getting to Croatia
 

Hi FTers,

I'm planning on taking a trip to Croatia using miles.
I have nearly 400k UR points, 250k AA miles, and 100 MR points.
Most of the options I'm seeing involve taking BA which is imposing fuel surcharges that amount to over $1000.

Are there any alternatives you recommend?

Thanks!

Where are you originating?

Where are you headed in Croatia?

What class of service are you seeking?

I just looked at EWR-ZAG in July this summer. Almost every day in July and August showed coach awards available. Croatia Airlines is a Star partner. I have always used United miles when I have flown to Zagreb, Split or Dubrovnik. Split and Dubrovnik have a lot of seasonal service and are more readily available in holiday months.

I'm originating from LAX and would prefer to fly in business, if possible.
I don't really have a set destination in Croatia- I am flexible as long as I can get into the country

Check United from LA it will probably be on LH or LX, if you see Saver available transfer your UR pts to United. I would try not to fly on OU (Croatian) as they have only a handful of planes and when I did boy did we hit delays.Domestic flights within Croatia should be OK

And when do you want to go? It's very late to pick up business class for this summer. If you are planning for summer 2018, you should have lots of options.

Austrian Airlines has a nonstop from LAX-VIE, then flies on to Croatia. If it should be available, you can book it with United miles.

What have you found when you looked for award availability? It's very easy to use united.com. I see outbound availability on June 6 from LAX-ZAG but that is the only day I saw it in June/July/August.

AA and BA points/miles are amongst the worst to use now.

Using United points or those of some other Star Alliance carriers should make it relatively easy. Also, don't ignore that those UR points are as good as cash for regular paid tickets, just keep in mind that it may cheaper to buy two separate tickets -- for example a California-Scandinavia roundtrip ticket and next a round trip ticket from OSL/CPH/ARN to Croatia.

If LH,OS & LX all have saver I would go with LH assuming its not an extended layover. Reason is the Biz Lounge at the Z gates in FRA is so much nicer then OSs or LXs. Havent flown LHs new seats but from the many times on OS & LX the seats even in Biz are narrow and hard like a rock. that said I have an upcoming trip using both of them since thats all thats available, at least theres good ice cream bars @ LXs ZRH loubge. OSs lounge is simply the pits and you hav eto pray that it isnt hot out as the ac doesnt exist. But OS or LX in Biz beats Y anyday

OS has some very good availability, and heard great things about the soft product, but now sad to hear about the rock bed.

How is LH availability realistically?

As this is a high-level question about award availability, and has had a decent run here, am going to transfer to the Information Desk to see if you can get some more information about this kind of award redemption.

Please continue to follow this topic in the Information Desk forum.

stut
Moderator
Europe Forum