ahs2m2

I am planning to redeem miles with two different airlines for my trip to Singapore.

Please let me know if this is a bad idea.

American Airline DFW-NRT 12:05pm-4:35pm
Delta Airline NRT-SIN 5:50pm - 12:20am

The connection time between the 2 flight will be 1 hour and 25 minutes.
Is this even doable?

jib71

Very bad idea.
(1) Connection time is too short
Delta is in Terminal 1
American is in Terminal 2
I believe NRT stipulates 2 hours for a connection that requires a change of terminal. I think most people get from one terminal to the other in less than 2 hours, but 85 minutes is really pushing it.

(2) Separate PNRs is a bad idea
If your first flight is delayed slightly and you just miss the Delta flight that you wanted to catch, I believe Delta will consider you as a "no show", so you'll need to buy a new ticket to Singapore and back. For its part, AA will consider that it fulfilled its responsibility by getting you to NRT almost on time, so they won't offer any compensation.

(3) Bad way to use miles
Isn't it better value to get one award with one airline all the way to Singapore? Maybe I'm wrong on this. But, my advice would be to get the miles you need to purchase the entire trip from either Delta or American.
(Better still, save the miles to fly on a better airline in a premium cabin).

Bottom line = Is it physically possible? Maybe. But before you risk it, you've got to ask yourself if you're feeling lucky...

mapleg

No, bad idea. 2 hours is insufficient time and as stated above if you miss that connections you are a no-show and not entitled to any compensation. Buy miles if you have to and stick to one airline/alliance.

ahs2m2

Thanks for the suggestions. The only reason I do this is availability of award flights. I called Aadvantage international travel and I was told there is no award flights available for the whole month of February.
How do I check availability of OnePass flights? With StarAlliance I can use the ANA tool. Is there something similar for OnePass? I am trying to get from DFW to either KUL or SIN.

Worse case scenerio is to book the award travel with overnight stay in NRT.
Any other ideas?

jib71

Better to look for answers on the airline discussion boards. You'll find lots of threads about how to find awards and how to use miles in the best way. If you have flexibility to fly at any time in Feb, I'd say that there is a good chance that a convenient award will open up for you. It might involve a roundabout routing.

acregal

Umm isn't CO (so OnePass) part of the Star Alliance?

NickW

I just booked my parents a pair of CO BusinessFirst tickets LHR-JFK as a Christmas present, using the ANA website: it is certainly possible to both check availability and book online.

kacheng

Hi,

I am transferring Domestic -> International (T2, British Airways) on two separate tickets.
I have the choice between a 1h55min Terminal 1S (ANA) -> Terminal 2 connection or a 1h30min T2 (JL) -> T2 connection.

Which connection would you prefer?
I'm also not sure if I can check the baggage through already in Osaka on either airline.

ponder

BA moved to T2 at NRT last month.

kacheng

Corrected above. Thanks. Still same question though.

ninja138

Obviously, it is much preferred to stay in the same terminal for the connection. ANA's MCT for ANA domestic to non-S* int'l is 100 min.; the 115 min. option you mentioned is still pushing it.

Through check-in to your final destination will be available from Osaka, whether it's Itami or Kansai. Just make sure you go to the international connections check-in desk.

kacheng

So you'd go with the JL flight from ITM? And on arrival at NRT I can go straight to a transferdesk in order to get the BA boarding pass?

ninja138

Are you buying both tickets on the same PNR? In that case, JL should be able to print out all your boarding passes at Itami.

kacheng

No, two different tickets, hence two different PNRs
Also just checked the MCT: 1 to 1, D->I: 100 minutes; 2 to 1, D->I: 110 minutes
So with the later JL flight I would be even under the MCT.

ninja138

Uh, BA is now in T2 along with JL (so that all of oneworld are together), so it's more like 30 minutes to transfer domestic to int'l. The transit desk is only for int'l to int'l transfers and you can't pick up a BA BP at Itami, so you can't use the fast connection lane. You will need to exit out to the arrival hall, go up to the departure lobby, pick up your BP from the BA check-in desk, and then enter into immigration and the international departure area. This exercise will probably take about 45-60 minutes from gate to gate (since you should be able to check your baggage through to your destination at Itami). With baggage, you might be looking at 60-80 minutes to connect.