Wimsta

Greetings folks, I have two trips to Asia in the coming year that are tentatively planned.

I have seen people post MQD generating flights with premium seats and wanted to solicit advice and clarification on how to make sure I correctly book a flight in order to earn bonus MQDs above spend.

First trip: 10-13 days in May returning before the 22nd. Can stage anywhere East Coast or LAX (possibly SFO). To Asia with preference to BOM, BKK, or DEL or my actual final destinations of CMB or KTM.

Second trip 11-15 days in December returning by 20th. Same conditions.

Goal: 5-6,000 MQD per flight. I've seen yields of about 6500MQD for $2300 in the past, but I don't know if that is still possible.

More importantly, how does one book the flight to make sure they get maximum credit.

Thanks in advance, I think this is a good year for me to go for Diamond because I rolled over a significant (for me) amount of miles, and buying a couple pricy (for me) tickets should be doable.

TTT

Trip 1:
May 6 - May 11 (dates seem flexible for May)
China Eastern LAX-PVG-BKK-PVG-LAX (Business Class LAX-PVG-LAX in I and PVG-BKK-PVG in J)
$2433 (it's $400 more to go JFK-PVG-BKK-PVG-JFK but earns 600 more MQDs)
MQD: 6626 (16566 * 40%)
MQM: 26642 (J earns 150% and I earns 200%)

Too early to look for prices for December for the second trip but it might be similar as long as you go earlier in the month to avoid holiday travel.

Book via the China Eastern website or OTA. To get the best earnings make sure you book with a China Eastern (MU) flight number. You'll need to get in touch with the China Eastern service team via email or phone to make sure you SkyMiles number is on the booking. Do this multiple times to confirm and then at checkin make sure it's printed there.You can contact [email protected] or their call center to confirm.

flyerCO

Booking a discount business class China Eastern ticket is the best way. Note also look departing from YYZ. ex-Canada can be much cheaper than EX-US. As long as the flights numbers are booked using China Eastern (MU) or Shanghai Airlines (FM) code you'll get the better earnings.

pdxkat

I suggest:

DL/Sky Team: 2020 Consolidated Mileage/Status/Challenge Runs help needed

(sorry, no idea why this is enormous)

tearex

For BOM, play around with some dates (sorry on mobile atm) to see if the following is available for you:

AF: Multiple US Cities-BOM from $1,650 USD rt in Business [Package Deal]

I didn't book my trip at the lowest possible price, but I'm still looking at ~5800 MQD for ~$2100. This is due to exception fare using a package deal with throwaway hotel.

mot29

If you book from JFK, you may actually fly a ‘round the world.’ The one time I flew a similar itin, we flew East from JFK-PVG - over Greenland and Northern Europe.

TTT

I have found that as well but was surprised that using the same dates YYZ was $13k. I didn't play around with any other dates though.

exwannabe

MU also has low C prices out of LAX and ORD to PVG and beyond assuming you are not using DL.COM to book. Easy to find around $3K RT AI.

mayhem

More comfortable than MU (in my opinion) is to fly VS USA-LHR-BOM/DEL
I did that from JFK and got $6350 MQD for a ticket of $3,xxx depending on how early you book you could get them cheaper perhaps. If you originate on the west coast you'll get even more MQD.

flyerCO

MU has much better J seating than VS. Service onboard is better though on VS.

TTT

The best airplane sleep I've ever had was on a MU 777. But I think I spoke to the FA twice on the flight.

Also, bring your own entertainment when flying MU. The onboard options are very limited.

exwannabe

Agreed on the IFE, the choice is limited.

As far as how often FAs come around on the TPAC segments, it is limited but very easy to get anything if you ask. And they will tend to come around if they see you wake up (via turning lights/IFE on). When I am awake, I like to get up and stretch anyway. And one can always hit the call button if for some reason they prefer to stay seat bound for 15 hours.

TTT

Yeah, I knew they were in the galley and actually appreciated the lack of interruption. They were happy to get you anything if needed but were never in your face. If you're used to American or other Asian carriers with FAs walking the aisles MU is a little different.

If booking on the 777, I found the forward mini-cabin to be really quiet and comfortable. I never did get the internet to work though the guy across the aisle didn't have a problem video chatting for most of the way across the Pacific.

mayhem

VS A350 is better than MU 777.
For flights under 8 hours the VS old upper class is annoying and to be avoided, but over 8 hours you get a benefit from the bedding. MU's reverse herringbone does beat VS' old herringbone.
Also VS gets you a layover in the London Clubhouse, and I haven't transferred in PVG recently but that's hard to match.

Anyways, I'd add VS as an option to consider depending on what pricing you get, and after that look at how convenient the schedules are. If then it's still tied, my vote goes to VS.

Wimsta

Thanks for the advice and recommendations. I'm looking into all of the options, and still teasing out details for my upcoming schedule.

It all seems pretty straightforward:

"Book via the China Eastern website or OTA. To get the best earnings make sure you book with a China Eastern (MU) flight number. You'll need to get in touch with the China Eastern service team via email or phone to make sure you SkyMiles number is on the booking. Do this multiple times to confirm and then at checkin make sure it's printed there.You can contact [email protected] or their call center to confirm."

I tried looking into any of the Delta vacations to see if that might work better, but that has been a bit confused. I was wondering if you can use Delta vacations with a single night in the hotel instead of being booked for the whole trip?