kaminski6

So I have never flown AS but I and my girlfriend have accumulated enough points for a roundtrip Coach ticket to the Maldives with a stopover in Dubai. We are traveling from Cleveland to JFK and then leaving for Dubai.

The longest flight either of us have ever been on to this point has been 5 hours, are we going to be miserable on a coach flight? I assumed since the planes are larger a coach seat on them would be larger then a coach seat on what we are used to now?

Other than more legroom and such, are there any benefits to buying up more AS points to upgrade to Business class for this vacation?

Thanks in advance!

carlhales

I would say after flying to Australia in coach that paying upgrade to economy plus is a benefit in the sense it gives you a little more room but worth it. You are going to be on a plane for a very long time so paying a little extra is a no brainer.

kwl747

Sounds like you'll be flying EK. They have a competitive Y product: large avod screens, comfortable seats, I even found the food descent. Legroom is similar to domestic, ~32 inch seat pitch. You'll even be provided with amenity kits and sleeping masks. On there 777's Y seating is 10 across so the seats are a little narrow, but nothing too bad.

You can route through MXP (perhaps not for much longer), that will chop the 14hr JFK-DXB flight into a 7 and 6 hour flight, plus you get a 'free' night in MXP if you wanted. EK also assigns exit row seats only at airport checkin, so arrive early (2.5-3 hours) and you can likely secure an exit row seat with much more legroom.

You'd have to purchase another 120k miles to go in J rt for both of you, that would be an expensive purchase not worth the cost.

MonThruThurs

Honestly, depends where you can get seats.

I did ORD - PVG on PMUA 77E in the first row of E+, and it wasn't bad at all. I would have preferred to sit in business but, who wouldn't. However, I would not expect seats to be any different/better than those you're used to domestically.

If you're flying out of JFK, you'll more than likely be on an a380 (I think 2 of 3 EK flights are that plane) which is designed for 10 across, unlike the 77W.

If you have enough miles for it, I would said go for business class and treat yourself. But, you'll survive either way.

kaminski6

We are both in our mid 20s and I'd love to save the extra miles for a trip to Europe next year.... I do not know what E, J , and Y mean.. (sorry for being uneducated). I assume E is coach and E+ is business? Also... How can we get a night in Milan? I was having trouble earlier learning how to use the award flight tool. I was looking to spend 2 nights layover in Dubai, and if we could also somehow get a night in Milan it would be awesome. Do I still book as one way awards as that is what I had to do to get the 2night stopover in Dubai.

MonThruThurs

Y - standard coach
Y+ - economy plus (UA term is E+, maybe I'm wrong)
J - Business Class
F - First

kaminski6

Are any sort of meals/drinks provided on Coach flights? Different provisions in business?

kaminski6

Do you know off hand or where I can find the upgrade cost to go from Y to Y+

kwl747

Book a one-way using multi-city. Seg 1 is JFK-DXB, Seg 2 DXB-MLE. Again, the JFK-MXP route might be going away, so be aware of schedule changes. Also, this assumes you get from CLE-JFK on some other means.

Sample:

CDKing

Depending on the airline, Meals and drinks are usually much better in business than in coach and include multiple courses. Although the main reason one goes for business over coach is the seat and more room. Most carriers that fly that far have a seat that turns into a bed. On many carriers it means 180% lie flat. Coach is just coach unless the airline has an economy+ type product such as Delta & KLM

Somewhere between $100 to $200. Looking at United Washington DC to Dubai its $179 per person each way. Delta ATL-DXB is $129 per person each way. If you are flying Emirates there is no E+

Often1

Do not be confused between UA's E+ product and Premium Economy. E+ is not a separate class of service and simply means that you get a little bit of extra legroom. But, the seats themselves, the food and the like are basically the same as Y (Economy).

Premium economy (which does not exist on UA or any USA carrier) is a separate class of service between Economy & Business. There will be nicer seats, better food and so on.

It is worth doing the research on each carrier's website to see what you get in each class of service and then making decisions.

CDKing

With the Alaska Program the only option that allows a Premium Economy product bookable with miles to Middle East/India region is British Airways (With its fuel surcharge) and Cathay Pacific routing across the pacific via HKG. Both do fly to MLE although OP would be responsible for paying for flights to get to the international gateway city as Cleveland does not have Alaska service

Often1

Nonetheless, it's clear that OP is confused by references to E+ and premium economy. Two different animals.

ANC

coach seats are pretty much the same size in a 737 as a 777 or maybe an inch wider. If you are used to flying on Embraers and CRJs then the seats will feel quite roomier. But if you fly MD80s and 737s usually, then you wont probably notice any difference

kaminski6

I have 125k AS miles in one acct, and 52k in the other. A rountrip business class ticket is 145k miles... I looked into buying AS miles and they are 40k for $1,100. What is the cost to upgrade a ticket if I just book a normal round trip coach ticket at 85,000 miles , or is that not even possible?