Jonathan Cao

New friend here. I am hoping to take advantage of cheap 65K Biz redemption to Vietnam in Feb 2020. Plan is LAX > SGN, HANOI > LAX.

I did notice a few options for my dates via JAL or Korea but the most layovers are 10+ Hours. And the mixed cabin options are not great, long flights are Coach, while the shorter connecting is Biz.

Do you think better flights would open later this month? Should i contact their CS to inquire about Cathy availability? Thank you for the quick assistance!

Shareholder

If J is not available on the long haul flights now (six months out), it won't open up until much closer to the flight date. Usually JL will release more reward inventory in the week or two prior to a flight if the J cabin (or even F) has unsold revenue seats. Assume you're in the LA area, but if not, check out some other JL or CX gateways (SEA, SFO, SJC or even ORD if you're in the midwest). Or consider CX in PE if J is not available. Also assume you have 130K or more AS miles since 65K is just one-way in J. And if SQ awards ever become available with AS miles, that would be another option, though it's flights will be pretty well booked by STAR members. So if no J is available on CX, book JL or CX in Y(PE on CX) now and you can always rebook into J if new award seats open up a week or two before your flight.

minz56

You can use the QF, BA & JL websites to check CX award availability. You'll need to open FF accounts for those airlines to do so, but I believe all are free to join.

Finding availability on one of those sites doesn't guarantee that AS will see the space, and a call to AS will be required to confirm whether they have availability.

One issue with using CX for your itinerary is that their partner airline KA (Dragonair) flies HKG/HAN and are unavailable using an AS award. CX do fly their own aircraft HKG/SGN.

Flying for Fun

Just a reminder that, in the absence of a waiver, a change fee would be payable to up-class unless it was booked in Business from the start with the long-haul in Y/PE.

AA is now also an option.

James

skimthetrees

Consider CX for SGN. 50k Biz. Biz availability seems to be scares in Feb. but a few dates with F are available for 70k. Can your miles budget stretch to 70k for one or both directions? F to HKG would be far better than J to TYO and for a difference of 5k miles you can't beat it with a stick.

If availability is better consider whether your trip could be rearranged LAX-HAN, SGN-LAX. Is that an option?

How many days are you planning for your trip? Are you flexible on departure dates?