Transferring CC Points to Maximize

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Headed to Italy in September and using points.me for the airline searches but now seeing anything great.

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If you're looking for business class you should have started your search 330 days out when the schedule opens. That's rule #1. You'll notice how weird this is when you talk to normal people that you're booked for a trip almost a year out, when most people do it 3-6 months out tops.

Keep in mind travel demand is high which may lead to less award availability. Airlines would rather sell the seat than take you for "free."

You're going to have to get familiar with alliances. Of all the airlines I've transferred points to, I've only sometimes flown that actual airline in my itinerary.

You're going to need to read a lot of points blogs to figure it out. Miles aren't plug and play to use.

Expertflyer Awardshacker Point.me

What’s your route?

Look at Seat Spy too. Apparently like point.me but searches the calendar. That'll be a huge timesaver. Haven't tried Seat Spy get so can't vouch.

Searching for award availability is increasingly difficult. United is by far the easiest and you can get good value. Flying blue is pretty straightforward. Aero plan is not terribly difficult to search, but they have a bunch of B.S. mixed fares. Those will all get you to Europe.

Normally, I look to see what airlines are flying into my destination city and start backtracking from there by looking at alliance partners listed above. In the alternative, I just look for any saver availability to anywhere I am generally interested in going, and then plan a vacation there.

I have used expert flyer to make the process easier, but you just need to accept that it’s a difficult process.

I found it but it’s on affiliate airlines. Kinda roughy looking around now. Trying for a bulkhead with a bassinet. No luck.