robyng

I'm assuming your miles are with United (you haven't said). We live on the east coast and fly out of JAX. There were basically 2 ways to get to Singapore on United. A 2 stop flight. JAX to somewhere in the US - somewhere in the US to Asia - and then somewhere in Asia to Singapore. Or a one stop flight. JAX to somewhere in the US. And then somewhere in the US to Singapore. With a layover somewhere in Asia (I guess for refueling).

Turns out the second option - at least for us - was the longer trip. Only by 10 minutes - but it was longer. So I chose the first. I also chose to connect through ORD - not IAD. Figured it was the "easier" airport of the 2. If I could have connected through another city - like IAH - I would have picked it (IAH is closer to me). Also chose to do the layover in Tokyo as opposed to somewhere in China. Just in case (if we get stranded in Asia - I'd rather get stranded in Tokyo - where we wouldn't need any extra papers/shots/whatever to leave the airport).

Note that there are tons of options out of Boston. Including Boston to IAD to Singapore (with a refueling stop in Tokyo).

We don't have status on United - but had a fair number of miles. We used them to get 2 FC "saver" tickets on United (in 3 class planes). All flights on United/United Express (or whatever it's called) metal. 140k miles a ticket last year. Which I thought was a pretty good deal. I also found that it was pretty easy to find saver rewards on United - at all levels. Current "miles prices" for saver awards are 40k for economy - 70k for business class - 80k for first class. Each way. I think you can mix classes on your outgoing/return flights. So - if you don't have enough miles to do R/T business/first class - you can perhaps try to get a flat bed seat for the part of the trip where you think you'll want to sleep. Note that I have awful problems sleeping on planes - so I'm pretty passionate about getting flat bed seats on long haul flights.

I realize you're traveling with someone else. One question I have is whether - if you could get 1 business/first class seat - whether you could share it with your partner - so each of you could get some sleep? Unless there's some kind of amazing sale down the road - the difference between the cost of an economy or business/first ticket doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I don't know whether trying to get an upgrade from economy to business/first (using miles - or miles + money) is at all possible. You might check this out on the United forum.

FWIW - since I don't have any status - I share your concerns about picking seats on "partner flights" (and not only when it comes to United Airlines). Also - if I wound up in economy - I guess the comfort of seating in various types of aircraft would be pretty important to me. So I'd check this out. I'd also check out what it costs on various airlines (either in terms of miles or money) to get an upgrade from plain vanilla economy to something like "economy plus"). Finally - one thing to keep in mind if you get into "partner airlines" is the fees on FF tickets can be a whole lot higher than what you'll be charged on a domestic carrier like United.

Good luck in planning your trip! Robyn

jkroncke

Thanks Robyn, a lot of good stuff to think through.

Actually, my mileage balances are enough to fly most any carrier because I get mostly as AMEX and SGP points from my credit cards. So that is why I was just trying to find the very best economy seats.

It is true, I can likely get the conference to play for my economy plus, so I would have to pay for my partner. Of course, I am trying to find the best way just using miles but in the end I'm thinking I might need to pony up for some of it. Like many flytertalks, I am a min-maxer!

robyng

Whoa. AMEX hasn't been a United partner for a while now. It's basically - as far the airlines I usually fly today - Delta (I live in the SE US). AMEX isn't worth anything on United now. As for the Starwood programs - I don't have a clue.

And - when it comes to Delta - they don't call them Skypesos for nothing (although - IMO - they're better than other FF programs going to certain prices in certain fare classes). RT economy to Singapore will generally cost you standard (not low - not high price) - 130k miles. Which is the most common reward class on Delta IMO.

Depending on what you want to do - it's not too late to take advantage of some deals that will get you like 50k more miles. Either by getting a new credit card - moving money/assets into a brokerage account/etc. OTOH - I honestly wouldn't get too bent out about not getting a miles economy ticket to Singapore. They're not terribly expensive. Whatever miles you have - best to save them for another trip. You kind of have to compare what the ticket costs versus the miles you need to buy it. If the ticket costs $1k or 100,000 miles - it's a mediocre or worse deal. You basically want to get more/a lot more than a penny a mile to buy FF miles tickets. Robyn

SQ319

Probably too late for the TS, but good to note for future readers of this thread and searching for options.

Cathay to Fly Nonstop Hong Kong to Boston from May 2015

aster

Think there might be an error in the lingo used to describe this new connection: non-stop vs direct. Non-stop literally means just that, taking off and then only landing at your final destination. Direct means the plane might land somewhere in-between but then continues onwards to that destination.