Originally Posted by
wytco0
I need to be in Tokyo from about 9 Oct 23-12 Oct 23 and I would like to extend my trip at either end and include some interesting countires, i am looking at a total trip time of about 20-25 days.
This will probably have to be an economy trip unless I can come up with some decent business pricing. One thought is that I may want to split some of the longer flights with an overnight stop just to make economy travel more bearable e.g. 24 hours in the emirates.
Before I get to deep into this can anyone suggest any routing to include interesting places, I have spent some time in Japan before so I would like to go elsewhere this trip although Okinowa in Japan is one option I was considering Tawain has been recommened but I am happy to consider anywhere else with decent links between the UK and Japan. I am pretty sure i will have to step outside oneworld at least for some of this trip.
Any tips to for keen business prices also appreciated.
TIA
Looking at previous posts, back in April you were talking about trying to get (back) to BA Silver from nothing. Is that still the case? Also, what would qualify as "keen" business pricing? And a related question, what if any other travel plans do you have for the remainder of 2023 and the first half of 2024?
Here's a thought, maybe quickly discarded. Buy a 3-continent Oneworld Explorer business class RTW with the ticket starting in Norway. RTWs are priced very differently from one country to another (where the trip begins, not where you live) and a 3-continent business class "DONE3" ticket originating in Norway has a base price of £3840 compared to one starting in the UK with a base price of £5471. You can get (economy) from London to Oslo for under a hundred quid, so some obvious savings.
The DONE3 is good for up to 16 flights over the course of a year, of which four can be in Asia, four in Europe (which includes the Middle East) and six within North America, which includes the Caribbean and Central America.
So imagine you fly to Oslo and activate the ticket, fly to Helsinki and connect to a Finnair flight to Singapore. Gobble some Hainan chicken rice or whatever for a day or two, then it's up to Japan (can we assume Tokyo?) for your visit there.
When you're done, do a combination tier point/mileage run/autumn foliage tour. Fly back to Hong Kong, then back to Japan, but this time to Chitose/Sapporo in Hokkaido, where the autumn foliage should be well on its way to gobsmack levels. Tour around for a couple of days, then head back to Hong Kong (or just back to Tokyo, but fewer tier points) and then it's across the Pacific to Los Angeles. Do an easy tier point turnaround from LAX up to Anchorage and back (maybe too late for much autumn color in Alaska but possible) then it's off to Boston and some "leaf peeping" in New England. Get a car and head up to New Hampshire or Vermont for some autumn glory, then back to Boston and back to London. You'll have been gone from home for around 3 weeks, so within your parameters.
BUT... the RTW still affords you three flights within Europe (and two stopovers, with London/Norfolk being the first) and you'd still have 10 or 11 months left on the RTWs calendar. So maybe sometime in the winter or spring you take a trip to the Middle East - maybe Qatar or Oman, or Israel, then it's back to Oslo to finish the ticket.
Here's an imaginary route that complies with the RTW rules -
OSL-HEL-SIN-HND-HKG-CTS-HKG-LAX-ANC-LAX-BOS-LHR-MAD-DOH-OSL that would generate something like 1440 BA tier points, close to Gold, never mind silver. You'd need some BA-metal segments if you don't have enough already, but these could be easy weekenders to Scotland or Ireland, Holland or France, whatever's cheap and interesting.
So anyway this MIGHT be a solution to your desire to get back to Silver (or better) with BA and open the door to some interesting destinations. Granted, this is a lot of butt-in-seat miles (more like butt-in-bed) over a short time, but it would be far from grueling. Maybe worth some thought.