World2Travel

Hello,

I ended up booking the following in Business class:

Nov. 6th
Bos-SFO UA
SFO-ICN OZ
ICN-HKG OZ
Stay in HKG for a couple days.

Buy tix to Thailand (cnx or phuket) or use other airline miles

Nov. 20th
Fly from thailand (cnx or phuket)

HKG-BKK TG
BKK-IST TK
Stopver in IST for couple days

Nov. 23rd
IST-MUC TK
MUC-BOS LH

I was planning on using Avios awards between HKG and Thailand and was unable to find anything on 11/20 from Phuket-HKG. I did find something on AA in business class, but it was 22K miles just for the Phuket-HKG award. I checked Air Asia and on my return from HKT-HKG, I wouldn't get into HKG until 7:55 PM and have a flight out of HKG at 8:45 PM (back to Bangkok enroute to IST - uughh). What do you think of transfering my Chase UR miles to United and booking flights from HKG-CEI, train to BKK from Chiang Mai, BKK-HKT, HKT-HKG for 25K miles w/ fee around $40.

I think in retrospect, I probably should have saved more miles on *Alliance and flown directly into Thailand!

Thanks for your help everyone. It truly is a learning experience

wyoon

Yes, you can. I am holding a ticket in February via Europe.

IAD-BRU-MAD-(3 days)-FRA-BKK-USM [All I: 60K]
USM-BKK-CDG-FRA-IAD [X, O, and I combination-hoping that LH will release a FC seat 2 weeks prior to my travel. 70K mileage redemption]

BostonFlyer1624

Thanks for the update, you'll have a great time.

all328

Just getting started with miles and want to know the best way to get from DEN to BKK (First Class) maybe 10 days, but I'm flexible.

I currently have
Chase Saphhire Preferred (40k points)
AMEX SPG (30k points)

Where do I start? I found a First Class ticket on United for 160k points.
How do I find the lowest redemption cost for an award ticket?
Is the ANA search recommended?
What credit card offers and airlines should I focus on to achieve this goal?
If I do a partner airline transfer which airline should I transfer it to? I guess this depends on where the lowest redemption cost is.

Thanks in advance.

hobo13

Probably the simplest routing from DEN to BKK would now be DEN-NRT-BKK on the 787. But there's no first class -- you'd have to settle to rid with the riff-raff in business.


Welcome to FT.

010010

I think your best bet for DEN to BKK first class would be DEN-FRA on LH and FRA-BKK on TG. It's actually 70K miles each way on UA first class redemption. Both legs on F have a pretty availability but you just have to wait until T-14 on LH.
50K from UA explorer card should help.

dukerau

You're far away from a RT first class ticket to SE Asia. If you're willing to go biz class, you could book with ANA miles (105K = 85K SPG points). Unfortunately, there is little/no overlap between UR and SPG partners. United is a partner of both, but the SPG transfer rate is horrible.

Keep in mind that the search engine does not affect how many miles you pay. ANA is the most exhaustive *A search engine, but if you're using United miles, you will pay United's award prices. Personally, I much prefer United's search engine unless I can't find what I want and I know that an airline that flies the route doesn't show up on United's engine. United's is much more user friendly than ANA's, though ANA returns all possible flights while United does not.

StartinSanDiego

I think the op (welcome to Flyertalk, btw) is saying that ALL he/she found was a first class ticket. So, to find the lowest available redemptions, you need to first find the trans-pacific segment. These usually leave from the West Coast. Wikipedia can help you by looking up the airport then then destinations. As was said upthread, you can route through Tokyo-- I believe there are non-stops from San Diego, LAX, SFO and Seattle. When you find that leg, in the proper cabin (you are a long way from being up front in the plane), then route from your home airport.

Keep reading, especially the United forum and the Wikis in all relevant forums/threads, and you will get the hang of it.

It sounds to me like you are pretty fresh to the miles and points world, because you have exactly the miles from the sign up bonuses on the two cards that you have, and the SPG 30K bonus is a short-lived offer.

It's great to have a goal and a travel plan, it will help you focus. There is a lot to learn. Many of us spend more hours than we care to admit researching and weighing ideas. Don't overspend on your new cards, spend some time exploring the award booking process, and don't always believe the blogs (isn't the ANA search engine for routing a blogger tip?).

lin821

No, OP is looking for award tix in F, knowingly not having enough miles:

dukerau's reply is spot-on (w/ my emphases):

all328

Thanks for the tip. I guess I will stick with United. I was just wondering if one of the other airlines programs would be better. I plan on applying for additional credit cards to achieve all the points necessary. Like Chase Ink/Bold both the personal and business account. Yes the ANA search engine is a blogger tip.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Since both AA and UA offer one-way awards, it might be easier to secure miles through credit-card bonuses that would give the OP enough miles for one one-way in each program (redeeming the AA miles for CX or JL, depending on which carrier publishes a DEN-BKK through fare).

artemis

That's a good approach, since the Citibank AA VISA offers a 50,000 mile sign-up bonus and I believe there is still a link out there that gives the old 50,000 mile sign up bonus for the Chase UA VISA as well. Those are about the biggest sign-up bonuses left, and together with the points the OP has already earned with SPG and Chase Sapphire, they'd put one way tickets on each alliance within reach.

all328

Is one alliance cheaper than another alliance in terms of reward redemption for a F ticket? CC bonus offers is definitely the way I am planning to reach my goal. Also I understand that diversification is good in terms of points, but would getting both UA and AA miles be beneficial for my end goal of BKK?

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"Also I understand that diversification is good in terms of points, but would getting both UA and AA miles be beneficial for my end goal of BKK?"

Absolutely, as long as you can find the award seats you want in the two different alliances on your desired dates of travel.

artemis

No. In general, there are no "bargain" trans-Pacific awards out there, as so many fliers on those routes want C and F seats the airlines have little need to be generous with the mileage pricing of those awards.