ajandraschell

Hello,

I was wondering if anybody could help me create an itinerary for the end of January-February 2015 for LAX-MNL-Maldives-LAX on award flights. My wife and I would like to be out of the country for 2-3 weeks but preferably closer to 3. We are volunteering and donating again in Tacloban, Philippines as we are doing a fundraiser here in SoCal for needed items of which we will be bringing there in person. We could do either Maldives first; then MNL or the other way around, whichever is more cost effective. We plan on staying in Maldives for 3-5 days as I hear that everything is expensive there. We don't mind coach seats. We would just like to stretch out the points that we currently have. I have UR, MR, Avios, Skymiles, MP, etc. Thanks in advance.

Mwenenzi

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...reviews-8.html

ajandraschell

I was talking more like if someone can lead me to the right info. I'd rather not pay for the services, and I am willing to do the leg work.

84fiero

How many miles do you have in each of those programs?

ajandraschell

212k+ UR
80k+ MR
20k+ Avios
30k+ Skymiles
112k+ AA
10k+ pending points UA
20k+ SPG

Thanks for the help!

guv1976

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

Suggest you take a look at the award charts for the FFPs in which you have -- or can have -- substantial mileage. Here's AA's:

http://www.aa.com/i18n/disclaimers/a...rtnerChart.jsp

By Googling "MNL airport wiki" and "MLE airport wiki" you can see which carriers serve those two airports (and from where).

pogonation

For way out transfer UR to Korean Air and then you can use 190k for 2x first class awards to MNL from LAX pretty much any dates you want.

Use AA miles for return. Consider departing from CMB via Asia because for some reason AA classes CMB as SE Asia and not Indian subcontinent so mileage is much cheaper ^

84fiero

I wouldn't make plans based upon using Korean Air at the present time. Not long ago Chase "temporarily suspended" Korean Air as a transfer partner for Ultimate Rewards. Chase has been promising that they will return once they've sorted things out, but no firm commitment as to a date, so far.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/24042777-post23.html

caimaster

You can use your UR/MR points on SQ for LAX-NRT-SIN-MNL, the fuel charge will be expensive. F - 183K, J - 136K. Hard to find seats, you will have a better shot at grabbing seats from SFO.

Next leg would be MNL - SIN - MLE with SQ -J, it will cost 60K SQ miles transfer from UR/MR

from MLE you can come back with EY-J MLE-AUH-LAX, it will cost 135K AA miles, you are short on AA, you can either top off or transfer SPG

You can also do these in reverse.

Good luck! I would not recommend using any of your miles for Y seats

guv1976

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

Following up on a post upthread, the OP could use BA Avios for MLE-CMB (9,000 Avios for two in Coach, 18,000 Avios in Business), and then redeem 110,000 AA miles for two Business Class awards CMB-LAX.

Not sure what the BAEC surcharges will be on MLE-CMB. And the OP would need to build in plenty of connecting time (maybe even an overnight) in CMB to guard against a mis-connect due to IRROPS.

ajandraschell

Was off the grid for a while. Thanks to all! I will look over and ask questions as I go along. My wife and I don't mind coach, but why against it? We have minimal point amounts so I'm being conservative until I could figure out how to make more efficiently. Any help in this sector? �� Also, how much am I looking at in $ in Maldives for 3-5 days? We will be staying at Hyatt on award stays so that is kept in consideration too with what UR amounts we have. $510 pax for the airboat and what other damage are we looking at?

caimaster

I'm not against using points for coach, but the difference in points are minimal and you still pay the same amount for fuel and fees. It really depends on how you look at it, I look at points vs dollar value. For example one way AA award to Asia is 35K and a one way econ ticket will be around $500, your taxes and fees will be around $75. So your point value is ($500-75) / 35k = 1.2 cent per point which is not bad. If you redeem for J, it's 55K for one way where a ticket in J will cost around $3000. ($3000 - 75)/55K = 5.3 cent per point. You are getting a much better bang per point. It also comes down to how much you value travel in J and how easy you can accumulate points.

MLE is really expensive. If you are staying at the Hyatt, be prepare to spend $100-150 a day per person on food.

ajandraschell

I totally understand the value logic, but I am new to the game, so accruing points for me is much slower. If you care to PM me info on how to earn fast on all programs, I would appreciate some basic knowledge or even if leading me to certain blogs/threads/etc.
On another note, the Hyatt will be 25k per night so we're looking at 75k-100k UR (before devaluation) just right there + $510 pax for the transport from MLE to Hyatt. So, I'm sure it's safe to say that we only have enough for coach for the whole trip. Haha Lastly, would you say that all in it would be $1020 (transport) + $300X4 days = <$2500 conservatively speaking of course. Are activities inclusive? Also, do we pay in USD or MVR? Thanks so much for the help.

ajandraschell

Thanks for that! Looked on ba.com and w/ BA it's 9k + $55, but with SriLanka Air it's 9k + $24. The latter is the obvious choice by $ amount, but from your experience, does the former have any reason why it's much more? It shows a Reward Flight Saver icon implying that it's the better choice so I wonder. Lastly, from your experience, is CMB a good spot to do an overnight just in case we will need to? Any tips? TIA

guv1976

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

Is Sri Lankan 9K plus only $24 after you click through to the next screen? The ba.com website does not show carrier-imposed surcharges on the initial pricing screen.

The RFS charge includes all taxes, fees, and surcharges.

I've never been to CMB, so cannot comment on its value as a stopover.