My mum's 60th next year, and offered my parents 2 x biz flights anywhere they wanted to go (figured I would use miles & cash). They want to do Hong Kong, Singapore, and somewhere in Thailand (Phuket or Koh Samui etc). So when I start to think about redemptions, could I do 2 x one way rewards LON - HKG via SIN, then HKG - LON via Phuket (or would I have to do BKK).

Would this reward be zone 1 to zone 8 each way? And would I be better off starting them in Zone 2 to save miles and money?? Please help...

The cheapest miles route would be Zone 2 to Zone 8 (HKG) which is only 37,500 miles + �255 in J. However, that assumes your parents are happy doing LHR - CPH - FRA - HKG or a similar routing - otherwise its 52,500 miles + �360 each from Zone 1.

There is no saving from starting in Zone 2 if you book a ticket to Thailand (Zone 7) - its going to be 60,000 miles + �405 each in J from Zone 1 or Zone 2.

Not sure if you could route to Thailand via HKG. Do a search of the 'Please post your successful redemptions' thread and see what other people have managed. However, internal Asian flights are usually very cheap, whether you use Air Asia or one of the mainstream carriers.

I think stopovers have to occur at a natural transfer point which Phuket is not. You could however route something like CPH-SIN-HKG-BKK-CPH. On this routing they could stop in Singapore and Bangkok (as well as Hong Kong obviously) and you would only pay 37,500+�255 in J (plus whatever it takes to get to CPH). Thai operate a B747 to CPH which doesn't have the new biz seats but they more than compensate by putting biz class ticket holders in old first class which I hear beats the new biz class hands down.

I have also been looking at a trip to Asia next year. My wife and i have 75k miles each. I have been trying to use the ANA tool and have really struggled to make head and tails of the booking system.

We would like to go to Langkawi or Bali, Hong Kong/or Tokyo. I have tried different points to start journey such FRA CPH but i keep getting route not valid or too many stops.

Idealy i would like to fly to HK or Tokyo and then Langkawi(preffered) or Bali. We can get many ryan air flights to Europe so not bothered about starting point. I would like to fly SQ biz or first, or any other airline with good flatbed in J or first with milage limit?

Please help!!

The ANA tool seems to struggle with routes that are remotely complicated. Try searching each segment seperately and building up your trip that way.

Are you using the Star Alliance Award part of the ANA site?

You will not get a flight to Langkawi as no *A partners go there. However, you can either go to Singapore and fly from there (Air Asia does this route, I think) or go to Kuala Lumpur and buy a cheap Malaysian ticket. Lufthansa goes to KL as a continuation of its Bangkok flight on certain days, and you should also be able to get to KL via Singapore or Bangkok. ANA is more than capable of spewing out this routing.

In miles terms, it is cheaper to go from Zone 2 to HK and then buy an onward return ticket to Langkawi (probably on Malaysian), making sure that you also come home from Zone 8.

Yes, you can - did it in October (although I'm afraid I only posted the outbound route!). I went CPH - BKK - HKG - stopover - NRT on a one way, then NRT - BKK - stopover - SIN - FRA - CPH on another one way. It took a fair bit of flogging the ANA tool and a bit of sweet talking with the booking agents, but it all worked.

And it was one hell of a trip

Thanks for the help.

I will search CPH/FRA to KL - HK-NRT-FRA/CPH

Or even CPH/FRA to SIN - HKG-NRT-CPH/FRA (and just buy a ticket for sin-langkawi)

ANA tool doesnt advise on the milage+cash. I would like to fly with Singapore Air as better J class. How much would it be in miles + cash for both options flying J or if i can afford it in First.

Thanks again

Stopping off in expensive Zone 7 (KUL, SIN) to get to cheaper Zone 8 (HKG) is going to be difficult to get past BMI, especially given that direct flight to HK are relatively prevalent.

Anyway, for return flights ....
Cash + miles Zone 1-7 60k+�405 J / 80k+�540 F
Cash + miles Zone 1-8 52.5k+�360 J / 70k+�480 F
Cash + miles Zone 2-7 as for Zone 1-7, so pointless
Cash + miles Zone 2-8 37.5k+�225 J / 50k+�340 F

Quite easy to spot which of the above is most attractive ...

When I booked my two one way itineraries (detailed above), the booking agent for the outbound just did exactly as I asked. For the return, the first agent refused to book the itinerary as there was availability on a direct SAS flight from NRT - CPH, so my routing via BKK (the main point of the whole trip) was invalid. I went back to ANA, tweaked the request so there wasn't any J availability for a direct NRT-CPH on the day I left NRT, then called BMI back. Luckily that agent didn't look for more direct alternatives, so I used one of the other onward options I had up my sleeve from ANA to get myself a night stop of less than 24 hours in SIN - and an excellent night out with an old mate - and the main flight back to Europe in an exit window seat upstairs on an SQ 744

Thanks Raffles

I would like to goto Langkawi which is why i was looking at KL. and as stops were allowed i thought we do HK or NRT as well.

I could forgo Langkawi and go for Bali instead..but its tring to get best iteniery for us. We have already been to SIN and BKK so wanted to stopover at another city.

Slowly trying to work on using ANA!

Another daft question..when trying to book an awards flight, how many stops can you have in the ticket?

I cant seem to get EX-Fra or EX-LHR and get Kuala Lumpur (4 langkawi) and Hong Kong in the same iteniery. Been checking flights to try and get start journey in zone 2, but apart from FRA i cant get flights from Glasgow. Pity EK not on *A, would have been much easier.

Any advice?

Thanks

One stop-over allowed, as per DC rules, which is why you may end up needing to buy certain flights instead.

Note that ANA only shows the most obvious and sensible connections. You can often get BMI to book you on a more exotic routing as long as there are no direct flights available, as you'll see if you read the 'Please post your redemptions' thread.

In fact, they'll do so even if there are direct routings available. I've booked LHR-FRA-LAX in LH F in preference to LHR-LAX in UA F, when both were available.