canadiancow

Only certain flights... I believe Hong Kong to Manila, Cebu, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai? Something like that. It may be the same as the codeshares.

You can't book them online though. I'd been struggling with piecing this whole thing together though, and it never even occurred to me to check for CX U space.

spark787

If I'm doing a RTW and SIN is my destination and my next stopover is MUC, is it possible to backtrack to HKG for a layover so I can avoid Lufthansa YQ?

Jasper2009

There is no rule against backtracking per se, however flying SIN-HKG-MUC-US/Canada will most likely push you over MPM.

pentiumvi

Do you avoid YQ if HKG is just a layover?

I was under impression HKG had to be destination?

Jasper2009

YQ is only regulated if the trip originates or terminates in HKG; YQ is not regulated if HKG is merely a connection. (The OP used the term "layover", so it wasn't quite clear whether they meant a "stopover" or a "connection"; I figured it may've been the former)

zoqfotpik

For those searching award seats on CX, the best way to search is through British Airways website. You then have to call AP to quote the flights you found in order to book.

Smiley90

To expand on this since another poster said the same thing - Which routes DO (or DONT) have SQ availability? Intra-Asia and to Australia are okay/good, what about e.g. SIN-AKL? or MLE-SIN? Anything outside of Asia (e.g. SIN-JNB, where SQ is the only *A non-stop) and australia are no-go's?

spark787

I've seen AKL-SIN wide open in November, up to 4 seats. but it's on the 777-300.
SIN-IST is also decent.

Praying for SQ to mess up and open their suites and longhaul like when it happened 2 years ago

ChrisA330

Generally (although this isn't 100%) If it's on an A380, A350, or 77W (for most flights), then you won't get access to J/F. Their regional configured aircraft (including the 787-10) should be OK.

joet00

I booked this on the weekend departing later this month:

YYZ > ZRH AC X
ZRH > LIS TP I
(destination)
LIS > ORY TP I
(stop)
CDG > MUC LH I
MUC > YYZ LH I

110K miles + $1162.16 in taxes and fees + $30 call-centre fee (x2 pax)

I shared the routing/taxes on the appropriate thread yesterday, but have some questions I'm hoping FT can help answer (and some commentary):

Was hoping to avoid the carrier surcharge, but it was not to be.

To Europe: Only economy was available across the pond…so I told myself flying AC metal was the best option in hopes of an upgrade at the gate. The agent encouraged me to check the website/call in in the 2 weeks leading up to the trip, for a “free” change to confirmed Business.

1. Assuming I understood her correctly, she advised we could even change the routing and there would be no service fee for that. Is that correct? I thought it had to be same flight number/s, otherwise change fee is collected.

From Europe: The seats on BN were gone when I went to book. LH was the only option. Will check AwardNexus closer to departure to see if anything opens up.

2. I am at the mercy of availability, but any suggestion on carriers/combinations (CDG/ORY to YYZ) to minimize YQ? We have Nexus so would be fine transiting the US.

Overall, was impressed by the calibre of the Aeroplan agents. I had one call where the connection "became poor/’can you hear me now?’ " so I ended the call on my side (thankfully, we were only minutes into that call).

Total of 3 other calls, where the agents were all helpful and seemed genuinely interested in helping me get to my destinations with my requested parameters (business class, avoid carrier surcharge).

PDL (and not LIS) is the true destination. AwardNexus showed seats to PDL, but the agent said she couldn’t see them. She later found seats into PDL a day later, but not back to LIS when I needed them. I was good to buy tickets back to LIS, but it came back as over MPM. So we dropped PDL, and I purchased tickets on Azores (cheaper than Ryanair to my surprise).

3. At LIS, Connection (TP to S4) is 3h40m. Is that tight at this airport?

Smiley90

ouch, that's a LOT of surcharge for a comparatively "simple" itinerary (essentially just a RT to Europe, not a RTW, with Economy across the pond one-way... ) how much would that have cost you in cash? Not sure i would've used miles on that...

as for LIS: It can be a bit of a cluster..., but 3h40mins is probably okay.

crimsona

Check yul, bos, ord, JFK to Zurich, or JFK to Geneva. With luck there's Swiss availability on alternate routes

Chaddix77

I am booking a Aeroplan flight reward from BKK-ICN-YYZ the BKK ICN part is economy the rest is business will I only have economy luggage for that first part? (24kg) or because I have a business leg in the booking will I get business level luggage (32KG) Thai airways for the economy part, air Canada for the business part.

colinmack

Hi all - my brother and I are planning a mini-RTW for the last week of October, with the following criteria:
- booking Economy (we each have between 100-140K Aeroplan miles, which should be enough for Economy, but not Business)
- routing needs to have availability for both of us to travel together
- goal is to circle the globe, hitting all 6 inhabited continents, and squeeze in as many stops as possible (especially new countries, even if they're just airport stops), so the more stops the better
- many of the destinations are flexible, the only firm ones are Dubai/Hong Kong/Adelaide (they can be a stopover or longer <24hr layover)
- fit everything within 7-8 days (starting October 21st)

Aside from comments on our mental fitness (!), any suggestions on potential roadblocks, or recommendations on how to best coordinate? The Aeroplan booking tool is limited and not the most friendly, but I've pieced together what looks like a series of available flights/stops (not sure if it violates any rules, hits too many stops, and/or how to best adjust it), here is what looks to be possible (with the caveat that it appears we can get to Adelaide, but can't easily get out - so it might require an open jaw to hop between Adelaide and Sydney, in which case we can hop a short flight on our own):

YOW-FRA-IST-ADD-DXB-BKK-HKG-TPE-SIN-ADL / SYD-IAH-BOG-UIO-PTY-ORD-YOW

An alternative (that might be better in terms of MPM) might be something like:

YOW-FRA-IST-CAI-DXB-BKK-HKG-SIN-ADL / SYD-LAX-SAL-UIO-PTY-ORD-YOW

Does this look valid? Would Adelaide/Sydney be considered the primary destination (MPM appears to be 16844 from YOW)? Any likely problems with the open jaw, or other shuffling needed to stay within the various restrictions? Are we even going around in the right direction (the routing above went east because it allowed a routing into Adelaide, which I couldn't seem to find going west)?

Any suggestions/tips would be greatly appreciated!

asovse1

I just whipped this up just now...

Why not consider going to PER rather than ADL/SYD?

Great Circle Mapper

YHZ and YOW probably wouldn't differ too much in MPM, and the MPM for this is 18600+

Basically, maximize MPM by being on the edge of one Aeroplan zone (North America), and make your destination as far away as possible in your destination zone (so HKG if you were flying to Asia 1, then use Avios to do short hops in Asia 2; or PER in AUS/NZ/SPac)

You can notice that there's 3k miles to play with on the return trip, so you can do something like add in ADD or some other European stops like MAD or BRU

Ignore me I'm an idiot, I didn't see that you needed ADL DXB HKG firm