TIGRIS23 Welcome to FT
Have you flown on long haul flights before?
Long haul international business class is far better than USA domestic first class. A surprising number of USA people assume USA domestic first class is the same as long haul international first class.
You would be better looking for business both ways. Many airline/routes now do not have first class.
You do not need to use the same airline and/or ffp's both ways. You can book one way awards with most ffp's.
Consider these
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...e-reviews.html
Freq Flyer Award assistance tools
Use at your own risk. (These are not recommendations)
These links give a
guide of ff miles needed. These may not be up to date.
Availability is from the airline ffp web sites/phone.
Award flights are never guaranteed. You need to be flexible with date and route.
Frequent flyer miles/points are not equal to or burn. They are not 1 to 1
If a multi segment award check the rules/cost carefully. With some ffp’s it can be 2 or more awards or cost more ff miles/points than a direct flight.
If the award is on partner airline it may cost more miles/points than an award on the ffp airline.
Some awards/airlines/routes can have cash surcharges, in addition to real taxes.
Real taxes/regulatory fees are the same for all airlines on the same route/class.
Some carrier imposed surcharges can trigger additional real taxes when the flight changes from non-revenue to revenue.
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AwardAce: Compare Award Redemptions Across Airlines In Seconds -->
http://www.awardace.com/ Has surcharge indication
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Economical Excursionist's Tools to compare Frequent Flyer Mile Redemptions -->
http://www.flyermiler.com/
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http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ast-miles.html -->
http://www.awardhacker.com/