Originally Posted by
WillTravel4Food
But when the vig for going through LHR can add up to $1K+ for 2 people on a RT, then it becomes a budget issue.
Indeed. Problem is, as you state, AS doesn't have a lot of options that don't pass along YQ. BA and FI are probably the two airlines with the most space to Europe in AS's partner network, and they both pass heaping helpings of YQ (and neither of them are great J experiences, though BA will get better as their suite J product rolls out). DE is probably next (also not amazing hard product), then it's whatever dribs and drabs of EI/AY/AA inventory you get as scraps off the table. (AA premium award inventory to AS has been pretty miserable for a while. I'm not optimistic this changes much.)
I'm not sure adding IB is going to
dramatically change that. IB is stronger on the East Coast, so often you'll be matching up AS/AA inventory to catch a flight.
Originally Posted by
WillTravel4Food
Flying the A350 was the main purpose of the routing, but the J seat just wasn't comfortable and IMO not worth 70K miles.
I also flew the AY A350 (BKK-HEL) and had a very different experience (would totally fly AY in J on the A350 again). Felt like a bog-standard Cirrus J herringbone.