Dear FFers,

I am thinking of combining a business trip with vacation this December. I need to be in Brussels the week of 15 Dec. I plan to leave from Brussels on 26th or 27th Dec right after christmas and visit Bangalore, India for vacation until 13th Jan 09 when I plan to depart back to EWR. Quickly, the itinerary is

13 Dec 08 - Newark to Brussels
26 Dec 08
OR - Brussels to Bangalore, India
27 Dec 08
13 Jan 09 - Bangalore to Newark

My company will pay for the EWR-Brussels-EWR leg and it will be in business class. I intend to pay for the Europe-India legs of the trip and I plan to fly coach. If it is possible, I would like to pay for this leg with miles (I understand it is 70,000 miles). The company travel agent told me that she could only book the entire trip on one credit card, otherwise she wanted me to do everything by myself. And that's the reason I'm here. And of course, I would like to fly on airlines where I can earn WP miles.

I prefer flying non-stop to Bangalore from Europe and that narrows down my choices. I could fly Jet Airways from India (they have EWR-brussels and brussels-bangalore direct flights) but I believe I will NOT earn any EQM. Continental which I like has EWR-brussels direct flights but no flights to bangalore. My other option is to take Air France, EWR-paris-bangalore and I can take the train from Paris to brussels which is fairly convenient. And I think I'll earn EQM and pay for my India trip with miles. What are your suggestions?

Regards,
ipott