MissMiles

What are some good ways to maximize travel to Vietnam from the US using miles in Business or 1st ? Which airlines have the best business class redemptions?

maverick17

I suppose it depends on what you mean by "maximize". US miles still allow for a stopover in Europe on the way. United also did, I burned all mine last winter and am not sure if they still do. So those are pretty big values. United also allowed a stopover and two open jaws before, so you could fly into SGN, out of HAN, for example, and still stop in Tokyo on the way. Again, I've been out of the loop awhile. * has lots of options to Vietnam with TG, TK, LH, SQ, UA, OZ, and NH all flying here. LM can have some decent * availability and allows buying miles, if you want to do it that way rather than earn miles the regular way and deal with their booking system.

For Skyteam, if you have DL skymiles, China Southern has had great A380 availability in the past, but again not my cup of tea, so could be either hard to find now or not allowed for premium travel. KE flies here too twice a day.

AS allows a HKG stopover on CX, but doesn't allow connecting flights in the US from what I understand. Not sure if they allow you to route via DXB on EK with stopover, but maybe that would be a good deal if you like.

AA has CX and JAL, both good products, and some good prices still as they haven't devalued travel. But again, compare to US if doing OW flights.

Firstclassfrank

I guess it really depends on where you are leaving from in the US.
If you are somewhere in the east coast i would recommend Emirates. One of the better business class services i have experienced.
Also Maverick17 makes some great points if you are flying through China.

Artisticnomad

+1 for Emirates or Etihad. I really havnt flown Thai Air to Vietnam so i can't speak of the quality but Emirates and Etihad never disappoint.

MissMiles

I should probably clarify my post.

I live in NYC and I'm planning a trip for Christmas/New Years to Vietnam and Laos and I wanted to fly there in business/first using miles. I have a lot of Amex, Ultimate Rewards, AA, BA, and United points so I have many options. Also, I don't mind flying out of another city as long as I can redeem a business/first class award.

I'm having difficulty finding availability using the united, aeroplan, aa, ba, and quantas websites. How can I find what seats are actually available and bookable? Based on a lot of internet searching it seems as though some partner airlines show phantom availability while other airlines within the alliance don't show up on a site I'm searching at all. I haven't been able to find much detail on flying to Vietnam using miles.

Finally, I know there's open-jaw/stop-over permissions on this international award, so I'd love to maximize that and use that for Laos.

Could you please assist? Would greatly appreciate your help

5khours

I generally go to VN a couple of times a month. Always on miles in F. I have other business in Japan so I usually do NH to NRT and then either a) TG to BKK, spend the night in BKK and then catch the morning TG flight to SGN, or b) catch dinner in Tokyo (or stay a few days) and then get the redeye TG out of HND and on to the morning flight to SGN.

CX through HKG is another good option, or BR through TPE although they don't have F.

I used to do LH through FRA when they were flying the 747 to BKK, but that's been downgraded and not such a great ride anymore.

From the East Coast, SQ and EK are good options. Unfortunately EK doesn't have first on the non-stop SGN<>DBX, so I usually go through BKK if I'm using EK.

Unfortunately, there are not a many options for flying F directly into SGN.

Avoid NH J between NRT and SGN. They use horrible old recliners.

st1575

BR (via TPE) is another option to consider for Star Alliance. Their Royal Laurel business class on the 777 has gotten pretty good reviews.

kkjay77

SQ Suites would be my choice.
Since SQ R can't be booked using partner airline miles, it should be easier to find availability than, say, CX F.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"Finally, I know there's open-jaw/stop-over permissions on this international award, so I'd love to maximize that and use that for Laos."

There are no stopovers allowed when redeeming AAdvantage awards, which are now all one-ways, so an open-jaw itinerary is certainly doable.

You cannot search CX or JL award-seat availability on aa.com, so you can either call AA and ask, or use a third-party site (which might have phantom-availability issues).

drminn

Just flew Thai from HKG to Hanoi in business and was less than overwhelmed with the experience.

farbster

Perhaps you should consider using an award booking service? Might be easier and worth the fee?