lsquare

I have to fly to London from Vancouver on April 22nd. I'll be flying back to Vancouver from Paris. I like what I'm seeing for US$1273 from BA. Here are the details:

BA Flight 84: YVR - LHR (8:40 PM - 1:40 PM) April 22nd, 2011

BA Flight 315: CDG - LHR (1:50 PM to 2:05 PM) May 1st, 2011

BA Flight 85: LHR- YVR(5:15 PM to 6:40 PM) May 1st, 2011

However, I'm with Aeroplan and obviously the points that I can accumulate with BA will not transfer over. I do have an Alaska Air account and I think the fare code is eligible for points on Alaska, but I'm not 100% sure.

For US$1284, I can fly with a *A member. Here is what I'm seeing:

AC Flight 194: YVR - YUL (10:55 AM to 6:31 PM) April 22nd, 2011

Lufthansa Flight 5525 Operated by Air Canada: YUL - LHR (7:50 PM to 7:30 AM) April 22nd, 2011

Continental Flight 6069 Operated by United: CDG - ORD (11:15 AM to 1:30 PM) May 1st, 2011

UA Flight 325: ORD - YVR (8:17 PM to 10:44 PM) May 1st, 2011

The price isn't the issue here for me. Flying with the second plan means that I have to spend more time in the airport and the airplane, but this means that I can earn points that will go into my Aeroplan account.

So let's put it like this. If you guys are in my shoes, which route would you guys take? I do intend to go back to London many more times in the future and I know AC does fly direct to LHR.

Greg66

I would have to be *very* desperate for Aeroplan points before I was prepared to contemplate the second of your routings.

cornishsimon

Which class are you looking to fly ??

DWFI

It's Y.

potakas

BA.

Create a BAEC account and put your miles there, after you first ticket you wrote above and another on transatlantic flight you will be eligible to upgrade to CW on the next one if you book it on WT+.


BA is giving you 100% of the miles even on the cheapest Y.

cornishsimon

Thought so, I'm away and on the iPod app so didn't know if there was a US CW sale or anything !!

I'd still go with the BA option over the other, it's worth the OP starting up a BA account, after all the miles don't expire for three years, I'm sure BA will be the best option again in the future

Prospero

All BA fares accrue full mileage when created to an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan account.

http://www.alaskaair.com/as/mileagep...ne.asp#british

cornishsimon

Again I can't see from the iPod version but depending on the OP's flying pattern in north America he/she could use the BA account for any AA flights, especially if 4 BA flights had been taken, you never know how close to 600 TP's you might get !!

cs

HIDDY

Why don't you fly AC direct to LHR and just buy a separate LHR-CDG-LHR ticket?

Gaz

Why spread your miles across multiple accounts if you haven't made elite status anywhere yet?

If you want status, go for AC. It's a lot easier to get status in Star Alliance flying Y, and AC has a particularly low threshold (35,000 status miles for *Gold). If you do this trip on AC (or other * airlines) you're basically a third there.

AC is rather better down the back than BA too, as the entire fleet was re-fitted a few years ago and it's all quite new and nice.

DWFI

If there was a US CW sale for $1270 to LHR, I'd probably buy about 20 tickets.
That's half of the fare of the "usual" CW sale which clocks in at around $2400.

lsquare

I'm confused here. Are you telling me that 100% of my points can be transferred over to my Alaska Air account?

lsquare

To be honest, I much rather fly AC because I don't want to spread my points around like that, but that route look scary compared to BA. Should I just tough it out and go with my second plan and fly AC?

Crampedin13A

flight train bus Fri 22 Apr 2011
flight
Vancouver (YVR)
Depart 10:55 am
Terminal M
to Montreal (YUL)
Arrive 6:31 pm
3,682 km
(2,288 mi)
Duration: 4hr 36mn
AC Air Canada
Flight: 194
3Economy/Coach Class , Meal, Airbus A319
flight
Montreal (YUL)
Depart 7:50 pm
to Paris (CDG)
Arrive 8:30 am +1 day
Terminal 2A
5,533 km
(3,438 mi)
Duration: 6hr 40mn
AC Air Canada
Flight: 870
3Economy/Coach Class , Breakfast, 77W
Total distance: 9,215 km (5,726 mi)
Total duration: 11hr 16mn (12hr 35mn with connections)
flight train bus Sun 1 May 2011
flight
Paris (CDG)
Depart 7:35 am
Terminal 2A
to London (LHR)
Arrive 7:55 am
Terminal 5
349 km
(217 mi)
Duration: 1hr 20mn
BA British Airways
Flight: 303
3Economy/Coach Class , Brunch, Airbus A320
flight
London (LHR)
Depart 10:25 am
Terminal 3
to Vancouver (YVR)
Arrive 11:55 am
Terminal M
7,585 km
(4,713 mi)
Duration: 9hr 30mn
AC Air Canada
Flight: 855
3Economy/Coach Class , Meal, 77W


For a hundred bucks more I'd do this itinerary.

Trav+

Except that lsquare needs to fly from YVR-LHR on 22 April then from CDG-YVR on 01 May.

The return journey mentioned in lsquare's first post is one I'd rather not take at the end of a holiday or business trip and for that reason (as well as a few others) I'd choose BA, although AC have certainly improved service in the last few years.