James Beverley

My wife and I plan to go to Singapore in May using Aeroplan miles. We have enough for Business or First Class. The options are somewhat limited so I ask for help on various routes.

We can do Business class on Asiana to Seoul (via Chicago) and then Business on Singapore airlines from Seoul to Singapore. [Reverse on same carriers]

Or, we can do First class on Lufthansa via Frankfurt and on to Singapore.

Is First on Lufthansa better than Business on Asiana and Singapore Airlines? I imagine so but would appreciate input.

Another question:

I have flown to India and Africa but always with stopover in London.

If flying Business or First is it better to break up the trip (as in Seoul or Frankfurt options above) or try to get a Singapore airlines flight from Newark direct?

I would also appreciate hearing any other route option/airline options using Star Alliance. I have read quite a bit and see very, very positive reviews for Singapore and Lufthansa...and decent reviews for United First Class on new 777s...what about Business seats on Asiana, or SAS, or United?

Grateful for help.

Jim

Golden Toque

I can't answer whether LH F is better than the asian carriers biz, but I can say that I flew LX F, LH F, TG F, TK F last year, and the Food and service on LH F were by far the best! LX F had the best hard product, and their food and service were a close second... That would be another option you could try to Europe, then on to SIN from there.

mileageking

James Beverley, welcome to FT!

Note that you'll not be able to use AP miles to book J or F on SQ on the following (SQ has blocked the following award premium seats with select *A partner points):

1. LAX-NRT-SIN in F/J
2. LAX-FRA-SIN in F/J
3. EWR-SIN non-stop in J
4. LAX-SIN non-stop in J

cheers.

Dmanmtl

....YYZ-HKG on AC in Executive first, then on to Singapore on Singapore Airlines...should be able to get a premium seat on that route using points.

I have done this a few times on business (not on points) and the whole process was pretty smooth. I would avoid UA through SF or LAX...their product does not measure up.
D

James Beverley

I have not been on FlyerTalk much lately, so can you tell me what LX refers to?
I assume LH is Lufthansa?

Thanks for help!

Jim

Seat13F_AC_CRJ

LX = Swiss
--
13F

global happy traveller

when did they block LAX-NRT-SIN and LAX-FRA-SIN? Last time I saw it (last Oct) they had some available for Dec..... but its a hit and miss..... Another one i see with wide availability is MAN-SIN on SQ

Ichinensei

you're lucky you have choices, My parents are trying to fly YYZ-SIN in August and the only route left in Y is YYZ-LHR-SIN... Expensive! Nothing to NRT or HKG anymore. Or at least not on the Aeroplan website. I will have to call them and check with a live operator.

global happy traveller

its a hit n miss........ 2008 i got sfo-hkg-sin both ways during the xmas period too

Shareholder

Availability is the real issue and SQ awards in premium are hard to come by or non-existent on new 777s and 380s. By all means go for F and take advantage of the extended routing: i.e. fly to a LH US gateway and go F to FRA, do your transit at the First Class Terminal, then go on to SIN on F (SQ flies 380 so not open to premium awards). Pick a city to stop over back in Europe and go via TG/Thai and BKK to return. Or try OZ/Asiana or NH/ANA and do Seoul or Tokyo, then return over the Pacific or back over Asia and do the Europe stop-over or just continue on with LH (because it has the most F award availability of all the STAR carriers).

SQ is only available in F on certain intra-Asia routes still served by 747s, or older style seats (but same inflight amenities, service) on overnight routes between SIN and ICN/NRT.

This is still only 120K in F as long as you limit it to three stop-overs (actually one stopover in each direction plus the turn around city). I'll be doing one of these later this month. Best award in any program!

getaround

Stay away from AC for a start unless you wish to pay hundreds more. Why AC add's fuel charges which could be hundreds ++

yyzprincess

I would go for LH F .
I often do FRA-SIN/ SIN-FRA LH F and it is excellent.
I have done most long haul routes in SQ J ,icluding SIN-FRA-SIN,now I only do that route in LH F .
I only did J once on Asiana never again.

If you do LH F you can experience the FCT in FRA IMHO is not that great but others seem to go out of the way wanting that experience.

In SIN you get invitation n to the PR.

The J service on SQ is no longer what it used to be. Nothing to shout about.

Second the poster RE: Stay away from Air Canada.You will pay $$$ in fuel charges.

James Beverley

Thanks to everyone who replied. It is so helpful.

A couple of other queries...

Is there any secret to finding out all possible Aeroplan choices for given destinations.
I know that the Aeroplan operators have their own database (exhaustive data but a slow tool) but I was wondering about secrets in using the Aeroplan website or some other sites.

Also, based on several suggestions, I guess I can ask for another carrier besides AC to get me out and back to yyz? correct?

Jim

getaround

You use a free tool to search for flights from the ANA website which allows you to search all possible available flights for free.

Search the ANA tool in this forum as all the info on it is here as posted by others.

getaround

The AP search tool is a piece of rubbish and your better using the ANA tool; the AP web site does not always show all REAL possibilities.

I feel it is simply a lier and a cheater of a option by AC/AP.