Reward Travel combined with rev ticket ROC-HKG in May-June 2011, suggestions?
I am going to book a reward travel ticket for my girlfriend from ROC to HKG this May/June, 2011. I see 125k is the standard reward redemption through CO website. However, she would like to sit with me so I have to figure how the best way to pay my tix to get the EQM while she pays nothing but enjoys the first instead of Y.
What I am planning to do is to get her on first through UA ROC-(ANA)ORD/IAD-(ANA)NRT-HKG RT. I notice CO doesn't seem to release all the reward savers so it's expensive to redeem the CO reward tickets. If I book the same through CO and fly through ANA with B or M fare, can I use the same upgrade scheme to upgrade my flight so I can sit with her? I just found that B won't be available for ANA flights, and the fact that most ANA international flights will only give you 70% EQM except full paid Y. There will be about 60k miles in my AMex Membership rewards which have not been transferred. Do you think I should transfer all of them to OP or to ANA? Anybody knows the mile redemption for ANA flights? Can we book through CO to fly ANA, and use the miles in my ANA account to upgrade? These are the questions I don't know yet. |
Lots of questions in there; here are a couple answers:
Basically you'd have to buy the ANA fare and upgrade using their rules if using their miles or buy the ANA Y/B fare and upgrade using the *A Upgrade rules if using OnePass miles. |
I am going to book a reward travel ticket for my girlfriend from ROC to HKG this May/June, 2011. I see 125k is the standard reward redemption through CO website. However, she would like to sit with me so I have to figure how the best way to pay my tix to get the EQM while she pays nothing but enjoys the first instead of Y. This is the ideal for most of my travel too.....and it is consistently very difficult to work out. Good luck. |
If you fly ROC-EWR-HKG on CO you'll likely find better flight times and easier access t;) upgrades. It will also be easier to coordinate IMHO.
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Originally Posted by xyzzy
(Post 15541662)
If you fly ROC-EWR-HKG on CO you'll likely find better flight times and easier access t;) upgrades. It will also be easier to coordinate IMHO.
If OP can find 2 reward J seats on ANA and a reasonable ANA B fare, his best bet is to book his girlfriend into one reward seat and claim the other as a *A upgrade. The other option is to book/waitlist two rewards on CO metal and then purchase the elite maximizer for himself. This will be "expensive" even if the price for the EQMs drops after the new year. |
Originally Posted by ijgordon
(Post 15542962)
Yes, but OP states "I notice CO doesn't seem to release all the reward savers so it's expensive to redeem the CO reward tickets." EWR-HKG is probably incredibly difficult to find a standard BusinessFirst award on, and while you can potentially waitlist, having one person on the waitlist for an upgrade and the other on the waitlist for a reward seat is not likely to end well. :)
If OP can find 2 reward J seats on ANA and a reasonable ANA B fare, his best bet is to book his girlfriend into one reward seat and claim the other as a *A upgrade. The other option is to book/waitlist two rewards on CO metal and then purchase the elite maximizer for himself. This will be "expensive" even if the price for the EQMs drops after the new year. |
Originally Posted by xyzzy
(Post 15541662)
If you fly ROC-EWR-HKG on CO you'll likely find better flight times and easier access t;) upgrades. It will also be easier to coordinate IMHO.
|
Originally Posted by ijgordon
(Post 15542962)
If OP can find 2 reward J seats on ANA and a reasonable ANA B fare, his best bet is to book his girlfriend into one reward seat and claim the other as a *A upgrade.
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Originally Posted by xyzzy
(Post 15544377)
I wish y:pu well with that strategy. The *A upgrades are segment based, not trip based so a connecting flight requires double the miles. I've not had too much luck with *A upgrades, but then again I was looking to redeem UA miles against CO metal. CO has plenty of availability without a waitlist on the flights I'm interested in (HKG-IAH in this case) but for some reason no seats are being made available via *A.
1. EWR-HKG 772ER 2. ANA IAD-NRT 772ER 3. UA IAD-NRT 772ER? I am curious about the difference between the last two. However, would UA stick with the CO upgrade scheme to have 30k EQM + B or stick with *A upgrade? That's huge difference here, as noted by xyzzy. |
Why avoid the 747? I prefer them, particularly when seated upstairs. UA now has lie-flat seats on all of its 747 aircraft. Only a few of the UA 777 aircraft have been converted. There are also more seats to potentially upgrade into on the 747. than the UA 777 aircraft. If you're going on UA you really do want the 747. UA also offers service ORD-HKG, which cuts out the NRT connection and potentially late arrival time into HKG.
Regarding the upgrade itself, I don't know the details of the UA upgrade for miles scheme. I've always used SWUs. :eek:h -- and I meant NRT-IAH in my post above... |
Originally Posted by xyzzy
(Post 15544377)
I wish y:pu well with that strategy. The *A upgrades are segment based, not trip based so a connecting flight requires double the miles.
I've not had too much luck with *A upgrades, but then again I was looking to redeem UA miles against CO metal. CO has plenty of availability without a waitlist on the flights I'm interested in (HKG-IAH in this case) but for some reason no seats are being made available via *A. "plenty of availability" you're seeing for upgrades on NRT-IAH or for full awards? FWIW, my only personal experience with a *A award was trying to get a J->F award on TK for IST-JFK. Seats were never released, even though the F cabin ended up going out completely empty. :td: |
Originally Posted by ijgordon
(Post 15546902)
Fair point -- it would thus be 50k miles for a *A upgrade on US-NRT-HKG each way, vs. 30k on Continental.
It's been reported that *A upgrades come out of standard reward inventory. Is the "plenty of availability" you're seeing for upgrades on NRT-IAH or for full awards? |
Originally Posted by xyzzy
(Post 15548777)
Don't forget that you can't waitlist for *A awards. You have to keep calling in to check if inventory is available.
The inventory I'm seeing is standard inventory on the NRT-IAH segment. C:rolleyes:.com is willing to upgrade me right away for 30k, and there are 8 seats available. |
Originally Posted by ijgordon
(Post 15549026)
Still :confused:. CO.com willing to upgrade you for 30K is not the same as standard BF award availability, they're different buckets. The *A upgrade (e.g., using UA miles) reportedly requires availability for a free BusinessFirst award ticket.
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Originally Posted by xyzzy
(Post 15549180)
I believe that's there t:rolleyes::rolleyes:.
And if your belief is incorrect, then that would make sense. |
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