10xTravel Award Booking Service: My Experience

In general, one of the best ways to maximize the value of credit card points is to transfer them to partner loyalty programs and then redeem them for high-value rewards. As a writer for 10xTravel, I have particular expertise in this area, and I typically know where to look when searching for high-value redemptions with my credit card points. However, even as an expert in the world of points and miles, these award searches can often be time consuming and labor intensive.

So, for my recent return trip from Europe to Portland, Oregon, I decided to enlist the help of the 10xTravel Award Booking Service. This service is designed to take the hassle out of finding award flights and getting great value for your points. Essentially, the way it works is that anyone can provide the 10xTravel award booking experts with all of the necessary information about your ideal award flight, and they’ll conduct a search and find you the best possible options that match your criteria at the lowest mileage rate.

So, in my recent travels, I found myself in Vienna with no return ticket back to the United States and a conference that I had to attend in Portland on Aug. 18. Not wanting to pay the exorbitant cash prices for a flight back across the Atlantic, I decided to enlist the help of the 10xTravel Award Booking Service to help me find a flight to Portland with my Capital One Miles.

As they typically do, the award booking agents found me an award flight that got me to my destination on time and saved me a whole lot of cash. Let’s take a closer look at the specifics of how this service works and how it’s helped me in my travels.

My Experience with the 10xTravel Award Booking Service

As mentioned above, I asked the 10xTravel Award Booking Service to find me a flight from Vienna to Portland before I had to be at a conference on Aug. 18. Let me take you through the step-by-step process of how I began using the 10xTravel Award Booking Service and how it ultimately led to my finding a flight that matched my criteria.

Setting My Criteria

The first thing I did to begin my process with the 10xTravel Award Booking Service was input all of the criteria for my ideal award flight. I started by visiting the 10xTravel Award Booking Service page and clicking the “Start Your Booking” button.

From there, I put in my name and email address (so that the award booking experts could contact me) and the number of travelers (which was just myself).

Type of Trip, Departure Airport and Arrival Airport

Then, I needed to select the type of trip from the following options: one-way, round-trip, multi-city (maximum of three stops), multi-city (more than three stops) or round-the-world. For my trip, I chose to search for a one-way flight since I had no reason to return to Vienna.

Next, in the “Home airport” section (which is really the “Departure airport” section whether or not you’re departing from home), I stated that I was willing to depart from Vienna or Budapest, Hungary. Although I was in Vienna at the time, I knew I could take a FlixBus from Vienna to Budapest that took about five hours and cost about 20 euros (about $22.25). I also checked the box saying that I was willing to reposition to another airport.

So, essentially, by checking the “Yes” box in regards to repositioning, I was letting my booking agent know that I was willing to travel to another city (outside of Vienna) to find a cheaper or better award flight.

Finally, because I had a conference in Portland on a specific date, I had to set my arrival airport to Portland International Airport.

Travel Dates

Since I was flying one way from a European city to Portland, I needed to input a departure date without a return date. Ideally, I would have preferred to depart on Aug. 17 and then roll right into the conference the next day (to maximize the amount of time I had in Europe). However, I also checked the “Yes” box for the question “Is your departure date flexible?”

I also said that I’d be willing to leave up to two days earlier if it meant getting a much better deal or finding a more convenient award flight.

Being more flexible with your dates will also expand your options and thus greatly increase the chances of a successful award search and the chances of finding a better mileage rate.

Same Flight and Forbidden Countries

After that, I needed to answer whether all travelers need to be on the same flight or not. Since I was traveling alone, this question was irrelevant to me. However, if you’re traveling with two or more people, your answer to this question can affect the probability of a successful award search.

By checking the “No” box, you’ll increase your chances of a successful search, especially if you’re traveling with a large group. Occasionally, the cheapest possible award flight may only have one or two available seats left on it (which may not be enough for your party). In this case, you can save miles by putting some people in the available seats on the cheapest award flight and the remaining travelers on the next cheapest award flight.

However, if you need all travelers to be on the same flight, you should check the “Yes” box for this question.

Next, you’ll need to answer whether there are any countries that you can’t travel through. Personally, I’m not restricted from entering any countries, so I checked the “No” box for this question.

Preferred Cabin Class

Up next was my preferred cabin class. In my case, I was looking to use as few points as possible, so I checked the “Economy” box only. In my lifestyle, I travel a lot, and I like to travel as affordably as possible (a quantity-over-quality mentality I suppose), so I always elect to travel in economy class.

Points and Miles

The next step in this process is to share any balances of credit card points or airline miles that could help with booking award flights.

I disclosed that I had a balance of 59,000 Capital One Miles, which I earned by using the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. I’ve had this card for about three years, so it’s been awhile since I spent the welcome bonus that I earned from signing up for the Venture X card. However, it’s worth noting that the current welcome bonus being offered by the card would’ve been enough to fly me home from Europe and much more.

You’ll also need to answer whether or not you’d be willing to top off your balances by purchasing more points. I answered “Yes” to this question. In certain cases, purchasing points or miles can be helpful.

In my case, I had 59,000 Capital One Miles. However, if the cheapest award flight that would get me to Portland required 60,000 miles, then purchasing that extra 1,000 miles would have been a much better move than giving up on finding an award flight and instead booking my flight back to the U.S. with cash.

I would recommend always answering “Yes” to the “Are you willing to purchase miles to top off an account (if needed)?” question. You can always decide to not purchase the miles later in the process.

Anything Else

Finally, if there’s anything else you’d like to add to your submission, you can write that under the question “Anything else you’d like us to know?” For my trip, I basically reiterated that I need to be in Portland by noon on Aug. 18 and that I was willing to take a bus to any neighboring city within reason to find a cheaper or more convenient flight.

However, this would be a great place to disclose if there are any other particular stipulations you have about your flight, such as things that you don’t want in your itinerary. For example, if you want to avoid certain airlines, certain types of aircraft or flying at night, this is where you should mention that. You should also mention here if you’re willing to fly nonstop only.

The Next Steps

After filling out the submission form, I paid a $50 nonrefundable deposit, confirmed the details of my trip via email and then simply selected from a number of award flight options provided to me by an award booking agent.

Payment

Immediately after submitting my trip details, I was asked to pay a $50 nonrefundable deposit, which I paid with my Venture X card (thus earning 100 miles even while making my award booking). As someone who has booked nearly 100 flights with points and miles, I can tell you that these award searches can take a lot of time and require expertise, so it makes sense that the 10xTravel bookers should be compensated for conducting these searches.

However, if your award booking agent isn’t able to find an award flight that meets your needs, then you won’t be charged anything beyond that $50 deposit. This does happen sometimes (and has happened to me personally) as these award booking experts aren’t able to create award space out of thin air. All of the award flights that they search for are available to the public. So, if there aren’t any award flights that match your criteria, there’s nothing they can do about it.

On the other hand, if the award booking expert is able to find a flight that suits your needs (regardless of whether you actually book that flight or not), you’ll be charged the full fee and your $50 deposit will be credited toward the fee. The fee you’ll pay depends on the type of trip you’re booking and the number of people traveling. Here’s a breakdown of the fees for using the 10xTravel Award Booking service:

Confirmation Email

Once I submitted my payment, I received an email from Timothy, a 10xTravel award booking agent, within a few hours. In the first email I received from Timothy, he asked me to confirm my details.

He also asked me to agree to the fee for the award booking service, which was $100 for a one-way trip for one person.

Aside from that, this email also included some of the terms of using the service. I would recommend reading this before responding to this confirmation email to avoid any confusion about fees or the scope of the 10xTravel Award Booking Service later in the process.

Award Booking Options

In my case, Timothy got back to me with four potential award flights in under four hours. Two of these flights departed from Vienna (VIE). However, I was also presented with two flights departing from Zurich (ZRH).

In the case of these flights departing from Zurich, I could have repositioned to Zurich by either taking a bus ride of about seven hours, which would have cost around 30 euros ($33.35) on FlixBus, or I could have taken a short-haul KLM Cityhopper flight between Vienna and Zurich, which has a flight time of about one hour and 30 minutes and would have cost me about $100.

Booking My Award Flight

Once I received these award flight options, I assessed which of these options would best suit my needs. Then, I took the final steps to actually book my flight.

Choosing An Award Flight

When it came to choosing which of the options that Timothy presented me was the best, I had to look at the whole picture. Since I was already in Vienna, I definitely prioritized the flights departing from Vienna (as I didn’t want to reposition to Zurich unless it was necessary).

So, between the two award flight options that departed from Vienna, the decision came down to the date of departure, the redemption rate and the total flight time.

The option highlighted in yellow above departed on Aug. 16, a day earlier than the other option out of Vienna, which I didn’t want (since I wanted to maximize my time in Europe). However, the option highlighted in yellow had a flight time that was about six hours shorter than the other flight out of Vienna highlighted in blue. Unfortunately, this flight required 3,500 more miles and about $94 more in taxes than the other flight out of Vienna.

So, the option highlighted in blue above was cheaper (both in miles and cash), a day later (which was good for me), but included one more layover than the yellow option and had a flight time that was about six hours longer.

Re-Searching

Because I waited too long to book my flight, the award availability was gone when I went to book it. This is why it’s important to act quickly to book a flight once an award booking agent reaches out with award booking options.

As a result, I had to ask Timothy if he would conduct another search for a new award flight, which cost me an additional $75.

Making My Booking

Luckily, despite the fact that I didn’t move quickly enough to book my original award flight recommendation, Timothy was still able to find me another award flight that matched my criteria very closely.

Ultimately, I ended up booking a flight from Vienna to Portland with a layover in Amsterdam that departed on Aug. 17 at 7:55 p.m. and arrived at 11:55 a.m. on Aug. 18. This itinerary required 56,000 miles through the Air France Flying Blue program and got me into Portland just in time to make the conference.

So, to make my booking, I had to transfer 56,000 Capital One Miles to Flying Blue. If you aren’t familiar with making points/miles transfers, your award booking agent will happily provide you with step-by-step instructions on how to make these transfers and how to complete your booking, even including an instructional video.

Because I am a writer for 10xTravel, I’m familiar with the process of making points/miles transfers and didn’t require any instruction on how to make my booking. First, I transferred the Capital One Miles to my Flying Blue account by logging into my Capital One account and going to the “Rewards” section and clicking on the “Convert rewards” option.

Then, I chose Flying Blue as my transfer partner and entered 56,000 miles as my transfer amount. Once I confirmed the transfer, the miles arrived in my Flying Blue account immediately.
Finally, once the miles landed in my Flying Blue account, I went to the Air France website, chose the “Book with Miles” option and logged into my Flying Blue account. Then, I searched for the flight between Vienna and Portland on Aug. 17).

Once I found the flight, I booked it and received a confirmation in my email a few minutes later. Thanks to Timothy and the 10xTravel Award Booking Service, I was able to fly from Vienna to Portland with 56,000 Capital One Miles and $237.80 in taxes and fees (which was relatively high but still much better than paying for the entire flight with cash). I arrived at my conference tired but on time.

It’s worth noting that had I contacted the 10xTravel Award Booking Service further in advance and been quicker in booking my flight, I almost definitely could have gotten a better deal. However, because I contacted the service only a few days before my departure date and because I delayed in completing my booking, I didn’t get a great deal. Still, I saved a lot of money by booking this flight with miles instead of cash.

Tips for Using the 10xTravel Award Booking Service

The experience described above was my most recent experience using the 10xTravel Award Booking Service. However, it certainly wasn’t my only experience using it. Over the years, I’ve learned a few tricks for using the 10xTravel Award Booking Service that I’ll share with you.

Join 10xTravel+ If You Use the Service Often

If you use the 10xTravel Award Booking Service more than once a year, you can almost definitely save money by joining 10xTravel+. This premium subscription includes one free award booking per year (which is issued as a $275 credit toward any 10xTravel award search for that year). Plus, you’ll get 15% off all award booking fees with no limit.

The subscription has an annual fee of $199. However, if you use the benefits described above, you can easily offset that cost.

With a 10xTravel+ subscription, you’ll also receive a sign-up gift, advanced access to 10xTravel Award Alerts, priority access to award bookings (which leads to faster turnarounds), two one-on-one consultations with our staff (during office hours) annually and the chance to have your questions answered on our podcast.

In my opinion, the best benefit of 10xTravel+ is the ability to save a bunch of money if you use the 10xTravel Award Booking Service often.

Book Your Flight Far In Advance

With award flights in general, booking your flight far in advance is going to increase the number of options you have. The same goes for using the 10xTravel Award Booking Service. If you submit your booking request weeks or even months before your desired departure date, there’s a much better chance that an award booking agent is going to be able to find a flight itinerary that satisfies you.

The furthest in advance you can book an award flight is typically 11 months to a year with most frequent-flyer programs. However, booking that far in advance isn’t really necessary. By starting the process of finding an award flight at least a few weeks prior to your departure, you’ll have a much better chance of a successful award search.

On the flip side, if you submit a request to the 10xTravel Award Booking Service only a few days before your desired departure date, your chances of a successful search are going to be much slimmer.

Be Flexible

If you want your award search to be successful, one of the biggest factors is your degree of flexibility.

Being flexible with the details of your travel itinerary will greatly increase the odds of a successful award search, including:

• Departure and arrival dates
• Repositioning
• Booking travelers on different flights
• Cabin class
• Being generally willing to work with 10xTravel Award Booking agents to find a plausible solution (even if it isn’t ideal)

On the other hand, if you’re rigid with your travel plans, there’s a much smaller chance that you’re going to have a successful award search.

In order to be as flexible as possible with your cabin class, you can check multiple boxes for your desired cabin class. By checking multiple boxes, you’re letting the award booking agent know that you would prefer to travel in the higher cabin class but that you’re willing to travel in a lower cabin class if need be.

For example, if you were to check all three boxes (economy, business and first class), the agent would first search for flights in first class, then in business and only then in economy.

Being more flexible with your cabin class preferences also increases the chances of your award booking agent successfully finding an award flight that matches your criteria.

Disclose Points/Miles Balances for All Travelers

If you’re traveling with multiple people, you should include any balances that you’re willing to use in this section as well as who each balance belongs to. This includes both credit card points and airline miles.

For example, let’s say that you have a balance of 10,000 Avios (the rewards currency of Aer Lingus, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia and Qatar Airways) and 25,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points. If you need to purchase a flight through British Airways Executive Club for 30,000 Avios, you could combine your balance of 10,000 Avios and 20,000 Chase points (which transfer to the British Airways Executive Club at a 1:1 ratio) and purchase that flight. This is why it’s important to disclose any significant balances of points or miles you may have.

The Bottom Line

As a writer for 10xTravel, I spend my days researching the award travel industry and recommending ways that you can maximize the value of credit card points and airline miles. But the truth of the matter is that sometimes searching for a max-value redemption requires more time and energy than I have.

So, to get the most value possible out of my credit card points or airline miles without spending hours searching for the perfect award flight, I sometimes enlist the help of the 10xTravel Award Booking Service.

For a reasonable fee, 10xTravel award booking experts have helped me find award flights to match my criteria. I just have to tell them where I’m flying from and to, how many points and miles I have in my accounts, and a few other details about my flight. Then, they’ll get back to me quickly with a list of flight options.

For those who are willing to search for award flights on their own, there’s a ton of information about how to do so in our 10xTravel blog posts. However, if navigating award bookings seems overwhelming, then the 10xTravel Award Booking Service is a great solution.