Originally Posted by
saranankara
However, when I did an Advanced Search on United.com for those three legs, it does seem to work, although it's 82.5k miles, rather than 72.5k.
Unless rankourabu knows a clever trick, it should indeed be 82.5 k. 42.5k USA-Central Asia and 40k Africa-USA.
--If I want to upgrade some of the longer flights to business, am I better off booking them as Business Awards when I reserve, or as Economy and then upgrading later (or is it the same number of miles either way)?
The same number of miles. If there is business availability now, there may be no availability tomorrow (and vice versa). If you are satisfied with the itinerary, it is better to book now.
--We have 2 adults and 2 kids traveling with 550k miles in my United account and another 250k Chase points which I could transfer to my United account, transfer to a new account at Singapore or ANA (or elsewhere), or book directly from Chase. Any suggestions for the best approach here?
Chase points do not transfer to ANA as far as I know. For economy, Singapore would likely be not optimal due to YQ. But if you want to indulge yourself in SQ F, then it might be an option.
Booking directly from Chase, you can only buy revenue tickets for 1.25 cents per point which is usually not that great.
--We actually have several other stops that I was originally thinking I'd need to pay for in cash, but given the mileage savings with what you mapped out, I'm now wondering if there's a way to do more of this trip with miles, and which ones would be best to do as awards vs. paid for. Ideal scenario would be: SFO-BKK-Siem Reap, then (overland back to BKK) BKK-CMB-Jaipur-CAI-IST, then (ferry to Greece) Athens-TLV-DAR-TNR (or vice versa with the two africa stops)-SFO. How's that for a challenge? Appreciate your suggestions!
Short legs in Asia and Europe are usually best booked with low-cost airlines. Having Chase points, you may also have look at BA Avios that have cheap redemptions for short legs.
--Any tips for how a newbie like me could best figure this stuff out myself going forward? On the United.com site, one of the other airline sites, etc.? What are the major considerations in figuring out the most cost effective configurations in terms of award mileage for a trip like this?
Thanks so much!!!
Have a look at United award chart and try to experiment. You are allowed 1 stopover and two open-jaws. Try to find cheap region pairs and see whether these tickets maybe better than low-cost airlines. Sometimes you can have a stopover in a more expensive region. There are thousands of combinations and of course you are bound by award availability (and sometimes the online booking engine do not allow legal connections, then you have to call). The rules can be arcane, you can see what is allowed by looking at fare rules.
I think CAI-IST(stop and open jaw)ATH-TLV (destination)TLV-DAR should also be legal but the online booking engine does not usually like open jaws at the stopover point and you will have to call (or book CAI-IST-TLV and call within 24 hours to replace the IST-TLV leg with ATH-TLV; sometimes it is easier to find an agent to make the change than to do the booking).
Try to find the individual itineraries yourself and if you have a specific question, ask in
this thread.