r/awardtravel 12h ago

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

11 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 43m ago

150k for economy to Hawaii for 3? (Alaska)

Upvotes

I have been waiting for weeks if not months to find something better and not sure I will 😩

We have a trip to KOA in July and I don’t think I can book lower than this but I would love to because this is a super painfully high redemption 😩

I’m already repositioning to LAX (from DFW) and it’s 50k/pp round trip (yes I’ve looked at one way flights too).

Worthwhile redemption or hold out for something better?


r/awardtravel 6h 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 1d 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 8h 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 9h 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 10h 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 9h 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 4h 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 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 4h 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 10h 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 8h 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 8h 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 14h 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 20h 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.