GeekFLYER83

I am looking to go to Asia in October with one other person and we would like to pay for coach tickets and use SWUs to get into Biz Class. We would like to visit NRT, PEK, and HKG. We are looking to do all the travel over 10-12 days, and it really doesn't matter what direction or order we go in. We are both leaving from ORD.

It seems that we will have to arrive and depart from the same city in Asia to get the lowest rate as the one way tickets look 2-3X the price of the one way price when booking roundtrip.

Any suggestions on routing, which city to fly into and out of, which route has best opportunity for SWU, and what to do for flying between NRT, PEK, and HKG.

Thanks.

JJeffrey

You should be able to book an open jaw within Asia (arriving into one city, leaving from another) for little or no extra expense. A quick check on aa.com in October shows various dates doing something like ORD-NRT-HKG then NRT-ORD return around $1k+.

For flying between NRT/HKG/PEK, I find the intra asia one-way awards a good value compared to what a one-way fare can be on CX or JL.

If it were me, I'd book something along the lines of...

ORD-NRT-HKG outbound paid ticket, spend your time in HKG. Upgrade ORD-NRT w/ SWU's. Then HKG-PEK award ticket on CX (15k in Y). Time in Beijing. PEK-NRT award ticket on JL (20k in Y). Time in Tokyo. Fly home on NRT-ORD, upgraded with SWU's.

Microwave

AA don't serve HKG, so that one is out. Between PEK and NRT, there are way more flights to NRT, especially if you're not picky about gateway cities. My suggestion is to go to ExpertFlyer, sign up for a membership there, and search for C inventory on the flights you'd consider. If you want to guarantee your SWUs will work, you will need to buy tickets with sufficient inventory in the C bucket at the time of ticketing, then call AA and have them process the upgrades. If C is not available at the time of booking, you'll be waitlisted, and at that point I'd have to defer to other FTers that frequent these routes to suggest ones with the best chance of SWU clearance. Once you're in NRT, I'd use JL and CX to get around Asia between NRT, PEK and HKG, as you'll earn at least some EQMs and RDMs, especially if you can find them as AA codeshares (which earn full EQMs and RDMs). Of course SWUs won't do any good on these legs, but if you're EXP or PLT you will get premium cabin checkin and lounge access while in the airport, which helps a lot for showers and IRROPS. Good luck!

ESpen36

Definitely CX to go to/from HKG. Fantastic service! (Hard product on short/medium-haul is aging a bit, but soft product is like nothing you've ever had before! Incredible!)

unfrequentflyer

i agree with Mr. Microwave. except that I don't think all fare on CX earn EQM and miles.

if you do this with all FF miles, it will be a lot easier.

EXP4ME

Best of luck with your upgrades, but I question the wisdom in thinking you're getting any value for your money if you're visiting NRT, HKG, and PEK in just 10/12 days. Assuming 2 days are consumed mostly with transit between cities, you're left with 8/10 days in three cities that are massive in scale and have so much to offer.

Besides suggesting NRT as most likely the easiest to upgrade, I'd also humbly suggest you cut one city out.

3Cforme

Nice CX product, but SWUs aren't going to be valid to upgrade. The worst AA Business product TPAC is better than the best CX coach product.

EXP4ME

Especially with if you get those new seats that "recline" by lifting your rear end. After 4 hours in it from HKG to NRT I about cried.

unfrequentflyer

I wonder if you can book a ticket on AA all the way to HK and use one SWU on all the legs. ORD-SFO-NRT (stop)-HKG (code share on JAL) and then you buy a cheap ticket to PEK.

ESpen36

Sorry for not being clear: take AA as far as NRT, then CX onward to HKG.

I personally would avoid PEK as a connection point because of the visa requirements, but to each his or her own.

sdsearch

SWUs don't work on codeshares. They only work on AA metal. So you can't use one SWU or even 1000 SWUs on all the legs, if some of the legs are codeshares on other airlines.

unfrequentflyer

i think your best bet is ORD-NRT round trip (make sure you can use SWU), CX NRT-HKG-PEK, JL or a chinese airline PEK-NRT

i still think the best is to use FF awards.

captaink

Just don't try and hold two additional biz seats to make sure your SWU clears

mvoight

+1 Good thing I didn't have a drink in my mouth

GeekFLYER83

Thanks for all the help. Going to try book this all today. The reason I cant use FF miles is I need the miles to re-qualify for EXP.

I might look at skipping PEK and doing PVG instead for the World Expo. The short time frame in each city is due to this being more business than pleasure.

Any other thoughts or ideas are welcome.