eponymous_coward

I’m not entirely clear on what you’re trying to do here. Are you trying to have a honeymoon in Rome, a honeymoon in Rome and Hong Kong, or what?

Cathay Pacific doesn’t fly Seattle-Rome nonstop, and you don’t have enough miles to do Seattle-Europe-Asia-Seattle in business class for two using Alaska miles.

If you’re trying to get from Europe to Asia, you can try Finnair; they have reasonable availability and their A350s have a similar hard product to Cathay. It will cost somewhat more in miles but you might have a better chance at finding seats. Europe-HKG can be tough on Cathay using AS miles.

sams64

I've had friends book on CX in U JNB-SEA with stopover in HKG on a single award reservation. Granted this was last year, so maybe the award rules have changed or Africa-SEA is allowed but Europe-SEA isnt?

sams64

Planning on three destinations for the honeymoon: Rome, Hong Kong, Bali. Since I don't have that many miles, I'm going to buy the one-way tickets from SEA-FCO and round-trip between HKG and DPS, and try to get FCO-SEA in business as an award with long stopover in HKG to see Hong Kong and do the side trip to Bali.

Friends booked JNB-SEA with 5 day stopover in HKG last year on CX in business for 65k miles per ticket. CX business HKG-SEA is a 50k ticket alone, but the added JNB-HKG leg only cost an additional 15k miles because of the single award with stopover. If I did Finnair Europe-Asia that's a 60k business ticket, plus the 50k for CX HKG-SEA for 110k each. So I'm hoping to replicate the magic my friends managed since I only have 188k miles to use.

skimthetrees

AS does not offer CX awards from Europe to North America so your plan as envisioned (FCO-HKG (stop) HKG-SEA) will not work as one award. Since you mentioned you were planning on purchasing SEA-FCO separately I might suggest this:

SEA-FCO - purchase separately with money
FCO-DPS - CX J award 42.5k/person * 2 = 85k
DPS-HKG (stop) HKG-SEA CX J award 50k * 2 = 100k

Total miles is 180k which is within your 188k budget and you only have to purchase the SEA-FCO one-way flights (and find award availability).

eponymous_coward

That's not possible on one award. FCO-HKG-SEA is TWO sets of awards, FCO-HKG and HKG-SEA.

I think you're going to find most one-way tickets USA->Europe to be pretty brutal as cash tickets (read: super expensive) unless you're using an LCC like Norwegian or Condor, perhaps Icelandair.

IMO I would seriously consider using miles on one way international tickets or purchasing additional Alaska miles because you'll often find throwing away one direction on a round trip is cheaper than a one way.

OP, if you're already planning some cash outlay for flights for the honeymoon you probably want to consider what using that money for Alaska miles (or another program's miles) might do for you. If you also have time to acquire other program miles via credit card, etc., that could stretch your budget quite a bit.

Correct. Alaska does not offer Europe-SEA as one award on CX.

Also not possible on one award. FCO-HKG-DPS is two awards, breaking at HKG. CX Europe-HKG awards break at HKG, per the wiki and the award chart.

OP CAN do Europe-HKG + DPS-HKG-SEA, which barely squeezes under (42.5k+50k totaling 185k), if and only if availability on Europe-HKG legs exists (it's not easy to find). Note that this only requires buying two legs: SEA-Europe and HKG-DPS, though that might not be cheap unless OP flies an LCC. Again, it might be prudent just to buy AS miles.

skimthetrees

Is the wiki really up to date on this? The current AS award chart allows it. Europe to Asia on CX. There is no footnote saying HKG only. I can understand if they say no stopover in HKG but Europe-Asia is explicitly mentioned in the award chart for CX. If I wanted this I would call in and ask for it and HUCA or escalate it up to a supervisor if I got pushback, pointing them to the AS award chart.

eponymous_coward

Screenshot from the AS award chart:



If you read the wiki, it specifically mentions:

The picture might look like it allows Asia, but the chart most definitely says "Hong Kong". All CX awards other than North America or intra-Asia break at HKG and the award type for Cathay will say "{Name of Region} to Hong Kong" or v.v. Feel free to check it out on alaskaair.com if you don't believe me.

skimthetrees

Thanks. I know the wiki mentions it but I missed the pic of Europe to Hong Kong under the Asia award chart.

sams64

Thank you to everyone for helping clarify the issue here! I see what you mean now with regards to award travel breaking on CX at HKG. Two separate awards it is then! (assuming I can find them)

Any suggestions on more powerful search tools to help my quest for business seats from Europe to HKG? Also want to look into award availability if I reverse my trip itinerary to start in Asia in the event that HKG-FCO award tickets are easier to come by than FCO-HKG. Searching each departure/date combo one by one on BA's website is time consuming to say the least.

Thank you!

eponymous_coward

Starting the trip in Asia would help, your itinerary is more logical without backtracking. Dropping down to premium economy/economy could also help. Depending on the time of year a one way to or from Europe is 22.5k to 30k miles, and it would help save you money on positioning flights, which is what is going to add costs.

skimthetrees

Qantas has a flexible date calendar search that is nice. I use JAL CX partner specific search as a check against what AS has available since JAL's CX availability seems to match AS's.

FCO-HKG for 2 passengers will be the hardest award to come by. You can count on the fingers of one hand the number of dates it is available. In the first half of next year I have only found one, Feb. 19th, so you will have to build your award around that leg or consider CX's other European destinations to travel to HKG from. Note, there are a couple of more dates available as married segment past HKG which you cannot do on an AS award.

ETA:
Found a couple of more FCO-HKG dates later in the year: 8/19, 8/25, and that (plus 2/19) is pretty much it for next year from FCO.

ETA2:
Not comprehensive, but a couple of other options.
ZRH-HKG: 5/12, 5/19
FRA-HKG: 5/20, 6/3
BRU-HKG: 7/2

eponymous_coward

Yeah, Europe-HKG and v.v. in CX J is tough. Do lots of searching and if you want Rome prepare for buy cheap positioning flights...

Conflipper

FYI using the SMS feature to check availability is awesome. I will find something on JAL and I can send a couple quick text to Alaska to have them check/verify availability and it saves me a call to find out that date is not available.

skimthetrees

Sounds interesting. I never used this. How long do they typically take to respond?

Conflipper

First Text sent at 12:32. Agent replied at 12:33. Had three different flight availability with options on each one for the day I asked about at 12:38.