billgrates3

I will be going to DAC in July, and I intend to fly SFO-ORD-DEL on AA then switch to Jet Airways, DEL-DAC. I believe you could use miles to get an award ticket for a similar itinerary from AUS.

chj

CX first is top notch. Arguably the best in the world. You're in for a treat.

onobond

Absolutely! At least the best in OW. ^^^

In *A LX and SQ are runners up.

rayfes

I considered this but I wanted to go through HKG to visit a friend on the way back and they made it sound easier to do the same routing on the departure. The cost of an economy ticket on JAL for DEL<->DAC is $440.

I'm curious to see what AA tells my parents. They used AA to book AUS->???->LHR->DAC. The last segment was to be on BA. They canceled that trip and have credit with AA. When they canceled AA told them they could reinstate the ticket as long as it had the same routing. But since then BA has discontinued LHR->DAC.

As for me I went ahead and booked through HKG. The cost was 165k miles with this breakdown:
AUS->LAX->HKG->DAC 67.5k
DAC->HKG 30k
HKG->LAX->AUS 67.5k

They told me that since I'm staying in HKG 6 days instead of less than 24 hours that I am charged an extra 30k miles for that. The domestic segments are first and the rest are business except for HKG->LAX which is first. I asked if I could downgrade that segment to business to save some miles but they told me there was no business class away inventory. Oh well, sounds like I won't be suffering from what the previous posters stated.

CX won't give me seat assignments until 6 months before the departure.

Thanks for the help and comments. I'm looking forward to this trip and it will be the last one I take before dropping from PLT.

Rayfes

merrickdb

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but the OP may want to consider getting an award ticket to BKK or CMB and buying a ticket from BKK or CMB to DAC. BKK is less than 1,000 miles from DAC, while CMB is just under 1,400 miles from DAC. Cathay serves both cities (with CMB service actually via BKK) and AA awards to BKK or CMB require considerably fewer miles than awards to DAC (55K each way for J and 67.5K each way for F, vs. 67.5K for J and 90K for F to DAC).

rayfes

Thanks merrickdb! I'll keep these options in mind for my next trip there.

I was flying from DAC to HKG direct but apparently that flight on Dragonair got canceled and now I have to go through Nepal and spend 3X more time.

miles_navigator

BKK is very competitive to purchase tickets for the short hop tickets in Y to CCU or DAC.

AUS to BKK on either CX or JL will also be less miles than the NA to Indian subcontinent award.

I am surprised they let you route via the Pacific to the Indian sub continent (they say all routing must be via the Atlantic/or over the pole on AA metal to DEL).

Also, if you are short on the miles, consider paying for the Y seat to LHR on AA metal and using miles from LHR to DAC (via DEL on BA/9W). 60K for J on this award is a steal.

They ding you a little extra for the LHR/UK departure tax/luxury tax, etc.

benzguy80

neither CX nor JL fly into or out of AUS

miles_navigator

...via LAX/SFO or pick your NA gateway city..but thanks for the clarification for other readers.

KD5MDK

Their codeshares do, I could swear I've seen them on the monitors.

Anyway, I think the point was that BKK Asia awards are cheaper than India awards.

merrickdb

At the moment it's actually a bit pricey (though I suppose it's all relative) at around $325 one-way for the non-stop. GMG Airlines may be cheaper, but their aircraft(!) is "not working" this week, according to their reservations office. Biman Bangladesh has also inexplicably suspended service to Bangkok through the end of the year, leaving Thai and Druk Air as the only carriers offering non-stop service between Bangkok and Dahka. (Druk Air is kind of fun but their schedule can be a bit "fluid" as their primary concern is getting pax to Paro and Paro is a tough place to land even in the best weather, and their service isn't particularly frequent.)

benzguy80

yep, JL codeshares from AUS on AA to/fr NRT via DFW, LAX and ORD while CX codeshares on AA to/fr HKG via LAX.

martin33

but unless you're on an expensive ticket, taking those codeshares is mileage suicide.

benzguy80

I believe it! I try to avoid codeshares when I'm going for miles.