Jshipper

Hey guys I am totally newbie and I am in desperate need of help. I am looking to fly (at budget) from toronto to japan august 8th until august 23rd. Dates can be slightly flexible if necessary.

I am keen to sign up for a new credit card to get the "welcome bonus" and rack up x amount of points to put towards this flight. I am prepared to spend about 3000 bucks to satisfy the card requirements (spend 3000 in the first 3 monthes yada yada yada).

I simply need to know what card to get, what airline to use etc etc. Please help ASAP !! I work like 14 hours a day as a cook and really can't spend time on this during my work week

I am just so overwhelmed with knowing which airlines will honor which cards/points/miles etc etc

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

If you're talking about flying this August (as opposed to August, 2016), it's highly unlikely that you will meet the spend requirements and have the bonus miles post in time to do you any good.

And are you are U.S. resident or a Canadian resident? The most lucrative credit-card sign-up bonuses seem to be limited to U.S. residents.

In addition, even if you could get a large number of miles by early August, there is absolutely no assurance that you would be able to find frequent-flyer award seats at the last minute.

Sorry.

Jshipper

I appreciate the response and I apologize for double posting. I didn't know how to remove the other post but decided my post was more suitable for this thread.

Yes it is for this august and I am Canadian.

Based on my research it would seem I need to fly using air-canada. Can anyone tell me any credit card points that function with this airline?

tcook052

Welcome to FT! As this isn't an Air Canada or Aeroplan specific query as a volunteer moderator I've relocated it to the Information Desk.

Regards,

tcook052
Air Canada forum moderator

Jshipper

Thanks for moving it, but I thought it was specific. I am pretty sure I need to fly using Air Canada and aircanada honors aeroplan points.

Maybe im completely wrong here but thats what I thought.

At any rate this trip is really stressing me out... really would appreciate some advice

If I just buy a ticket straight up... im looking at 1900 dollars. Really trying to shave that down a touch

Finkface

No offense, but FT isn't a travel agency or award booking service. This is your trip and you want it on miles/cheap, yet you can't be bothered spending any time on it. But you expect the people here, who also have jobs, to spend their time and do it for you? You won't get much help here without putting in some effort yourself and also contributing a bit to the forum before you ask members to do all your planning work for you as you just 'really can't spend the time' yourself.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

No, you don't have to fly Air Canada (unless you're only willing to fly nonstop). And even if you do want to fly Air Canada, you don't have to use Aeroplan miles. Since Air Canada is a Star Alliance member, you could use miles from any Star Alliance program to redeem for award travel on Air Canada.

While there are some exceptions, most airline FFPs do not let you shave the cost of a revenue ticket; you either redeem sufficient miles for a "free" award ticket, or you don't.

Since it is highly unlikely that you will get enough miles in any program to do you any good for this trip, I suggest that you instead concentrate on finding a cheaper cash ticket. Check the "opaque" fares at hotwire.com; consider placing a bid at priceline.com; or look through your Sunday newspaper's travel section for airline "consolidator" agencies, which might have lower fares available.

Good luck!

Doc Savage

Unfortunately, you are looking for tickets near the last minute. It is almost impossible that you could get a credit card and collect miles in time to book a flight, and even then you'd need to find award availability at the last minute.

Looking at Kayak.com, I see many flights near those dates at much lower prices, as low as $1117

http://www.kayak.com/flights/YYZ-TYO...08-23-flexible

Try there.

Jshipper

ive been sitting at my computer for the last 6 hours trying to work this out. If thats not putting time into it I don't know what is... the more I read... the more confused and overwhelmed I am.

Doc Savage

My friend, you have to face this fact. You are NOT going to be able to get a card and collect miles and find award flights in time for your proposed trip. That's the bottom line.

Your best bet is to find the cheapest flights and book fairly soon. Please see my link in the post above. I see some flights for $1117, which is really about as cheap as you are going to find, I think. I hope you are able to make your trip. Good luck!

mapleg

It is totally impossible for you to sign up for a credit card and "rack up" enough points to do anything to help you for a flight to Japan.

All you can do is search for the lowest fare you can find, and fares are not that cheap in August (there have been at times some fares in the high 800's to Japan (not on Air Canada), but between 1000 and 1100 is as cheap as it gets on AC. In August, you wont' find any prices that low.

mapleg

I think that price is in US dollars, not Canadian.

Doc Savage

But still a pretty reasonable fare. I really don't think he has a significant chance of finding anything cheaper.

Jshipper

ok i appreciate the advice guys...I guess i just severely misunderstood how rewards worked.

JDiver

The basics:

You've got to have miles or points, and credit cards usually take 4-8 weeks to give you those miles. I'm fighting Barclay's right now - I met all the criteria for 50,000 miles in early April, I still don't have the miles in my account.

You've got to have award seat availability. Airlines might release seats 355-330 days out; they get snapped up rapidly. They might release more seats if they have insufficient sales - but less so at high demand travel seasons.

You've got to have patience, and it's best if you