McMilescollector

I have tried to look at the ANA tool and am struggling to find any reqard availability in C or above for 2 persons travelling 18th-20th sept going to ideally St lucia but frankly anywhere near there would do. Any tips on routings to try or partial reward and then revenue flights thereafter. Looking to go for 10-14 days ideally.

If not then anyone have any other sunny destinations for that time of year I could try?

Looking for 2 tickets. (although could leave Mrs Milescollector I suppose)

Raffles

The staralliance.com timetable shows no possible routing from London to SLU which may explain it. (EDITED to add: obviously I picked days that AC wasn't flying!)

There is excellent F and J availabilty on LH to Miami on those dates (some dates probably have LX as well, I looked via M&M and it doesn't break down whether its LH or LX from the main page).

You can then take an AA flight for cash for £240 return to SLU (3.5 hours) or alternatively do a BA Miles redemption on AA. Doing a day or so in Miami would break it the journey and remove any issues about bad connection times.

Maldives can be done cheaply on *A (Z10 redemption) but you need to fly via Singapore so it is a long trip. You're likely to need 3 planes as well, since LHR-SIN is almost impossible to get on SQ.

FlyingOnceMore

Search for flights to the islands from the US mainland, and work backwards to the UK, one flight at a time. The only direct *A flight to St. Lucia in September is from Toronto and it's only once a week on a Sunday.

allanhuk

IIRC the only *A carrier to St Lucia (UVF) is AC via Toronto, you would have to overnight in Canada as the onward flight leaves early morning.

There's 2 business seats YYZ - UVF AC968 on the 18th Sept and 2 coach seats AC969 UVF-YYZ on Sunday 4th October.

MrBo

Or you could enquire by phone to the Indian call centre about availability on Virgin - I just redeemed MAN-BGI at very short notice and there was availability in all classes for redemption! Obviously a few more miles but if you are miles rich...Bear in mind I got a different answer every time I called up though (4 times!)

NoY

As can be seen from the posts so far - St Lucia is a bit of a pig to get to. I did this trip a few times 2-3 yrs back and struggled using redemptions. I ended up going to JFK (on VS) and then connecting to SJU (San Juan, Puerto Rico) on AA and then connecting to American Eagle direct to SLU (rather than the larger, far more remote airport (UVF) which handles the wide body jets. SLU is very close to Castries and many resorts/hotels. Round the houses but possible. Returning, we did SLU-SJU-IAD-LHR on AA Eagle/UA. All at very short notice.

Personally, I would recommend Barbados over St Lucia any day of the week, though weather *may* be a bit dodgy on both islands at that time of year! Will try to come up with some alternatives.....

McMilescollector

Thanks everyone for your posts. I must be entering something incorrectly as I am finding little or no availability out of UK airports to US in F or C for 2 people. I am really not too fussed by where I land up but don't want to spend 20 or more hours flying at either end of the holiday. Tried to route to Miami but the cost of AA airlines flight to St Lucia makes it almost as cheap once you include taxes to pay for a revenue flight.

Any further suggestions of somewhere warm at end sept for 2 weeks much appreciated as still looking. Had a look at Cancun..any experiences.

Thanks for all your help.

NoY

September is a difficult month to go somewhere longhaul that has relaible, good, sunny weather. Cancun should be OK weather wise but is fairly unpredictable, just like the caribbean islands at that time of year. If you do decide on Cancun you will probably enjoy it. Lacks much character (being man made) but does do what it says on the tin. Hot, sandy, warm sea and tons of restaurants/bars and dozens of hotel choices. Very americanised. Should be some good deals around too. It was 2001/2 timeframe whenI was there and (then) Le Meridien was very nice, with an excellent tiered pool arrangement and is right on the beach. Connections should be readily available from most US/Canadian *A gateways. Have you thought about Dubai/Abu Dhabi or other M.E. destinations? Guaranteed weather!

Raffles

Cancun is a dump.

However, a very short drive south you get to a batch of brand new luxury resorts, all of which have opened in the last year or so - a Rosewood, a Mandarin Oriental and something else (see the Luxury Hotels forum). There is also a boutique place called Esencia where we stayed 3 year ago.

This is a great place to go if the weather is right - a luxury beach holiday with the potential for day trips to the ruins at Tulum and further afield.

Have a look at this thread I wrote on Mexico: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...ghlight=mexico You could do a similar route - flights to MEX must be relatively easy to get on LH, I imagine.

pauldb

I'd also suggest you think about the Middle East. Hotel rates have come down to more reasonable levels at the moment and the temperature should be well of its highs by then. Not sure any one destination would justify two weeks, but then that's a personal thing. On the other hand Swiss fly from DXB-MCT for a change of scenery (or you could drive across taking in some mountains if you like), or you could even route via CAI one way for something very different.

You should also be able to find seats on Swiss to Kenya or Tanzania for a few days on safari and a few on the Kenyan coast or Tanzania.

Are you near EDI - i.e. is ZRH a good connection for you? In fact Swiss is probably your best chance of finding seats to the North America as well - they have seats to MIA, JFK, YUL and ORD over your range. You'll need to get expertflyer rather than ANA (or ask here) to check LX availability.

xcalx

There is availability on your dates from CLT to SXM SJU PUJ FPO NAS and CUN, its on US but it gets you to the caribbean. YYZ also looks to have availability ZRH-MIA is also available. My choice would be EDI-ZRH-MIA stopover-CLT-SXM