c_orme

Hey all,
One of my friends and I are planning a trip to NRT after our graduation in the summer of '04. We'd like to make it a blowout vacation and go in style, via CX First Class. I have around 13k miles in my AA account; he has 0. AA says 90k miles are needed for a CX First award to NRT from the US. Therefore, the goal is for the both of us to amass that much mileage before the flights will be sold out, while spending the minimum amount of money (being students, we're not rolling in cash). So, then, it seems like a series of runs over the next 18 months will be the ticket, so to speak. Does anyone have any ideas about good OneWorld runs we can do (since we don't have a lot of money, immediate turnaround would be the goal)?
Thanks in advance,
Charlie

Jet2K

If you currently have status on an airline, you could get status comp'ed on AA or offered the new version of the "challenge", read the AA board for more detail.

Getting comped to mid-tier means you will get 100% mileage bonus, making your goal of 90k that much easier. Otherwise, if you have to earn status on your own, you are looking at flying 50K miles before starting to earn double miles. A quick calculation means you will have to fly about about 70K miles in order to get the miles needed for the CX business class tickets.

Perhaps this thread on earning status on a shoestring budget will give you some ideas.

Good luck.

francophile

A first class ticket on CX from North America to Japan requires 135,000 miles.

JohnG

I believe 90 K miles is for a business ticket, not first.

Edited to add:

If you plan on not spending too much money for a "blow out" vacation Tokyo is probably the worst place in the world to go. It's one of the most expensive city's in the world and a few days of hotel/living costs can ruin even the more cash heavy budgets..have you thought about SIN,HKG,BKK..etc.. ?



[This message has been edited by JohnG (edited 12-23-2002).]

channa

No offense, but are you seriously contemplating flying 70,000 miles in coach so you can avoid coach on your 14,000 (RT) flight to NRT?

Just pay the $700 cash and fly to NRT in coach.

c_orme

I know Tokyo is an expensive city. We're saving up a considerable amount of money to do the "blowout" vacation there; we just didn't want to spend a lot on racking up the miles in order to get there (since spending on hotels, etc. is hard to get around, we'd like to save where we can so we have leftover money to splurge in Japan).
Thanks for the suggestions re: the Challenge, looking into it now.

c_orme

When it's phrased like that, it does sound rather silly...I may yet reconsider it. It's not so much that flying in coach bothers me, as that we'd like to fly in FC if possible on that particular trip.

johnep1

First class on CX is the best in the world (IMHO), and is worth 135,000 miles. Business is nice, but for only 45,000 more miles, go 1st if you can. Based on that, you will have a very difficult time getting 135,000 miles (270,000 for 2 people). It will be ever more difficult since you have no status on AA. You're probably going to have to spend close to $4000 to get enough miles for 1 ticket. You might be better off buying an AA ticket to wherever you end up going, and upgrading to business class for 25,000 miles each way. You should be able to do that for around $2500 (ticket to NRT and enough flying to get 50,000 miles for the upgrades). Then again, there's really no substitute for FC on CX.

If you really want to maximize your CX FC time, go to Australia (SYD or MEL). You would get FC to Hong Kong and from there to Australia. That is only 140,000 miles and gets you a lot more flying.

If you have anything good to trade, you might want to consider the coupon connection here.

francophile

Even better, for a longer CX experience, go to AKL. Or JNB.

johnep1

I like the JBN idea. Spend a few days in Hong Kong and get some custom suits made. Then go the JBN and go on a White Shark dive. Then spend 24 hours in CX FC on the way home. I have sometimes dreamed of redeeming 140,000 of my AA miles to fly to JBN on CX and return a few days later with the main purpose of the trip being to fly CX FC. Ever since I flew them to Australia, I've wanted to go again.

francophile

johnep1-

If you really want to go for the gold, here is, IMO, one of the best awards in the market. It's the 150,000 mile award using BA Executive Club miles and it's a joint BA/CX award from North America to Australia/New Zealand/South Africa, all in F. If Diners Club brings back the BA promotion next summer, it's possible to use 150,000 AAdvantage miles for this awards.

Sample itineray:
IAH-LHR BA
LHR-HKG CX
HKG-SYD/MEL/AKL/JNB CX
SYD/MEL/AKL/JNB-HKG CX
HKG-LHR CX
LHR-IAH BA

On the second leg, I'd recommend using BA instead of CX because the lounge at LHR for CX departing passengers is the AA Admirals Club in T3 which is fine, but pales in comparison with being able to use the first class BA lounge or the BA Concorde room in T4.

This is my fantasy trip, except I would be departing from ORD.

minatonka

Please reconsider for your own sake. When the time is near, buy an employee's companion pass and ride business class for a cheap price. Save your money for land travels in Japan because you will need it. Why Japan? Do you speak Japanese and have your studied Japanese culture? If not, why not Thailand, Bali, Hong Kong, Malaysia, even the Philippines? I am not downgrading Japan, because I enjoy it. But I truly enjoy many other countries better. The people are much friendlier to tourists, generally, in other countries. Some Japanese will help you out on a quick basis such as if you are lost, but they only go so far and won't let you into their life so to speak. Why not south america where the local curriencies are in such a whole that you can get tremendous bargains? Argentina and Brazil are wonderful; Uruguay is cool; there is always Machu Picchu. Why not Europe -- so many places; beaches, cool big cities; and neat small areas?

The thought occurred to me that this original post is a joke, and we have all fallen for it. Tell me it is not true.

davistev

I have lived in Japan with my family for the last 5 months and the description above is not the Japan we have experienced. We have been overwhelmed by the sincerity of the Japanese people. We have been invited into their homes for dinners adn we have been on many outings with our new friends. It is a great place to visit but even better to live.

We live in Nagoya and we have found the city to be extremely clean, the people nice, the service excellent and the prices CHEAP. I cannot get my wife to stop shopping.

Do consider Japan. It has changed dramatically in the last 10 years.

c_orme

No, the OP is not a joke. I would, however, like more information about "buying an employee's companion pass". What's a good forum to do this?

CA Platinum

The thought is occuring to me that maybe your post is a joke? What an absolutely strange reply to the original poster. Has someone been consuming too much sake?