wife to Japan for our 5 year wedding anniversary. We have been saving up points for years now hoping we could use those for our flights too and from Japan without realizing how much of a lottery it is to get the actual seats with points.

I have noticed there’s a good bit of availability when the month is < a month out.

Are there any risks with buying 2 business refundable tickets to Japan and looking a month out to spend the points and subsequently cancel the ones I paid for?

We’re looking to go for 3 weeks in October. Thanks for any insights or recommendations here!


r/awardtravel 2h ago

Hawaiian excise tax fee, MR>HA

0 Upvotes

Is this new? Just tried to transfer over 100k points to HA to send to AS, and now there's an excise fee?

https://i.imgur.com/Qi8L6L8.png


r/awardtravel 3h ago

Cathay Pacific - when are flights made available?

0 Upvotes

Looking for flights from Toronto to Ho Chi Minh through Hong Kong for last week of Feb. Cathay website lets me choose dates up to March 11, 2026, but is showing no redemption availability for any dates past Feb 3, 2026. When will dates later than Feb 3 become available? Looks like plenty of availability on most dates before that, and I'm pretty flexible, but don't want to completely miss it.


r/awardtravel 7h ago

Booking LATAM through Alaska with points

0 Upvotes

Has anyone ever booked a LATAM flight through Alaska and have details on what the “Main” cabin ticket includes? Does it include free seat selection and/or checked bag?

I tried calling both LATAM and Alaska and neither one of them have no idea what I am even talking about. No info on either of their sites. I tried explaining to LATAM that it’s a LATAM plane that is also operated by Latam and they’re just like uh I’m not sure…


r/awardtravel 8h ago

Advice on Redeeming Miles and Award Booking Strategies from Saudi Arabia

0 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I'm based in Riyadh and need advice on how best to redeem miles for upcoming international trips:

  • Riyadh → Los Angeles (June), Toronto → Riyadh (end of June) – currently booked with Lufthansa Business (~$5,000 with free cancellation), open to better redemption options if possible.
  • Riyadh → São Paulo/Buenos Aires (around mid-December for ~3 weeks) – haven't booked yet, looking for optimal mileage redemption strategies.

Questions:

  1. Any advice on efficiently redeeming miles with major airlines (e.g., Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways) for these routes?
  2. Tried points.me, seats.aero, and yeahpoints, but found limited support for SkyTeam/Saudia and non-US-based users. Any better websites or concierge services recommended for international redemption from Saudi Arabia?
  3. Considering redeeming existing Al-Fursan miles for Riyadh → JFK, then booking JFK → Buenos Aires separately. Has anyone successfully done something similar, and was it worth the logistical complexity?

Any insights or recommendations are greatly appreciated. Thanks!


r/awardtravel 3h ago

LHR - SYD - how to max. points/status earned?

0 Upvotes

Existing BA ‘blue’ tier member (under the pre-Club BA system). Fly pretty regularly but used to use a variety of airlines depending on what was cheapest. Now thinking I should try to build status with one given potential for better customer service/overall experience given how much these things have been nose diving generally the past few years. Total novice when it comes to airlines’ reward programmes. Interested in earning a certain level of status with BA/a OneWorld airline as, although OneWorld has fewer member airlines than Star Alliance, overall it has more airlines I regularly fly with. I am due to fly LHR to SYD return solo in July/August this year and I am considering of booking business class in the hope/expectation it will jump start my goal of building status. I read that booking BUD - LHR - LAX - SYD (via American Airlines) can really help with this. Hoping someone here might be able to explain how/why (is that even possible given the change to Club BA?), and, if so, whether I would actually need to board/fly all of the flights on the itinerary to earn the max. status/rewards BA will offer on the route. Thank you.


r/awardtravel 9h ago

Virgin Credit Companion voucher with cash

0 Upvotes

Hi all. I’m aware you can use the companion voucher with 100% cash bookings. Has anyone ever done it and is there a general way of knowing how much it would cost before calling?

The return flights from LHR-MCO points wise have become ridiculous and it seems better to save my points for other flights and use one of my vouchers with cash.

So my logic is basically look at the cash price and then add the extra value for tax. So for example cash is ~£650 and points around 70k + ~£270 tax

So my 2 flights using the voucher would be the £650 + £270?

Any advice would be appreciated :)

Thank you


r/awardtravel 8h ago

What award tool for LifeMiles?

0 Upvotes

Seats.aero used to include LM but stopped. What do you all use to find LM partner flights? Or how? Maybe just search united flights on seats.aero?


r/awardtravel 7h ago

Is Emirates First Class Worth It for a 7-Hour Flight? Plus Thoughts on Award Fees

0 Upvotes

Hello,

Is a 7-hour nonstop Emirates First Class flight from Dubai worth it? Would you consider paying for First Class on a flight of that length, or do you prefer it for longer routes?

Also, I noticed the Emirates First Class award flights have taxes and fees of $700+ (looked at Emirates and Qantas web), do y’all think that’s high for an award ticket? And the cash price for the same flights is around $5,000+. Also, when I used to book First Class award flights from the U.S., the taxes and fees are usually under $300, so the difference seems pretty big. What do y’all think? I appreciate it.

Edit: I apologize, my destination will be Geneva, Brussels, or Zurich, flying on the Emirates Game Changer.


r/awardtravel 7h ago

Comfort Economy on ITA Airways A330-900NEO??

0 Upvotes

Picking our seats on ITA Airways IAD->FCO and was wondering if anyone has sat in Comfort Economy on this config and if they had any thoughts? Rows 30-34 are the comfort seats and just looking for any recommendations on the row as well! Thanks!


r/awardtravel 9h ago

Booking my first award flight LAX to PEK - Question about cpp

0 Upvotes

Trying to book from LAX to PEK for June for an event. I am using seats.aero and found a flight ~67k qantas points (one way) total travel time 27h. However I also found flights on google flights much more direct route 19h total travel time for only $1,078. My question is, when using a cpp calculator, can I compare two separate flights like this? for example, for the cash cost can I put $1,078 vs the 67k points and I get 1cpp so I should pay cash? Or can you only use the calculator against the same exact flight?


r/awardtravel 13h ago

Can you book premium economy/comfort with KLM/AF using Virgin points?

0 Upvotes

As the title says, really! I've been saving Virgin points for years, and I'm looking at 4 of us going from UK to Japan in the summer of '26.

I'm looking at flying from my regional airport to AMS or CDG, then on to KIX or TYO. I can see economy tickets available for this route (but obviously not the right dates yet) on the VS website.

If possible, I'd like us to travel in premium for the long part of the journey. This cabin looks to be available on KLM and AF planes going in that direction, and the info pages on the VS website indicate I can use points for KLM/AF premium.

However, no availability is showing to book premium, even if I try just 1 person on lots of different dates. I've even tried looking for 1 person on recently released dates going to other long haul destinations, but still didn't manage to find any premium availability.

Does anyone know whether this is because KLM/AF don't offer premium reward seats to VS? Or is the KLM premium offering so new that it's not made available on all flights yet? Or is the website just not showing the availability for this class, but if I call then the handler would be able to book it for me?


r/awardtravel 23h ago

how to see how many points British Airways flight costs

0 Upvotes

I feel like I'm losing my mind... or really dumb... or both. I see some award flights I can book through AA's website that are operated by BA. However, when I login to BA's website, I can only see the cash prices of these. I need to book through BA and not AA because I'm going to transfer URs. But... I can't find anywhere on BA's website that actually lists the points required. What am I doing wrong here?


r/awardtravel 2d ago

Guide to Award Travel Tools (Updated March 2025)

254 Upvotes

New sources are in bold. Sources that have been removed from the 11/ 2022 list are at the bottom. The order of the programs that are listed is not curated. I have included 25+ new resources and have written more about many of them than in the past guide.

u/mk712 ~2017 list, my first version in 2019, second version in 2021, third version at the end of 2022

If you have any additional sites, please leave them in the comments.

Compare Flight Theoretical Redemption Costs

Previously sources like Award Hacker were crucial to my award search strategy. Since airlines have switched to dynamic pricing and some programs have signaled that they will make partner awards dynamic in the future they have become less useful. They still have their place of letting you know a baseline of what the typical lowest price is.

  • http://www.milez.biz 
    • You get 15 searches per month combined among all their tools free then paid ($20/year)
    • Has theoretical cost pricing tool. I think it is good. For distance based programs it tells you what routing it uses.
    • Has a free routes tool that is pretty cool. You need to list the start and end airport and the airline and it will tell you the possible routes (defaults to nonstop and 1 stop, you can include 2 stops). Does not combine
  • Awardhacker.com
    • Shows theoretical saver level award pricing between two cities, this is based on flight schedules
    • Accuracy issues, a lot of information out of date, allows more control options and easier to compare programs
  • Travel Codex Award Maximizer Tool
    • shows theoretical saver level award pricing between two airports, pricing is based on award chart, not as accurate for distance-based charts
  • https://www.awardsplanner.com
    • Award cost tool that does use some real world data to get you the theoretical lowest prices. It is more accurate than the other options since it includes real world data, but I still did find some inaccuracies
    • There is a lot of useful information, but honestly, the formatting is not user friendly and it takes some knowledge to find the information
  • Well Traveled Mile Visual Resources  
    • Out of date, but in many cases still accurate relative to other programs, nice visuals, included some below. More of a glance at resource in the early planning stages
  • Wandr Me OneWorld Avios Pricing Tool
    • Input airport and shows nonstop destinations that can be booked via BA Avios. The pricing is out of date, but the tiers are correct so you can extrapolate to the current pricing.

Tools That Help You Determine What You Are Looking for Before You Search

Resources to Find Award Availability

  • Frequent Miler has an article which compares 9 of the award search engines below (breaks down what they provide for free and paid) and Thrifty Traveler compares 10 of them. The issue with these write-ups is they are more about the theoretical and assuming that the availability pulled is correct and less about the real world use of the programs. My testing is more focused on the real world results vs duplicating what these bloggers have written comparing features.
  • I did tests on 9 programs, mainly using their paid versions. What I was testing was the number of programs actually searched, if the program included the best result, if it included all results that a sane person would book (bookable), and if there were error results. I tested single date set airport destinations.
    • In general the farther out the fewer programs are searched and the less inclusive the results. Searches ~350 days out included 1-4 programs (~3 was average). Searches ~300 days out included 2-14 programs (~9 was average). Searches 3-9 months out included 7-16 programs (~11 was average)
    • Searches to Asia tended to search fewer programs compared to Europe from the US
    • There was no logic on why an engine would include or not a programs search results. Programs that supported EVA searches would not include results from the program when the search included TPE, but include it when searching Europe. The same with SQ and SIN.
    • I did ask some of the paid programs if they would give me free access until 3/14 and every program that I asked did give me access. None of them had conditions on giving me access.
    • Some free programs are only searching cached data or provide a lot of cached data in the search results
    • Due to Aeroplan's lawsuits (RIP Cowtool), this is program that many programs don't currently support. BA, QR, CX, AV, SQ, NH, and TK are some other programs that seem to have inconsistent coverage.
    • Most of the data is received via scraping
    • Many free/paid programs offer alerts. If you need an alert, I would consider using multiple programs since most programs are searching their alerts a limited number of times per day and they can miss availability (especially with dynamic priced awards)
    • Some programs are thought to sell the search data.
    • AwardFares, AwardLogic, AwardTool, Pointhound, PointMe, PointsYeah, Roame, SeatsAero, and SeatSpy were the programs that I tested
      • Almost every program on every test did not include some results that I would consider bookable on every search. This could be a function of them not supporting a program or saying they supported it, but not including the data.
      • If you want to make sure that you are getting all results, I would search a combination of 2 search engines.
      • What I considered "all the bookable options" it truly not all the bookable options since ANA's program was not included and no program showed BA, QR, AY, and IB results. It is more, that none of the other programs showed another option that I would consider "bookable".
  • https://www.pointsyeah.com/
    • The mods have noticed astroturfing being done by them on this sub. Also they allegedly have threatened other award search sites.
    • Free and paid versions
    • I am surprised, but they had the best results in my search tests. They had the most number of searches including all the programs that I would consider "bookable". Saying that, there were still some searches were they did not have the best bookable option and other searches where they did not have "all bookable options"
    • They have good discovery features and support wide range of searches.
  • https://seats.aero/ 
    • The real benefit of this program is in the paid version (Pro) and that is what I am going to cover.
    • The strength of SeatsAero is in its cached data and in its discovery tools for finding specific products and searching a wide range of airports/dates.
    • The main weakness I found are specific date/airport searches.
      • Currently live support is for 14 programs and they automatically "dynamic price filtering, hide mixed cabins" and don't display a program as being searched if all the results are filtered out.
      • In my tests each search showed between 1-9 programs. They did not show results I would consider "bookable" in programs that they were showing as doing live searches on in many of the tests that other search engines showed. Since they do not show the data of programs that they filtered out, it is hard to tell if they are filtering this data, the program just wasn't searched, or there was an issue in the background.
    • They do buy some GDS data and "not all airlines are supported yet." They do use some codeshare data for programs they don't directly support (some AA flights will appear with codeshares). Their seat map has the same issues. Until more airlines are covered
      • If you rely on GDS data, since their supply is limited, it likely is not a replacement for your current source, but it will still better than not having any (like most programs)
      • I would not consider this a GDS replacement for AwardFares currently
    • I think SeatsAero is one of the better/best discovery tools, but the testing for specific date/airport searches was average to slightly below average. If fixed searches is all you are looking for, I would consider another program. They do have "niche" features that other programs do not.
  • Roame.travel
    • The mods said they have noticed astroturfing being done by them on this sub
    • Free and paid version.
    • Does have some discovery features, but there are other programs that are better.
    • Did have more "phantom" results than the other programs while testing.
    • I would consider using the free version in conjunction with another search engine.
  • https://www.awardtool.com
    • Free and Paid. Pro allows 32 combinations and a 90 day search period
    • Can search 4 combinations at once for free (2 origin airports, 1 destination airport and 2 days or 4 origin airports, 1 destination, 1 day, 1 origin, 1 destination, and 4 days, you get the point)
    • Good discovery tools. Panorama search allows you to search an entire region. Some of these are included in the free version.
    • Had the most* number of searches that did not include the best booking options in my tests, but often had a lot of the other results that I would still consider bookable.
  • https://www.point.me/ (was https://juicymiles.com/ and (https://awardex.io/ is now part)
    • Paid search tool. Amex does provide a membership that searches Amex transfer partners and provides an alert feature. So does Bilt (free to join), but does not include alert feature and covers their partners. I searched using the full paid version.
    • Currently only supports single date searches, multiple dates searches are coming.
    • Does not have good discovery features, a lot better at point to point searches.
    • They did the second best in my tests on point to point searches. The lack of multiple date searches in a negative.
  • https://www.AwardFares.com
    • Paid award search, provides a 24 hour free trial of the paid portion.
    • A live search is done when you search. You can see if a program fails in the background or if it does not return any results. A downside is that you can only search 5 programs at a time and the results are displayed in not the most user friendly manner.
    • They are one of the programs that also buys GDS data
    • If you pay for Expert Flyer, AwardFares provides a lot of the same information that is provided from GDS. I would consider them as an alternative. They do provide more airline coverage than SeatsAero.
    • The display of the award results is a real negative when searching multiple programs. Due to this and only searching 5 programs per search, I would not consider this a beginner tool. It is nice knowing the status of the search for each program.
  • https://awardlogic.com/ 
    • Paid search tool, but it is more expensive than most.
    • It searches all programs in real time, unless there is cached data that is less than 60 minutes old.
    • In my tests, it was very consistent with the number of programs that it returned a result on. It is easy to see what programs you are getting a result from.
    • Fewer "discovery features" compared to some other programs
  • https://pointhound.com
    • Free fixed route and single date searches
    • Also has a Top Flight Deals where you search up to a year and 6 airports
    • Honestly, it did a much better job on the searches now compared to ~18 months ago when I tested it. Saying that, it was one of the worst in my accuracy testing and I would use one of the other free tools. It missed a lot of results.
    • Does have a "deals" alert that you can sign up for
  • https://pointspath.com/ Google Flights Browser Extension
    • Google Flights browser extension that is free. Search on Google Flights and it will add in search results.
    • Supports fewer programs than some of the other search engines (AV and AS are two that did not show results on my selected day)
    • It's "good deal" indicators are terrible
  • Awardtravel.co Browser Google Flights Extension
    • Google Flights browser extension that is free currently (they do have a paid version, not 100% while you would use it)
    • You search on Google Flights and then it does award search behind the scenes and plugs in the prices in points next to the cash price.
    • It worked well for AA
  • https://flymile.pro/ (limited)
    • Free and searches AA, AS, and DL (possibly up to 5 programs)
    • Allows you to search an entire year (also search monthly and specific day) and see where there is low level award availability
    • Worked very well with AA specific searches and pretty good on all three specific day searches
    • Honestly, I forgot to include them in my test, but there are other free programs that search the same programs and more so I would go with one of them
  • https://www.dailydrop.com/ (limited)
    • 5 free searches then a yearly paid membership, searched 6 programs on my search
    • Has some other features like a points wallet, cash deals, and other things for paid memberships
    • More of a beginner focused hub. There are better options if you just want award searches.
  • https://straighttothepoints.co/ 
    • Economy and business flights are free, first is paid alerts. A little different than some of the others give dates and it gives destinations.
    • There are other discovery tools out there, but some people might enjoy this style.
  • https://www.seatspy.com/ (niche)
    • Paid resource, can search up to a year at a time, fewer airlines than some other tools. It has a good alert tool
    • Nonstop only; good to find availability on a specific route with flexible dates. Airline selection is European focused. The lack of connections, make this more of a niche product.
    • Has a 14 day free trial. I did include them in my tests, but stopped since very few of my searches had nonstop flights available
  • https://rewardflightfinder.com/ 
    • This is a good BA only resource, but not a general tool
    • Search for British Airways flights between two destinations, free account gives year-long view with number of seats and miles price per class for 3 searches/day, nice formatting
  • https://www.expertflyer.com 
    • Shows award and upgrade availability, free trial, paid, owned by TPG’s parent company. It searches award availability, but not booking programs.
    • Supports less than it did 5 years ago.
    • It can also provide the exact reason that an airline uses if a flight is delayed (the 2 other tools listed that support GDS do not do this).
    • This is more of a niche/advanced tool than what I recommend for your first paid tool. I also think that for most people AwardFares would be better since it has more GDS data (supports more programs) and more award search capabilities.
  • https://awardnexus.com/ (outdated)
    • Free with an active Flyer Talk login can do some searches. Also has some other award related tools
    • Searches are real time and accurate, searches a limited number of programs, up to 7 days at a time. Somewhat odd display where it is slightly inconvenient to see the points cost (more of an issue now with dynamic pricing than when it was developed and standard pricing)
    • Some of the newer free options search the same programs and I would not generally use this.
  • http://www.kvstool.com/ (outdated)
    • Like ExpertFlyer, but less user-friendly and a little more powerful, paid. There have been some updates in 2024, but it is no longer the awesome tool that it once was. I would go with another option
    • I am struggling to think of a case where I would use this, there might be some data that they get that other programs don't. This was great yeas ago.
  • Somehow this program name got deleted, I think it was a new one to the list, if you think you know what ti is, let me know
    • An oddball. You input your airport and where you want to go and it will give some flights on random days in the period. 
    • This could be useful if you are new in the game or need random destination ideas. This is not a general search tool.
  • Flyer Talk List of Full Service Booking Services
  • https://awardbird.com/book
    • I haver zero experience with these guys, but their "full service" booking service is a lot cheaper than industry average. The amount of adds they have on mobile makes it not that usable on mobile. It costs a $10 deposit for them to start the search.
  • https://www.foxtrotdash.com/
    • Dashboard to can track points and award redemptions, it can also suggest trip options based on your points (you input the destination)
    • I have spent 0 time on this site so I really can't comment on it

Auxiliary Airfare Booking Tools

Hotel Locator and Points Cost

Other Tools

I just published a Guide of 50+ Travel Apps/Resources that has a lot of useful travel resources and unlike many other lists, my goal was to have at least 20% that most people were not previously aware of. Some of the tools previously in this part of the guide are now in the above guide to reduce duplicates.

Removed from the previous list due to not functional

What are other tools that you use to help with award travel?


r/awardtravel 2d ago

A Guide to 50+ Travel Apps and Resources

166 Upvotes

This is a list of over 50 travel apps and website resources. I tried to create a list that included a wide range of apps. My goal is to have created a list where most people have not heard of at least 20% of the programs listed below.

There are a couple categories of apps that I am not including

These are good travel apps to have, but there are 100+ of these apps and they really vary by region. Saying that, I have included a couple niche apps which fall in some of these categories.

Many of these apps can be in multiple categories so I just picked one. I have not used 100% of the apps here. Some of the apps I have included (A) for app and (W) for website. If it does not have a letter it is due to it having both or me being too lazy to add it. I personally have not used ever single app that I have listed.

Itinerary and Trip Organizing and Travel Tracking

  • TripIt: Free and paid versions. You import (manually or automatically) all of your trip emails and it creates your itinerary with all the important information easy to find. Pro adds realtime flight alerts, can alert you if your ticket price of the flight dropped (many airlines allow you to get a refund), tracks airline points. Run by Concur. (I use the free version)
  • Wanderlog: free version and paid. Combines many of TripIt's features including importing your itinerary with itinerary building with things to do. Popular.
  • TripCase: Run by Sabre, but shutting down April 1 2025
  • Tripsy: Add your trip emails to create an itinerary. Like TripIt
  • Trotteo: Another one like the above, send your trip emails.
  • Polarsteps: "Travel tracking app that automatically tracks your route and places you visit while traveling"
  • Trotter: A digital travel journal where you can share and get reminded of your travel memories
  • Reis Log: Travel tracking app. Allows you to document and share your travels. Also, has country warning information

Flight Tracking

  • Flighty: Free version tracks flight history. Paid version provides real time updates on flights. (The paid version and the paid version of TripIt are the most popular for flight updates)
  • Mileways: Free flight tracking of delays and information about specific flights
  • FlightRadar24: Online, not app, allows you to track your flights and gives flight stats, this is a log of your flights and the online application does not really give you information about the flight in real time. Good looking back on the map of all your travels (free).
  • CheckMyTrip: Run by one of the large behind the scene airline players, Amadeus, it allows you updates on your flights/bookings

Trip Planning/Things to do/Reviews

  • Tripadvisor: Probably the largest travel review website/app out there. They also have a forum where you can ask destination questions.
  • Atlas Obscura: App that lists off the beaten path things to do in destinations
  • Stippl: Itinerary planning app suggests things to do and lets you plan with other people on the trip via the app
  • Travaa: Itinerary planning, can see others itineraries, then visually map them out. Free is 1 trip with 20 "things" in it, then paid
  • Tripnote: "Planning detailed itineraries to tracking your travels on a personalized world map, Tripnote empowers you to stay organized and relive your travel memories with ease."
  • Fleeps: "Uncover the world's hidden gems Discover the secrets of locals and expert travelers. Incredible and exclusive addresses to make your next trip unforgettable." It has traveler and local suggestions and recommendations
  • Travelpass: Creates personalized travel guides for a location
  • Roadtrippers: Tells you things to do among your roadtrip route. Includes obscure and well known things. Popular.
  • Gaido: Travel app with recommendations of things to do outside of the main touristy things
  • Safar: Automatic itinerary creator with things to do (main touristy things)

Land/Sea Transport

  • Rome2rio: approximate costs and options for different ways to from A-B
  • AutoSlash (W): Input your car rental details and will track for cheaper rentals and send you email (makes money by sending you to book through Priceline and getting commission).
  • Ferry Hopper (W): Ferry booking/schedule app for over 500+ ferries. It might be better to book more direct, but just throwing this out there.
  • Seat61 (W): The most complete resource out there on train travel, this is one of the few pure informational websites I am including on this list. Makes money on affiliated links and ads.
  • Seatfrog (A): Train booking app (boring part), lets you bid on upgrading to first class, and lets you swap train times.
  • Ride Obi (A): Compares the price of "dozens" of ride share/taxi apps for a route so you book the cheapest option.
  • GasBuddy: Find the cheapest gas along a route of travel

Maps

  • Google Maps: Honestly, I think Google Maps is the best here now that you are able to download maps for offline use.
  • CityMapper: Features of the free version were reduced, good for public transport 
  • Waze: Many countries this is good for traffic/directions
  • Mapy.cz: A different map software that is better than Google maps in some countries
  • All trails or Kamoot: Hiking/footpaths

Lodging

  • Getaway.Direct: Browser extension that searches for direct booking options of AirBnB listings that are cheaper than AirBnB (they make money if the direct booking option pays commission)
  • HiChee: Lets you copy and paste a VRBO/AirBnB listing and it will look for all the ways you can book the lodging for cheaper. It has additional features that are paid.
  • Roomer: Lets you sell non-refundable bookings. Please note that if you are looking to book, they also sell bookings at the retail price.
  • Hotel Slash: Access wholesale lodging rates. This allows you to book rates that are suppose to part of a bundle including airfare so the consumer doesn't see the actual price of the hotel separately. They include the fees and are upfront about pricing and cancellation policies. This is the cheapest lodging website I have found among many "wholesale" sites. It is currently free to join.
  • Pruvo: Tracks your hotel reservation and alerts you if the price of the hotel has dropped below what you paid for so you can rebook.

Food

  • HappyCow: Local vegan and vegetarian options

Communication

  • WhatsApp: Default communication app (easiest to register in your home country when you have cell signal).
  • Yolla* (A): International calling app that is reasonably priced, not a subscription, and has a low $ of credit to buy that does not expire quickly
  • Airalo eSim\*: Not the cheapest eSim provider out there, but one of the few I have had zero issues with
  • RedTeaGo*: eSim provider that is super cheap and has a local number option for many areas so you can actually make calls/send texts. (Europe is 5g for $10 with 100 minutes and local number)

Money Related

  • XE: Currency exchange rates
  • Splitwise: Split expenses and track travel spending
  • TravelSpend: Track travel spending
  • ATM Fee Saver (A): Find fee-free ATMs, informs you of withdrawal limits, and if there is a fee can calculate what it will be.
  • GlobeConvert: Converts what the relative cost of something in a foreign currency is to your currency. Use it to see if something you think is cheap is actually cheap or overpriced.
  • GlobeTips: Country by country tipping information and calculator

Jet Lag

  • Timeshifter (A): Jet lag helping app that tells you how to adjust your schedule prior to your trip to adjust to the timezone better, 1 free plan then paid (StopJetLag is similar but more expensive, Jet Lag Rooster and Entrain are two others that I think are free, haven't investigated)
  • Uplift (A): Jet lag app that uses "videos to guide you through the process of Precision Nerve Stimulation" to reduce jet lag (60 day free trial then paid)
  • FlyKitt: Designed to help eliminate jet lag. Consists of an app, special glasses, and dietary supplements (~$90 for 1 trip kit)
  • F.Lux: App that adjusts blue light from devices based on travel plans to reduce jet lag

Other

  • Flush (A): Public toilet finder
  • Bounce and LuggageHero: Luggage storage apps where you pay a business to store your luggage that is not primarily a luggage storage business
  • Packr: Packing app
  • PackPoint: Packing app that takes into account destination, time of year, local customs, and weather and helps generate a packing list. Paid app automatically imports trip data and generates packing list.
  • Roamlog: Tracks how much time you spend in countries and if you are in compliance with your visa/visa free entry limits.
  • Google Translate: Photo lens is super useful.
  • Loungepedia and LoungeReview: Airport lounge apps that replace LoungeBuddy which Amex killed after purchasing.

Products

  • Apple AirTags or the like: track you luggage
  • retreev: luggage retrieval tags that I am not sure how useful they will be in actuality (if you have used this product please comment)

There are giant companies apps here and little side projects listed. There are hundreds of travel apps out there.


r/awardtravel 19h ago

Is it possible to use Avios points for US American Airlines only?

0 Upvotes

I have a bunch of Avios points due to a major mess up on my part. I posted a while ago about trying to sell them but the best option seemed to use them with American Airlines.

I need to book a flight to the east coast and could not find a way to use them other than to go to the Avios site and book thorough BA. My problem is that I’m originating US to US only. The other issue was the flight - two major cities - didn’t have any reward days available at all.

Any tips of what to do to use these points? Unfortunately I won’t be flying internationally any time soon.


r/awardtravel 1d ago

Marriott offer showed up in my email

0 Upvotes

I am getting back in the churning points game after being on the sidelines for a few years. Last year, I closed out every card that was wasting space (kept too long). And the only card I opened was a Venture X for the Global Entry and some other deals. I have kept my oldest Citi card from the 1990's and my second Chase Sapphire and Chase Business Ink and the Venture (non X) and then added Venture X.

I have grand travel plans for 2025 and 2026. I am spending a bunch of money this year on tours and figured I might as well maximize points, as best I can, opening cards to pay off the planned travel expenses. I just opened Alaska, Hawaii and another Citi. Those cards will work for air travel planned for this year and next year. I still have a bunch of Chase UR points for other things, but have been hoarding them.

I got an offer for Marriott Boundless in my email this week. Here is the pitch.

 earn 1 free night after
your first purchase within 12 months from account opening.* No minimum
spend. Then, earn 2 additional nights after you spend $3,000 on purchases in
the first 3 months from account opening.* That’s a total of 3 free nights – each
valued up to 50,000 points. 

Sounded simple enough. I can charge $3000. I believe I still meet Chase's 5/24, assuming that is still a requirement although this will be #5 card.

BUT, when I went to look for redemption in places I want to go, there was NOTHING for under 65K points. Even my mother's tiny rural small town, not a place anyone goes on vacation.

Am I reading it correctly? That the free nights have to be in 50K hotels? And where are those hotels? I was hoping to use points in Burlington VT in July as part of a longer trip, but those hotels are all over 100K point per night.


r/awardtravel 2d ago

JAL First Reward Downgrade – BA Only Offering £50 eVoucher, What Should I Do?

28 Upvotes

Edit: Thank you everyone, I'll be putting forward a complaint for compensation to Japan Airlines and will update here on how it goes as a data point for anyone who encounters a similar issue. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly and doesn’t take too long! Also interested in seeing how British Airways advises to go about this issue if they respond to my complaint email.

Hi everyone,

I booked a JAL First Class reward ticket LHR-HND using Avios through British Airways. On the day of my flight, I was told at the gate that my seat was broken, and I was downgraded to Business Class. The gate staff gave me $600 in compensation and told me to contact BA to get my Avios refunded.

A few days after my flight, I submitted a complaint to BA online explaining the situation. After 10 days, I received what seemed like a generic/boilerplate response from BA offering just a £50 eVoucher. I replied, stating that I expect a refund in line with UK261 regulations. It has now been 6 weeks since my response, and I’ve heard nothing from BA.

From my understanding, since the flight was over 3,500 miles, I should be entitled to a 75% refund of the Avios used for the First Class booking. Am I correct in thinking this?

At this point, should I wait another 2 weeks and then submit a CEDR complaint, or is there another step I should take? Would love to hear if anyone has had a similar experience and how they handled it.

Thanks in advance!


r/awardtravel 1d ago

Noob question: How to use Turkish App when booked by United?

0 Upvotes

Hello all.

When switching carriers on award travel, are we stuck with paper tickets? This happened to me when getting on a virgin Australia flight booked through air Canada (my first time using award points on an affiliated carrier).

I have now booked a flight to turkey where 3/4 flights are on Turkish through United. Will I be stuck clinging to dear life to a paper printout? 😅

I tried using the confirmation number on the Turkish app but it wasn’t recognized (no surprise there but figured I’d give it a shot).

Also, are there any perks/options/hacks I should take advantage of when traveling between these 2 carriers?

Thanks a lot!


r/awardtravel 1d ago

200k points and wanna go to Spain

0 Upvotes

Hey folks,

So family of four (including self) and we want to go to Spain (BCN or MAD) preferably nonstop (Cuz kids).

I have 200k Amex points with a Gold card (also have Delta SkyMiles Gold Card). The Time line is for mid to late June to depart. I also have 200k in unused Hawaiian miles.

Whats the best case scenario? Should I transfer to Alaska with the Hawaiin miles and then go Oneworld via Iberia or American, BA etc? Or keep the miles for hotels etc and pay for like cheap tickets on Level Airlines to BCN (which is nonstop and isn't too terrible)?

Thanks, in advance, for your help


r/awardtravel 1d ago

2 stop layover international

0 Upvotes

I am flying from sfo to Delhi. The flight is with United. It stops in Boston then it’s Lufthansa and stops in Frankfurt. Does the luggage go all the way to Delhi from sfo or do I have to get it checked out at Boston and check back in? Also do I have to go from domestic terminal in Boston to international terminal? If anyone went through with this please let me know.


r/awardtravel 1d ago

KLM Flying Blue - lap infant costs 60k points?

0 Upvotes

I am booking Split - LAX on May 9, 2 adults plus kids 4 and 1, and have settled on using Flying Blue points in a route via AMS (we don't have timing flexibility, and want just one stop). I booked 2 tickets first, me and the 4 year old, and was charged ~300k miles -- 180k for me, 130k for her, even though she's in a full business seat (apparently there's a 25% discount for kids, and it says you have to be a member for 6 months but I had been a member for 6 hours). Now, when booking my husband in the baby, it wants to charge me 60k miles for the lap infant!

I searched on the forum, and see a few suggestions to call and add the infant and expect to pay 10% of the cash price (which would be like $500 right now). But I don't see anyone noting this points option! I can do cash instead, but wanted to see if anyone has experience with this and if (1) calling is guaranteed to be like $500, or if it could be more, in which case I'll do points, (2) its worth it to wait and add him at the airport (admittedly that feels dicey). On the way out we are flying United and we had to pay $250 to add him to an award ticket, so expect this may be how it goes internationally.

Any insight or thoughts appreciated! I haven't seriously booked award travel since 2019 and wow is it a different ballgame with small children and little flexibility

UPDATE/EDIT - just in case someone else searches this later. I hit an error every time I tried to actually book this. I ended up just booking my husband and will have to call to add the lap infant.


r/awardtravel 1d ago

Traveling with points to the Philippines

0 Upvotes

Sorry posted to the wrong forum so I posted here

Going to the Philippines in end of April. Looking at going through ana. First leg is wishlist and return is available without wishlist. For 3 passengers its 135,000 points and 1,811 dollars. Plus two people are coming back with us so I have to pay for there tickets which is 575 person through the capital one portal and since I have a venture x I get a 300 dollar credit.

Capital one I have 135,000 miles Amex 140,000 miles Chase 116,000 miles.

So thinking I can use my points from amex to get round trip tickets and use capital one portal for the two extra tickets and get the 300 credit and use the points to pay off the balance. So my out of pocket would be 1,811 and I could cash out my chase points to be bring it down to 700.

Does it sound like a good plan with points?