They've pretty much blocked the route off to anyone outside of KrisFlyer. Has been like that for a while now. Haven't seen 2 seats for any dates next year at all, although admittedly I haven't looked for a month or so now.

Booking 1, appears to shut off availability rather than 1 new seat coming up as you can do with their limited F options on redemptions. Unless they change their availability policy any time soon, I think you may be out of luck sadly :(

I saw 2 seats in economy SIN-MLE for the end of November/start of December for 4 days out of a week. Thankfully I decided to skip this and go for BKK-DPS (Bali) instead where there was generous availability in business.

As such they do make it available sometimes... maybe only closer to the time?

This year has been business as usual from what I've seen. It is just 2011 that has been pretty much unavailable from my experience.

Help with c-class redemptions to usa
 

I am completely new to this but with 140k miles to burn I am trying to fly 2 pax, business, with more or less any *A carrier from more or less anywhere in the UK/Ireland to more or less any major californian hub next june/july aug. Should be easy... but the ANA tool offers nothing other than LHR to LAX via Calgary (which I'd prefer to avoid). Air NZ would be my preference and although I will happily compromise on this, the cupboard seems bare. Could this really be right, or should I persist with the pain of a long-haul conversation with the DC call centre in the hope that there is more availability than seen on the ANA tool?
Grateful for any advice :confused:

Welcome to FT diamond club freeloader

Download the electronic timetable from www.staralliance.com to find some alternate potential routings. I'd imagine LH would have availability that far in advance for FRA-LAX/SFO.

Thanks very much for that suggestion Tex 277. A FRA departure will add on 2 connecting flights for me rather than just 1 (originating in Belfast) but I may need to just live with that!

Try starting in DUB. You'll save yourself a wedge of APD too.

Cheers - putting both of your suggestions together, DUB-FRA-LAX seems to work nicely!

NZ, LAX-RAR taxes and miles
 

HI i've been checking on the ana tool for a taxes, also miles while i was at it- for lax-rar with nz. but nothing coming up.according to star alliance flight search they fly on a sun.
am i missing something? or being stupid?

before i book could someone advise if i could save any more money on taxes, or even if i spent a little more on miles or cash for upgrade whether i could get an exceptionally better value on my journey, ie first on a sector for peanuts.


my routing is- 01nov lon-vie-dxb in business
08nov dxb-muc-lhr in business
i have been quoted 60,000miles and £383 taxes

i asked for a quote for a seperate lon-vie flight and was given 4500 miles and £74 in taxes
and also vie-dxb in business
return dxb-muc-lhr again 60,000 miles and taxes £219.
breaking it down has saved £90
i'm not looking for a stopover as this will involve hotel accommodation.
i know you guys have a few tricks up your selves. what else could i do
btw i can't change the int flights as there is not much availability on other days, i did try LX, OS, LH AND TK(tk was avail.on 01nov out.

The difference in taxes is UK APD. Personally if it was me I would consider whether saving £90 is worth the risk of not connecting your flights if there are problems. From looking at the star alliance timetable the difference between flights at VIE, if this is all on the same day, is 40minutes, this is not a saving but a significant risk of not getting the VIE-DXB, especially if austrian get fussy and refuse to check your luggage through on two tickets. Just imagine, being 20mins late could lead to missing your flight...

If you want to save money a better route would be going via CPH (or any other zone 2 airport, MXP tends to have cheap flights from LHR). This would save a small number of miles but also avoid UK APD, cancelled out by the cost of an overnight hotel and the taxes on the flights from the z2 airport. Your miles cost would be 22,500 per person then (1-way), you could always return to LHR anyway.

Even better "value" would be to do cash + miles: Rather than 30k miles + £219 taxes it would be 15k airmiles, £105 cash + taxes (per passenger, I assume you have 2). IF you imagine how much flying it takes to get 30k airmiles (for 2) then £210 isn't much more.

Thanks guys!
 

Thanks to Tiger_lily and Tex277.
I have painlessly booked business class flights for two pax after a mere 26 mins on the phone:

DUB-FRA-LAX-LAS (with 3 day stopover in LA) for 18750 miles +£266 per pax
LAX-FRA-DUB for 18750 miles + £222 per pax

Flights confirmed already on CMT.

Any advice on how to reserve seats at this poit would be much appreciated though!

Goto www.lufthansa.co.uk

On the right hand side, select 'My Bookings'.

On the next page, enter your surname and where it says 'File key' the PNR given to you when you made your booking

On the next page, at the bottom there is a link to select your seats.

(NB: This works for flights on any LH group carrier as well as UA - there are others, see the thread someone on this board for more info)

Cheers again Tex277 and also baggageinhall. Selecting seats with LH & UA completed very easily on the LH site. In all, advice from this FT forum has really helped burn some miles - better burn some more before my BD*S account implodes...

Business class to ABQ May 2011
 

In a quandary, need to get to Albuquerque for a good friend's wedding and see it as an ideal time to burn my 130,000 BD miles and try and travel business or better. But, having spoken to DC, struggling to find an available route...

I'm very flexible where I fly from as it's just me travelling, nearest dep airport is MAN but will start anywhere reasonable.

As said, need to get there for the 21st May 2011 and come back asap from 22nd May. Want the longest amount of time in bus or better transatlantic and not fussed on the US internals if they're shortish. Would also consider doing a Southwest hop for the last leg to make it easier...

Tall ask but anyone any suggestions? even if it's leave it until nearer the time to see if there's additional reward seats released...