travjud

Hi there,
I'd like to book a trip from YVR to BKK using Aeroplan miles. I would like to fly Asiana or Singapore Airlines but both of these airlines either fly out from Seattle or San Francisco. In order to get to Seattle, I have to use Air Canada and the taxes and fees for that part of journey is over $300/2pp.
Would anyone here have any suggestions as to how I can go about booking this trip and avoid using Air Canada or Air China?
Thank you very much for all your help.

alc

would you consider doing a road trip to Seattle then? either drive your own car and park at the airport or take a one-way rental each way... or a coach bus. Otherwise, I can't see how you can not use Air Canada between Vancouver and Seattle.

Why do you want to avoid AC? as both SQ and OZ from either SEA or SFO do not have direct flight anyway. AC will get you to somewhere in Asia and then to BKK via SQ or TG flights.

ylwae

1) You could fly YVR-SFO on UA.
2) You could drive to Seattle and start your trip there.
3) You could fly to Asia from YVR via Europe on LH.

Doing these things won't eliminate fees entirely, but in most cases you'll be paying less than you would on AC.

JerseySlime

The info I got may or may not pertain to Aeroplan miles. I've been looking at EWR-LHR flights and AC is the Star Alliance carrier showing up most often. Plugged in YVR-BKK for June of 2011 (same timeframe I'm looking at to LHR). You didn't specify any dates or whether you're looking in Economy or Business. On the CO website (I'm CO PLT/*A Gold) for YVR-BKK, Y shows 65,000 miles and USD98.70 and J shows as 125,000 miles and the same amount in taxes and fees. The flights are AC3 to NRT, then UA881 to BKK. UA882 and AC4 on the return. Seems like a better deal in taxes. Don't know anything about how many Aeroplan miles but would think all *A carriers are approximately equal.

getaround

Because of extra AC 'fees"?

ylwae

For a *A award YVR-BKK using Aeroplan miles, you'd need 75K for Y, 100K for C, and 120K for F. If you travel on AC3/4, the fees and taxes will very likely be quite a bit more than USD98.70.

ETA: I did a dummy booking. The notoriously inadequate Aeroplan website didn't give me the AC3/4 option for YVR-BKK, but just YVR-NRT on AC3/4 in Y came out to over CAD300 in fees and taxes.

JerseySlime

When booking on the AC website, you may be right. Here is what I found on the CO site. Note, there were no J seats available for these dates from NRT-BKK and return:

Price Details:
Taxes/Fees
Japan Passenger Service Facilities Charge $24.00
OI $11.80
Canada Airport Improvement Fee $14.40
Canada Harmonized Sales Tax $1.70
Canadian Security Charge $24.80
Thailand Passenger Service Charge $22.00

Certain taxes/fees list above are included in the originally quoted price.

1 Reward 65,000 Miles
Additional Taxes/Fees $98.70
Total Price 65,000 Miles and $98.70

Flight Details:
Depart:
2:05 p.m.
Thu., Jun. 9, 2011
Vancouver, BC Canada (YVR) Arrive:
3:55 p.m. +1 Day
Fri., Jun. 10, 2011
Tokyo, Japan (NRT - Narita) Flight Time:
9 hr 50 mn Flight: AC3
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Fare Class: Economy (X)
Meal: Lunch
No Special Meal Offered.

Change Planes. Connect time in Tokyo, Japan (NRT - Narita) is 2 hours 40 minutes.
Depart:
6:35 p.m.
Fri., Jun. 10, 2011
Tokyo, Japan (NRT - Narita) Arrive:
11:10 p.m.
Fri., Jun. 10, 2011
Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) Flight Time:
6 hr 35 mn

Travel Time:
19 hr 5 mn Flight: UA881
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
Fare Class: Economy (X)
Meal: Dinner
No Special Meal Offered.


Depart:
6:50 a.m.
Tue., Jul. 5, 2011
Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) Arrive:
3:00 p.m.
Tue., Jul. 5, 2011
Tokyo, Japan (NRT - Narita) Flight Time:
6 hr 10 mn Flight: UA882
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
Fare Class: Economy (X)
Meal: Breakfast
No Special Meal Offered.

Change Planes. Connect time in Tokyo, Japan (NRT - Narita) is 2 hours 55 minutes.
Depart:
5:55 p.m.
Tue., Jul. 5, 2011
Tokyo, Japan (NRT - Narita) Arrive:
10:30 a.m.
Tue., Jul. 5, 2011
Vancouver, BC Canada (YVR) Flight Time:
8 hr 35 mn

Travel Time:
17 hr 40 mn Flight: AC4
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Fare Class: Economy (X)
Meal: Breakfast
No Special Meal Offered.

Scott218

Since Aeroplan operates independently from Air Canada, it is including AC's fuel surcharges on award tickets that include AC flights. : (

For the OP, if you're flying J, I would recommend going through Europe as well. There are more availability on LH and you can have a stopover in Europe.

travjud

Thank you very much for all your suggestions. The reasons I wanted to avoid Air Canada are the excessive fees compared to other airlines and also the service is not too great.
We are planning a 2 months trip so driving to Seattle and park would be quite expensive.
Would going through Europe extends the flight time?

travjud

Sorry I forgot mention. We are thinking of making the trip in Jan or Feb. 2011 and in economy. Thank you.

djjaguar64

I don't blame you at all, go via Europe or the US don't get scammed by the Fuel Surcharges.^

Fritz_Blitz

Using ANA there seems to be plenty of economy availability in January and February on SQ15 from SFO - ICN, and you could connect onto TG for ICN - BKK. One possible outbound:

1/21 UA305 YVR-SFO
1/21 SQ015 SFO-ICN
1/22 TG657 ICN-BKK

I'd suggest using either ANA or KVS so you can check availability on the individual segments to put something together.

Adrian

global happy traveller

You have missed out the fact that a reward program can impose additional charges or blackout restrictions only on their own members but not members from other star alliance carriers......

For example... Aeroplan members will have to pay more for AC flights than SQ/UA/CO would pay for the same AC flights (same inventory)..... similarly with UA, they place restrictions on redeeming SQ flights travelling along the same corridor..... then in Asia, when travelling on SQ, Aeroplan members pay a lot less surcharges than SQ Kris Flyer members

global happy traveller

Y or J cabin?

Fritz_Blitz

It's Y availability, as I believe that's what the OP was after. SQ15 seems to have quite a few days of Y availability, it's the ICN-BKK availability that seems limited.

Adrian