Usually I lock up a summer trip as far ahead of time as possible. But due to the current award travel patterns and my need for 4 seats I found myself without a summer booking and a family wanting to travel.

Today Robert and I chat about the ups and downs of the search for a summer trip, award space scarcity, alliance and search engine fragmentation and more. - Enjoy!



01:55 Let’s talk about the Constraints of this trip:




We didn't have a single destination on our list but rather a short list of places to go



2 Adults 2 children.





3:00 Summer, during Summer Break (June/July)




Prices and awards rise dramatically in Jun/Jul and award space dries up even worse than it is during other parts of the year




4:24 No flexibility in cabin (I couldn’t even pitch premium economy)




As we’ve gotten older we’ve taken less trips, but put more into them. 



Last year we spent 36 years on vacation, but we’re trending into longer trips




6:45 Don’t want to reposition




Saw some options through IAH, PHL.



Also saw flights through Canada



I don't like clearing customs and then having another flight, with little kids that is a pressure point




9:00 Point balances: 




I’m a non-hoarder. I have about 250,000 Alaska, 400,000 AA and very little other miles on hand. 



I do have a large MR and UR balance I can draw down. Otherwise I’ll cash them out




9:53 AA out of LAX, comparing AA vs BA.




points yeah served up LAX-LHR on AA with Alaska Miles:







But AA wouldn't show this for a similar 'low' price







But adding a leg--searching LAX-CPH showed the low price for the whole flight.







This seems like a 'married logic' issue. It means pricing is end to end (LAX/CPH) vs segment by segment.





This has become VERY common with dynamic pricing.



This makes the old 'get over the pond' mentality dangerous. Searching between city pairs only for long-haul flights won't show you the whole picture (Not just on AA, across most airlines now).



This is also a search engine fragmentation because you are relying on the search engine to do the routing logic.




15:41 Let’s talk about award space out of LAX




I’ve had an eye on LAX long haul routes for more than a decade. I’ve never seen it this thin



That’s on top of more capacity than ever, with better cabins than ever



The 64,000 point question is: Will those seats get sold, or will they be released closer to the dates of travel



Current space isn’t a great indicator. There are very different people wanting to go to Europe in the next 2 months than in Jun/July




18:00 Quick discussion about the ‘loss’ of partner award space




This has made it more important than ever to hold flexible currencies like MR/UR/Cap 1



One ways with different currencies helps spread out the search net



Ultimately you still need that triangle of flexibility we’ve talked about forever here: Dates, destination or class of service. You have to flex one (or more) of them. 




Flights Have to Exist in order for you to take them




Flightconnections.com is still the place i go to start any search



I look for ALL long haul options out of LAX (remember I don’t like to reposition)







Some filtering is needed, because these are not all flights that can be booked with miles easily, but without a premium account you’ll be limited to filtering by a single airline. 




18:40 Options start coming into focus




EF showed space on Air Tahiti Nui LAX-CDG in business. I’ve flow this before. It really isn’t great, but it is a lie flat and the flight was an easy feeling one.



Unfortunately with a few calls to AA agents none of them could see the space. I tried some other tricks but with no luck. I don’t know what’s going on there–if it is a block or phantom space



From there I saw on pointsyeah some air france awards in the 130,000 per person (plus about $300 in fees). 



I didn’t love those so I went to Air france’s site and started going day by day, looking at all flights i mi