|
|
|
I plan everything out on KVS first and use it to max out on routings, segments, < 24hr stopovers that are considered layovers, etc. I then call AP and spoon-feed the agent and the complex routing is booked within minutes. [..] KVS is the best thing that's happened to me since getting sliced bread!
| 
|
|
|
|
Attempt 1 (without KVS): Spent several minutes on the phone with AA and never came up with an acceptable 3rd flight, so just gave up. Attempt 2 (After using KVS): 12 minutes on the phone with AA and I had all 14 segments reserved!!! Thank you KVS!!
|
|
|
|
|
I've been able to upgrade on almost all routes by calling at the right time, and checking seats/flights with KVS.
|
|
|
|
|
KVS does everything I want it to and the price is great.
|
|
|
|
|
Way more powerful and accurate then websites ;) [..] While the travel agency (one of the biggest in the country) said that a specific fare was the cheapest, I could give them an actual code, which got me a fare that was quite a bit cheaper ;)
|
|
|
|
|
A Must-Have for Frequent Flyers: I decided to try the KVS Availability Tool. This tool, I have since learned, shows you award availability (among many other things) the same way reservation agents see it. Using the KVS Availability Tool, I found a travel day that showed business class award availability on the Thai flight I wanted to take. I then called Thai to book the appropriate coach fare class, then called [UA] with my Thai ticket number and voila!! I was upgraded to business class using [UA] Mileage Plus Points. [..] Had I not used this tool, I would have guessed at upgarde availability and risked having to cancel my Thai ticket and pay any applicable cancellation fee. [..] Well worth it for frequent flyers who want to bypass the 'no answer' or 'several different answers' from some airline reservation agents.
|
|
|
|
|
KVS Tool just brilliant! I have been using the KVS tool for nearly 4 months now, I signed up for the tool to allow me to keep a constant eye on availability with South African Airways for rarely available business class award seats on their prime direct non-stop flight from London to Cape Town for Christmas and New Year. Last week, to my amazement, SAA released a few seats for the peak season dates I wanted and I managed to contact the airline immediately and book them before they rapidly disappeared. Thanks to the KVS Tool, my wife and I are now looking forward to a great 2 weeks over the Christmas and New Year period in Cape Town, and flying there and back in the wonderful comfort of SAA's Business Class Sleeper Seats! Thank you to the KVS Team, we will be recommending the tool to all our friends and family who regularly travel overseas! :)
|
|
|
|
|
I find that the best way to check reward seat availability, by far, is the KVS Tool. A small annual donation is required (and I mean small, -- I'm in the top tier, Diamond, for USD$75/year), but it's worth every penny.
|
|
|
|
|
KVS Tool wins again! I just wanted to say thank you for this great resource. I just booked an award in C BUF-HAM RT. As I gave the agent my flt #'s, she was amazed that they all had award availability! Wow, she said, I wish all award bookings were this easy. I loved that I could check availability by several methods. I know I get the best results by 'building' my ITN one seg at a time. Without this Tool I'd be lost. Thanks for all your hard work!
|
|
|
|
|
Here is where KVS comes in useful. You can put in your search and hit Ctrl+Page Down and just go through 2 months in about 15 min.
|
|
|
|
|
IT WORKS!! I just found a PDX-AMS-FCO-AMS-PDX trip, BE in March that showed award availability at the 'low' level on KVS, went to DL.com, signed on, searched for the round-trip award, selected the flights that KVS showed as low level and voila, 100k miles. I didn't even have to search by segment on either KVS or DL.com, I just put in the cities and let 'er rip.
|
|
|
|
|
I can't imagine doing the frequent flier award/mileage thing without access to the KVS Availability tool. IMO, it's worth the $ for the Diamond level and has saved me counless hours and hours of calling in, hoping for a good agent that's willing to search, etc etc etc. [..] I recently booked award travel for this fall and the time on KVS + the time to book on US once I found what I wanted took about 20 minutes total.
|
|
|
|
|
Probably wouldn't have bothered to put together the YYZ-HKG-MNL-HKG-LHR F award that I did if KVS tool hadn't made it so easy...
|
|
|
|
|
The $15 I paid for a two-month subscription was well worth the time I saved using the [KVS Tool] to find a complex award itinerary.
|
|
|
|
|
If you're really serious about looking for frequent flier inventory, try using the KVS Tool, which gives you real-time award availability. I search there, see the availability in real-time, then call the airline and tell the reservations agent which flights I need. Works like a charm every time!
|
|
|
|
|
I, too, heartily endorse KVS Tool, which I count as one of the best travel tools I've ever used.
|
|
|
|
|
Ultimately, rebooked onto LH flights (with a bit of help from KVS to convince them that they could squeeze me onto the last seat from FRA to INN by dropping me into Y).
|
|
|
|
|
My parents saved up US miles for years (using the occasional flight & credit cards). About 1.5 years ago they decided to go to Rome and Paris and they had enough miles on US according to the chart for 2 round trip Y tickets. My mother called me, very upset, and said she had spent an hour on the phone with US and there was 'no availability' for any of the dates they could have traveled. I opened up KVS, spent about a 1/2 hour, and pieced together SAN-YYZ-FCO and CDG-YYZ-ORD-SAN an AC/UA, called US pretending to be my father, and got them there & back no problem.
|
|
|
|
|
+1 on love for KVS... It's handy to be able to pull up a query in just a few seconds without having to login to a site.
|
|
|
|
|
If you want to get serious about finding [Award] seats, you should look into the KVS Availability Tool. It has a bit of a learning curve but there's no better/faster way to identify availability on a variety of airlines.
|
|
|
|
|
Just booked South Pacific - North Asia F award 120K points plus $200 taxes/fees. SYD-BKK-FRA-DME and LED-MUC-BKK-SYD/SYD-FRA and MUC -SYD is TG F/FRA-DME and LED-MUC is LH C/30 minutes on phone, no hassles (I had used KVS to work out route and availability - agent thanked me for making it so easy)
|
|
|
|
|
The Tool Rocks! I'm a long time user of the KVS Availability Tool and it has been very helpful in general. But today I found out just how useful it can be. I have quite a number of AS miles and wanted to use them for a BA Trans-Atlantic FC partner award. AS requires these to be made via phone. Prior to calling I used the OneWorld award setting to research availability. Since I'm going in July, this was very limited. [..] After waiting for about 20 minutes on hold, I gave the agent my request, and she confirmed that all was available. I know I would have spent a long time on the phone had I not 'known' what was available.
|
|
|
|
|
I have been a user of KVS since day one and it works just fine. It is easy, accurate and in real time.
|
|
|
|
|
Using the KVS tool [..], I was able to search many possible combinations quickly. I could never have done this on the phone with an agent. Unfortunately for many non FT'ers, this is the only way they know how to request *A awards and as a result they miss out on many other possibilities. Knowledge truly is power.
|
|
|
|
|
It only sounds complicated. I use KVS religiously, and it's been a great tool to determine and pinpoint exact flight with the lowest fare bucket and/or upgrade availability.
|
|
|
|
|
I really like KVS, especially the User Interface, it looks like the programmers work with the prog too! And it's lean & clean & portable.
|
|
|
|
|
Its times like this where I find having access to KVS or a similar tool invaluable, rather than hoping you get an agent that will really check for all available options you can empower yourself with the needed information and then tell them what flights you want to be re-booked on [..] More than once it has saved me in IRROPs, when a flight cancels I can quickly dump all the available flights and call 1K with: and here is the fix I want, vs. blindly hoping they are giving you the best option.
|
|
|
|
|
But trying to find a viable itinerary on [DL website] without having first done your homework, using a tool like KVS, and then running a multi-city search with available segments already known, is an exercise in madness. And don't get me started about calling DL for help, with the draconian limitations on the number of dates that its agents will sweep before another phone call is required [..] For those who want to go to the Seychelles on DL and don't want to spend all their time tearing out their hair, I cannot recommend a subscription to KVS strongly enough.
|
|
|
|
|
KVS is officially dangerous! I find myself checking various routes several times a day which leads to me considering multiple changes to our honeymoon routing.
|
|
|
|
|
I've gone as far as purchasing a shareware application called KVS Availability Tool, which after a few minutes can provide you with seat availability and pricing for just about every airline and every destination. KVS ties directly into the partner programs like *A and OneWorld to provide award seat availability for people like me looking for premium award seats. [..] Now I don't have to call US Airways every morning and wait on hold to get the same answer, 'there no business class or first class seats available sir, but I'd suggest calling back tomorrow'
|
|
|
|
|
This is the most comprehensive tool for booking a reward flight using your frequent flyer miles. This is an actual program you install on your program and it is easily the most useful tool for compiling all reward flight results. Think of it as a Google for reward flights. You put in your departure city/airport, arrival city/airport, dates, number of passengers and you are off. The best part is you search the entire reward flight space availability of your desired airline alliance. Every single airline in that alliance shows their reward flight space for that route in less than 15 seconds. It is really helpful when you are getting frustrated creating these piecemeal itineraries and using 6 different tabs to build your reward flight trip.
|
|
|
|
|
I would vote for KVS... Hands-down. Great tool - simple and I have been using for 2+ years.
|
|
|
|
|
KVS is a fantastic (paid) tool to search availability (paid/award/upgrade), flight info, you name it. If you book internationally at all, it's a must have. I highly recommend it
|
|
|
|
|
I struggle to find availability sometimes, but I recently subscribed to KVS on the advice of others on FT and have never looked back. There was availability around when I wanted it and to the right places, but the online BA system being such a chore to use made it very much a hit and miss affair or at best a lengthy process. With KVS, stepping through each day +/- is an absolute doddle and being able to reload previously saved itins to check for updated award space makes it really quick and easy. I was able to find 4 x F awards for MAN-LHR-JFK-LHR-MAN for December in about 10 minutes. Then go to BA and using the exact criteria book the flights I wanted.
|
|
|
|
|
My opinion: KVS Tool pays for itself with one good BE ticket at the low award level, and especially 3!
|
|
|
|
|
Just keep calling OR you can always get the KVS Software. It has done wonders for me and I was able to book a crazy trip through the Middle East (Cairo, Riyadh, Istanbul) and through Europe (Amsterdam, Warsaw, Bucharest) for only 105k all in Business Class. KVS can really help you with the creative routing.
|
|
|
|
|
I recommend to get KVS to search for awards yourself and not to rely in the phone reservations agent.
|
|
|
