Travel to Asia from IAD or JFK in F, need advice

I'm looking for award travel for F from east coast US to say SIN, or HKG, or Japan. I've never been to Asia, and would like to go.

Travel dates are VERY flexible (when is the best time of the year to go), however I'd like to plan somewhat ahead. It looks like planning ahead on my preferred airlines (SQ, LH, LX) is either not possible at all (SQ) or very limited (LH, LX).

I have 475,000 AMEX points, so I can put the miles in either Aeroplan or Krisflyer.

Biggest issue is I really want the best possible First experience on the ground and in the air. It looks like others are getting there with First (ANA on very limited routes), etc.

Thoughts, suggestions?

Asia is a huge continent.
What are you interested in doing when you get there?
Your questions are very vague ... suggest you take a read of at least a couple of these threads and narrow down some of your options ...
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...highlight=Asia
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...highlight=Asia
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...highlight=Asia
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...highlight=Asia
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...highlight=Asia

Agreed more detail would be helpful here.

But with amex points you do have the option of opening a SQ account and transferring to krisflyer, and thereby traveling SQ.

Also from IAD the LH F on the 748 might be accessible if you don't have to plan too far in advance, as it opens up at the last week or ten days as I understand, but I haven't booked this myself. A lot of people really enjoy the LH F terminal in Frankfurt and with United you could book a stopover there on your way to HK for example, then come back via SIN etc. BKK is also a very nice F experience. Haven't done NH or OZ F.

Personally, I wouldn't put LH and especially LX in the league of SQ.

Both LH and LX have good products but not great, LH is good for ground service at FRA's FCT, and also 744 new F with seat + bed (you don't get the same seat + bed on 380 or 748) I wouldn't even bother with LX, as F seats on 343 are old. Both LH and LX onboard food offerings are below par compare with SQ, especially if you choose asian options.

The only airlines that are in league with SQ are NH and OZ. Both SQ and OZ have suites with doors in F (in a few months OZ will use the 3 class 777 with suite in F for JFK) All 3 of them have great food, seat, and service.

Sorry for the "vague-ness" I'm at the VERY start of planning (and thinking) about this, so I'm trying to get a few start points. I'll have to check out OZ. I agree SQ is way beyond LH and LX, I have read several threads that stated getting SQ awards can be problematic. That's for the threads to check out!!

Strongly disagree. LH F on 744 was most comfortable hard product bar none. And the FC lounge in FRA is excellent. Have not flown SQ F or R. Have flown suites on NH, OZ and TG. NH on the ground is nothing special. TG out of BKK rocks for on the ground service (of course they do not fly to the US with F class). OZ suites on the new birds are quite nice. Better F lounge than NH in their home base. Service and catering slightly better on NH but OZ is no slouch.

Ok, I have some more info. FYI I'd be doing this with Aeroplan miles, as they won't treat my round the world trip as round the world when it comes to point charges. (175,000 points I think)

So far looks like LH419 (747-8) from IAD to FRA, first leg stay a few days

TG921 - FRA to BKK (A380), second leg stay a few days

TG413 - BKK to SIN (A340-600), 3rd leg stay a few days

TG404 & TG606 - SIN to BKK to HKG (777-300 & 747-400 (old first though)), 4th leg stay a few days

Ok, this is where it gets dicey. Would like to try OZ or NH here. Need to get back from HKG to IAD or such. I can do JFK (yuck) so I can experience suites with Asiana.

Thoughts/Suggestions?

At the end of a trip I like to return with minimal connections , so would be looking at NH into IAD. If nothing is available then consider OZ with the JFK connection/layover. It is bit of a letdown having to wait and fly on the small plane for the last 200 miles of the trip. If you really want to try the OZ suite , go for it.

I can't speak to Aeroplan miles, but I recently booked a trip via Asia using United miles with a similar issue. In the end I landed on JFK for a few reasons:

1) ANA and OZ are now both flying the F suites to JFK (as of July 21 I believe, so depending on your dates this might not be true yet)
2) IAD generally has old F for most flights to Asia or even worse you get stuck on United
3) When booking using united.com, I was shown greater partner availability using JFK as my starting point simply because United has no international flights at JFK, so it will only spit back partner flights (because except for SYD - SFO / LAX who really wants to be on UA F for an award trip)
4) My ultimate destination was SYD (Asia was a stopover), so I couldn't transit via the Atlantic to get to Asia

JFK - IAD is an easy connection either on United, or alternatively just grab a DL flight JFK - DCA (which may be more convenient than IAD and about the same cost as paying for a cab from IAD)

Ok, further details....

I think I've got (IAD-FRA)(FRA-BKK)(BKK-HKG)(HKG-BKK-SIN) all firmed up. Thus leaving me time in FRA (less than 24 hours though to not violate stopover rules) BKK, HKG and SIN.

The issue I'm having is getting from SIN to JFK. I can't find flights that even have First Class sections on either NH or OZ from SIN to their respective hubs NRT/ICN. It's a 6 hour flight, don't really want to do it in business. Once in either NRT or ICN I'll be in either's new suites to JFK.

Should I try TG to go from SIN to NRT/ICN (hey, one more massage time is fine with me) or is there a better way?

Thanks!

If you want to be in F and you're using AC miles, TG is your only option- you'll be in F for BKK-NRT (I don't think they fly F on SIN-BKK, so go ahead and fly TG or SQ C).

I can't use AC miles to fly SQ C or F, right???

On inter-asia routes, you can get SQ J (don't know about F) It's the long haul seats they don't release to *A partners.

Ok, another potential problem. Looks like the taxes and fees on LH, TG, and others will kill me

http://thepointsguy.com/2013/03/aero...-fees-roundup/

Am I reading this right???

You didn't read my 2nd paragraph. I did say LH FCT and new F on the 744 is good.

While NH on the ground is nothing special, food on board and service are miles ahead of LH F.

You look at the big picture to choose a product, I mean how many hours are you going to stay in the lounge compare with how many hours are you inflight ? Ask yourself would you choose LH just because of FCT in oppose to 14 hours flights in excellent service, food, and wine with SQ/OZ/NH/TG ?


Partially true, it is about plane types (380/345/77W), not about the routes.

You can't get SQ J for SQ11/12 NRT-SIN because it is 380, and you can't get SQ 1/2 HKG-SIN because it is 77W.



That's correct, and that's why most of us use UA or US miles for award flights, as we paid unbelieveable low taxes and no fuel surcharge. (I had a 9 segments trip with UA/NH/TG/LH/LX all in F with UA miles, paid less than $150 in taxes)