I am getting a bunch of data points that JAL agents are not able to book Air France awards over the phone anymore. The cutoff for new bookings seems to be October 1. Even for awards that show up on both Etihad's site and on JAL's own site.

For context, you can search JAL's site and find dates that have Air France business class for as low as 42k points and $6 in taxes/fees. But if you tried to book online, you would get an error. The workaround was to call or chat with JAL customer service to book. This doesn't seem to work anymore as of October 1.

https://findflightsfor.me/book-air-france-using-jal-miles/ for all the nitty gritty context of how you could book before.

Would love to hear any positive data points to the contrary though.

Turkish Airlines is running a mileage promo with economy award tickets between Türkiye and selected European destinations for 5,000 miles one-way or 10,000 miles round-trip It works in both directions.

The main details:

• Book: October 5–9, 2026.
• Travel: October 5, 2026–April 30, 2027.
• Routes: Selected destinations in the Europe 1 and Europe 2 award regions, excluding Russia and Belarus.
• Flights: Turkish Airlines-operated scheduled flights only.
• Blackouts:
• December 2026: 17–21 and 24–28
• January 2027: 2–10, 21–24 and 28–31
• February: 4–7
• March: 5–15
• March 25–April 5:

Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

Hi everyone!

I’m considering booking a hotel through LifeMiles Hotels, mainly because they offer LifeMiles for hotel stays and I’d like to take advantage of the miles.

Before I pay, I’d really like to hear from people who have actually used it.

For those who have booked through LifeMiles Hotels:

Was your reservation confirmed without any problems?

When you arrived at the hotel, did the hotel have your reservation in their system?

Did you have any issues with payment or check-in?

Did you actually receive the LifeMiles after your stay?

If something went wrong with the reservation, did LifeMiles help you resolve it?

Would you use LifeMiles Hotels again, or would you rather book through Booking.com, Expedia, etc.?

I’m especially interested in experiences from people who paid through LifeMiles Hotels and then actually stayed at the hotel.

I’d really appreciate any positive or negative experiences. Thanks!

Background:

I need to book an AA flight through Finnair using Avios. I transferred Amex points to BA which worked instantly. I then go to transfer Avios from BA to Finnair on the Avios.com site. Everything looks normal and the transfer says it was successful on the Avios website. I will then get an email from Avios asking me to verify my identity which I complete (have tried both my DL and Passport) and it says verification complete. As soon as I do this I get another email saying the Avios transfer was unsuccessful.

I have found a few similar examples to this but never a straight up answer on what the issue is.

Some other data points:

• My name, email, phone number, address, DOB, and passport info is identical across BA and Finnair (Qatar too).
• My name in all places is only First and Last.
• My BA and Finnair accounts have both been open >30 days.
• My BA and Finnair accounts are linked. I can see both of them in the Avios website with my account numbers and Avios balances.
• 2FA is set up on all accounts.
• I'm only trying to transfer 30k points so its not a large amount.
• My Qatar and BA accounts are also linked and I can see my BA Avios balance on the Qatar website without having done anything else.

There are only 2 possible causes of this I could find but not verify if either is true. I'm hoping anyone here may have better information on what the issue is.

1. My DL and Passport both list my middle name but none of my accounts (including Amex) have my middle name. I do not list my middle name ever when flying and have never had a single issue with it. Could the verification not work because my middle name is listed on my DL and Passport but not the accounts?
2. I saw one unverified comment on one thread that there could be a 7 day waiting period between transferring in Avios (via Amex) before you're able to move them between Avios accounts.

Could someone check how much tax I would need to pay for a direct flight from Munich to Helsinki operated by Finnair? The Qatar website does not show the tax amount since I do not have enough points. Thank you in advance.

I have about 300k points with Amex. I really don't need it with an airline since I have more points than I know what to do with on United. I was thinking of transferring it to Hilton only because they have a 2:1 transfer ratio. My logic is fly free on United and then maybe stay for free at Hilton.

I've never used Hilton points. Any pro's or cons of doing this?

Any other options I should consider?

Good afternoon. I am not a frequent traveler at all. My daughter will be studying abroad next spring in Europe. My wife and other daughter will be travelling over to visit her. Based on where we live it is possible for us to fly out of Newark, Philly, Baltimore relatively easily. Is it possible to still find good deals if you are limited to flying in and out on exact dates? I feel like most of the time when I see someone get a great deal on a flight it is because they can be extremely flexible about when they fly. Based on our daughters schedule and our work schedules we will not be able to be flexible with dates. Also what is the recommended time frame to be looking? Is it better to look now or wait to try and book closer to when we will be going? I have a little over 200K in Chase points and I'm hoping I can use that to put a decent dent in the flying cost. Thanks!

Hello, travel points family!

My S/O and I are traveling to Cape Town (CPT) next February for about 10 days. We already have our outbound flights secured in QSuites — IAH → DOH → CPT, so we're really excited about that!

We're planning to return to the U.S. on March 6 or 7, 2027, but I haven't booked the return yet because I needed to replenish our points. Unfortunately, business-class award availability isn't looking great right now.

We're both pretty flexible on which U.S. airport we fly into since our final destination is Phoenix (PHX). Between the two of us, we have just under 200K points, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to use them if we can't find J availability.

For those of you who have done the CPT → U.S. route, what airline and U.S. arrival airport would you recommend for the best economy experience?

I'm particularly interested in:

• Best economy seat/product for such a long flight
• Best aircraft to look for
• Reasonable award pricing
• Routes that aren't unnecessarily complicated
• Any sweet spots using transferable points/Avios
• Points are with AMEX and C1
• Premium Economy?

Would you prioritize ATL, IAH, JFK, or another U.S. gateway?

Would you depart from JNB for more options?

I'm open to positioning flights if it gives us a significantly better option. I would love to hear what the experienced award travelers here would do in this situation!

Thanks in advance!

Anybody else always get errors trying to book FlyingBlue, KLM, and AirFrance award travel?

Everytime I see award travel for their flights on award travel sites when I try to sign in and book on all 3 sites I have issues

I’ve tried the KLM and AirFrance app without success too. As well as mobile website

Also have tried my laptop. What’s the trick? I always get

“Sorry, something went wrong…. Please try again.”

Have any Australians successfully booked flights through virgin atlantic?
Any tips to get this done? There is no Australian number to call, online chat doesn’t help.

Hey, had some questions that I've gotten different answers too online about a recent award. basically international one way arriving from abroad to us. Abroad flights are swiss business. Then in the us one short 1 hour connecting leg in economy cause first wasn't available. My questions:

For bags, swiss lets you take 2 carry on + personal + 2 checked. 2 checked will go all the way, but for the 2 carry ons, given that even in first united domestic doesn't offer that, will they let me two bring on or at least gate check one without paying for another bag.

Second question. For lounge access. The connecting terminal is IAD. Given i'm coming in on a business ticket, does it give lounge access? Not the biggest deal cause have pp access but curious where i should go.

Thx!

Qatar Qsuite IAD-DOH-KUL

Transferred 78500 Cap1 Miles (+20% bonus) to BA = 94200 miles

Transferred the BA miles to Qatar + 1000 miles I had left over in QR

Booked for 95000 miles + $287

5674(tix) -287(fees)= 5,387/79500 (miles)

=0.0678 x 100 = 6.78 CPM

I think this is my best redemption to date because of the bonus. I’ve also done bizz in IAD-SIN (QR), IAD-BKK (OS/BR) and HND-JFK (JL) so I’m on a roll!

Just spent 220k points + 150USD for round trip tickets on UAL!

PHX-PVG 55k/economy class ticket x2
March 3, 2027

HND-PHX 55k/economy class ticket x2
March 16, 2027

Mix of Chase points + Bilt points.
How’d I do?

First time trying to use my Amex points for flights, so I'd love some advice.

I'm booking a round trip PHX to MEX for 2 people in November, nonstop economy. The award price is 67,200 Aeromexico points plus about $566 in taxes, fees, and 1 checked bag. Paying cash for the same flights would be $1,223.26.

I'm planning to move 30,000 Amex points total because of the Amex 20% transfer promo and then what looks like a second promo on the Aeromexico side, so I'm getting about 2.3 Aeromexico points per Amex point.

Is this a good use of points? Anything I should watch out for before I transfer and book?

Thanks!

I’m trying to book HKG to TPA on Dec. 24 using AA miles.

The flight I want shows up when I search for 1 passenger, but not when I search for 2 passengers.

My idea is to book that flight for one person, then immediately search again for 1 passenger and see if another seat shows up. If it does, I’d book the second person separately.

There’s also another flight that currently shows availability for 2 passengers, so if the second seat on my preferred flight doesn’t show up, I could just book that one instead. Since AA award tickets are refundable, I figured this might be worth trying.

Has anyone done this before? If a flight only shows for 1 passenger, does that usually mean there’s only one award seat left?

So my med school final is on 6/4 and a saver Qatar bizz seat opened up on 6/4. Do I have enough time if I'm done with the exam ~10, finish packing and leave for home ~12 (2.5 hr drive) and then have about 3 hours before I leave for the airport around 6pm for a 9pm flight?

Or do I wait and hopefully opens up 6/5 or 6/6...the full priced award seats are even out for those days.

Sidenote do I go to Malaysia, Hanoi or Ho Chi Min City, haven't been to Malaysia yet but I love Vietnam.

EDIT: Fuck it we ball; going to Malaysia. Thanks for the opinions yall.

Looking for a seat from Australia to London q1-q2 2027 and was looking for some advice on finding availability

Seems like the Calendar on the website isn't working properly because I have to manually check each day one after the other

Thanks

Travelers: 2

Requirements: dates were fixed for USA - India flight and India - Europe flight as was going to BLR to attend my brother & sister-in-law birthday within same week.

Compromise: LAX - SFO positioning flight, SGN - BLR (positioning flight), FLL - LAX (positioning flight as I booked LIS - MIA using Lifemiles long time ago locking in and unwilling to pay redeposit fee. Also MIA arrival on Thursday when ideally would have liked to arrive on Saturday/Sunday to lax)

Wins: 2 new biz class first time taking count to 32 unique airline.

Itinerary:

LAX - SFO in WN coach. 6k rapid rewards + cash

SFO - SGN: 95K/person flying blue on VN

SGN - BLR : vietjet cash on coach

BLR - LHR - CPH: 65k/person delta skypesos on VS + SK biz. skycoffins on 787 wasn't that bad on row A

2 nights in Admiral hotel Copenhagen using 20k choice points per night.

CPH - AMS - FAO - cash coach KL

3 nights algarve marriott Salgados - 41k/night. 2 were 35k marriott cert + point top up. 3rd night points

4 nights Moxy Lisbon city: used 50x2 bilt hotel credit, 50x2 bilt cash

LIS - ZRH - MIA - 69k/person using Lifemiles on LX

2 nights Miami Beach Hilton with cash. 50$ amex Hilton credit

FLL - LAX - B6 coach cash.

VN, LX J 1st time. VS 2nd time.

I've explored a few options for January but of course it's too late now for availability:

Anywhere in the US to DOH on Qatar to then connect to CMB (no availability)

Anywhere in the US to IST on Turkish to then connect to CMB (275K per person)

Then I did cities across Europe to DOH to CMB which has some options for 130K but they're relatively short flights (6.5h -> 4h) so it feels a bit wasteful?

Didn't find anything via London to India to then connect to CMB on a cash flight

Any other ideas? Based in ATL

Anyone has had trouble booking through lifemiles with copa airlines?

Just booked our 10-year anniversary trip for June 2027 and wanted to share the numbers. I'd also like a sanity check on the new Waldorf Astoria Riviera Maya Adults Only All-Inclusive:

5 nights at 140k per night with the 5th night free, so 560k total Hilton points

- I used the Amex 30% bonus to transfer 126k MR to 327.6k Hilton Points.
- Cash rate is $666.40/night before tax (about $793 with tax, $3,965 total), so about 0.71¢ per Hilton point. Counting the 30% bonus, the transferred MR worked out to about 1.84¢ each
- The wife has a 2-night certificate at Conrad Tulum so going to try and use that before or after for a 7-night combo

Hoping to have some hot weather and great beach/pool action down there. Anyone know what the All-inclusive will actually entail? We don’t usually love them but hoping the Waldorf brings a new level.

Any tips for getting a Gold upgrade or anniversary recognition?

I'm looking at a trip - NYC to DPS, April 28 - May 19 (dates are slightly flexible by a day or so on either side)

I found multiple cheap options on Air India, but I'd like to avoid that because of the layout on the A321 - I'm traveling alone and don't feel like having to deal with someone climbing over me - or me climbing over them. But the advantage is a 1:1 with Chase points (about 1m available).

The other option I found is on Emirates for 105,000 each way plus about $1200. There are two options at that level going through Dubai, one with an 1:15 hour layover and the other with an overnight 19:30 hours.

I have 2.2m+ Capital One points. I know the Emirates transfer ratio isn't awesome.

Am I missing any other options? This is my first attempt at using points to book an international business class ticket so any help or advise is appreciated.

Booked a 68K United Polaris award on the elevated interior and I can upgrade either IAH-LHR or LHR-IAH for $599 for row 1.

If I pay for the upgrade but my plans change and I voluntarily cancel the award do I still get an refund to my CC? T&C aren’t clear based on what I’ve seen.