Originally Posted by
onlinesatish
I would suggest AI with LH combo WRT time spent in transit and immigration. Pain transiting in DEL would be lot lesser than you having to do immigration in JFK (with EK) and then catch a domestic to DTW. You would most likely get a through check in all the way to DTW from MLE.
Wow, awesome response here with so many different opinions!
Curious why you think JFK immigration would be so horrible? I do have Global Entry. Also the pain of doing MLE-TRV-DEL in substandard business class seems no worse than grabbing a cheap connector JFK-DTW on Delta. Seems like pros and cons to both options based on the responses here.
I'm actually going to play this as I go. I booked the EK flight using AS miles plus a stopover in JFK continuing to the West coast in F later in the year (can redeposit free) on a perfect day that lines up with my 7 night MLE hotel stay already booked. You can actually get amazing last minute pricing including all inclusive deals on Hotels.com (+10% back on their reward program, shopping portal cash back plus 9% discounted GCs online) in the Maldives since I'm going on very short notice. If I'm loving it solo and don't get too bored I'll stay an extra six days somewhere on a last minute deal and take the LH flight home otherwise I'll take EK home earlier and save some vacation time
Thanks everyone!!