Whats your choice to Asia in C or F? (*Alliance)
Nov 3, 2012, 2:35 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: LAX IAH AMS
Programs: UA GS 1MM
Posts: 1,266
Whats your choice to Asia in C or F? (*Alliance)
Well, its time to plan the honeymoon for next september. Going to be using points to asia - and continuing to Dubai and the home to Houston.
Proposal story can be read here (we are both airline nerds): http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...h-ua-crew.html
Already have the return booked DXB-IAD-IAH in UA GF. options are limited so I'm pleased with that choice.
Going west we are departing out of LAX as we are getting married in Laguna Beach and will depart 2 days after the I Do's. My plan is to get us to someplace in asia on points and then pay to get to DXB and then to Seychelles.
I currently have Asiana booked in F LAX-ICN-HKG (744 & A333). Neither of us have been to Hong Kong so we figure its a good place to start for a couple of days - However, we really dont care where we go.... so whats the best choice for *A travel to asia? I figure we can get anywhere pretty much so Im making my city decision based on the best seat that gets us there!
Proposal story can be read here (we are both airline nerds): http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...h-ua-crew.html
Already have the return booked DXB-IAD-IAH in UA GF. options are limited so I'm pleased with that choice.
Going west we are departing out of LAX as we are getting married in Laguna Beach and will depart 2 days after the I Do's. My plan is to get us to someplace in asia on points and then pay to get to DXB and then to Seychelles.
I currently have Asiana booked in F LAX-ICN-HKG (744 & A333). Neither of us have been to Hong Kong so we figure its a good place to start for a couple of days - However, we really dont care where we go.... so whats the best choice for *A travel to asia? I figure we can get anywhere pretty much so Im making my city decision based on the best seat that gets us there!
Nov 3, 2012, 2:44 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Canada
Programs: UA*1K MM
Posts: 23,299
Why not an award ticket from Asia to Seychelles with a stopover in DXB on the way back, and a throwaway "return" to Asia.
Asia-SEZ, SEZ-DXB(stop)-Asia
As to your question - any F will be better than UA - but your choices are limited to CA,OZ,NH TPAC.
Otherwise, a combo of UA/TG F LAX-FRA-BKK is also an option.
Nov 5, 2012, 8:14 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Benicia, California, USA
Programs: AA PLT,AS,UA PP,J6,FB,EY,LH,SQ,HH Dmd,Hyatt Glbl,Marriott Plat,IHG Plat,Accor Gold
Posts: 10,820
Congratulations!
Not sure if this is on your radar screen, but Ethiopia Airlines recently joined the Star Alliance and flies to the Seychelles. It's supposed to be a good airline. And, having done so ourselves on the way to the Seychelles (more on that below), I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to pass through DXB just for the hell of it, so if flying Ethiopia works for you and there's availability you might check it out.
If in fact that is an option and you route through Europe rather than Asia, you might substitute a few days in Paris for a few in an Asian city. There is no more romantic city in the world than Paris, period.
But if you want to go through Asia...Well, SQ is the best, but it's impossible to get F and I believe even J award seats trans-Pacific, so that's a non-starter. I'm afraid that I don't know enough about the other three leading contenders - NH, OZ and TG - in F, nor do I know how often F availability opens up on them. My vague sense is that NH F is the best, but that's just a guess. I hope someone can answer that here. If not, you might want to post over at the UA forum and/or go to the UA site to see about award availability for next September.
As for cities: Bangkok, Hong Kong and Tokyo each have their unique appeal, though if I had to pick just one it would be Hong Kong.
The one slight caution I have about Hong Kong and Tokyo (and perhaps Seoul) in September is that it is in typhoon season, and you wouldn't want to have the rest of your trip messed up by that. I don't think the chances of getting stuck are so great as to change your plans, but it's a judgement call you should be aware of.
Be aware also, by the way, that LH often opens up F seats about a week before a flight. And LH F is superb, including its fantastic F lounges in Frankfurt and Munich. As a 1K, you can change your award reservations without any chage. If you're so inclined, you might monitor that LH availability as a way of getting to or from Dubai or Ethiopia. If you go that route, however, make sure that UA tickets the LH flights properly, however, by calling LH to make sure everything is in order.
Especially if you go through Paris or Tokyo, you and your SO might each want to get the Hyatt credit card, which gets you two free nights at any Hyatt in the world after some fairly modest spending. I mention those two cities because their Hyatts are each stellar...two of the best hotels my wife and I have ever stayed at.
As for the Seychelles, we were there earlier this year and loved it! We stayed at both the Hilton Labriz and Hilton Northolme, and loved both. But if you only have time for one (and if you're interested in a Hilton to begin with), definitely go for the Labriz. And again, back to credit cards, there are lots of ways of accumulating Hilton points to be able to stay at these places for free, via Hilton Visa and Amex cards. I believe the Hilton Amex Surpass card also gets you Gold status for the first year, which in turn gets you free breakfasts.
Also HH points via Hawaiian Airlines credit cards that you can get two of: one from Bank of America and one from Bank of Hawaii, then converting the 35K each Hawaiian Airlines points into 70K HH points.
More info on these Hilton and Hyatt properties in relevant threads here at the HH and Hyatt forums and over at tripadvisor.com. More info on the credit card offers at Miles Buzz forum here and perhaps at the HH and Hyatt forums as well.
The UA site is a decent resource for finding award flight availability, but you might also check out the paid sites awardnexus.com and expertflyer.com, which can monitor and send you emails if preferred award options open up.
Happy trails!
Not sure if this is on your radar screen, but Ethiopia Airlines recently joined the Star Alliance and flies to the Seychelles. It's supposed to be a good airline. And, having done so ourselves on the way to the Seychelles (more on that below), I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to pass through DXB just for the hell of it, so if flying Ethiopia works for you and there's availability you might check it out.
If in fact that is an option and you route through Europe rather than Asia, you might substitute a few days in Paris for a few in an Asian city. There is no more romantic city in the world than Paris, period.
But if you want to go through Asia...Well, SQ is the best, but it's impossible to get F and I believe even J award seats trans-Pacific, so that's a non-starter. I'm afraid that I don't know enough about the other three leading contenders - NH, OZ and TG - in F, nor do I know how often F availability opens up on them. My vague sense is that NH F is the best, but that's just a guess. I hope someone can answer that here. If not, you might want to post over at the UA forum and/or go to the UA site to see about award availability for next September.
As for cities: Bangkok, Hong Kong and Tokyo each have their unique appeal, though if I had to pick just one it would be Hong Kong.
The one slight caution I have about Hong Kong and Tokyo (and perhaps Seoul) in September is that it is in typhoon season, and you wouldn't want to have the rest of your trip messed up by that. I don't think the chances of getting stuck are so great as to change your plans, but it's a judgement call you should be aware of.
Be aware also, by the way, that LH often opens up F seats about a week before a flight. And LH F is superb, including its fantastic F lounges in Frankfurt and Munich. As a 1K, you can change your award reservations without any chage. If you're so inclined, you might monitor that LH availability as a way of getting to or from Dubai or Ethiopia. If you go that route, however, make sure that UA tickets the LH flights properly, however, by calling LH to make sure everything is in order.
Especially if you go through Paris or Tokyo, you and your SO might each want to get the Hyatt credit card, which gets you two free nights at any Hyatt in the world after some fairly modest spending. I mention those two cities because their Hyatts are each stellar...two of the best hotels my wife and I have ever stayed at.
As for the Seychelles, we were there earlier this year and loved it! We stayed at both the Hilton Labriz and Hilton Northolme, and loved both. But if you only have time for one (and if you're interested in a Hilton to begin with), definitely go for the Labriz. And again, back to credit cards, there are lots of ways of accumulating Hilton points to be able to stay at these places for free, via Hilton Visa and Amex cards. I believe the Hilton Amex Surpass card also gets you Gold status for the first year, which in turn gets you free breakfasts.
Also HH points via Hawaiian Airlines credit cards that you can get two of: one from Bank of America and one from Bank of Hawaii, then converting the 35K each Hawaiian Airlines points into 70K HH points.
More info on these Hilton and Hyatt properties in relevant threads here at the HH and Hyatt forums and over at tripadvisor.com. More info on the credit card offers at Miles Buzz forum here and perhaps at the HH and Hyatt forums as well.
The UA site is a decent resource for finding award flight availability, but you might also check out the paid sites awardnexus.com and expertflyer.com, which can monitor and send you emails if preferred award options open up.
Happy trails!