Thanks for all the info. Do any of the properties on Maui or Kauai have a 2 br suite? I see some listed as 1 br + pull out which is listed as sleeping 4. What if I want to get 6 in there?

If you want a room that will sleep 6 you'll need to get a MVCI (vacation club) property 2 bedroom unit. It will cost extra points per night to upgrade to a 2 bedroom unit. Availability this summer will be extremely difficult.

You need to call Marriott and ask them about your options with your travel certificate.

MR Travel Package max miles
 

the chart on the MR website shows 120k airline miles as teh max. Do they offer packlages with higher mileage requirements? I am looking to possibly book travel that will need more than the 120k listed.

They don't have travel packages higher then the ones listed.
You can however wait for a bonus transfer opportunity like US is offering now.
Under the current US promo you get an additional 25% for everyone and then another 25% if you hold any elite status with US, and another 25% if you hold a US credit or debit card.

So you could potentially get 210K US miles for the same amount of Marriott points.

In general, what you see in that chart is the max you can get from a single Travel Package award. Every now and then though a specific airline may have a promo where you can get "bonus" points for any transfers. For example, the last TP award I orderd was for some AA miles (just before they dropped from the Marriott program). At that time AA had a 20% bonus for all transfers, so I actually received 144K for my transfer.

But outside of those type of "bonus" opportunites, what you see is what you can get.

Marriott Travel Package To Thailand
 

I'm not sure if this is posted in the right forum but I'm hoping someone will have some experience with this.

I am looking to use a Marriott Travel Package solely for the miles to fly 2 people to Phuket, Thailand. Has anyone had any experience in trying to use miles to get to Thailand? Any suggestions on the best airlines, most availability, best flight options, etc? I am on the East Coast, near NY, but we are also talking about traveling to Napa Valley for a few days before heading to Thailand so flying out of the East Coast or the West Coast are both possibilities....

My confusion is, I don't even know where to start! I see BA flies to BKK through London.. I'm just wondering if there are better options. Cathay Pacific? AA? etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :D

and if this is in the wrong forum, please let me know and I will try to have it moved!

Thanks in advance!

I suggest just going to all of the airlines and seeing who has the best availability and then use the mile transfer there.
I am curious to hear how long it takes for the transfer to complete.
If it posted in 2 days (highly unlikely) you could hold an itin to be sure that you got the seats you wanted.

1. You probably want to check the various airline websites and/or FT airline forums for those that fly or have partners that fly to HKT. Thai Air (Star Alliance) but you would have to book with UA, CO or US miles since Thai Air does not participate with MR. Check all three and find out which one's awards cost the least miles. Also CX - my first choice for F, but their rate of return in TPs for miles is in the low range. DL, but good luck with Sky Pesos - perhaps on one of their partners.

2. It also depends on what airline FF scheme you already have miles in.

3. Most US based airlines require one to go TransPac to Asia. I don't know about BA. Check their website or FT forum.

4. You also should probably check with those airlines to see if they have availability.

5. You can't get AA miles through Marriott TPs.

6. Depends when you intend on traveling. If it is around Christmas/New Years then you are probably too late to the game.

7. You will probably want to share your dates and desired class of travel, because that will result in you getting the most help form others on the Airline FT forums.

Thank you all of the replies so far. My flight plans are for the end of April 2012. I'm already behind by my standards, no question about it.

I am running out for a bit, but when I get home tonight, I will start searching different forums (on FT) and different airlines. I didn't know you couldn't get AA miles through Marriott's TP! Is that new?!

Have done this twice to Thailand. Most recently May 2012. Just sent you a PM.

Fairly new. About a year or two ago, Marriott and AA split ways. :td:

I would consider US Airways and researching the main thread there. You of course would not fly US, but one of the many Star Alliance partners such as Thai or ANA:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-ai...end-miles-612/

Of course you can use one of the award booking services that exist if willing to pay some money and get it right. Your time may or may not be worth it.

Cheers.

Thank you! After the advice I've received, I think I'm going to spend the next few hours on the phone with star alliance and see what I can get worked out... I'm sooo pissed I missed the 50% bump! It would have been very helpful. Heck, it would have flown us first class instead of business! (or coach on 1 TP) :D

I have to say, the International Reservations Line at USAirways has been amazingly helpful!

On another topic, I've been reading through the forums and I can't seem to find anything concrete on whether or not their is a "soft landing" from PP to Platinum... I am a new PP and unfortunately my travel has completely halted. I have maybe 10 nights this year at Marriott and probably a total of 60 including rollovers. Does anyone know concretely (word?) whether or not it would be a soft landing to platinum? All I can seem to find is "it's up to them". Anyone have experience falling from PP? To top it off, my status with the airline, I THINK i'm going to book for half the trip is ending in March 2012. LOL.

Thanks :)

I take EVERYTHING I just said about USAirways customer support back! I just called back to check on one of the flight times and was told that the reservation that I have on hold.... that I have a confirmation # for.... that I can look up on THEIR system.... is not a valid reservation!!! I was now told that if they tried to book it, they would not be able to because it is invalid..... Now I'm pissed off!

I asked the lady what would have happened if I had booked it with the last person and her response was AND I QUOTE "well did you?" ... She wasn't budging so I told her I wanted to keep my invalid reservation on hold and I would call back later!

So to ask those FT'ers out there with experience....on a star alliance award flight are you allowed a stop-over of over 24 hours within the same region?!? The first CSR said she would have to check, came back and said she could do it and we put together this itinerary.... the 2nd time I called just to double check a time, told me you couldn't and that the reservation that I have a confirmation on hold for, is invalid....

Can anyone clarify?