70000 Avios miles for Philippines emergency trip
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2011
Programs: Delta BA IHG UAL
Posts: 18
70000 Avios miles for Philippines emergency trip
Hi I need help to use the 70000 miles from IAH to MNL or IAH to CEB. Will be flying on next 15 days for family emergency. I also have 95000 pts on Chase reward in case to top it off. Thanks for the help.
#3
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Edi
Posts: 2,203
Is the meant to be in the BAEC forums...? (If so a quick look and it's about $990 with Korean air with a layover in Seoul in Y - If you need to fly OneWorld you could book with AA with two layovers, DFW and NRT for $1,100, again in Y)
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2011
Programs: Delta BA IHG UAL
Posts: 18
I'm looking for cheapest way to fly from Houston to MNL using 70000+ avios thru its partners. I search the British airways website but they only offer inbound flights but with no return availability. I'm even considering flying to ORD for flexibility.
#6
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: not far from MUC
Posts: 6,620
Do you have to book this as a return trip, or could you book the outbound now and sort out the inbound later?
#7
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 41,825
Let's break it down into parts:
IAH-DFW = 4500
DFW-HKG = 50000
HKG-CEB/MNL = 7500
Total = 62000
If you get yourself to SFO, the numbers are a little better because SFO-HKG is just under 7000 miles:
SFO-HKG = 35000
HKG-CEB/MNL = 7500
Total = 42500
This is for economy class travel, and is only one way. By way of comparison, 55k AA miles gets you all the way from IAH to the Phils in J on the same flights.
BA points are awesome if you use them according to their strengths (e.g. nonstop flights to/from fortress hubs), but the current system sucks for long flights and/or connections... and your mission requires both of the above.
In addition to CX, JL via TYO also works, but I didn't bother throwing those numbers out there because the YQ costs almost as much as a revenue ticket this time of year. (Same deal with BA metal, but worse because the distance is much greater ---> 80k points required each way.)
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: somewhere north of London, UK
Programs: HH Gold, BA Silver, Accor Silver
Posts: 15,245
If I'm not mistaken, using BA miles would also mean having to split the ticket so lose the accompanying protections. If you combine two partners on a ticket, the metrics change again (the award becomes mileage based) and I think it's usually even worse value...
http://www.britishairways.com/travel...e/public/en_gb
I'm not sure but I suspect it's distance flown, rather than the distance from A to B..
http://www.britishairways.com/travel...e/public/en_gb
I'm not sure but I suspect it's distance flown, rather than the distance from A to B..
#9
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,476
Welcome to Flyertalk astig19
I haven't looked at the numbers in detail, but I doubt that Avios would help in this particular situation. As mentioned by the other posters, there are some things which work really well using Avios but this scenario doesn't appear to be one of them. It may help as an adjunct to other services, for example if you find a cheap cash fare to HKG, and assuming (e.g.) Cebu Express isn't coming up with a cheap fare from HKG to MNL, then perhaps using Avios on Cathay would work. However there is such fierce competition to Cebu in particular (40 flights a day, 4 airlines) that even that looks doubtful.
Good luck, I hope it works out for you.
#10
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 858
My sympathy for you, only a few months ago my wife had to rush to Spain in a family crisis.
Strangely, a return ticket - even though she didn't know when she would be returning - was a third less than a single. If paying cash, might be worth checking that out too.
Strangely, a return ticket - even though she didn't know when she would be returning - was a third less than a single. If paying cash, might be worth checking that out too.
#11
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Manila, Philippines (MNL)
Programs: BAEC Gold [>20k Lifetime TPs] | Hilton Honors Lifetime Diamond [as is Mrs PtF] | Various Others
Posts: 6,156
By a strange coincidence I've just booked Mrs PtF a CAI-DOH-HKG-CEB J QR/CX return itinerary for January/February 2015 - all for less than GBP1,000. Quite a bargain.
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
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Posts: 29,371
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
You're right about the higher, multi-partner redemption rate, but if the OP were to book only AA and CX flights, AA guarantees protection in the event of IRROPS, even on separate tickets:
http://www.aa.com/i18n/agency/Bookin...tkt_policy.jsp
Originally Posted by Swiss Tony
If I'm not mistaken, using BA miles would also mean having to split the ticket so lose the accompanying protections. If you combine two partners on a ticket, the metrics change again (the award becomes mileage based) and I think it's usually even worse value...
http://www.britishairways.com/travel...e/public/en_gb
I'm not sure but I suspect it's distance flown, rather than the distance from A to B..
http://www.britishairways.com/travel...e/public/en_gb
I'm not sure but I suspect it's distance flown, rather than the distance from A to B..
http://www.aa.com/i18n/agency/Bookin...tkt_policy.jsp
#14
Join Date: May 2008
Programs: Executive Club, Miles&More
Posts: 237
Also remember that QR flies to CRK/Angeles City which is often cheaper than MNL and often has better reward availability.