I have a friend flying from Boston to Bangkok next month...what are his best options for award F from Boston, given:

schedule/connections/convenience;
equipment/seats/service; and
cost (miles).

I have a minor preference for int'l service earlier in the trip than later, so all things being equal, West Coast departure with domestic transcon service is not preferred.

Thanx in advance for the advice.

I'd probably go with UA (120K miles) or ANA with UA miles (130K) through NRT -- ANA has UA code-shares from JFK and IAD that would probably let you fly them and get away with the lower redemption level. Other reasonable options include: SQ with DL miles (140k), CX with AA Miles (135k), and JAL with AA miles (130k). Some of the European carriers provide more convenient connections (1 stop) from BOS, but their awards tend to be extortionately expensive.

For its vaunted first class service and The Wing and The Pier lounges in HKG, I'll go with CX. That's easy for me to say because I'm in the West Coast.

Well...

I guess you can get there in one stop by going thru Europe...how many miles are we talking on AA/BA or SW?

Otherwise...I guess ANA is BOS-JFK-NRT-BKK?

Is the only US non-stop on Thai (BOS-LA-BKK)?

oops

[This message has been edited by nologic (edited 01-11-2002).]

I found out my answer with AA/BA: 240,00 miles.

Hmmm...JAL can be done with 2 stops: JFK & NRT.

CX is 3 stops...JFK/HKG/BKK

I guess ANA would be 2 stops...and I could transfer AMEX points for 110,000 miles...so that's sounding good...?

-IMO, ANA is much nicer than JAL
-CX can be done in 2 stops if you connect through YYZ, YVR, SFO, or LAX (but YYZ-HKG often uses a 2 class A340)
-Yeah, via-Europe is bad news; you might be able to work NW-KLM through AMS for 100K miles in WBC, but at the price of a 12 hour layover on the outbound and an overnight on the return.

I think ANA is as great as any airline...

BOS-JFK-NRT-BKK (NRT-BKK+UA) is 111,000 miles using AMEX inot ANA...seems best?

I guess there is a THAI award thru LAX with 2 stops...is that worth it?

Ooops, United doesn't participate in Membership Rewards (neither do AA and some of the other alternatives you've been considering). ANA does directly, though. For some reason, their website won't load for me, so I don't know how many points they charge in their program if you use them directly. Check it out. Also make sure to check out whether they would fly your friend all the way from Boston or leave him on his own to get to their U.S. gateway.

Of UA, TG, and CX, Cathay Pacific is by far my first choice for F to BKK. Haven't tried NH.

CX has the best quality, but 3 stops from BOS. (edited: 2 stop if flying AA trancont)
but the HKG stop is something you WANT to take the detour, the wing and the pier

i haven't tried NH/JL, but i heard the new JL F is also good.

i would say CX/SQ, NH/JL, depends on what kind of miles you have to spare

[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 01-12-2002).]

Using LAX or SFO as gateways, you can get away with two stops -- not such a bad deal if AA will put you in F between BOS and LAX. I wouldn't do SFO though because the 340s aren't nearly as nice as the 744s.

yes, LAx has the best connection also (CX has 2 flights/day in the past, now reduced to ~1.5 i think)

also make sure your are on the 3-class flights (but i think AA11 is gone now? what a pity)

JFK transit is good because you spend more time on CX. but the transit at JFK is no fun at all
1. BOS-JFK often delay in the afternoon/evening
2. BOS gates for AA EAGLE is away from the lounges (with the new security line it means u can't practically wait at the lounge in BOS)
3. the little Embradier (Y class) is not fun, and it spends 20 minutes on the ground at JFK after landing (total flight time in air < 60 min)
4. connection at JFK is terrible, different terminals (T7 for CX vs T9 for AA). if u really going there, make sure you go for the oneworld shuttle downstair at gate41/JFK, which will transport you to CX/BA gates (and by-pass security)

I think ANA still have their old F seat and not yet upgraded to F suite like UA and CX.

As far as I know, it is a fully flat flying bed...maybe not as private as UA...but the food/wine/service is tops...

Here's their seat:

http://svc.ana.co.jp/eng/int_svc/int...rst/index.html

110,000 AMEX points for F is pretty good...

The best routing on ANA/UA would be BOS-IAD on UA, then IAD-NRT on ANA, and NRT-BKK on UA...While we could also go BOS-JFK, service is quite limited on UA.

I guess AA/CX is 125,000...and you would go BOS-LAX-HKG-BKK...not too bad, ahtough I personally prefer a short BOS-IAD and then a long IAD-NRT and a BOS-LAX on AA.