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Mission Impossible Or not??
Hello everyone,
I've been a Frequent Flyer for many years and thought I was quite knowledgeable of the various FFP systems until this new task presented itself... and mostly, until I found this forum through KVS Tool (just downloaded). I just realized I am quite the novice! So here is what I am trying to accomplish and I hope you can point me in the right direction. I'm planning our honeymoon for September 2016. Before the flight schedule posts to the various airlines (I believe 355 days is the furthest one can book) I wanted to research on how to best make use of the miles and Amex points I have saved over the past few years for this special occasion. Right now I have 100,000 miles on American Airlines and I have 360,000 points on Amex Rewards points. Here's the flight plan so far after these past weeks of research: SFO-FCO: First stop for the wedding FCO-DXB-MLE: We would like to spend a couple of nights in Dubai so this would be a long transit, ticket would be FCO to MLE via DXB. MLE-SIN-SFO: We would like to spend a couple of nights in Singapore, so again a long transit in Singapore. Ticket would be MLE to SFO via SIN. Goal: Travel Business Class all the way. All tickets need to be Award Savers or the miles I have are not enough... Looking at the AA award site it seems I can fly us Business Class for 50,000 miles each from SFO to Chicago (ORD) on AA then to Germany on Air Berlin, then final destination to Rome (FCO) IF I can catch the award saver fare. Amex points can be transferred only to certain airlines. Looking at the list here's how I thought of using them: I would transfer 180,000 points from Amex to Emirates Skyward and book with Emirates an award flight (their equivalent of Saver) to Male (Maldives) with stopover in Dubai from Rome (FCO). I called and they said it can be done once the fares are available (not before 12 months from departure date of course). I would then transfer the last 180,000 points from Amex to Singapore Airlines and book with Singapore another award flight (their equivalent of Saver) to San Franscisco via Singapore, with a long transit in Singapore. I called and they also said this is possible once the fares are available. So three separate bookings, three airlines, all Business Class. Do you think this is doable? If so when exactly should I be contacting the airlines given that the dates we are planning our trip are: Sept 12 SFO-FCO Sept 20 SFO-DXB then Sept 22 DXB-MLE Sept 29 MLE-SIN then Oct 1 SIN-SFO OR Should I just use and Award Booking Service for this? Thank you all in advance for any input you can give me to make this plan come alive! Sincerely Leonardo |
Seems doable if there is space. Even if there isn't any when the schedule opens, there may be some later on. Different airlines release space at different times though - not all are 355.
If there ends up being nothing between say, Frankfurt and Rome, you could always buy a cash ticket for that short hop. |
Originally Posted by PHLisa
(Post 25221115)
Seems doable if there is space. Even if there isn't any when the schedule opens, there may be some later on. Different airlines release space at different times though - not all are 355.
If there ends up being nothing between say, Frankfurt and Rome, you could always buy a cash ticket for that short hop. |
Sounds like you have fairly fixed dates, but maybe flexible on the pieces after the wedding (FCO onwards)?
90K Amex per person for Emirates FCO-MLE, even with a stopover in DXB, is very pricey. For example, AA won't allow a stopover, but FCO-AUH-DXB on Etihad would be 30K per person in business and DXB-AUH-MLE would be 25K per person in business. So you get a functional stopover, albeit with a connection each time. Or you could do your "stopover" in Abu Dhabi instead of Dubai. This would require another 10K AA miles, but you have time. Another option for the US-Europe flight (I think this one will be the toughest, especially if you are counting on AA miles, so it's good to have backups) is Aeroplan, which charges 45K for SFO-FCO in J. As long as you fly on UA, TK, SK, SN, or SR, there are no fuel surcharges. Delta could also be an option with their Alitalia partnership. Also, keep in mind that Iberia availability doesn't show up on aa.com. They serve LAX, ORD, MIA, and JFK to/from MAD, so that could be a 2-stop itinerary to Rome if necessary. If availability is tough, yet another option is using DL miles to get to London on Virgin Atlantic, then BA Avios for LON-FCO. I single out Virgin Atlantic here because I generally find their availability much better than DL's own metal. |
Congratulations!
I haven't done the math, but if you have enough miles/points to fly first class instead of business for any of your legs along the way, that would be even greater. Perhaps the best option: Singapore business class is fantastic, but if you could nab the first class suites on its SIN-NRT-LAX A380 route (and then tag on a final short hop on a separate paid ticket on some other airline to get to SFO), it would be a fantastic way to end your honeymoon. (For that matter, SQ also flies SIN-HKG-SFO but not on the A380, so F on that route would be great but not as special as the suites.) If after your other award bookings you won't have enough Amex points to get you two SQ F tix (assuming they become available for awards), you could try to bag additional Chase Sapphire Ultimate Reward, Citi ThankYou or Starwood Amex credit card bonuses for initial spending, since like the Amex points all of them can be converted into Krisflyer miles. (The conversions can take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days, though perhaps a bit longer if you try to do them over weekends.) Finally, one thing you should be aware of is that if you book SQ award flights online there is a 15 percent discount in miles necessary for the booking. Hope it all works out! |
Also note there are low cost carrier flying Mle-Sin (Tiger maybe?) which would save some miles.
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Originally Posted by dukerau
(Post 25221246)
Sounds like you have fairly fixed dates, but maybe flexible on the pieces after the wedding (FCO onwards)?
Originally Posted by dukerau
(Post 25221246)
90K Amex per person for Emirates FCO-MLE, even with a stopover in DXB, is very pricey. For example, AA won't allow a stopover, but FCO-AUH-DXB on Etihad would be 30K per person in business and DXB-AUH-MLE would be 25K per person in business. So you get a functional stopover, albeit with a connection each time. Or you could do your "stopover" in Abu Dhabi instead of Dubai. This would require another 10K AA miles, but you have time.
Originally Posted by dukerau
(Post 25221246)
Another option for the US-Europe flight (I think this one will be the toughest, especially if you are counting on AA miles, so it's good to have backups) is Aeroplan, which charges 45K for SFO-FCO in J. As long as you fly on UA, TK, SK, SN, or SR, there are no fuel surcharges. Delta could also be an option with their Alitalia partnership. Also, keep in mind that Iberia availability doesn't show up on aa.com. They serve LAX, ORD, MIA, and JFK to/from MAD, so that could be a 2-stop itinerary to Rome if necessary.
Originally Posted by dukerau
(Post 25221246)
If availability is tough, yet another option is using DL miles to get to London on Virgin Atlantic, then BA Avios for LON-FCO. I single out Virgin Atlantic here because I generally find their availability much better than DL's own metal.
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Originally Posted by Kudu19
(Post 25221729)
The problem I see here is that I don't have DL miles but i guess i could xfer Amex points to Alitalia and book through them I suppose.
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Originally Posted by Thunderroad
(Post 25221384)
Congratulations!
I haven't done the math, but if you have enough miles/points to fly first class instead of business for any of your legs along the way, that would be even greater. Perhaps the best option: Singapore business class is fantastic, but if you could nab the first class suites on its SIN-NRT-LAX A380 route (and then tag on a final short hop on a separate paid ticket on some other airline to get to SFO), it would be a fantastic way to end your honeymoon. (For that matter, SQ also flies SIN-HKG-SFO but not on the A380, so F on that route would be great but not as special as the suites.) If after your other award bookings you won't have enough Amex points to get you two SQ F tix (assuming they become available for awards), you could try to bag additional Chase Sapphire Ultimate Reward, Citi ThankYou or Starwood Amex credit card bonuses for initial spending, since like the Amex points all of them can be converted into Krisflyer miles. (The conversions can take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days, though perhaps a bit longer if you try to do them over weekends.) Finally, one thing you should be aware of is that if you book SQ award flights online there is a 15 percent discount in miles necessary for the booking. Hope it all works out! Thank you all for the great advice! |
Originally Posted by dukerau
(Post 25222324)
Amex transfer to DL
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With AA, you can book awards 330 days out. Many awards don't show on aa.com (but signing up for a free BAEC account with BA will give you more airlines to search). Once you find availability, call AA (no phone fees if you can't book it on aa.com).
Look at other airlines, not just those you've mentioned, for SFO-FCO, etc. For using AA miles see: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html and http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...es-2014-a.html Be sure to read the thread wikis; they contain a lot of useful information. |
Your itinerary almost suggests a round the world ticket, but I don't think you have enough miles on one carrier for two of them in business class.
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I would also look into LX (Swiss) from SFO-FCO. Some say the A343 J product is outdated but I still rather like it. Great for individuals and couples. Doing SFO-FCO on LX, MLE-SIN-NRT-LAX might qualify for RTW ticketing. Not sure if you have enough miles for this but if so would be worth looking into and then focusing on EY for the FCO-MLE with Dubai layover.
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Look at aeroplan as they allow 2 stopovers on a r/t and you can also do one stopover and open-jaw. Not all routings are allowed though.
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Thank you all again for the amazing input.
I have another question... I understand that Airlines open up their award space at different times. One of the links suggested here say the following: Air Canada Aeroplan..............................356 days Air France Flying Blue............................305 days Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan....................331 days All Nippon Airways (ANA) Mileage Club.....356 days American AAdvantage............................331 days Avianca LifeMiles..................................360 days British Airways Executive Club................355 days Cathay Pacific Asia Miles........................360 days Delta SkyMiles......................................331 days Emirates Skywards...............................340 days Lufthansa Miles & More.........................359 days Qantas Frequent Flyer..........................353 days Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer...................355 days United MileagePlus...............................338 days But I also read that some airlines open their award space to partners before they do to their own frequent flyers. Since so far I'm looking at the following airlines: BA, AA, EK and SQ Do you know if these airlines do open to their partners the award seats in Business before their own members? If so where do I find this information? Thanks! Leonardo |
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