Originally Posted by
sfo12345
Hi I am planning a trip in September to use some of my miles. For a trip to Asia, would C or F be best? If Istop in Hawaii, my understanding is that it is OK to make ONE stop over is that correct? What recommended routing would you guys recommend? The Asia part is flexible (I haven't been to any part of Asia so just wanted to begin to see that part of the world) and I was just looking to go to one city there served by UAL from Hawaii and preferably direct back toSFO after. NRT?
since there really isn't a guarantee of whether or not you'd get new or old C seats and given the high price of C mileage awards, go for F. If you get stuck with the older cabin, the difference won't be so much (you still get a flat bed). I know since I had to redeem some miles for a trip to china and coach was going for 130k (only standard awards left) and C was going for 125K and F was going for 145K. Since it was a 777 (no new cabins yet) I knew for sure that there is NO WAY coach is worth 130K and 125K was alot to ask for what I find is essentially a glorified domestic FC seat in C, so the only option left was F for 145K. Since the base coach price was 130K, it was save 5K miles for a roundtrip one cabin upgrade or spend 15K miles for a roundtrip two cabin upgrade. No brainer here.
However, if you're going through Hawaii, the difference in C or F award tickets will essentially be for the HNL-NRT segment since HNL-mainland service is on 2 class planes that feature domestic FC (nothing special here). For what is really a 6 hr flight, is 10K miles or so each way worth it for you to upgrade from C to F? That's a question only you can answer. Whatever you do, don't redeem miles in coach for these long distance trips, you lose about 2-3 days just recovering from jetlag and plus, you'll likely be in a bad mood after the flight, and it's a waste of mileage value.