kennycrudup

Finally taking a vacation and burning some of these accumulated Marriott and AmEx Points. I've already set my dates and have "paid" for my hotel stay. I want to arrive in CDG on Wednesday, September 8th ('10) and return 9/15. I've read thru a few of these "help me I need to burn my points" threads and not really gotten anywhere.

There's a non-stop flight on AF from LAX direct to CDG- any suggestions about (1) how to get two F tickets on it using my MR points (only, I hope), or (2) if there's a better carrier to get there on (the $$ cost of this trip would be $38K(!) so I suspect the service is pretty good, but if say LH or whatever is better, let me know).

FWIW, I'm (barely ) a ST elite, if that'll help any.

gleff

I don't believe your Amex points can get you AF F, IIRC AF F redemptions are only available to Flying Blue elite members.

AF F really isn't a great product in any case.

United also flies the route non-stop and if they happen to have availability (not likely, actually) you could transfer your points to Air Canada Aeroplan and redeem for 100k points per seat.

Otherwise, Lufthansa LAX-FRA-CDG is a possibility (again, best bet is to transfer to Aeroplan for cheapest award) as is British Airways LAX-LHR-CDG which is likely to have the best availability and BA is an Amex partner (recent addition). Note that as is common for European programs they whack you with fuel surcharges on awards, and also transiting LHR you're stuck with the UK luxury tax.

kennycrudup

I'd read about the various charges, etc. before, so I'm prepared for those.

And 6 mos out for F isn't really that long a time out- so which one do you think I should try for first? I guess I should avoid LHR for the extra $$, but if the service on BA is better than on LH, I'd do that.

Thanks for getting back to me, and 'tlll I have tix in "hand" I'm going to have more questions, so I beg for yours and the forums' indulgence.

Also, I guess I need to get an Aeroplan account ASAP, huh? Should I browse their forum in case there's some first-timer deals, etc? Any caveats I should know about AC?

thepointsguy

There is plenty of AF F award availability, but as gleff mentioned, it is only for AF elites. Unfortunately there is no business class availability (you could have booked that via Delta with the 40% Amex bonus).

Your only way to get award seats in First will be to transfer the necessary miles to an AF elite and they book it for you. You'd obviously have to have a very trusting relationship with that person. Perhaps you can find an established FT AF Elite on CC and offer them 10k of your amex for their troubles if they book for you.

Or you could try status matching to Flying Blue (long shot, but worth a try).

kennycrudup

Barring the "scam" factor, are there any other pitfalls to this approach? Would they be able to book two tickets (on the same PNR)? What happens in the case of IROPS, etc.?

Oh, and I doubt AF would status match a lowly DL FO

thepointsguy

Yes- they'd be able to book tickets for you on the same PNR- no problem. In IRROPS, you'd deal directly with the airline. People book tickets for other people all the time- as long as you trust the person, it should be fine. The biggest thing is if your plans change and you need to redeposit/pay change fees to change your itinerary, you want to make sure you are dealing with someone who will do that for you.

JFKLAX321

While I disagree with gleff's assertion that AF F isn't really that great, I would recommend doing LH. They have an excellent product and do not hit you with as many additional fees as BA (whose product is equally distinguished). It seems a bit cumbersome (and a bit much to ask) to trust a complete stranger with your trip and 200k+ MR points.

If I were you I'd transfer to AC and book on LH. You'll be enjoying caviar in First on LH with far less hassle than you would have to go through to enjoy the vintage Feuillatte on AF. YMMV.

gleff

I'd stand by my claims re AF F.

But as for my bizarre statement about that UA serves LAX-CDG, not sure what I was thinking when I wrote that!

kennycrudup

Thanks guys. While a direct flight is always nicer, I don't mind the stop in Germany.

Now, let's walk me thru this like I'm a 6-year-old:

- get onto the AirCanada (eh?) site and sign up for an AC on-line account
- go to the LH site (and presumably register there, too) and find the flights I want
- go back to AC and verify the AC/LH codeshare(?)
- ...?
- ...?
- Have AmEx xfer the points to my AC account
- Once they post, go back to the AC site and book the pair of tickets
- PROFIT

It's those middle steps I'm not sure about.

Also, if I wanted to spend a day in Frankfurt, is my understanding that I can take the connection up to 24 hours later correct?

kennycrudup

Also, I have ~150K UA miles that have been collecting dust for a decade. Can I transfer these to AC as well, saving me hard-earned (personal spend) MR points?

super-mileage-fan

No, you cant transfer UA miles into an AC account.

Yes, transferring MR to AC to fly LH from USA to EUROPE in Biz or First is one of the very best use of MR.

AC's CSR can help you check award availability (or use ANA tool or KVS tool).

troyb

A couple small corrections:

- Instead of using the LH site, use ANA. At least as of a couple years ago, it is not easy to join the LH program and check their availability. ANA is super easy.
- Not sure about your codeshare comment - but any codesharing is irrelevant.
- Regarding the transfer, my advice to people is to set up the link between AC/Aeroplan and AMEX in advance and do a test transfer of 1,000 miles online to see how long it takes. It should be instant, for all intents and purposes. Once you know it will be instant, call AC/Aeroplan, tell them you plan to transfer in AMEX points at the end of the process, build your itinerary, then once complete, transfer the points in from your AMEX account.
- With AC/Aeroplan, you can actually have up to two stopovers, in addition to your final destination. So, you could stop over in Frankfurt for as long as you want. You could stop over in another city as well.

As for your UA miles, you can't transfer them to AC/Aeroplan, but you can theoretically redeem them on the same flights as your AMEX points, albeit with less liberal routing rules. My advice would be to attempt to hold the itinerary you want with UA for one ticket and if it is available (meaning, not blocked by them), book it. Then book the remaining 3 tickets using AMEX points through AC/Aeroplan.

mia

Codesharing is irrelevant because you are trying to use award inventory which LH has made available for partner redemptions. It's for this same reason that you do not want to check availability on the site of the airline that you will fly. You need to verify partner award availability, not merely award inventory which might be available only to LH Miles & More members.

Information about using the ANA tool is here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/bmi-d...sterclass.html

kennycrudup

Thanks, Troy. As Murphy's law would have it, I have an Aeroplan account now, but the MR site is largely down and I can't link the accounts right now. That's a good idea to try 1K points first to time the transfer.

I see what you're saying about buying one outbound for one of us (just so's we're all clear, I need two round-trip tickets ex-LAX) via UA but it sure sounds like that's risky, as I'm still worried about what would happen in the case of IROPS. This is my first European trip and would hate to be ill-informed (and with only 9 mos of "commute trips" between SoCal and NoCal/UT I'm not really a "frequent flier" like many here; you can do those in your sleep and there's plenty of options).

Off the top of one's head, does anyone know how many UA points would be needed for one F award ticket?

troyb

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9630/4.7.1.61 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

I'm sorry. I thought you needed 4 round trips, never meant to suggest any one ways.

A single rt using UA miles is 135k. If they are not blocking the seats you need, I see no problem using UA for one ticket and AMEX via AC for the other, if your routing allows.