Originally Posted by
whitf00t
Sorry guys, newbie but hopefully someone can help. I'm trying to plan a trip from ORD-BKK next year and have a couple questions.
Is the best way to do it often a multi city, like ORD-TOKYO-BKK (with a same day connecting flight), or do one ways work better? Half the time one is better, half the time it's the other. It's super challenging bc of all the partners to actually find certain flight availability (for example, a connecting Narita-BKK rarely has available business) - doesn't seem as though JAL is on ExpertFlyer.
I also checked Cathay Pacific thru HKG (doesn't even show up) and would prefer not to fly Korean as they seem to have an inferior product.
Edit -- Lastly, is it a safe bet to wait and assume award space opens within 2 weeks? Thinking of just booking business as a placeholder and hoping that some F appears later - though now I'm noticing that ORD-TOKYO opens up 2 weeks in advance more widely whereas TOKYO-BKK opens up only far in advance... ugh!
Even though a lot of F has been opening up within 2 weeks lately it is not guaranteed and no one knows what will happen a year from now so have a backup.
Booking a year out at the edge of the window is a good time to look for availability so long as you are not traveling in a peak travel period. Make sure you are familiar with the calendar trick and when it is useful, and if you have extra miles it may also be helpful to familiarize yourself with the reverse round-trip workaround.
If you cannot find ORD-BKK it may help (availability wise) to create a stopover in TYO for a day or two. This may allow you to connect up availability on different days that may not be available without a stopover. Since AS allows free stopovers this can be a good strategy if you don't mind spending a day or two in TYO. You can search multi-city ORD-TYO and TYO-BKK. Use the TYO code to pick up availability for both HND and NRT.
Don't discount looking from other gateways. Possibly SEA.