America West FlightFund (Discontinued Program) - Has anyone redeemed Flight Fund miles for business/first trip to Asia?

I'm looking to book two business/first tickets to PEK (Beijing) China next April, so I'm getting prepared to work on it exactly 12 months out.

I've redeemed boatloads of miles to Europe on BA but never to Asia. I've had several international agents talk about how wonderful BA is for them to work with, especially compared to NW. It used to be that NW tickets were virtually impossible for them to get; I can't imagine that has gotten any better.

NW is the best option from a schedule perspective but their service leaves a bit to be desired. BA is a good option service-wise but I know from the BA Exec Club side that free tickets to Beijing are hard to come by. It's also a long way around the world to go PHX-LHR-PEK. :eek: Same problem with Virgin, plus they only fly to Shanghai, which isn't where I want to go.

Has anyone booked business/first Asia travel via Flight Fund in recent memory? I'm wondering about availability or any other tips you can offer based upon your experience.

I have not tried to book to Asia, but I looked at NWA for award travel to Beijing and they currently won't book online past the end of February 2006. However, in Feb. 2006, they have several options available starting at 180k WorldPerks miles. It was First class to Detroit and Business class to Beijing. It looks like the options will be there, but it looks like you're right to book early (the Beijing options available for next February are all Rules Buster category meaning more miles are necessary.)

Hope this helps.

I submitted a request to SIN about 3 weeks ago and have not yet heard back (biz class).

I submitted a request to SIN about 3 weeks ago and have not yet heard back (biz class).

I'm very curious to hear what they come back with vs. what you requested. Please post details when you hear from them.

As for the time frame -- three weeks and you still haven't heard back?! That's a long time.

I finally got a response today and it was pretty much like that dumb commercial - no way Jose. I tried to go from SFO to SIN late July with early August return. I was looking for one biz class ticket.

SFO To PEK
outbound was WBC for 75k This was in late feb05.