nk15

I think that also just weakened your case...

I do agree with you though, if you have 2 mil miles, you should not be worrying about the award mileage inflation and overbooking redemptions left and right. You clearly have more miles than you can spend, so relax and go with the flow...

jamienbaker

More than you can spend? How in the world can you reasonably reach that conclusion? Family of four. Two vacations/yr. Avg 67.5k one way in F to Asia, Europe about the same, LATAM a bit less. In this scenario, one needs one million per year before maintaining a balance for the unexpected (wedding, funeral, or - in my case - an unexpected trip to North Korea). The suggestion that "if you have 2 million your problems are solved" is laughably unsupported.

RedElmo

I guess it can be if you just fly economy. Then its more than enough miles.

nk15

This is fine, although I still think that excessive speculative overbooking should be avoided. Also, children should be aware that in "extremely rare unforeseen circumstances" people may have to fly J (or in some parts of the world die from hunger, if they don't have 50 cents to buy food), and not be conditioned to always flying F...

RedElmo

I can't see how they can book a family of 4 in F. They don't even release that many seats.

jamienbaker

That's incorrect. Airlines like CX don't release 4 SIMULTANEOUSLY (actually, I've seen it, but it is rare). But you can get them over time with patience. I'm flying MIAEZE in 2 weeks, AA had 5 F awards available when I booked a few weeks ago.

Quite simply, yours is a popular but mistaken opinion that helps others claim awards!

EDIT - As an aside, there are some airlines (like Aerolineas and Qatar) that do not seem to EVER release more than 2 premium awards. In this case, you split party. We're flying Qatar to JNB, unfortunately it necessitates my wife and son flying from BOS while I'll fly from JFK with my other son. We'll meet in DOH and continue on - together - to JNB.

25milesfromhome

Susiesan, we're trying JL F for a trip in October. Are the middle pair seats the best choice for a couple?

jamienbaker

On the speculative topic, it's often necessary to book domestic segments with the intent of marrying them to international segments (which may never become available). So I've often had to hold 4 awards JFKLAX on the assumption LAXXXX will eventually open up. Since alliance partners don't coordinate the release of awards, I view speculative bookings as entirely unavoidable.

As for kids, some people have occasionally opined that "your kids are in for a hard landing when they move out and have to fly Y". That may be true, but I don't see that as a reason to deprive them of premium travel when still living under my roof. Don't see what that would accomplish!

Be well and fly safe - Jamie

pssteve

We managed 3 J seats on QR to MLE back in January. Two went PSP-ORD-DOH-MLE while 1 started with LAX-ORD. In order to get 3 seats in J from DOH-MLE we had a 14 hour layover for the am flight on a A332 vs the earlier flight on a A320.

jamienbaker

Did J on the 77W suck? 2-2-2? I'm letting my wife take the A350 to DOH while I slum on the 77W.

Happy

No. Not at all. It is a lot better than the 787 reverse herringbone you would get DOH-JNB.

We flew MIA-DOH-JNB last year, then after South Africa portion, flew JNB-DOH-IST, flew TK domestic paid tickets to ADA from where we started our 12 days driving trip in Turkey and eventually picked up IB at IST-MAD-MIA home - on a US award before USDM went away (hence destination at JNB plus the stopover allowed at IST).

We actually prefer the 2-2-2 on 77W than the reversed herringbone on 787 (DOH-JNB segment).

Reason? 77W is a much wider aircraft than 787 which the seat is much narrower than the "slump" seat in 77W. There is virtually no storage space in the 787 seat, but enough storage for the 77W. The seat on 787 is so narrow that we saw a big-built guy 2 rows ahead of us could not sleep on his back - because his shoulder is wider than the seat would allow! He had to sleep side way in an uncomfortable position due to the foot well on 787 is also awkwardly positioned.

We also hate the window shade of 787 - extremely slow in changing color and never goes completely dark hence light still shines thru.

Would pick 77W any day over 787.

Happy

CX foods always are sub par. Sometimes they are inedible departing from out posts (Europe came to mind). However the hard products are better than JL's. As for the service, completely different culture. Call button is fully intend for you to use should you need some service on the CX plane. The CX FAs do NOT walk around to check on you like JL or SQ and some people actually prefer that.

Happy

Can someone help me to figure out which date is 331 days from Feb 2, 2017?

Plan to get a HKG-US return on the 7th or 8th day of the CNY 2017. But am confused on how to count the 331 days so not to sleep that night in order to get the seats... OTOH, might use Avios to book then cancel within 24 hrs and hope for inventory return so can book with AA as a friend did 10 days ago...

I am probably the only person here that has not booked a single award since devaluation announced, with 1.2 millions sitting in our accounts.

Before devaluation announcement we have already booked 2 long trips this year - one RTW in May with AA miles supplemented with UA on SYD-HKG via BKK (UA F costs the same as AA J, plus TG has availability everyday! Try that with QF or CX, forget about it!), and a short haul BA Avios. Then an AS award to South Africa via HKG both ways.
The only remaining time for travel would be Nov/Dec/Jan. But we dont have any places we would like to go! (Would be in SYD in June, and in HKG 3 times between June and Oct.) The only "excuse" to get an award in before deval would be to spend CNY in Hong Kong.
I am hoping you folks who are rushing in to burn your miles have done your burning by then, so I could get the HKG-US booked.
Outbound we are going the long way via ME, and nobody seems to be interested in QR as everyone wants EY, and that is a good thing as I really want to secure the return before booking the outbound.

jamienbaker

Yeah, I'm torn on the call button issue. I do like being doted on (SQ), but I also see the merit in a quiet, dark cabin (CX). And I don't hesitate to "ding". Agree food is hit or miss. Ex-JFK I've been content with the Chinese dishes. And the beauty of having kids up front is it translates into seconds on caviar for me and the Mrs

I'm still considering JL or NH for upcoming NYCPEK. Also considering LH or EK. Sort of leaning towards LH or EK - more flying and great lounge layovers. Though may end up sticking with CX assuming F opens - I adore The Pier. Decisions, decisions...

Be well - Jamie

jamienbaker

Use Excel, put in your date and add 330 to it, that's what I do. Avios is a good, albeit uncertain strategy - but it has worked for me.