{"id":796,"date":"2012-06-20T22:00:45","date_gmt":"2012-06-21T04:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/boardingarea.com\/blogs\/verygoodpoints\/?p=796"},"modified":"2012-06-20T22:00:45","modified_gmt":"2012-06-21T04:00:45","slug":"awardtravelnightmare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/verygoodpoints\/2012\/06\/20\/awardtravelnightmare\/","title":{"rendered":"Booking Award Travel – Here Come The Nightmares & enter to win 10K @HiltonHHonors points"},"content":{"rendered":"

You’ve worked all year collecting points & miles and now it’s time to use them. \u00a0Let the nightmares begin! \u00a0Booking award travel – even for an avid traveler like me – can be an ordeal. \u00a0Luckily, booking hotels is a whole lot easier than booking airline award tickets.<\/p>\n

Each year, I plan a major trip for December. This year, I’m going on a girls trip to South East Asia with 3 other women. \u00a0Booking air travel is the most painful part of the annual trip. \u00a0Every year I spend hours pouring over flight options, comparing routes, searching the ANA website (for Star Alliance award flights) before finally calling US Airways to book. \u00a0I usually spend anywhere from 1 hour to upwards of 3 hours on the phone with one, or more, US Air agents trying to nail down the perfect itinerary without breaking the points bank.<\/p>\n

This year, I couldn’t stomach the idea of spending that much time on the phone and on the internet planning this trip (not to mention the fact that I didn’t really have time due to a very crazy schedule.) \u00a0 So I started looking for Award Booking Services. \u00a0 I found that several boarding area bloggers offer this type of service. \u00a0I decided to ask Gary aka\u00a0View From The Wing\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/span>for assistance. \u00a0Gary’s service Book Your Award\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/span>was a great way to go. \u00a0Instead of having nightmares, within 24 hours I had an amazing itinerary. \u00a0 The process was so easy! \u00a0Answer some questions, provide Gary with your points\/miles info, and away you go! \u00a0Now, normally Gary will call the airline and book the award for you, but I decided to call on my own. \u00a0 With the itinerary Gary planned, I called US Airways (Chairman Preferred line) and spent no more than 20 minutes on the phone start to finish. \u00a0Now, if you’re not calling an elite\/preferred phone number, you might opt to have Gary call so you can avoid longer wait times.<\/p>\n

So what did Gary help me book? \u00a0I booked a 25 day vacation to some of the most exotic and exciting locations in South East Asia. \u00a0I spent 120k US Airways miles to fly all but 1 segment in First Class (there’s one segment in Business on Singapore Airlines)<\/p>\n