JAP

Your advice is welcome:-

Needing to get to CMB in late August / early Sept this year and will be using my BA miles to travel in Club there, one-way. Picking up a fare to NYC from there

Would you guys suggest routing thru Bangalore, Chennai or some other route to get there? I may spend a day or 2 in my transit city before I head to CMB, by the way, and I will be purchasing a ticket from X to CMB with cash ....

Your thoughts @:-), questions and advice are appreciated .... ^

PhilH

Personally I would consider DXB. Especially if your first flight on the CMB-NYC trip is on EK to SIN then you can get on the same aircraft originating in DXB and hopefully might not even have to get off the plane in CMB (you'd need to check this though).

Aerotec

I recently did an exCMB trip and got myself to BKK then flew with Mihin Lanka to CMB for £75.

Only prob you may have with getting to India, BKK etc is redemption availability. But if travelling one way and only need 1 seat then you may get lucky.

You can fly Air Asia from Sharjah which, I believe, is only a short bus ride from Dubai.

Mihin Lanka can only be booked via a travel agent but I got details of a good agent in CMB who can book it after you have faxed over the necessary info. You can check schedules and prices first on the website. PM me if you want the details.

Rich

JAP

Phil, Indeed I will be on the EK to SIN, but will want to spend a day or 2 in CMB with a charity that I am fundraising for ...

So BA to DXB, and then a paid o/way flight to CMB would be your thoughts?

Smirnoff

RJ via AMM is the way to go for 3 reasons:

1. RJ is excellent in J, and
2. No need to use miles, they have cheap J fares to CMB
3. You will earn stacks of miles/TPs from the trip
4. Great connections, if you route via AMS - AMS 1235 AMM 1820, AMM 1915 CMB 0420

JAP

Thanks Smirnie, I was looking at RJ, but was worried that it appears to be an Airbus A310 on both legs LHR-AMM & AMM-CMB - how comfortable would this be ?

And cheap J fares from LHR, or from AMM ?

Thanks!

Smirnoff

Cheapish from LHR - £1000 range, but duff connections, involving an overnight stay at AMM.

Best way (with excellent connections) is from AMS (EUR 850+tax), VIE (EUR 805+tax), GVA/ZRH (CHF 1480+tax), all leaving in the morning, and all offering 30-60 connections at AMM. All you need is to add on a cheapie one-way BA ticket to connect. AMS is the easiest. LCA is the cheapest (EUR 581 +tax), with a same day connection, but you'll need to come out from LHR to LCA the day before.

Euroland-AMM is usually on a 320 or 321.
AMM- CMB seems to be a 310.

RJ is excellent in J on the Airbus. Huge reclining seats, quite comfortable for sleeping in, AVOD with loads of movie choices. However, the main plus is the service - truly outstanding, great food served from a trolley at your seat, great wines, really outstanding.

The stewardesses look and smell nice. As do the burly air marshalls, if you are into that kind of thing.

AMM is an excellent and easy airport to connect at, you can switch planes in 5 minutes. The Lounges are "interesting".

JAP

Great info thanks Smirnoff !!! ^ ^

You have really sold RJ to me .... particularly on the stewardesses - looks like a serious contender for me, especially to try a new airline and airport on the way to CMB.

AJLondon

I was considering RJ myself, but was put off by the horror stories about miles/TPs never posting automatically, or even after significant prods, to BAEC.

Any update in this regard?

Swanhunter

if you do go via India, use MAA as the gateway. Relatively sane airport, and connections on both Jet Airways (9W) and Sri Lankan (UL).

BLR gets a new airport at the end of March, but I am reserving judgement until it is open and operational!

Smirnoff

RJ miles/TPs rarely post automatically.

I got all of mine eventually, but only after 1-2 months wait, and endless silly messages about "we have no record of you being the flight" (despite giving them tickets, boarding passes and the secrets of Narnia).

Far easier than obtaining MA miles/TPs, which also rarely post, and which BA - strangely - give you even more hassle over.

sdorling

Ha, who could forget this beauty

NickB

If you are going the AMM route, you might want to consider buying a separate ticket to AMM or using miles to get there, as the o/w AMM-CMB on RJ in C is a mere £360 or so. If you want to fly from Western Europe, FRA-AMM-CMB o/w is also available for around £565.

A disadvantage of transiting via India would be the need to get a visa.

I am in the same boat but finally decided to go via DXB on EK for the first of my ex-CMBs this year as someone else has suggested. But then, I will only be transiting via CMB without stopping.

Still toying with the idea of using RJ for the other one, though.

Smirnoff

AMS-CMB is cheaper. Also AMS-AMM is a 120 TP route (FRA-AMM is 40 TPs).

NickB

AMS-CMB is more expensive (€851 base fare in C rather than €671 in D out of FRA or MUC) but, clearly, if TPs are an issue, AMS would make more sense.