Best Option for 3rd Bus Class YYC to LHR (Newb)
 

Please Help..

Three people traveling (very flexible) YYC to Budapest (via LHR).

I have Aeroplan miles for 3 bus class..but no chance apparently for ACTUAL Bus class booking.. But seems I can get Two w/o big problem.

For third - to bring her to bus class.. Short of just paying $6,300, what is best choice:

a) buying ticket (non Tango?) and wait listing?
b) use aeroplan for mixed J/Y bus class reward ticket and waitlisting?
c) use aeroplan to buy economy and keep waiting to see if seat opens up and change to business class?
d) other option I haven't considered.

I have no status SE, E, etc..

Thanks for any advice! :confused:

Give us some dates and other restrictions (stopover cities, etc.).

dates are basically any time from August 31 to October 1, 2014.. and our itinerary is also wide open - though it seems that it is most likely to obtain two full business class flights via Calgary-Heathrow-Budapest (our return will be Rome-Calgary.. and the return on a full business class ticket via Aeroplan seems to likely be Rome-Frankfurt-Calgary - though that's flexible as well).

We do not want to split up flyers so if worst comes to worst the third will sit in economy..

Okay, this may not be an ideal routing, and you'd need to check with Aeroplan to make sure it's bookable....

Wednesday August 6th 2013.
3 tickets, J class.

YYC- IAH UA1137

IAH - IST TK34

IST - BUD TK1037

**edit**
just realized you said after August 31st, I thought it said August 1st. sorry.

Very challenging to get 3 J seats on multi-leg like that. Are you really sure you can't send one person on a different flight to the other two?

You are too early for a bunch of carriers. Wait a month.

http://boardingarea.com/viewfromthew...eir-schedules/

It pays to be impatient with Aeroplan at least. I found that the inventory available at 355 days, is far more available domestic, than at 354 days. I've been obbsessive about booking my first award and it paid off. We booked flights on days that don't have any availability on the domestic legs now because we booked them at 355 days. I started a thread about this but no one cared.

Intercontinental AC is only partially loaded at 355 though. Using YYC-FRA as an example, at 355 the flight shows I1X1, at 354 the flight goes to I2X9. If the flight at 355 showed I0X1 then I knew the next day was going to go I1X9.

Go ahead and try it on expert flyer yourself ;)

It's like this: I'm taking my 72 yr old mother back to the "home country" - she's never travelled to Europe and never flown alone.. so, to begin with, the two of us are joined at the hip... the 3rd ticket (you guessed) is my wife.. and while she's flown with me to Europe several times, she's somewhat timid and the idea of sending her on a leg on her lonesome, isn't going to happen.. though I did float the idea of her arriving a day later and I pick her up at airport, etc.. but she would rather sit in economy.

So.. back to square one - which is most likely I use AP to book the two J class seats (seems pretty easy this far ahead) and then find a way to increase chances of wife getting moved to J..

Or - it appears, I could wait a month and see if other carriers create more availability.. though searching right now, it seems unlikely I'm ever going to get the transatlantic leg with 3 confirmed J class seats even if I wait for other carriers (unless I'm missing something).

So - so far, the plan seems to be to book flights on Tues or Wed (least busy), put wife on the same flight via mixed J/Y business class reward; economy Latitude ticket; OR Y class reward.. and then phoning AP every day thereafter to see if something opens up?

Ok.. be patient, I'm an idiot.. "I2X9" and "I0X1".. what is this algebra?

I punched in random dates for next August and had many choices for 3 TATL J seats down to BUD (out of NYC and BOS) ... on TK, TP and LX even.

Aug 2014 on random dates, 3 TATL seats onward to BUD....out of ORD on UA and LH...lots of choices.

Ok.. again, I'm a little slow.. so it seams on SA carriers - United or Lufthansa, there are 3 seats.. a few Q'ns:

Do you find those on the AP search engine? And to make it happen, do I basically break the legs down re availability and then call AP and tell them the routs to connect?

I used Expertflyer (paid, web based) and others use KVS (paid, install on computer)....others use other methods.

Yes, you find each leg or legs and spoon feed them to AE on the phone.

Thank-you - you may have saved my marriage.. I'll definitely sign up for Expertflyer and see what I can work out!:)

Outbound:

Aug 30 YYC-EWR AC584 12:55-19:24
Stopover in New York
Sep 2 JFK-IST TK4 12:50-05:40+1
Sep 3 IST-BUD TK1035 08:50-09:50

You also need to find the return, and then call in to book all together. You can also have another additional stopover anywhere along your route, e.g. IST, or on the return.