Need help CLT-KTM Itinerary
Jan 4, 2015, 1:03 pm
#16
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: CLT
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Posts: 2,074
dukerau...Ok, I really like the trick with ANA. I will definitely be using that in the future. I think that $ and mile wise it makes the most sense to fly separate.
Sorry to continue asking questions, but I know I still have a lot to learn. What do you think my best use of miles for the quickest flight/least stops to and from KTM if we don't fly together? I am having trouble finding award availability for flights from Europe to KTM. Is there a good tool for doing this?
Sorry to continue asking questions, but I know I still have a lot to learn. What do you think my best use of miles for the quickest flight/least stops to and from KTM if we don't fly together? I am having trouble finding award availability for flights from Europe to KTM. Is there a good tool for doing this?
Jan 4, 2015, 3:03 pm
#17
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Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
"aa.com doesn't show availability for Emirates and Qatar (among others), both of which are bookable with AA miles (you'll have to call when you find what you want)."
Emirates cannot be booked with AA miles; but Etihad can.
"aa.com doesn't show availability for Emirates and Qatar (among others), both of which are bookable with AA miles (you'll have to call when you find what you want)."
Emirates cannot be booked with AA miles; but Etihad can.
Jan 4, 2015, 4:03 pm
#18
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: CLT
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Posts: 2,074
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
"aa.com doesn't show availability for Emirates and Qatar (among others), both of which are bookable with AA miles (you'll have to call when you find what you want)."
Emirates cannot be booked with AA miles; but Etihad can.
"aa.com doesn't show availability for Emirates and Qatar (among others), both of which are bookable with AA miles (you'll have to call when you find what you want)."
Emirates cannot be booked with AA miles; but Etihad can.
Jan 4, 2015, 4:40 pm
#19
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 12
The best I have come up with is a flight on US air from CLT-LHR on Mar 22 arriving Mar 23. Flying BA LHR-DEL arriving Mar 24. Depart APR 8 flying AY DEL-HEL-LHR. 80,000 miles + $623.63 taxes and fees. This obviously doesn't include flight from DEL-KTM and back or a night stay in London. Ethiad flights take an eternity to get to and from your destination. I think I am better off just choking up the cash and using the miles in the future for a better redemption. Any thoughts?
Jan 4, 2015, 4:55 pm
#20
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How did you determine that that's your best itinerary? Did you call AA to ask about availability on 9W or QR for any part of your trip?
Originally Posted by mqdarling
The best I have come up with is a flight on US air from CLT-LHR on Mar 22 arriving Mar 23. Flying BA LHR-DEL arriving Mar 24. Depart APR 8 flying AY DEL-HEL-LHR. 80,000 miles + $623.63 taxes and fees. This obviously doesn't include flight from DEL-KTM and back or a night stay in London. Ethiad flights take an eternity to get to and from your destination. I think I am better off just choking up the cash and using the miles in the future for a better redemption. Any thoughts?
Jan 4, 2015, 5:46 pm
#21
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 12
I have tried using BA.com and AA website. No I haven't called. I guess I should. BTW what is 9W?
Jan 4, 2015, 6:09 pm
#23
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: CLT
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Posts: 2,074
The best I have come up with is a flight on US air from CLT-LHR on Mar 22 arriving Mar 23. Flying BA LHR-DEL arriving Mar 24. Depart APR 8 flying AY DEL-HEL-LHR. 80,000 miles + $623.63 taxes and fees. This obviously doesn't include flight from DEL-KTM and back or a night stay in London. Ethiad flights take an eternity to get to and from your destination. I think I am better off just choking up the cash and using the miles in the future for a better redemption. Any thoughts?
I just pieced this together. It's not perfect, but there is a ton of availability to work with, so you could easily move things around.
Award 1: 43K ANA (1 pax). Found using united.com
3/22 UA 7:16p CLT-IAD-FRA 11:45a (next day) OR 10:18a CLT-IAD-FRA 7:10a (next day)
4/9 UA 12:20p FRA-IAD-CLT 6:36p OR 5p FRA-IAD-CLT 11:24p
Award 2: 20K AS (1 pax). Found using alaskaair.com
3/22 AA 11:40a CLT-DFW-FRA 7:30a (next day)
Award 3: 40K AA (2 pax). Found using etihad.com
3/23 EY 9:55p FRA-AUH-KTM 3:35p (next day)
Award 4: 40K AA (2 pax). Found using etihad.com
4/8 EY 8:55p KTM-AUH-FRA 7a (next day)
Award 5: 30K UA (1 pax). Found using united.com
4/9 UA 12:20p FRA-IAD-CLT 6:36p OR 5p FRA-IAD-CLT 11:24p
All together, this looks like this:
Passengers 1 and 2 fly separately CLT to FRA. Both can arrive ~7am
15 hour layover in Frankfurt - plenty of time to see Frankfurt or surroundings
Fly together FRA-AUH-KTM, arriving next day at ~3:30pm
Return 4/8, KTM-AUH-FRA.
Choose somewhat aggressive 5hr layover or safe 10hr layover. Remember if you miss connection, you are responsible for paying to get home.
This should avoid fuel surcharges completely. You'll just owe airport taxes and fees. Should be < $200 per person. Since you need long layovers in Europe both ways, you may want to look at connecting in a different city than Frankfurt one of the times. Of course you can always choose to stay a night or two if you'd like. There are no restrictions since you have separate awards to/from Europe.
I am by no means saying this is the best itinerary. I just started with your dates and found something that worked. I saw tons of options for each award, so I think there's a lot of flexibility on how you piece this together. You will have to be separate for either US-EU or vice versa due to how your miles are distributed. I couldn't get it to be the EU-US piece with these dates, but I'm sure it's possible.
Jan 4, 2015, 6:36 pm
#24
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 12
Looks like you're only searching aa.com. You need to call or search on partner websites to see the whole picture (I prefer searching myself to avoid hours on phone with agent).
I just pieced this together. It's not perfect, but there is a ton of availability to work with, so you could easily move things around.
Award 1: 43K ANA (1 pax). Found using united.com
3/22 UA 7:16p CLT-IAD-FRA 11:45a (next day) OR 10:18a CLT-IAD-FRA 7:10a (next day)
4/9 UA 12:20p FRA-IAD-CLT 6:36p OR 5p FRA-IAD-CLT 11:24p
Award 2: 20K AS (1 pax). Found using alaskaair.com
3/22 AA 11:40a CLT-DFW-FRA 7:30a (next day)
Award 3: 40K AA (2 pax). Found using etihad.com
3/23 EY 9:55p FRA-AUH-KTM 3:35p (next day)
Award 4: 40K AA (2 pax). Found using etihad.com
4/8 EY 8:55p KTM-AUH-FRA 7a (next day)
Award 5: 30K UA (1 pax). Found using united.com
4/9 UA 12:20p FRA-IAD-CLT 6:36p OR 5p FRA-IAD-CLT 11:24p
All together, this looks like this:
Passengers 1 and 2 fly separately CLT to FRA. Both can arrive ~7am
15 hour layover in Frankfurt - plenty of time to see Frankfurt or surroundings
Fly together FRA-AUH-KTM, arriving next day at ~3:30pm
Return 4/8, KTM-AUH-FRA.
Choose somewhat aggressive 5hr layover or safe 10hr layover. Remember if you miss connection, you are responsible for paying to get home.
This should avoid fuel surcharges completely. You'll just owe airport taxes and fees. Should be < $200 per person. Since you need long layovers in Europe both ways, you may want to look at connecting in a different city than Frankfurt one of the times. Of course you can always choose to stay a night or two if you'd like. There are no restrictions since you have separate awards to/from Europe.
I am by no means saying this is the best itinerary. I just started with your dates and found something that worked. I saw tons of options for each award, so I think there's a lot of flexibility on how you piece this together. You will have to be separate for either US-EU or vice versa due to how your miles are distributed. I couldn't get it to be the EU-US piece with these dates, but I'm sure it's possible.
I just pieced this together. It's not perfect, but there is a ton of availability to work with, so you could easily move things around.
Award 1: 43K ANA (1 pax). Found using united.com
3/22 UA 7:16p CLT-IAD-FRA 11:45a (next day) OR 10:18a CLT-IAD-FRA 7:10a (next day)
4/9 UA 12:20p FRA-IAD-CLT 6:36p OR 5p FRA-IAD-CLT 11:24p
Award 2: 20K AS (1 pax). Found using alaskaair.com
3/22 AA 11:40a CLT-DFW-FRA 7:30a (next day)
Award 3: 40K AA (2 pax). Found using etihad.com
3/23 EY 9:55p FRA-AUH-KTM 3:35p (next day)
Award 4: 40K AA (2 pax). Found using etihad.com
4/8 EY 8:55p KTM-AUH-FRA 7a (next day)
Award 5: 30K UA (1 pax). Found using united.com
4/9 UA 12:20p FRA-IAD-CLT 6:36p OR 5p FRA-IAD-CLT 11:24p
All together, this looks like this:
Passengers 1 and 2 fly separately CLT to FRA. Both can arrive ~7am
15 hour layover in Frankfurt - plenty of time to see Frankfurt or surroundings
Fly together FRA-AUH-KTM, arriving next day at ~3:30pm
Return 4/8, KTM-AUH-FRA.
Choose somewhat aggressive 5hr layover or safe 10hr layover. Remember if you miss connection, you are responsible for paying to get home.
This should avoid fuel surcharges completely. You'll just owe airport taxes and fees. Should be < $200 per person. Since you need long layovers in Europe both ways, you may want to look at connecting in a different city than Frankfurt one of the times. Of course you can always choose to stay a night or two if you'd like. There are no restrictions since you have separate awards to/from Europe.
I am by no means saying this is the best itinerary. I just started with your dates and found something that worked. I saw tons of options for each award, so I think there's a lot of flexibility on how you piece this together. You will have to be separate for either US-EU or vice versa due to how your miles are distributed. I couldn't get it to be the EU-US piece with these dates, but I'm sure it's possible.
Jan 4, 2015, 6:45 pm
#25
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: CLT
Programs: AA, UA, BA, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold, IHG Platinum
Posts: 2,074
If you look for other dates/routes, make sure to look for 2 seats with UA/ANA miles for one of the directions since you will both need seats via different awards. Common mistake is to search for 1 seat with UA and 1 seat with ANA and see availability but there's really only 1 seat that you're counting twice in your head.
Last edited by dukerau; Jan 4, 2015 at 6:53 pm
Jan 4, 2015, 7:09 pm
#26
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 12
I would put holds on the AA awards first. Then book the Alaska one since they are refundable more than 60 days out (I think). Then do ANA (refundable less 3K miles). Then transfer your UR to UA and do the United award. Finally, call AA back and book the awards on hold. You should only have to call for the AA awards. I believe the rest is bookable online.
If you look for other dates/routes, make sure to look for 2 seats with UA/ANA miles for one of the directions since you will both need seats via different awards. Common mistake is to search for 1 seat with UA and 1 seat with ANA and see availability but there's really only 1 seat that you're counting twice in your head.
If you look for other dates/routes, make sure to look for 2 seats with UA/ANA miles for one of the directions since you will both need seats via different awards. Common mistake is to search for 1 seat with UA and 1 seat with ANA and see availability but there's really only 1 seat that you're counting twice in your head.
Jan 4, 2015, 7:54 pm
#27
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"BTW what is 9W?"
9W is Jet Airways (India), which is an AAdvantage partner. 9W flies EWR-BRU, flies from BRU and other European airports to India, and flies from India to KTM.
"BTW what is 9W?"
9W is Jet Airways (India), which is an AAdvantage partner. 9W flies EWR-BRU, flies from BRU and other European airports to India, and flies from India to KTM.
Jan 8, 2015, 4:36 am
#28
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 12
So here is the update:
I changed the dates slightly to take full advantage of weekend days off of work. By changing the dates I feel like I learned the process of putting together multiple award tickets. At the beginning it was difficult trying to keep dates, arrival times, departures, etc. straight, but by the end I felt that I had a better grasp of how it all works. I also decided it would be better to spend the night in FRA on the way to KTM rather than spending 2 consecutive nights on a plane.
I did have a couple moments of panic during the booking process that I thought I would share:
I'm booking the final award ticket, which meant I needed to transfer my miles from my 2 UR accounts to UA.... When I got ready to transfer I had 22,283 points in one account and 7,710 in the other. To save you the math, that is 29,993. 7 short of the 30,000 needed for the UA FRA-CLT ticket. On top of that I forgot the site only lets you transfer in multiples of 1,000. Then I had an epiphany. I remembered I had just over 3,000 already in my UA account.
I also found that I have a love hate relationship with the ANA website. I noticed when booking the award the last flight from IAD to CLT was waitlisted. I didn't think much of it because it let me pay for the award and everything. The next day I just happened to be checking my e-mails from ANA with trip itineraries. The one from ANA said that if I did not confirm the waitlisted flight by 23:59 Japan time on January 8th my whole award would be canceled. The first time I tried to confirm there was an error. By this point I was panicking. I tried again and it was confirmed.
All this to say it was well worth it. Total taxes and fees $612.20.
Thanks again to all those that helped me in this process!
I changed the dates slightly to take full advantage of weekend days off of work. By changing the dates I feel like I learned the process of putting together multiple award tickets. At the beginning it was difficult trying to keep dates, arrival times, departures, etc. straight, but by the end I felt that I had a better grasp of how it all works. I also decided it would be better to spend the night in FRA on the way to KTM rather than spending 2 consecutive nights on a plane.
I did have a couple moments of panic during the booking process that I thought I would share:
I'm booking the final award ticket, which meant I needed to transfer my miles from my 2 UR accounts to UA.... When I got ready to transfer I had 22,283 points in one account and 7,710 in the other. To save you the math, that is 29,993. 7 short of the 30,000 needed for the UA FRA-CLT ticket. On top of that I forgot the site only lets you transfer in multiples of 1,000. Then I had an epiphany. I remembered I had just over 3,000 already in my UA account.
I also found that I have a love hate relationship with the ANA website. I noticed when booking the award the last flight from IAD to CLT was waitlisted. I didn't think much of it because it let me pay for the award and everything. The next day I just happened to be checking my e-mails from ANA with trip itineraries. The one from ANA said that if I did not confirm the waitlisted flight by 23:59 Japan time on January 8th my whole award would be canceled. The first time I tried to confirm there was an error. By this point I was panicking. I tried again and it was confirmed.
All this to say it was well worth it. Total taxes and fees $612.20.
Thanks again to all those that helped me in this process!
Jan 8, 2015, 6:50 am
#29
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: CLT
Programs: AA, UA, BA, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold, IHG Platinum
Posts: 2,074
So here is the update:
I changed the dates slightly to take full advantage of weekend days off of work. By changing the dates I feel like I learned the process of putting together multiple award tickets. At the beginning it was difficult trying to keep dates, arrival times, departures, etc. straight, but by the end I felt that I had a better grasp of how it all works. I also decided it would be better to spend the night in FRA on the way to KTM rather than spending 2 consecutive nights on a plane.
I did have a couple moments of panic during the booking process that I thought I would share:
I'm booking the final award ticket, which meant I needed to transfer my miles from my 2 UR accounts to UA.... When I got ready to transfer I had 22,283 points in one account and 7,710 in the other. To save you the math, that is 29,993. 7 short of the 30,000 needed for the UA FRA-CLT ticket. On top of that I forgot the site only lets you transfer in multiples of 1,000. Then I had an epiphany. I remembered I had just over 3,000 already in my UA account.
I also found that I have a love hate relationship with the ANA website. I noticed when booking the award the last flight from IAD to CLT was waitlisted. I didn't think much of it because it let me pay for the award and everything. The next day I just happened to be checking my e-mails from ANA with trip itineraries. The one from ANA said that if I did not confirm the waitlisted flight by 23:59 Japan time on January 8th my whole award would be canceled. The first time I tried to confirm there was an error. By this point I was panicking. I tried again and it was confirmed.
All this to say it was well worth it. Total taxes and fees $612.20.
Thanks again to all those that helped me in this process!
I changed the dates slightly to take full advantage of weekend days off of work. By changing the dates I feel like I learned the process of putting together multiple award tickets. At the beginning it was difficult trying to keep dates, arrival times, departures, etc. straight, but by the end I felt that I had a better grasp of how it all works. I also decided it would be better to spend the night in FRA on the way to KTM rather than spending 2 consecutive nights on a plane.
I did have a couple moments of panic during the booking process that I thought I would share:
I'm booking the final award ticket, which meant I needed to transfer my miles from my 2 UR accounts to UA.... When I got ready to transfer I had 22,283 points in one account and 7,710 in the other. To save you the math, that is 29,993. 7 short of the 30,000 needed for the UA FRA-CLT ticket. On top of that I forgot the site only lets you transfer in multiples of 1,000. Then I had an epiphany. I remembered I had just over 3,000 already in my UA account.
I also found that I have a love hate relationship with the ANA website. I noticed when booking the award the last flight from IAD to CLT was waitlisted. I didn't think much of it because it let me pay for the award and everything. The next day I just happened to be checking my e-mails from ANA with trip itineraries. The one from ANA said that if I did not confirm the waitlisted flight by 23:59 Japan time on January 8th my whole award would be canceled. The first time I tried to confirm there was an error. By this point I was panicking. I tried again and it was confirmed.
All this to say it was well worth it. Total taxes and fees $612.20.
Thanks again to all those that helped me in this process!
