Originally Posted by
Thunderroad
Lots of good advice here already. I agree that booking at or near the 330 day window you should have a good chance of snaring a J seat. CX would be my first choice if it's available.
I also endorse the idea that if you can accumulate more AA miles then CX F transpacific would be really special. Easiest way would be to sign up for an AA credit card that offers miles for some relatively modest initial spending. More on this in the Miles Buzz and credit card forums. But if you can't or don't want to go for those miles, CX J is very fine.
Good to get one-way tickets so that you can grab availability 330 days in advance of your outbound and then 330 days in advance of your return.
In addition to simply calling AA to find out about availability, it also can be useful to search a site such as awardnexus.com, which offers some useful, initial use to Flyertalk members for free. Many AA phone agents are pretty good at finding availability, but sometimes awardnexus identifies options that they don't unless you point it out to them.
For me, J is pretty dang special!
I signed up for the two AA cards a year ago so I can't really get any more miles that way and if I could I'd rather save the miles to put towards another ticket for the following year. I definitely plan to get the tickets just as soon as I can.
Originally Posted by
Redhead
This is true. Flexibility is the key. You mentioned that you also have 1-2 flex - so that helps too. Just research all the flights you want before you try to book. For your complicated routing and the desire to fly non AA metal - you will likely need to book over the phone, IIRC, this has a $25 fee
AA offers 1 way awards - so book the outbound at 330 days and then the return at 330 however much later that is.
I have the 1-2 days flex as a backup option if I need it but I'd rather not use them. If I can leave on the Friday rather than Wednesday or Thursday then I can build up the time during the week and not have to take vacation time for that day. If I leave early then I'll have to take at least a few hours of vacation time and I guard those hours like treasure!
Originally Posted by
guv1976
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
Use of a non-oneworld carrier for this particular trip should not be much of an issue: AA's North America to Asia awards require routing via the Pacific. With the exception of HA, all of AA's partners that fly from North America to Asia via the Pacific are oneworld members.
If the OP has trouble securing SAAver seats on AA in or out of Cedar Rapids, there's always the option of Megabus between nearby Iowa City and Chicago. Or a one-way car rental.
Megabus, a rental or trying to go out of DSM instead are certainly options but it's hard to want to drive the 4 hours to Chicago or 2 to DSM when CID is 10 minutes from my house.
If starting in Chicago is the difference between getting the flights I want or not, or cutting out a 5+ hour layover, then it's worth it but it's just so nice to get a ride to my little airport 90 minutes before takeoff and still being way early.
Thank you all again for you help! Now I just have to figure out how to split my time between two fantastic countries. Such a hard life...
