Hi All,

I need to fly from New York (preferably EWR) to Bangalore. I am leaving on a Friday evening and have the whole weekend to travel. Gotta work on Monday.

I am hoping to buy a coach ticket and upgrade with miles (Continental, United, Delta, or American Airlines) so I have a preference to fly with those airlines or their partners.

Any suggestions on the least awful way to do this? For example:

- Go direct EWR to Europe (London, Paris, Frankfurt, etc.) and then change to a direct flight to BLR

- Go direct EWR to Mumbai and then take a local airline to BLR (ok to go economy on the short hop)

- Go direct EWR to Mumbai or Delhi, spend the night, and finish the trip on Sunday?

Any suggestions are much appreciated!

Thanks,

Truly

First time in India? Changing between domestic and international terminals in DEL or BOM is a major hassle, and an overnight stay in DEL or BOM may not be as relaxing as you might hope, so I'd recommend option #1.

LHR - BLR J seats on BA are a bargain in Aadvantage miles (60K RT), if you can make the odd flight timings work for you. You would probably want to take the late JFK - LHR flight on either BA or AA, and would also have to make arrangements for a very early check-in to your BLR hotel. One serious advantage to the BA flight (besides the great upstairs J cabin) is that you won't encounter any local BLR road traffic, either arriving or departing.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. As it turns out the only route I could get myself upgraded on includes the overnight in Bombay. I have indeed experienced road traffic there and am not looking forward to repeating it, but I'd rather do that than fly economy from New York.

AA told me they couldn't upgrade me with miles on a BA flight. Was that 60k for the upgrade? If so how do you pull that off?

FYI what I probably would have done if money were no object would be to do the layover in Dubai and fly Emirates. That looked like a comfortable trip...

Thanks again,

Truly

60K Aadvantage miles is the outright cost of a RT J seat on the LHR - BLR route, not an upgrade. Very worthwhile award.

That is a fantastic value. Thanks for letting me know, maybe I'll do that on my next trip.

Truly