India - Ord to Hyd, how to fly FlyerTalker style.

Hello Folks,

I am planning a trip to Hyderabad India starting around the Christmas holidays for a month. I have recently joined this forum and realize that calling up my travel agent to book my tickets is not a savvy thing to do ;). Based on my deal hunting, I have been able to use Vayama to get RT tickets PP for $1427, flying out of ORD on Dec 24 & returning from HYD on 23 Jan for my wife & me.

I have 134,761 AA miles
262,500 Delta miles with Silver Med status
6,116 CO miles.
I have an Amex Gold, Chase Freedom & Chase continental, Citi AA credit cards.
I don't mind using my miles on coach, business or buying the tickets as long as I maximize the bang for my buck/mile.

What do you guys think, can I do better than booking with Vayama. I am slightly flexible with my dates +-3 days and I don't mind upto 2 layovers per trip. In fact, I would prefer taking a break for 2-3 days, some place nice.

So far so good. What class are the tickets via vayama? What airline? If you buy certain class, even economy, you can upgrade them using miles (and maybe cash) to biz 1st.

United/Continental coach tickets.

do you have a preference for alliance/program? AA has some similar fares from nearby cities connecting through ORD using the ORD-DEL flight. But you can try routing it via other cities, too (e.g., LHR/BRU/AUH).

If you buy certain class, even economy, you can upgrade them using miles (and maybe cash) to biz 1st.

very true....i wouldn't mind spending a little extra to travel on another airline if i could upgrade to business using miles or vouchers....

do you have a preference for alliance/program? AA has some similar fares from nearby cities connecting through ORD using the ORD-DEL flight. But you can try routing it via other cities, too (e.g., LHR/BRU/AUH).

Thanks for your response. You are right, however my destination is HYD not DEL. AA flights to HYD don't seem very promising.

You can fly ORD-FRA on LH or UA and FRA-HYD on LH. I'm not sure what days LH flys FRA-HYD and HYD-FRA--but its not every day. Otherwise, you can fly ORD-DEL on AA and DEL-HYD on Jet.

I'm not sure what days LH flys FRA-HYD and HYD-FRA--but its not every day

Starting in November, FRA-HYD will be no days. Last flight in late October.

Interesting ... looks like the loads may have dropped off! FRA-BLR flights are still packed (esp in C).


Starting in November, FRA-HYD will be no days. Last flight in late October.

I am doing ORD-CDG-AUH-HYD in 2 weeks.

ORD-CDG -AA
CDG-AUH - AA operated by Etihad
AUH-HYD - EY

With the ORD-CDG flight, I re qualify for Platinum on Segments. First time qualifying on segments.
With the AUH-HYD, will also cross 50k EQMs.

Only problem with ORD-HYD on AA via DEL is that, it needs an overnight stay in Delhi. If you have friends there it is ok, otherwise it is a hassle.

But now, there is a hotel inside the terminal we can stay in for these sort of layovers if you do not want to go out.

But returning from HYD-DEL-ORD is generally good if you are flexible.

I am doing HYD-BLR-DEL-ORD (AA/Jet)
Will not get the miles on HYD-BLR segment. But will be meeting some friends there.

Only problem with ORD-HYD on AA via DEL is that, it needs an overnight stay in Delhi. If you have friends there it is ok, otherwise it is a hassle.

This is no longer necessary as the AA flight arrives in DEL around 1740. There are many onward connections available to HYD that same evening.

This is no longer necessary as the AA flight arrives in DEL around 1740. There are many onward connections available to HYD that same evening.

Yes there generally are flights, and actually Kingfisher has a flight leaving at 8 pm, which works perfectly.
But AA does not give out tickets on that "yet".
The only AA tickets they give out for DEL-HYD is the 1st flight next day morning.

If I buy the tickets just to DEL, I can buy seperate tickets from DEL-HYD, but this option becomes more expensive.

Yes there generally are flights, and actually Kingfisher has a flight leaving at 8 pm, which works perfectly.
But AA does not give out tickets on that "yet".
The only AA tickets they give out for DEL-HYD is the 1st flight next day morning.

If I buy the tickets just to DEL, I can buy seperate tickets from DEL-HYD, but this option becomes more expensive.

Strange, there is an S2 flight 7:30 PM from DEL to HYD, but it's not an AA code. I believe there was an evening flight to HYD that was bookable, just last week when I checked. Maybe the timing was changed so that the connection is below MCT? In any case, it's not too difficult to add on the IT leg, but you're right it will be a bit more expensive.

EDIT: actually, checking on aa.com, the IT flights are cheaper than booking the AA-coded flights.

actually, checking on aa.com, the IT flights are cheaper than booking the AA-coded flights.

What I have seen is that the ORD-DEL segment becomes costlier in general if we buy separate tickets.
I might as well buy the ORD-DEL-HYD ticket for the same or lesser price if we don't mind the layover.

Was looking at this last month when booking tickets for my self and the family.

The family went on ORD-DEL-HYD, while I am going on ORD-CDG-AUH-HYD.

Return is via Delhi for all of us.

actually, checking on aa.com, the IT flights are cheaper than booking the AA-coded flights.

If we accrue EQM/RDM for IT flights, I would book that any day. But did not find that to be the case when I was trying to book.

EY was accruing the mile except for the TATL segment, and hence am flying to CDG and then to AUH.

Why are we here, if not to accrue more miles. ^