Hi ramsayn and welcome to the FT and the bmi board. ^

It's rather a pleasure having a new poster discovering FT and taking the initiative to read our FAQs and put in the legwork on ANA to overcome the "cannot do" brickwall many of us experience when dealing with the callcentre.

I'm sure our resident TG & UA experts will give you some feedback on your routing choice. Your miles + cash calculations are correct and you can easily estimate the likely taxes by pricing up your itinerary on the airline website or one of the sites such as expedia.

Nothing wrong with the routings. Taxes will be Ł247 outbound and Ł169 inbound. You may also get a nice surprise when they quote the miles and cash component on that inbound routing.

Just in case you don't know - you are allowed a stop over on the route (or 2 stop overs if you book each leg as 2 one-ways). So you could stop off in BKK on the way out - and SFO or ORD on the way home.

I agree that you need to book this as 2 one way redemptions for maximum flexibility (in case your plans change once you get to Oz) otherwise I suspect that they they will charge this as a round the world fare which is more expensive miles/cash wise.

I'd do a stopover in BKK on the outbound to break the journey up if there's sufficient availability on the flights to allow it. SFO is also a good point for a stopover on the way back

I'll be calling the ICC on Monday to try and book the Edi-ZRH-GRU rtn in F. Wish me luck!

Ahem. They are open Sundays too.

So here is my situation:

I am BMI gold with 250k miles. I would like to take my wife and 2 kids from Glasgow to the states (preferably San Francisco) in July 2009, miles + cash in business. ANA shows nothing, and I am undecided whether to subscribe to ExpertFlyer.

Can I ask someone to check if 4 award flights are possible on this route, if so I am happy to subscribe to do the 'fine tuning'.

Thanks

If you can't decide whether to subscribe to Expertflyer then just sign up for the free 5-day trial and try it out. The only thing you will get from Expertflyer which you don't get from ANA is LX so
a few randorm dates - SWISS have
7 x I seats on 2 July from ZRH to ORD
4 x I seats on 6 July from ZRH to ORD
6 x I seats on 8 July from ZRH to ORD
you'd have to find a connection from ORD to SFO (but ANA should show that on UA)

Can someone with Expertflyer access look for some availability for a trip in Swiss F to JFK on the new product (via MAN-ZRH) for a long weekend for 2 persons. Preferably looking at weekend of 19th or 26th of September. Departing either Thursday or Friday, returning Sunday or Monday.

Thanks!!

The choice is yours!

Departing MAN on 09/17/09 for JFK Flying LX on booking class I LX391 (9), LX14 (8)
Departing MAN on 09/18/09 for JFK Flying LX on booking class I LX391 (9), LX14 (8)
Departing MAN on 09/24/09 for JFK Flying LX on booking class I LX391 (9), LX14 (8)
Departing MAN on 09/24/09 for JFK Flying LX on booking class I LX391 (9), LX14 (7)

Departing JFK on 09/20/09 for MAN Flying LX on booking class I LX15 (7), LX394 (9)
Departing JFK on 09/21/09 for MAN Flying LX on booking class I LX15 (7), LX394 (9)
Departing JFK on 09/27/09 for MAN Flying LX on booking class I LX15 (6), LX394 (9)
Departing JFK on 09/28/09 for MAN Flying LX on booking class I LX15 (8), LX394 (9)

Thanks Allan, that's great. It looks as though the LX14 is indeed the new product, however LX15 is currently showing on Swiss.com as the old A300-200 for the 27th September... unless of course they plan to roll the new suite out across all the flights by September.

I might be being a bit dumb here but isn't LX15 the return of LX14

Hi Allan, Just called the ICC and spoke to a guy called Sylvester. He says that there is no F availability on the 24th/27th on LX14/LX15 for awards. They only have C availability.

Could you check again for me please?

Thanks!

Be careful here as booking class "I" is Business, First on Swiss is booking class "O". The availability in O is as follows:

O Class (First)
Thursday 17 September LX14 0 F
Friday 18 September LX14 2 F
Thursday 24 September LX14 2 F
Friday 25 September LX14 0 F

Sunday 20 September LX17 2 F
Monday 21 September LX15 2 F
Sunday 27 September LX17 2 F
Monday 28 September LX15 0 F

At present, only one of the two LX ZRH-JFK-ZRH flights is showing the new A333. It's on the LX14 every day going out, but alternates between the LX15 and LX17 on different days of the week coming back.

Yes, but on some days the A333 is on the LX15 coming back and on others it's on the earlier 18:00 departure LX17.

The old A332 is on LX16 going out and then on the alternate LX15/17 coming back.

There is definitely 2xF availability on the 24th (LX14) and the 27th (LX17). Give the specific flight numbers and make sure you ask for the ZRH-JFK-ZRH legs in F, before asking for the MAN-ZRH connections in Business.