YVRYEGYVR

Hoping for some reward help for a YEG/YVR/YYZ departure to LIS, with a return from OPO (or inbound to OPO and departing LIS) I have 350k AE, fixed rewards come to 330k for 3 people.

I see some absolutely undesirable itineraries... mostly YEG-YYZ-EWRorBOS-LIS with only one leg in business
I'm happy with some economy for shorthauls but want the TATL to be in business.

Some rewards out of Vancouver show YVR-LHR-LIS which would be ideal however the first leg is always in Economy no matter how I play around with it.

It seems the only way to get to LIS in J TATL is via EWR or BOS on TAP.

Looking to depart with flexible dates in mid April, for 9-12 days. Ideally returning still in April.

Humbly asking for some advice from the infinite wisdom here, and I'm sure don't have to ask to also minimize surcharges!
Thanks

WhisperjetYYZ

Booked
yyz-bos ac7672
bos-lis tp 218

Both in J
March 14

Just did a quick search one way and saw ORD/ IAD-MUC-LIS in J but on LH which means as you know stupid surcharges

bcnfish

TAP has great availability from all their US/Canada destinations. If leaving from YVR, TP is starting flights from SFO soon (on their new A330-900) and I've seen lots of award availability in J. Also good availability from YYZ and ORD so check those routes.

Advantage to booking on TP is that the taxes will be very low as there is no "fuel surcharge".

FlyerTalker70

It's certainly possible - the relevant carriers that don't charge carrier surcharge in your case would be United, Swiss, Turkish, TAP Portugal and SAS. In addition, for international itineraries Aeroplan allows you to have up to 4 stop overs (or 1 open jaw and 3 stopovers) en-route to your final destination. Supposing you've got flexibility in where you want to travel and see in Europe, you shouldn't have any issues maximizing the value of your points whilst minimizing those scam charges!

Here's something I found to get going :

Total cost is 110,000 miles + $91.90 CAD in taxes + fees roundtrip per passenger:


If you want to keep your airport of departure inside Canada, I'd also recommend adding YUL to your list since LX has a daily flight to ZRH out of there and they don't charge any scam charges (and also have great connectivity into the region)!

-James

YEG USER

FlyerTalker70

You're correct - apparently I can't do math in my head this early in the morning

In any event the point I was trying to get at for the OP was they could do something like YYZ > OPO > LIS >ZRH > YYZ and that would still be the same number of miles as say YYZ > LIS roundtrip.

-James

-James

ciana

I can see J availability YYZ-LIS on TAP but aren't they using very old planes with poor angled seats and small screen tvs with no on demand on them? I would love to hear some current views as to whether it's worth it to spend 110,000 miles for a RT on this route. Thanks.

YVRYEGYVR

It seems to be a 2-2-2 J config on seatguru on A330 I believe. Not sure where they are using the A340

I don't see any flights on aeroplan for direct YUL-ZRH.

I see lots of ZRH or FRA direct to LIS on TAP so I can use those if I can find a nice J cabin into those cities

WildcatYXU

According to Seatguru, TAP has 5 versions of A332. Two of them are equipped with angled J seats. So are the A343's and A333's. We have TP262 booked for July. It was originally showing an A332 with lie flats. Now it is showing an A339. Let's hope Airbus can keep delivering them and the Trent 7000's won't show any problems, so the aircraft won't get changed again. So yes, there indeed is a risk of getting some of the older aircraft with TP. But I guess it's still better than the Euro Atlantic 763's that operated LO32 for the most of last year.

Bohemian1

Speaking from recent experience, they do swap aircraft on this route. Most time I get one of the 'newer' A330 configurations. But I've also had the older version subbed in at the last minute.

None of them are awful, but some are less private than others.

YVRYEGYVR

Thanks for the responses.

Couple of issues:

1. I often see completely different routings for J vs Y rewards. Y rewards often quicker and shorter stop overs. I assume on these flights, there is simply no J reward space available, as I never see the option when searching for J reward.
i.e. I see YEG-YYZ-LIS with latter leg in economy rouge (ugh). No way to get this routing in J, even though latter leg would be more like PY anyways and not worth business level redemption imo

2. My in-laws, bless them, do not want to travel in J. Only in economy ("whether its dollars or points, we want you to save 'em")
So... on a routing where I find an acceptable J itinerary, can I assume Y reward would also be available?

At the moment, my desired routing to redeem in J: YEG-YUL-ZRH-OPO using AC, LX, TAP.
I think this would minimize surcharges as only short leg is AC and rest are non-surcharge carriers.

If I want this routing, and have found all the appropriate one-ways, can I call in and request two J rewards, and two Y or PY rewards?

3. Any idea of what surcharges would look like before calling in, esp is one leg of the routing is on a surcharger while other legs have no surcharges? is it as simple as completing mock redemptions for each leg and summing the individual taxes/surcharges

And the final price would be taxes/surcharge sum x number of pax, + 35$ x number of pax for calling in?

4. Last question- if booking everything based on one-ways from the aeroplan site, can I book the outbound leg all in J at 55K per redemption, and then book the return legs all in Y at a lower redemption and possibly faster itinerary?

Thanks!




I cannot find this flight, and think this would be amazing.. something like YVR-SFO-LIS on United and then TAP would be ideal.

Thanks for the advice, so far the J rewards out of YUL to ZRH seem great!

YEG USER

You are likely correct that J is possibly sold out for rewards redemptions on those flights. If you see a rouge routing, have you tried seeing if PY is available for selection - you'd likely be in Y on the domestic segment, but the premium in miles isn't much more than Y and is way less than J.

Y and J awards are completely separate, you cannot assume that if J is available that Y will be too. Lots of people are like your inlaws and want to "save 'em" so will only redeem for Y. I've seen numerous flights where Y rewards aren't available but J are. It also depends on the time of year for travel, if travelling during a time when business travel is weak but leisure travel is strong, an airline might make more reward seats available for the J cabin than at other times (and be stingy with Y space)

If you can find the reward space online, just book those online and save yourself the booking fee.

No issue with booking 1-ways. Only concern would be if you were wanting to take advantage of the free stopovers for intercontinental travel; you can't do that on a one-way.

No idea what the surcharge would be. Keep in mind that J surcharges and Y might be different. Also, the $35 would be per pax per booking, so if you're booking a bunch of one-ways that'll be $70 round-trip per pax.

Yes, no issue doing this.

Good luck with your trip!

YVRYEGYVR

May be a stupid question, but how is checked luggage handled for these one-way separate redemption bookings. I found LIS-BOS in J, and then a separate search for BOS-YUL-YVR/YEG. Is there a way to ensure the luggage gets checked through?


Thanks YEG USER for the help!

LondonElite

YEG USER