Not sure if this is the most appropriate place to post this, or if it belongs in the UA forum, since most likely it will mostly be a UA award ticket I'm looking for help on.
I'm getting married 7/20/13. We'd like to leave for the honeymoon 7/21/13 from SBA, and spend the bulk of it in the Greek islands. We'd like to fly First (or at least Business) class. One thing we're considering is flying to IST, spending a few days there, and taking a boat to Greece. Probably like to at least see Athens before leaving the country (and maybe fly out of there on our way out). We'd also like a stopover (Paris, Rome? Open to suggestions) on the way back.
I guess what I'm asking for is where/how to start looking. I'll probably end up getting at least a few months of KVS. Suggestions on what airlines would be best would also be helpful, for looking at partner award tickets.
Hotel suggestions will be useful as well.
Here's what I've got (or will have shortly when the bonuses clear):
400k UA miles. Went nuts with the Months of Miles promo last year in prep for this, and actually got all the miles I was supposed to.
100k AA miles
70k SPG points
70k HA miles (or 140k HH. Probably more useful that way)
155k Club Carlson points
85k US miles
There's still a lot more to pay for the wedding, and a ton of that can go on credit cards. So I plan at least one more app-o-rama, possibly two, before all is said and done. Next one probably not until December, though. (I did one round before the deposit, got 2xSPG, 2xAA, 2xHA cards.) I'm thinking the next one will include an Ink Bold or Ink Plus, 2xCiti HH card, Amex HH card... but am open to suggestions there as well. I might try to have my fiancee get a card or two as well, but that my be difficult with her credit. I already have 4 Chase personal cards, so I'm not sure about getting a UA Explorer (and can't seem to get the 65k offer to come up for me anymore).
Thanks for any help! I'm not looking for this all to spelled out exactly for me as to what tickets to get, really just for the best ways to find out availability and do it myself. At least online, I can't get UA awards for those dates yet, so I figured I'd start asking for help now before the awards I want are possibly gone. :)
If all goes well, I should also be *G/UA 1P by the end of this year, if that makes any difference for these plans.
redtop43
Aug 3, 12, 6:22 am
I'm not the expert on this stuff, but I do know that business class space is much easier to find than first class.
ejh25
Aug 3, 12, 7:24 am
I'm not the expert on this stuff, but I do know that business class space is much easier to find than first class.
This is generally true. Finding J inventory on TK can be tough but it's doable.
From LAX, you've got a lot of options using your UA miles. LAX-FRA-ATH and LAX-IST-ATH are two good routes.
Finding F on the LAX-FRA flight might be a little tough but J shouldn't be hard.
Another option is to change destinations and think about SE Asia. Thailand is where we went for our honeymoon and loved it. CX F from LAX-HKG-BKK would be nice.
Happy
Aug 3, 12, 3:52 pm
Just want to let you know that both IST and ATH can be VERY HOT in the period you plan to go.
Greek Isles are insanely expensive in Jul and Aug months, and EXTREMELY HOT. Paris also can be very hot in Aug, and the Parisians if they could, largely flee the city to escape the heat (and for their own vacations).
While this is your wedding and honeymoon, that you want to do it right after your wedding, the time of the year is not optimal in terms of the comfort to both your body and your pocketbook.
Regarding about taking a boat from IST to ATH - not sure you mean a Med cruise or a regular Ferry Boat - quite a bit of difference between the 2, naturally.
Greek ferries are not cheap when you compare it to the cost of an actual cruise. The only advantage doing Greek Isles by yourselves is to give you more time to each place you want to go, but it actually costs a lot more than taking a "normal" Greek Isles or Med cruise that every cruise line offers. Also the ferry schedules are confusing to research because there are several companies offer such services.
balima
Aug 3, 12, 8:32 pm
We've been to Greece before and plan on going back in 2013 as well. We used UA miles and ended up flying Austrian Air on the way out going through IAD and Vienna. Food was lovely as they have a chef on board and an espresso maker. We took LH on the way back through Munich. LH has alot of availability about 300 days out. Should be no problem getting two seats on LH in J. Remember that Aegean Air is now a member of star alliance and can be used throughout the islands. *A allows one stop over and one open jaw per round trip so you can plan on using those. Aegean Air also has some very reasonable flights, so if you want to maximize island time and minimize ferry time, think about flying and racking up some BIS miles. Aegean was voted best regional in Europe. We've have flown them and were quite satisfied - Mr. Balima loved their coffee.
Flights directly to Athens are hard to come by. Look for flights into FRA, MUC on LH and then use other *A carriers to Athens, Paris or where ever. Word of warning about Greece, their beds are as hard as rocks.
penner42
Sep 15, 12, 2:09 pm
Reviving this thread with an update. Nothing booked yet. I got a subscription to KVS Tool and have been playing around with it.
What I've found so far on the outbound looks like two options:
SBA-SFO, overnight there 9:56 PM-7:10 AM
SFO-JFK UA/p.s. F
JFK-VIE OS J
VIE-ATH OS J arrives 1:45 PM local time
OR
SBA-SFO, overnight again, but don't have to wake up as early, 12:50 departure the next day
SFO-LHR UA J
LHR-ATH A3 J arrives 5:45 PM local time.
So... how would people compare these two options? OS looks like J is the highest cabin, no F. That's probably better than UA J, right? The first option has one more flight, but only cuts the longest flight down from 10.5 hours to 8.5. Am I also right in assuming the flight through LHR will have significantly higher taxes and fees? What do people recommend? (Also, I'd get waitlisted for first on all eligible flights, so there's a chance the SFO-LHR would end up in F).
Our plan right now is looking like flying into ATH, spending 2 nights (1 day) there, heading to two islands for 4-5 days each, then flying back out of ATH to CDG or GVA. Those flights seem to be easy to get. A couple nights there, then we'll take the train CDG-GVA or the other way, spend a couple nights there, and fly back home. I see AC C on 8/10 GVA-YUL-LAX, then LAX-SBA the next morning, but that cuts us a couple days short of what we want, and I don't see any premium cabins 8/12 or 8/13 right now. I'll keep looking. Edit: Looks like I counted the days wrong. 2 nights in Athens, 5 nights at each island, 3 nights in Paris, 3 nights in Geneva puts us right at 8/10. This might work.
If we have an overnight at the end (arrive LAX 10:49 PM, leave the next morning at 7:33) do we get our bags back? If so, we may want to skip the last leg, buy one-ways a few days later, and go to a couple of Mets/Dodgers games. :)
There's no reason to avoid a London transit because of concerns about taxes/fees. Connecting passengers are exempt from the UK Air Passenger Duty. Fees (the Heathrow Passenger Service Charge) might be somewhat higher than if you were to connect elsewhere, but nothing outrageous.
There's no reason to avoid a London transit because of concerns about taxes/fees. Connecting passengers are exempt from the UK Air Passenger Duty. Fees (the Heathrow Passenger Service Charge) might be somewhat higher than if you were to connect elsewhere, but nothing outrageous.
Okay, thanks. I'm still leaning towards the first option because longest flight of 8.75 hours sounds better than 10.5, and I expect p.s. F (though who knows what that will be in a year) + OS J will be better than UA J. Waking up that early will be annoying, but getting in 4 hours earlier will be nice. Of course, I have to convince the fiancee of all this...
penner42
Sep 15, 12, 10:39 pm
Well, it's booked! Thanks for the comments, everyone. :)
117.5k miles + $122.79 per person. She said she'd waive the $25/person booking fee, but at the moment it still shows up on my reservation online.
IAATM
Sep 16, 12, 7:36 pm
Why bother with Athens???? Pick up a connection in ZRH (LX) or FRA (LH) and flight directly to Santorini (Thira) or Crete (Heraklion)!!!! The islands will be much more romantic and beautiful than Athens, and the availability will likely be better, too!
(PM me if you want hotel recommendations in JTR or HER.)
penner42
Sep 16, 12, 8:17 pm
Why bother with Athens???? Pick up a connection in ZRH (LX) or FRA (LH) and flight directly to Santorini (Thira) or Crete (Heraklion)!!!! The islands will be much more romantic and beautiful than Athens, and the availability will likely be better, too!
(PM me if you want hotel recommendations in JTR or HER.)
We want to at least spend one day there, since we'll be so close. See the Acropolis, probably not do much else. We're gonna fly into Athens, get cheap A3 flights to one island, probably boat to a second island, then probably cheap flight back to Athens to fly out. I looked for flights directly into Santorini and Crete, and didn't see anything available. It's possible I missed it. The main parts of the trip are booked now, and we're gonna stick with it.
We're planning to only spend two nights in Athens, the first of which is after traveling 24 hours, so we'll just need a bed, won't matter where. Then we spend the one day in Athens, another night, then it's off to an island.
penner42
Sep 17, 12, 3:24 pm
Okay, more planning. Anyone know the best program to use miles on intra-Greece flights? Certainly not worth 50k UA miles for flights that will probably total $300ish. Looks like Aegean is 6250 one way, but I have no miles there and don't see a good way to get 25k.
Any other options? I'll want flights either ATH-JTR and JMK-ATH, probably... or the reverse. Worst case, I will just pay for the tickets, but if there's a way not to, I'm all for it. :)
penner42
Oct 8, 12, 12:32 pm
Another question... my current trip is the following:
SBA-SFO-JFK-VIE-ATH
ATH-CDG
GVA-YUL-LAX-SBA
I'm allowed two open-jaws and a stopover... so would this be a valid routing?
SBA-SFO-JFK-VIE-ATH-JTR
JMK-ATH (stop)
ATH-CDG
GVA-YUL-LAX-SBA
Basically, adding the intra-Greece flights (ATH-JTR, JMK-ATH) onto my existing award ticket. It'll cost me $75/ticket probably to do it, but $150 is cheaper than those flights will end up costing. (On the other hand, I may want to just pay for them to work towards A3 *G, so I don't know if I'll do this yet.)
balima
Oct 8, 12, 3:12 pm
Another question... my current trip is the following:
SBA-SFO-JFK-VIE-ATH
ATH-CDG
GVA-YUL-LAX-SBA
I'm allowed two open-jaws and a stopover... so would this be a valid routing?
SBA-SFO-JFK-VIE-ATH-JTR
JMK-ATH (stop)
ATH-CDG
GVA-YUL-LAX-SBA
Basically, adding the intra-Greece flights (ATH-JTR, JMK-ATH) onto my existing award ticket. It'll cost me $75/ticket probably to do it, but $150 is cheaper than those flights will end up costing. (On the other hand, I may want to just pay for them to work towards A3 *G, so I don't know if I'll do this yet.)
JMK and JTR are short island hops and I don't know how much that will help toward 20K miles needed for A3 Gold. I say pay the $75 per ticket. Cheap flights. Looks like valid routing to me.
We just booked our trip to Greece last week. Also on *A. We have
ORD-YUL-ZUR-ATH (stopover) UA-LX-LX
ATH-RHO-ATH-FRA-ORD A3-A3-LH-LH
3 tickets in J the entire route. Ours were a little more difficult to find since we needed 3 J tickets instead of just 2. But diligence does pay.
We are going mid-June, just before the heat and crowds. As for Athens, the Parthenon and the Acropolis Museum are incredible. If you need another day trip, consider the Temple of Posiden or Delphi. Although you could find enough to do in Athens with the Temple of Zeus, changing of the guard, and walking around the Plaka.
yoonny
Oct 8, 12, 4:14 pm
Whoa, that is a lot of flying/moving around but I am sure it will be a great honeymoon regardless.
Time to get more SPG points. Grand Bretagna is fantastic in Athens. Hotels will be really pricey in the summer so if you can redeem points, you will save a lot of money. Santorini is great for honeymoon but I will choose another island over Mykonos.
penner42
Oct 8, 12, 4:52 pm
JMK and JTR are short island hops and I don't know how much that will help toward 20K miles needed for A3 Gold. I say pay the $75 per ticket. Cheap flights. Looks like valid routing to me.
We just booked our trip to Greece last week. Also on *A. We have
ORD-YUL-ZUR-ATH (stopover) UA-LX-LX
ATH-RHO-ATH-FRA-ORD A3-A3-LH-LH
3 tickets in J the entire route. Ours were a little more difficult to find since we needed 3 J tickets instead of just 2. But diligence does pay.
We are going mid-June, just before the heat and crowds. As for Athens, the Parthenon and the Acropolis Museum are incredible. If you need another day trip, consider the Temple of Posiden or Delphi. Although you could find enough to do in Athens with the Temple of Zeus, changing of the guard, and walking around the Plaka.
Thanks... we're going the end of July, beginning of August so right in the middle of the heat and tourists. But we'll just sit and relax mostly, so it should be good. :)
Whoa, that is a lot of flying/moving around but I am sure it will be a great honeymoon regardless.
Time to get more SPG points. Grand Bretagna is fantastic in Athens. Hotels will be really pricey in the summer so if you can redeem points, you will save a lot of money. Santorini is great for honeymoon but I will choose another island over Mykonos.
Yeah, the beginning and end of it is a lot of travel, especially getting there. But it's all in business class, so it should be relaxing. (one leg in first, SFO-JFK... actually trying to downgrade that to save 35k miles, watching to see if availability opens up, or alternatively see if LH F opens up SFO-FRA on the A380, but I don't see that happening)
But once we hit Santorini, it'll be 5 nights there, a boat to Mykonos and 5 nights there, so plenty of time to relax. Then JMK-ATH and ATH-CDG should be pretty easy, 2 nights in Athens and 3 nights in Paris. The train to GVA is also easy, and 3 nights there... then we head home.
I've got ~80k SPG points now... should have 100k soon. Was thinking about using those for Vedema on Mykonos, but have to talk to my fiancee about where she wants to stay. :)
Depending on the cost, I might try to do the 50% off rate for 1000 SPG points as well. Not sure yet where we're going to stay in Santorini. For Athens I was thinking about the Hilton with points or just paying at the Radisson Blu. If Club Carlson has the Big Night Giveaway again next year, maybe use that to get the Athens hotel.
Paris we've got 3 nights at the Radisson Blu Champs-Elysees paid for with points from this year's Big Night Giveaway. Geneva I'm leaning towards the Intercontinental, planning to get the PC card in my next app-o-rama, and will just do points+cash if I can't get 120k total points.