Originally Posted by
Swiss Tony
Benefit of hindsight and all that, but if the OP had an explicit aim in mind (going to SA) then it would seem to make sense to figure out the various costs first. I'm guessing that the Alaska Air rewards on Cathay Pacific via HKG is pretty efficient at 125k miles r/t in J!
Unless they were given, say, 100k miles for opening up a credit card
Agree. One has to have a goal before accumulating. Still, having 100K avios would be handy - just not for the long haul travel the OP envisions.
Actually I would go for the AS 140K in CX F which is exactly what we would do, just dont know when because it is a bit hard to figure out when is the best compromised time frame for visiting both Kruger NP and CPT. (We already have a lot more miles than needed and hopefully would have double the miles needed by March so I can book it from single account and single PNR.)
Having an April and a July/August trip to Europe also does not help the matter in getting this AS award done by Sept/Oct this year. I have read that Jan/Feb could be too hot to visit the East side and also not the optimal time to visit Kruger.
Another issue is, I have found it is pretty easy to find HKG-JNB 2 F seats from 2 to 3 months leading to travel date while the US-HKG Fs would be the last minute type - i.e. 7 to 10 days before departure. This does not help for trip planning if one wants to do the self-drive safari in Kruger as good camps are booked up a year in advance according to various guidebooks.