ride red

OK, so I want to go to Europe next summer. ATM I have ~150k Amex MR points and ~130k Aeroplan points. So first is an option, but I don't think there's availability. Our vacation time starts at 730AM on August 16th and ends the morning of Sept 8th. We'd like to do a cruise that runs from Copenhagen Aug 19th-30th and then spend some time in Holland and Normandy. I've used United.com to find business class availability for the following:

Aug 16
UA298 YVR-ORD
UA514 ORD-IAD (Economy) - Anyone know a better way to get from YVR-IAD? There's some 1-stop AC connections but they either leave too early or too late.
Aug17
SK926 IAD-CPH
And then we have a "stopover" in CPH until the cruise is over Aug 30


Aug 30
SK547 CPH-AMS
This would be our turnaround in AMS

Sept 3
LH2303 AMS-MUC
LH2232 MUC-CDG
OR
SK552 AMS-CPH
SK567 CPH-CDG
Flying through FRA would be a little more convienent but I can't hit FRA twice in the same direction.

Sept 7
LH1027 CDG-FRA
AC839 FRA-YOW
AC139 YOW-YVR

Total yvr-ord-iad-cph-ams-muc-cdg-fra-yow-yvr 13880 mi
or yvr-ord-iad-cph-ams-cph-cdg-fra-yow-yvr 14061 mi

So does this meet the rules? I think 10 segments are ok, this is 9. Can CDG be my turnaround if both my stopovers are before it?

I can rearrange the order I visit Normandy and Holland if I need to have my turnaround between the stopovers. This makes the 3 stops CPH, CDG, AMS.

Aug 30
SK567 CPH-CDG, but this kind of wastes a bit of the day cause I'd have to take an evening flight.

Sept 3
LX633 CDG-ZRH
LX728 ZRH-AMS

Sept 7
LH987 AMS-FRA
AC839 FRA-YOW
AC139 YOW-YVR

Total yvr-ord-iad-cph-cdg-zrh-ams-fra-yow-yvr is 13893 mi

I've tried to avoid AC and LH as much as possible to keep the charges down, but there's not much on the return that's non-AC. LHR-ORD on United is avail on Sept6 but that means leaving a day early, an extra segment, and probably higher fees from flying through London. I'd probably consider trying to get a 23 hour stop in MUC or ZRH, but there's lots of choices for those flights, I want to get the outline and the transatlantic trip hammered down first.

I have no idea what the MPM5 is for YVR-CDG, so that's probably going to be a key thing.

TIA.

yerffej201

YVR-CDG MPM5 is 6211. But something like CDG-FRA-YOW-YVR *should* be a published routing, so it should be allowed.

ride red

So if it's a published route, it can be over the MPM5?

echino

Yes. Either it falls under MPM5, then any routing will work. Or, if it's over MPM5, then it must be a published routing.

Connecting via LHR will not attract any high fees.

There is no business class on SK intra-Europe, not even European pseudo-business, just economy only, even though it shows award space in business.

ride red

Oh, I see. And my stopovers wouldn't have to be along a published route from origin to turnaround? So each of the 4 legs is considered separately?

Doing a few more searches, I found out about the expert flyer trial.

From the looks of Expert Flyer, when I put in AMS-YVR and CDG-YVR into the connecting cities tab, FRA-YOW doesn't come up. Does that mean it's not a published route? CDG-FRA-YOW-YVR is 6221, so that's a tiny bit over the MPM5. ams-fra-yow-yvr is 6170, but the MPM5 is only 6036.

BRU-YUL is available, is there any way to book SN with Aeroplan?

CHI-WAS comes up when I put in YVR-CPH. So I think that's valid.

What's best for the CDG-AMS leg? LH through MUC, SK through CPH?

echino

CDG is your destination because it is further from YVR than your stops in CPH and AMS. You must follow a published routing exactly, all the way from YVR to CDG, or use any routing fitting under MPM5. You can use a published routing on the outbound, and under MPM5 routing on return, or vice versa.

yerffej201

lh if you're willing to pay yq. sk has no j as mentioned above i think (although I could be wrong). sn is bookabe with ap, just call in.
as echino said, your routing is based on the furthest destination from YVR, which in this case is CDG. you must use a published routing or follow mpm. this includes your stopovers.

172pilot

SK has SAS Plus. This is pseudo, pseudo, pseudo business. The seats are Y seats. They try to block the middle seat unless the plane is full. You can have anything from the BOB cart for free.

jerryhung

Also be aware that EF may not show all availabilities properly now

ExpertFlyer Pulls Star Alliance Award Space - One Mile at a Time (5 days ago)
http://boardingarea.com/onemileatati...e-award-space/

pete4212

According to http://thepointsguy.com/2013/11/much...n-expertflyer/ these Star airlines are still available for award searching on EF:

Air Canada
Air China
Air New Zealand
AVIANCA
Brussels Airlines
COPA
Shenzhen Airlines
SWISS
Turkish Airlines

Which may or may not help the OP

yerffej201

just use ana