pentiumvi

I recall reading horror stories on how CA would cancel tickets without notifying anyone, and thus stranding passengers in the past.

Is this still an ongoing issue? Was this issue only for long haul flights?

I'm trying to put together a trip for next year and there are certain intra-asia flights that I can't get away from using CA.

rankourabu

Hasnt been an issue for over a year
Air China awards not on UA.com (on & off issues), cancelled tkts and other issues

emustyle

Hi All,

Doing some research for a friend who's looking to burn their AP miles and was curious if something like YVR to Asia to Europe is possible? does being in multiple regions break any rules?

Without looking up actual flights, would the possibility of something like below work? (minus the flights between to move around?)
YVR - SIN (POT)
SIN - BKK (Stop)
BKK - ZAG (Stop)
ZAG - YVR

I think the the longest flight would be YVR - SIN (7967 mi) and BKK to ZAG looks to be 5296 mi.

So distances I think would be ok, I just wasn't sure if something like this is doable? If so can probably start looking actual flights to get around?

Thanks

ChrisA330

YVR-Asia vis Europe is definitely possible, but you need your exact flights to determine if your itinerary is valid. Just listing your stops isn't enough.

MPM for YVR-SIN is 13196. You can't go over that for both your outbound and return.

As an example SIN-BKK-MUC-ZAG-FRA-YVR is 12,102 miles, so therefore it's valid.

Use Great Circle Mapper to calculate mileage. It's not exact, but it's close.

crimsona

Doable, the hardest part is getting across to Europe without fuel surcharges. Usually means connecting in SFO, YYZ, yul or Ord, all of which eats into the mileage significantly.

I'm in the middle of a YVR-yul-Zurich-Rome-Istanbul-Bangkok routing

emustyle

Thanks to both of you for steering me in the right direction.

Also a big thank you to JJonahJ for reaching out and schooling me further on figuring this out! I think I got stuck not fully understanding MPM and miles travelled inbound and outbound.
After a bit of work and conversation, I think I have a better understanding now and "think" I've got a workable route. Something a long the lines of:
YVR - TPE
TPE - SGN (Stop)
SGN- BKK (POT)
BKK - IST
IST - ZAG (Stop)
ZAG - ZRH
ZRH - BOS
BOS - YYZ
YYZ - YVR

I think MPM for YVR-BKK is 12160
I think Outbound from YVR is 7786
And Inbound from BKK is is 12041
So I think this works?

If not doing something like ZAG - MUC - YVR comes in at 10858 which should work but might just cost a bit more $$ on LH :P

Again thanks for the education and help to everyone!

zoqfotpik

As long as you are within MPM it should work. The biggest challenge is actually finding availability.

Fa Hz

I booked my first Mini RTW a couple of weeks ago (YAY) but there was one segment that i couldnt book in the flight I wanted (HND-BKK with NH) Aeroplan agent only was able to find a flight with TG so i ended up booking in with that, but I rather fly with NH . I'm using expert flyer and I continue to see availability for HDN-BKK with NH on Feb 20th, 2019 but the agent said that "i have to find it via aeroplan" and that's the reason why i can't book it. She tried to find it but she said she couldn't find anything. Is it possible that this reward is not available for Aeroplan or is it possible that the agent just didn't bother looking?

Thanks for your guidance!

Jasper2009

It could be both. Have you checked on the United website whether award availability shows up for your desired flight?

Fa Hz

No, i haven't. Good tip, thanks!. I checked and there is no availability in the United website either. I guess I have to keep monitoring the flight in United instead expertflyer (which still shows availability)

ecgz88

Yeah, I'm trying to do SIN-YVR through Europe (MAD or ATH) with Low YQ, but can't find any route without going over MPM ....... Looks like SIN-IST-ZRH-YUL-YVR 12,515 works, but looks like Swiss don't release seats at all?

will Aeroplan allow YVR-TPE-HND(Stop)-SIN, consider it's backtracking?

Jasper2009

LX is among the airlines that is more generous in terms of releasing award availability, so I suggest to keep monitoring availability.

There is no Aeroplan rule against "backtracking"; if the routing is within MPM, you're generally fine.

Jasper2009

If availability doesn't show up on the AE website nor on the UA website, there's a reasonable chance this is availability NH has only released to its own members. Depending on Expertflyer's data source (presumable NH), it may e rather useless in your case and you have to keep monitoring the AE/UA websites.

ecgz88

I don't quite understand this :" Remember that if you use your open jaw at the turnaround/destination point, you will only have one stopover to use left. So you would be able to do NYC > Singapore (destination, open jaw) // Tokyo (stop) > NYC. This has one destination, one open jaw (at turnaround point), and one stopover. However, you would not be able to do this: NYC > Madrid (stop) > Singapore (destination, open jaw) // Tokyo (stop) > NYC. Because your 2 stops + 1 open jaw would be more than the two allowed."

How the Tokyo will consider open jaw+stop both? if arrive NYC-SIN in 04/26 and NRT-NYC in 04/30 that's consider 1 open jaw+ 1 stop both?

will YVR-YYZ-BRU (openjaw) MAD-IST-SIN (destination)-TPE(Stop)-YVR allowed? for calculated miles, do I need count openjaw BRU-MAD as well or no?

WKnight

You can only use an open jaw where it involves your destination/turnaround, or the origin, not elsewhere in your itinerary.

As for that example, think of the open jaw as a stopover that you maybe could have used, but chose not to and you used your own method/$$ to get between the destination and another stopover. So in that example, SIN was the destination/turnaround and Tokyo was a stopover. You could say, have chosen to fly SIN-TPE and used TPE as another stopover, and then TPE-Tokyo, but because you chose to bridge SIN and Tokyo on your own, it's an open jaw there, and you give up one stopover (say TPE).

For your question, you cannot open jaw between BRU and MAD because SIN is your destination/turnaround. Again, OJ has to involve the destination or origin (and be in the same IATA zone?).