Newwaystobooktripswithmiles

Booking award tickets keeps getting harder. Availability is limited and while airline partnerships have expanded opportunities to use your miles, you often can’t find them on your airline’s website. 

Booking an airline ticket using frequent-flier miles has gotten so tricky that some savvy fliers are turning to professional help.

For people who want good deals but aren’t willing to invest hours searching and scheming, there are professional bookers to hire and a growing number of online booking tools designed for mileage awards. Travel agents also provide this service.

Services such as Book Your Award, PointsPros, MileValue, IFlyWithMiles and Upgrd employ frequent-flier-mile junkies to find trips. Most cost around $150 per person per booking, and typically charge only if they find a ticket you want.

Some tech developers are trying to automate award shopping. A startup called Pex+ has award inventory from 10 airlines that can be searched all at the same time. Another service, ExpertFlyer, can show how many award seats are available on each flight for 86 airlines.