I have about 260k in BA Miles. I want to go use them and go somewhere with my wife, but not sure where. Neither of us have ever traveled in Business (let alone First), and we definitely want to enjoy the experience.
I also want to avoid LHR because of all the taxes/fees associated there. I know I'm still going to have to pay YQ cause its BA, but as long as its not outrageous, I'll live with it.
We're flying out of LAX, and would prefer direct flights. We have no particularly strong preference of where to go.
Some places that look interesting:
Hong Kong (via Cathay)
Tokyo (via JAL)
Australia (via Qantas)
Not interest in Europe, Russia or South America at this time.
Between Cathay, JAL and Qantas, who offers the best Business class product? Right now I'm leaning towards Cathay and also because Hong Kong sounds really interesting, but wouldnt mind Tokyo either if JAL offers a similar level of service.
Besides the 3 destination options above, any other destinations I should consider that are served from LAX by OW partners?
SanDiego1K
Dec 26, 10, 12:03 pm
LAN has a good business class product. Consider an itinerary with stops in both Buenos Aires and Santiago enroute to Easter Island. I like each of the cities, and Easter Island is fascinating with its great stone statues.
I have about 260k in BA Miles. I want to go use them and go somewhere with my wife, but not sure where. Neither of us have ever traveled in Business (let alone First), and we definitely want to enjoy the experience.
I also want to avoid LHR because of all the taxes/fees associated there. I know I'm still going to have to pay YQ cause its BA, but as long as its not outrageous, I'll live with it.
We're flying out of LAX, and would prefer direct flights. We have no particularly strong preference of where to go.
Some places that look interesting:
Hong Kong (via Cathay)
Tokyo (via JAL)
Australia (via Qantas)
Not interest in Europe, Russia or South America at this time.
Between Cathay, JAL and Qantas, who offers the best Business class product? Right now I'm leaning towards Cathay and also because Hong Kong sounds really interesting, but wouldnt mind Tokyo either if JAL offers a similar level of service.
Besides the 3 destination options above, any other destinations I should consider that are served from LAX by OW partners?
Bear in mind that BA permits free en-route stopovers on award travel, even on partner carriers. So if you fly JL to Japan, you could continue on them -- after a stopover in Japan -- to another JL Asia destination. Same thing with CX via HKG. And you could probably see both Australia and New Zealand on a single QF award.
jbalmuth
Dec 27, 10, 8:35 pm
LAN has a good business class product. Consider an itinerary with stops in both Buenos Aires and Santiago enroute to Easter Island. I like each of the cities, and Easter Island is fascinating with its great stone statues.
+1
The OP wrote that they weren't interested in S. America at this time, but maybe they should reconsider.....
Besides the free enroute stopovers, BA redemptions on LAN attract only minimal taxes and no fuel fines. 80k miles plus $10 or so gets one a very comfortable J cabin and 3+ stops. Best use of BA miles, imho.
rajuabju
Dec 27, 10, 9:15 pm
+1
?
The OP wrote that they weren't interested in S. America at this time, but maybe they should reconsider.....
Besides the free enroute stopovers, BA redemptions on LAN attract only minimal taxes and no fuel fines. 80k miles plus $10 or so gets one a very comfortable J cabin and 3+ stops. Best use of BA miles, imho.
Really? 80k for Business and that little in terms of taxes? And I thought the fuel surcharges were in effect no matter who I redeemed BA on....
For this kind of redemption, I would very much consider LAN.
JB, I was able to confirm 80k roundtrip on LAN from LAX to Santiago, Chile, with 1 stop-over in Lima, Peru.
But how on earth can i get 2 or 3 stop overs? And what are my options from LAX? I'd love to do Mendoza and/or Buenos Aires if I can include them in the trip.
Since the LAN group of affiliated carriers offers service from SCL to MDZ and from MDZ to AEP (Buenos Aires Newbery Airport), you might be able to persuade BAEC to give you an itinerary of LAX-LIM-SCL-MDZ-AEP, or at least LAX-LIM-SCL-MDZ. No guarantees, but it's worth a try. If you make it to Buenos Aires, for the return, you could fly out of EZE, for a more direct return to the U.S. on either LAN or AA. (Not sure if BAEC is assessing fuel surcharges on AA flights from South America to the U.S.)
By the way, "+1" is simply FT shorthand for, "I agree."
Bear in mind that BA permits free en-route stopovers on award travel, even on partner carriers. So if you fly JL to Japan, you could continue on them -- after a stopover in Japan -- to another JL Asia destination. Same thing with CX via HKG. And you could probably see both Australia and New Zealand on a single QF award.
I would really love to know, whether this is a permitted itinerary on a single BA partner award ticket:
Toronto - Hong Kong (via CX) - Tokyo (via CX or JL) - Hong Kong - Toronto (via CX)
So, it is basically Toronto to Tokyo with a stopover in Hong Kong....I want to use CX to Hong Kong and then use CX or JL onto Tokyo...
Many thanks to anyone who can offer some insight...
cruise603
Jan 8, 11, 8:54 pm
I would really love to know, whether this is a permitted itinerary on a single BA partner award ticket:
Toronto - Hong Kong (via CX) - Tokyo (via CX or JL) - Hong Kong - Toronto (via CX)
So, it is basically Toronto to Tokyo with a stopover in Hong Kong....I want to use CX to Hong Kong and then use CX or JL onto Tokyo...
Many thanks to anyone who can offer some insight...
Should only use one-partner airline either CX or JL, otherwise you have to use much more miles.
Yes it is doable, I have booked CX J class for this coming March using 50K miles: LAX - Hongkong - Tokyo o/w
then AA: NRT - LAX
and I think that JL charges more on taxes.
rajuabju
Jan 9, 11, 2:22 pm
Just booked my latin america trip this morning with BA... Not going until November, but I'm excited already.
1) LAX to Buenos Aires
2) Buenos Aires to Mendoza
3) Mendoza to Chile (Santiago)
4) Chile to Lima (Peru)
2 tickets /w LAN every flight is Business Class, except the to/from flights to Mendoza where its only single cabin service.
Total Cost in miles: 185,000
Total Cost in taxes/fees: About $250
I wanted to say thank you to everyone who helped out! (a) My wife decided Latin America would be more interesting than Asia at this time (fine by me). (b) The routing we got is absolutely perfect (c) Under $300 in taxes/fees, no complaints from me! (d) My first time ever in Business class... so I am VERY excited!
And I still have another 70k in BA miles for the future.
Becky2010
Jan 12, 11, 8:14 pm
That sounds amazing. I used some miles last summer and flew business class on Iberia, and it will make it hard to fly coach on such long flights ever again! Have a great trip!
nanirina
Mar 12, 11, 7:11 am
sory for brining up this old thread. I have a really dumb question to make but how do I specify the stopover when using the BA online award booking? It seems to only let me do From: To and nowhere to specify stopover. And when the page automatically asks me for where to stop, it only lists London in the dropdown. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks.
fgadler
Mar 12, 11, 7:51 am
sory for brining up this old thread. I have a really dumb question to make but how do I specify the stopover when using the BA online award booking? It seems to only let me do From: To and nowhere to specify stopover. And when the page automatically asks me for where to stop, it only lists London in the dropdown. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks.
You'll have to call BAEC call centre and ask them to do it.
rocket69
Apr 1, 11, 11:14 am
Should only use one-partner airline either CX or JL, otherwise you have to use much more miles.
Yes it is doable, I have booked CX J class for this coming March using 50K miles: LAX - Hongkong - Tokyo o/w
then AA: NRT - LAX
and I think that JL charges more on taxes.
50K BA Miles to book a Reward ticket from LA - HKG on CX J class??
rocket69
Apr 1, 11, 9:41 pm
50K BA Miles to book a Reward ticket from LA - HKG on CX J class??
My bad assumed there was a return leg too :)
rajuabju
Jun 7, 11, 1:39 pm
Ok, well, instead of starting up a new thread for my next future trip, might as well bring this one back...
I want to plan out my next future trip for sometime in early 2012. Both my wife and I took advantage of the 100k CC offer this time around (missed it the first time). So now, she has about 110k in BA miles, and I have close to 225k
So now we want to go to Asia. Open to places such as: Japan, Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia. Maybe a few other destinations. Not so much mainland China.
Can anyone recommend some routing options I should look into? I'm guessing CX and JAL would be my best bets, but if I remember correctly, if I'm redeeming BA miles on a carrier partner, while I can do stop-overs, I cant "switch" partners..., right?
You can use multiple partners on a BA award, but doing so triggers the mileage-based redemption chart which could cost you significantly more miles. So it's best not to mix carriers on a BA award.
However, since BA offers one-way awards, you could use JL one way, and CX the other way. Be aware that BA's fuel surcharges are higher on JL flights than on CX flights.
Henry82
Jun 11, 11, 12:39 am
I'm in a similar boat in that I am considering whether to transfer my AMEX MR points to BA vs. Delta (both have +50% transfer offers right now). If I were to go with BA, I would be looking to keep to a 1-oneworld partner redemption.
Is it possible to book a BA partner flight operated by a non-oneworld airline?
For instance, I would like to book CAN-Tokyo-CDG
A.) CAN-NRT is operated by JAL (JL856)... I can't even pull up Guangzhou (CAN) as a departure city on BA website. What's going on here?
Tokyo-Paris (CDG)... 2 options
B.) HND-CDG is operated by JAL (JL41)
C.) NRT-CDG is a codeshare (JL5055) operated by Air France AF277.
A+B are both operated by JAL, meeting the BA 1-partner criteria. But the problem is the NRT-HND inter-Tokyo transit. Another thing, this route only shows up through OneWorld, but not on JAL... BA doesn't even recognize CAN as a departure city.
A+C is preferred as it connects through NRT, but Leg C is operated by AF... would BA allow this redemption under 1-partner criteria? Or is it simply out of the question since AF isn't OneWorld? (I understand that if AF was OW, BA would recognize this routing 2-partner flight)