Hello all,
Next spring we (my DH and myself) would like to go see cherry blossom in Japan as well as the Keukenhof Garden closed by Amsterdam.
Could FTers help us on picking the best programs with the least amount of points to go to these 2 places.
Ideally we would like to go as below:
March 28: Lax - NRT/HND
April 7 or 8 (flexible) : NRT-AMS
Apr 13: AMS - LAX
As a bonus, it would be nice to try the new aircrafts (A380, 787 dreamliner, ...) if possible. We have enough miles/points for 2 business or First seats with AA, Avios, UA, US, Delta.
I think the least amount of miles would be to go with UA, but don't know if they allow crossing both the Pacific and the Atlantic in a single award, please advice.
In Business Class -- assuming you can find the award seats -- the trip can be done for 130K AAdvantage miles per person, using a distance-based Explorer award. Something like:
Lax-tyo-hkg-ams-mad-lax
would work
as would lax-tyo-hkg-ams-lon-jfk-lax
or lax-tyo-hel-ams-lon-lax
Lots of routing possibilities that would keep the itinerary under the permitted 20,000 flown miles. Stopovers at intermediate points are also allowed, if desired.
Note that flights on IB would incur modest surcharges; long-haul flights on BA would incur substantial surcharges.
rankourabu
Sep 2, 12, 1:33 pm
Multiple one way award.
not necessary - but will require going LAX-Japan over the Atlantic - at least with United miles.
MPM+15 LAX-NRT TATL is 17239 miles, so you have a lot to play with.
This website has a nice search feature for how many miles it costs in about 50 different airline programs. I have found it useful anyway. http://milez.biz/en/index.php
cruise603
Sep 2, 12, 3:53 pm
thank you so much for your quick replies.
I will now focus on AA (OneWorld 130K) and UA (120K) . Now the hard part is to find availability.
cruise603
Sep 2, 12, 8:32 pm
Using the AA Oneworld Explorer award, there are 2 choices for NRT-AMS:
1. NRT-HEL-AMS with Finnair, total travel time: 13hr 45 (5806 miles)
2. NRT-HKG-AMS with CX, longer flight: 17hrs+ (7599 miles)
I have read a lot of raves about CX business, it will be a no brainer to pick it vs AY. However since the distance is longer I have to drop or pay for 1 segment so that the total distance will be less than 20,000 miles. Will it be worthed ? So how is CX business compared with AY business class ?
Using the AA Oneworld Explorer award, there are 2 choices for NRT-AMS:
1. NRT-HEL-AMS with Finnair, total travel time: 13hr 45 (5806 miles)
2. NRT-HKG-AMS with CX, longer flight: 17hrs+ (7599 miles)
I have read a lot of raves about CX business, it will be a no brainer to pick it vs AY. However since the distance is longer I have to drop or pay for 1 segment so that the total distance will be less than 20,000 miles. Will it be worthed ? So how is CX business compared with AY business class ?
Again, thanks so much.
MH.
What is the complete routing you are looking at? There are certainly routings for LAX-TYO-AMS-LAX that include TYO-HKG-AMS and come to less than 20,000 miles.
Scuta
Sep 3, 12, 5:14 pm
You can also do a round trip w/ stop over using UA miles for 120K biz and 140k first.
DC777Fan
Sep 3, 12, 9:34 pm
According to Seat Guru, Finnair A340 has angled... Since it's the longest haul AC listed, I'm assuming that'd be your ride ex-NRT. CX gets reviews as among the best business class out there (new business). If the availability is there, it could possibly be worth doing First if you have the miles as CX first is usually rated as one of the best, if not the best, F class in the world.
So to answer the question, I'd definitely go on CX for a ~20% difference in flight time.
cruise603
Sep 4, 12, 2:44 pm
Thank you all so much for your replies.
I totally agree with DC777Fan that CX is much better than AY. We do have the miles but cannot find CX first seats available.
So far our routing is:
LAX-NRT (JL)
NRT-HKG-AMS (CX) or NRT-HEL-AMS (AY)
AMS-BCN (BA)
BCN-MAD-JFK-LAX (IB)
So if taking NRT-HKG-AMS total miles flown will be around 20,200, we may have to book the BCN-MAD leg separately using 4,500 Avios miles.
Would this be the best use of miles ?
If you can find award space from AMS to MAD on IB, this itinerary
lax-nrt//hnd-hkg-ams-mad-jfk-lax
comes to 19,999 miles on the Great Circle Mapper. :) (Note the airport change in Tokyo.)
macdonaldj2
Sep 4, 12, 3:59 pm
Why not fly
LAX-IAH-FRA-NRT (a380 on LH)
NRT-FRA-AMS-ORD-LAX
or two one way on UA/then BA?
cruise603
Sep 4, 12, 5:42 pm
Originally we did not intent to stop at BCN, but thanks to FT I have learned that we should use IB instead of BA to avoid the fuel charges and since we always wanted to see Barcelona anyway (we have been to Madrid already), therefore BCN was added to the itinerary. Sorry about the confusion.
You are correct, there is no direct OneWorld flight AMS-BCN, actually it should be AMS-Lon-BCN.
thanks again.
cruise603
Sep 4, 12, 5:49 pm
Why not fly
LAX-IAH-FRA-NRT (a380 on LH)
NRT-FRA-AMS-ORD-LAX
or two one way on UA/then BA?
Hi macdonalj2
LAX-IAH-FRA-NRT (a380 on LH)
NRT-FRA-AMS-ORD-LAX
will this be 120K UA miles (business class) vs 130K AA OneWorld Explorer with the extra BCN stop ?
Look like *alliance availability is slimmer than OneWorld for the requested dates, but A380 on LH is quite tempting.
Originally we did not intent to stop at BCN, but thanks to FT I have learned that we should use IB instead of BA to avoid the fuel charges and since we always wanted to see Barcelona anyway (we have been to Madrid already), therefore BCN was added to the itinerary. Sorry about the confusion.
You are correct, there is no direct OneWorld flight AMS-BCN, actually it should be AMS-Lon-BCN.
thanks again.
Then you had better crunch the numbers again. Even if you use Avios (or cash) to get from BCN to MAD, you're still going to exceed 20,000 flown miles.
macdonaldj2
Sep 10, 12, 12:33 pm
Hi macdonalj2
LAX-IAH-FRA-NRT (a380 on LH)
NRT-FRA-AMS-ORD-LAX
will this be 120K UA miles (business class) vs 130K AA OneWorld Explorer with the extra BCN stop ?
Look like *alliance availability is slimmer than OneWorld for the requested dates, but A380 on LH is quite tempting.
UA Business saver is 120k R/T pp F is 140k pp
Jesperss
Sep 10, 12, 1:38 pm
"if you can find award space"
that's the hard part :(
benzemalyonnais
Sep 10, 12, 11:12 pm
Just do a regular LAX-NRT R/T with a stopover in BRU. BRU is extremely close to AMS and is a *hub so you can stopover. I think that one could hook up with the nice-looking JFK-BRU SN flight from LAX.
I fly into BRU all the time because AMS often too expensive. 20 euro BRU-AMS if you book in advance.
Why in the world would you want to get CX involved in this itinerary.............i know their biz is good, but it's brutally inconvenient.
Maybe shoot for LX biz to NRT, which has average availability, and I think there might be new 'good' LH availability in C when you're travelling.
LAX-JFK-BRU (STOP) - ZRH-NRT-LAX.
Easy and comfortable. If you want the A380, you'll have to deal with LHs big biz cabins.
Just do a regular LAX-NRT R/T with a stopover in BRU. BRU is extremely close to AMS and is a *hub so you can stopover. I think that one could hook up with the nice-looking JFK-BRU SN flight from LAX.
I fly into BRU all the time because AMS often too expensive. 20 euro BRU-AMS if you book in advance.
Why in the world would you want to get CX involved in this itinerary.............i know their biz is good, but it's brutally inconvenient.
Maybe shoot for LX biz to NRT, which has average availability, and I think there might be new 'good' LH availability in C when you're travelling.
LAX-JFK-BRU (STOP) - ZRH-NRT-LAX.
Easy and comfortable. If you want the A380, you'll have to deal with LHs big biz cabins.
The OP has indicated a desire to go to TYO before going to AMS. Not sure if there is any flexibility to that aspect of the itinerary.