Originally Posted by
dukerau
Sounds like you have fairly fixed dates, but maybe flexible on the pieces after the wedding (FCO onwards)?
Yes after FCO they are slighly flexible, but we have to fit everything (wedding and honeymoon) in a 3 week span unfortunately and need to have a 7 night in Rome + 7 night in Maldives + 2 night in Dubai + 2 night in Singapore, this is definitely Mission Impossible!
Originally Posted by
dukerau
90K Amex per person for Emirates FCO-MLE, even with a stopover in DXB, is very pricey. For example, AA won't allow a stopover, but FCO-AUH-DXB on Etihad would be 30K per person in business and DXB-AUH-MLE would be 25K per person in business. So you get a functional stopover, albeit with a connection each time. Or you could do your "stopover" in Abu Dhabi instead of Dubai. This would require another 10K AA miles, but you have time.
Very good idea, I'll keep this open for sure in case Emirates falls through. We also have to consider the experience factor, flying Emirates Business would be quite a treat for a honeymoon trip I believe. Trying to make the lady happy
Originally Posted by
dukerau
Another option for the US-Europe flight (I think this one will be the toughest, especially if you are counting on AA miles, so it's good to have backups) is Aeroplan, which charges 45K for SFO-FCO in J. As long as you fly on UA, TK, SK, SN, or SR, there are no fuel surcharges. Delta could also be an option with their Alitalia partnership. Also, keep in mind that Iberia availability doesn't show up on aa.com. They serve LAX, ORD, MIA, and JFK to/from MAD, so that could be a 2-stop itinerary to Rome if necessary.
Aeroplan could definitely be an option as i can tranfer from Amex to Aeroplan too. Thanks for the idea. I could switch AA miles for the FCO-MLE route and use Amex to get to Europe. Yes its definitely good to have backups.
Originally Posted by
dukerau
If availability is tough, yet another option is using DL miles to get to London on Virgin Atlantic, then BA Avios for LON-FCO. I single out Virgin Atlantic here because I generally find their availability much better than DL's own metal.
The problem I see here is that I don't have DL miles but i guess i could xfer Amex points to Alitalia and book through them I suppose.