jandersinc

Also look at Delta. I found 4 business class tickets to Italy / Greece for 100,000 each. Taxes were ~$120 each. We are leaving in about 2 weeks but I booked these about 8 months ago.

echino

Italy (Europe 1) would be 60k/90k Aeroplan miles for economy/business round-trip per ticket. Greece (Europe 2) is 75k/105k. That means, with your 160k miles, Aeroplan is only good for economy class if you want to go both to Greece and Italy. Not a good use of miles at all, especially given the fuel surcharges. Better pay cash for tickets.

On the other hand, if you are OK leaving Greece out, and going to Italy + another one or two countries in Europe 1 (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom.), then you are only a little short of two business class tickets tickets, which would cost you 90k each. With Aeroplan, you are allowed two stopovers in addition to destination, so you can visit three places.

MissC

Thank you! I'll check United and see whether I can dig up anything.

MissC

Thanks, chino! That's interesting. One question though - is it not possible to only use the points to cover business class tickets for the first half of the trip if we decide to keep Greece in the mix?

MissC

I really need to look into this. I wish we could think to plan our trips well in advance! It sure would make life easier. If you don't mind my asking, what cities are you flying into and out of in Italy/Greece?

SuperKirby

Just wondering because I have no idea/or I am missing out on something here... Why does one need to find award flights on united.com to see what comes up, when you can just look on aeroplan.com? That way you know exactly how much the fuel surcharges are.

Also, wouldn't transferring to ANA be cheaper because it has way less surcharges (I think)?

mia

Aeroplan does not collect fuel surcharges on flights operated by most Star Alliance partners, including US Airways and United Airlines. See the Wikipost in this thread for a list:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-c...rd-travel.html

Aeroplan use a zone based redemption system. ANA uses a distance based redemption system. The best value varies by origin/destination city pair.

SuperKirby

THanks mia, i forgot about ANAs distance based system.

Is there an advantage to looking for award availability on united.com vs Aeroplan? They seem to be the same for me, and for the OP, using Aeroplan.com would make more sense that way you can see actual surcharges, right?

jandersinc

Into Athens, out of Venice.

MissC

Got it. Thanks!

ual902

I have 780k MR, what's the best way to use MR NYC to Itay in september on either J or F? If I'm flying J or F don't mind paying Fuel surcharges such as Aeroplan.

LAXRuss

Others will certainly have comments about using miles on the major alliance carriers. My guess is that one of the easier flights for availability for redeeming awards miles and most comfortable from a standpoint of quality of service might be JFK-MXP on Emirates. As an off route and a non-major alliance carrier, I bet they might have some good award availability and you could redeem MR to Emirates. Since some premium revenue travelers will likely board in MXP for Dubai, I assume that means that the airline will not have to hold back every premium seat out of JFK for travelers flying through to Dubai. In addition, alot of travelers flying out of JFK for Italy will not necessarily be trying to fly to MXP. I would also think that Emirates J and F will surpass the quality of some of the other carriers.

mia

I have appended your question to an established thread on this recurring question. While the specifics of everyone's trip are different, the basic process of searching for awards on the three Alliances is substantially similar.

marcdc

I've been reading FT for many years now, but haven't really had the need to post (search is a beautiful thing). I'm going to Italy on my Honeymoon next year and I'm having difficulty maximizing my points for hotels stays.

I've booked two first/biz class roundtrip tickets on Alitalia using my Delta miles. I have 500k MR points and I'm trying to use them for hotel stays in Florence and Rome (we're doing Florence, I already booked Banfi for 4 nights in Tuscany, Rome, Amalfi Coast and either Capri or Sicily).

It seems like in Florence, the best chain/corporate option is the St. Regis. Unfortunately I only have 20k SPG points and we all know it's not worth transferring MR to SPG. In Rome, the St. Regis again gets great reviews but I have the same problem as above, and while the Waldorf Astoria also gets good reviews, staying outside of the city is not ideal.

At this point I'm tempted to just book travel via the AMEX travel portal and just use Pay With Points. I know the value is terrible, but I can't find any good MR transfer partners in Florence or Rome. At least in the travel portal there are a variety of good options. The GF has 75k Chase UR but there are no Hyatts in Florence or Rome either, which is by far Chase's best hotel transfer partner.

Anyways... If someone has had a great experience with Florence, Rome, or the Amalfi Coast using MR points for hotel stays, I'd love some recommendations. Maybe there's some airline partner that I can transfer points to and then from there to a better hotel partner, I don't know.

Thanks everyone!

mia

Welcome to Flyertalk. Don't overlook Best Western hotels. The brand includes different types of properties in Europe than it does in North America, and you may have a more authentic experience than if you stay in an international business chain.