bmi diamond club - Advice needed on Shanghai (PVG) - Hangzhou (HGH) - London (LHR)

Hi Guys, i have around 70000 miles, need a ticket from Shanghai(PVG) - London(LHR), nonstop, currently, the cheapest ticket i can find is around £800 pounds for return, the require dates are 21/11/09, return date 24/04/2010.

Any suggestions, such as how to use the miles, what class to book, or any cheap ticket where i can book, will be appreciated.

Thx in advance! :)

If you've got the flexibility, a Z8-Z2 redemption is by far the most efficient use of your points. You can then head on to London using the most appropriate LCC.

For our Big China Trip a couple of years ago, we did CPH-FRA-PVG in LH F before they tightened up the miles cost and FCT access - but I thought LH J
was fine (based on our YYZ-DUS trip recently)

We returned PEK-ARN nonstop in SK J - which was fine.

I'm sure others with experience of the other *A carriers can give you more options and opinions, but there are plenty of options to play with.

I noticed you say PVG or HGH - so I guess HGH-PEK-[onwards] would be an option for you, but I don't think the ANA tool shows availability for the Chinese *A partners - and I'm not sure how you could check this out.
(I think there are also ANA flights to Japan ex-HGH, if that's not counted as backtracking)

Otherwise, we found the high-speed train from HGH to Shanghai South to be very comfortable - not sure what the link would be like to PVG, though, as we didn't have to worry about this.

I suppose you could also consider flights ex-SHA to connect to other *A hubs, and maximize your long-haul options.

I don't have time to play with the ANA tool for ya right, but suspect other kind souls may step in if you don't have access to it...

Hope some of this helps, anyway - good luck!

Air China is not on ANA, neither is Swiss. However, what what is on ANA:

Only First Class is available on 21 November, SHA to MUC on Lufty, which is too many miles. Availability is truly terrible - first day with a J seat is Tuesday 17th or Monday 23rd when you can do SHA-FRA-LON on LH. This would be 52,500 miles plus £180 plus tax using cash and miles. Going Z8-Z2 is cheaper. Monday 23rd is also available in Economy for 17,500 miles + £120 + tax (or 35,000miles plus tax) on LH, with a choice of the lunchtime FRA or midnight MUC flights.

No problem getting economy seats back on 24/4 (or business either) - a Y seat on LH is 17,500 miles + £120 + tax.

Total - 70,000 miles exactly if you do J out, Y back!

Just checked Swiss via Little Miss Sofasurfer's M&M account:

Nothing on the dates you request, but a couple of other options:

Mon 23rd Nov: J avail in LX189 SHA-ZRH (and no problem connecting to LCY or LHR from this)

Return - Sat 24th Apr has J avail in LX188 ZRH-SHA

Just looked at ex-HGH on ANA, and you've got the following as a Z8-Z2 option:


11/21 (SA)
OZ360 Hangzhou Seoul(Incheon)
15:55 19:00
11/22 (SU)
OZ541 Seoul(Incheon) Frankfurt
12:50 16:35


avail in J and Y

similarly, return shows:


4/24 (SA)
LH740 Frankfurt Osaka(Kansai)
14:30 08:40+1

4/25 (SU)
NH951 EL Osaka(Kansai) Hangzhou
10:35 12:10


I can't see anything that would work to/from LHR ecx-HGH no ANA that meets your original requirements, though. Not from an top-level sweep, at least. In any case, the excessive APD in J ex-UK means you may as well get a LCC positioning flight to Z2 and do the majority of the journey in comfort - if you have the flexibility to do so!

and if you wanted to tack on FRA-LHR return to the ex-HGH itin I posted, there's loads of availability in J and Y on pretty much every flight on those days.

For example:

OUTBOUND

1/22 (SU)
LH4740
Frankfurt London(LHR)
18:10 18:50 320



RETURN

3/24 (WE)

LH4803
London(LCY) Frankfurt
09:05 11:35 AR8

LH4725
London(LHR) Frankfurt
09:50 12:25 321

WooooW, Thx Guys!!!!!
I will look into all those options!