peter10

Hello,

I am planning a trip to Vienna using bmi miles and cash. I see from the award redemption table that this trip would cost me 35,000 miles + £ 240 (Zone 8 to Zone 1) I then noticed that the Czech Republic is under Zone 2 which would only mean 25,000 + £ 170(Zone 8 to Zone 2) Both flights would use Austrian Airlines, just the second one I would have to fly on to Prague which I don't really want to do, rather I would get off at Vienna.

My question is do I have to take the connecting flight to Prague or can I finish my journey in Vienna? Secondly, on the return leg having not taken the flight from Prague to Vienna would I be able to take the second leg Vienna to Narita without any problems?

Many thanks in advance.

HIDDY

You'll be in for a big surprise if you don't take the last/first leg as the ticket will become void.

jexelot

just take the train from prague to vienna (3hrs).

RedChili

Also, keep in mind that if you buy the ticket to PRG, you'll have to pay the fuel surcharge for VIE-PRG-VIE plus airport taxes in PRG. The added legs to and from PRG will cost you 98 euros, or 76 pounds, more in taxes.

Also, remember that booking the extra flight means more time on the phone with the lovely ICC, more time which they will spend searching for award seats, more complex taxes, a greater chance that something will go wrong with the booking, etc.

Nobody can force you to board the airplane to Prague, but you'll be surprised when you show up at the baggage claim belt in Vienna and your baggage is on its way to Prague. In addition, you've got the nasty surprise which Hiddy already mentioned...

RedChili

More like four hours, according to a search I made on oebb.at. With the connection at VIE, flight time, transportation to train station in PRG, wait for the train in Prague, plus four hours on the train, you're looking at something like 10-12 hours...

Plus the train will set you back another 60 euros, or 46 pounds, round-trip.

flytofly

I have an idea for you!


Fly NRT-MUC-BTS(Bratislava, Slovakia) on Lufthansa.
It is an Z8/Z2 award.
Bratislava is only some 30Km form VIE. There is a shuttle bus from BTS to VIE, and train connection as well.

RedChili

And, don't forget the fact that a NRT-VIE-NRT will cost you 239 pounds in taxes, while NRT-MUC-BTS-MUC-NRT will cost you 318 pounds. So, the 79 pounds extra will eat up the benefit of the 70 pounds less in cash for the ticket.

You do save 10,000 points, but do remember that you're looking at a minimum of 4 hours connection in MUC on the outbound journey.

I'm so sorry for constantly raining on your parade, but I'm just trying to make the whole thing realistic by taking everything into consideration.

peter10

Thanks everyone for your helpful advice. You have given me a lot of food for thought. It is quite frustrating to know what I can take the Austrian Airlines flight to Prague via VIE for less mileage and cash than the same flight to VIE where I want to go!

Considered doing 2 o/ways to/from Prague via VIE to avoid the cancellation of my ticket - works outbound but not going home.

The reason for my mileage-pinching is at present I don't have the required 35,000 for the NRT-VIE flight but will do end of month because of the bonus system. The flight is available now but I am worried that between now and then it will go.

Anyway, thanks again

Tiger_lily

You can buy the extra miles that you need through the buy miles option on the flybmi website. They normally post to your account immediately.

RedChili

You could tell us what dates you want to fly on, and we can try to find out how many award seats are available (if it's possible to do that through ANA?). If you have enough miles for a one-way ticket, you could buy for that way which right now has least availability, and when you do get enough points, you could buy the other way.

alexanderrr

I know that Austrian used to operate bus service to Brno (CZ). I cannot find it in the current schedule, so it is most likely canceled. Otherwise, it might have been an solution for you, as your "no show" for this segment is not likely to affect the rest of your tickets. And no fuel surchages, I assume
One more option would be to have 2 o/ways with one "via Vienna to zone 2" that can be PRG, BUD, KRK, etc. This way you save 5000 miles and pay the same total amount (i.e. less "cash" in miles+cash", but more in taxes/fuel surcharges). I guess it is possible to request at the check-in to check your luggage only to Vienna. On your return you can either start from vienna for additional 5000+35GBP or take a shuttle to Bratislava and connect via Munich. I can see some very reasonable connection for BTS-MUC-NRT for 1H20M and I guess mid-day flight should have a good availability on this route. You end up paying some 43GBP extra in taxes, but as you pay less in "miles+cash", looks like all your additional expenses including shuttle to BTS and 4GBP bmi transaction fee would be under 25GBP. Rather bad value for 10000 Miles IMHO.

peter10

Interesting ideas. Thanks. I've been using the ANA tool to check the availability for the direct flight and all is ok - I'm travelling mid-March. If these do go, will I have the option to connect via Munich or Frankfurt? According to the ANA tool this is a valid routing but would I need to specifically request this with the agent at the time of booking?

peter10

I decided to book two one-ways NRT-VIE-BUD and BUD-FRA-NRT both in C. I plan not to take the connecting flight VIE-BUD. Do you think my separate one-way ticket back will be affected in any way?

Raffles

No, it won't.

All be well, except that you won't be able to check in any luggage as it will be routed to BUD, unless you can make an incredibly good excuse to the check-in people at NRT.

If you DO want to check-in bags, you should have ticketed the VIE-BUD leg for a day or two after your NRT-VIE, which would give you a totally plausible reason why you need your bag back at VIE.

peter10

I didn't think I was able to do a stopover in Europe.