Hello,
I'm need to get to a conference Jan 11-13 in NewDelhi, India. I live in Miami, but I am willing to fly out of any US airport. I only have 180,000 miles on American to work with, but could do a leg on another airlines with Delta (100,000 miles) or United (48,000) miles if necessary. I don't have a subscription to expert flyer, and need to find the best way to get Mia to DEL and back. My dates are flexible. I can leave as early as Dec 29 and I need to be in MIA by Jan 20th. Does anyone have any suggestions for a itinerary that does not have associated taxes > $500? Ive looked at separate itineraries from LON-DEL, but every option I find has taxes >$600.00.
Thanks
hello,
i'm need to get to a conference jan 11-13 in newdelhi, india. I live in miami, but i am willing to fly out of any us airport. I only have 180,000 miles on american to work with, but could do a leg on another airlines with delta (100,000 miles) or united (48,000) miles if necessary. I don't have a subscription to expert flyer, and need to find the best way to get mia to del and back. My dates are flexible. I can leave as early as dec 29 and i need to be in mia by jan 20th. Does anyone have any suggestions for a itinerary that does not have associated taxes > $500? Ive looked at separate itineraries from lon-del, but every option i find has taxes >$600.00.
Thanks
Are you looking to travel in Coach or in Business Class?
For Coach, roundtrip award travel at this time of year ranges in cost from 80,000 miles (via Europe) to 95,000 miles (via Tokyo). If you go via Europe or Tokyo, you can actually stop over there in either or both directions, if desired, since those routings would involve combining two separate awards. (You could effective get an around-the-world trip for 87,500 miles by routing U.S.-Tokyo-DEL-Europe-U.S.) Keep in mind that you are also entitled to a stopover at your North American "gateway." A gateway stopover might be useful if it's tough to find award availability on both the domestic and the international portions of your itinerary on a single day.
The aa.com website does not support award booking on many AA partners that serve DEL, like JL, GF, EY, RJ and 9W, so you do need to call AA. But first decide what your preferred routing would be, then your second choice, etc. If you do end up connecting in Europe in either or both directions, make sure you specify that you want to combine a U.S.-Europe Coach award, with a Europe to India Coach award. At this time of year, that combination actually costs fewer AAdvantage miles than a U.S. to India Coach award!
Also, take a look at AB availability out of both MIA and RSW to Germany (DUS and TXL). (You can see AB award availability at aa.com.)
I forgot to mention the most important thing in my earlier post. You will only be hit with high fuel surcharges on award bookings if you fly on BA metal. There are no fuel surcharges on the other AA partners noted above, and only minimal fuel surcharges on IB.
There have been a lot of threads about using miles to get to India. I am ready to conclude that India is no longer a destination that is a good value for miles in the AAdvantage program.
So long as there are AA partners other than BA that fly to India, it absolutely can be an excellent use of miles. Many posters about India don't know that aa.com omits most AA partners. Also, Explorer awards are a great way to include India.
Programs: AA - PLT/2MM, 9W-Gold, Marriott Platinum Premier, Hhonors Silver
Posts: 578
many choices you have my friend...
EY thru AUH;
AY thru HEL as suggested
AA to LHR and then 9W to DEL
CX through HKG (although this will be 2 sep awards and will need more miles)
JAL through NRT (again, sep awards so more miles)
you can take AB to AUH and then EY to DEL
best choice - try MIA-JFK/ORD/-AUH-DEL
or MIA-LHR on AA and then LHR-DEL on 9W..
mind you, that increases APD as transit thru LHR and 9W has also increased taxes to include Fuel charge (much lesser than BA though) and also that 9W is notoriously frugal with award seats release...
mind you, that increases APD as transit thru LHR and 9W has also increased taxes to include Fuel charge (much lesser than BA though) and also that 9W is notoriously frugal with award seats release...
There is no air passenger duty on a mere transit through LHR of less than 24 hours. No surcharge is due when flying on AA or 9W metal.
Programs: AA (current EXP, occasional PLT, 0MM); UA; US; DL
Posts: 4,650
Basic rules are very simple -
To minimize the cost in miles, fly via Europe or Middle east, and avoid Pacific routing.
To minimize cash surcharges, avoid BA. (High tax itineraries you are finding likely have a long BA segment.)
To escape long layovers and overnights, avoid AY (Finnair). Besides inconvenience and possible expense (if you get a hotel), an overnight may require getting a visa if you don't have a US/EU passport.
However, that the above-noted options are less desirable also means they may have availability when those mentioned below don't. In such a situation, come back to these and see which one sounds least bad to you.
That said, we are left with AA, RJ, EY (Etihad), GF (Gulf), 9W (Jet) as preferred options to be explored first, and these can be mixed and matched. With some flexibility on your part, something should be possible.
AA's web tools are primitive and you do have to call their reservation desk. For best help, call out of busy / peak periods. As reservation holds expire in the night, early morning is also good for finding seats which may be gone later in the day.
Good luck. Don't forget to let us know what you find.
many choices you have my friend...
EY thru AUH;
AY thru HEL as suggested
AA to LHR and then 9W to DEL
CX through HKG (although this will be 2 sep awards and will need more miles)
JAL through NRT (again, sep awards so more miles)
you can take AB to AUH and then EY to DEL
best choice - try MIA-JFK/ORD/-AUH-DEL
or MIA-LHR on AA and then LHR-DEL on 9W..
mind you, that increases APD as transit thru LHR and 9W has also increased taxes to include Fuel charge (much lesser than BA though) and also that 9W is notoriously frugal with award seats release...
9W thru BRU is an option as well. I booked this for next year using miles.
In such a situation, come back to these and see which one sounds least bad to you.
