shri11

Hi fellow flyers, looking for help with last minute run, willing to go up to 8-10cpm. Anybody seeing any deals to Far East or Middle East, I think Muscat RT is about 16500 miles. Thanks
Shri

valor155

Are you hard line on 8-10 CPM? That's VERY restrictive this late in the game.

Do an ITA search for BAH, DOH, KWI, DXB. IST or TLV might also work. Far East usual suspects like NRT, BKK, PEK, HKG, ICN.

macdonaldj2

Houston (IAH) to Beijing (PEK) - Fri, Dec 27
Turkish Airlines Inc. Houston (IAH) to Istanbul (IST) - Fri, Dec 27
Turkish Airlines Inc. 34 Dep: 8:00PM Arr: 4:00PM 12h 0m Boeing 777 Economy (H)
Layover in IST Sat, Dec 28 8h 50m

Turkish Airlines Inc. Istanbul (IST) to Beijing (PEK) - Sun, Dec 29
Turkish Airlines Inc. 20 Dep: 12:50AM Arr: 4:05PM 9h 15m Boeing 777 Economy (H)


Beijing (PEK) to Houston (IAH) - Tue, Dec 31
Turkish Airlines Inc. Beijing (PEK) to Istanbul (IST) - Tue, Dec 31
Turkish Airlines Inc. 21 Dep: 12:50AM Arr: 5:30AM 10h 40m Boeing 777 Economy (B)
Layover in IST 7h 50m

Turkish Airlines Inc. Istanbul (IST) to Houston (IAH) - Tue, Dec 31
Turkish Airlines Inc. 33 Dep: 1:20PM Arr: 6:15PM 12h 55m Boeing 777 Economy (B)

Cost per passenger (including taxes & fees) $1,840.80
Total cost for 1 passenger $1,840.80

H and B both earn 100% on TK through UA works out at about 8.5 cpm

FlyingXplorer

Great find! Too bad it's not on an airline that earns 100% 1K bonus.

shri11

Hi Valor, no it was meant as a ballpark, 8-10cpm, Thanks for the PEK routing, will investigate that on ITA Macdonald.
Shri

valor155

Good find and an absolute MONSTER of an MR at 21k miles and 8.5 CPM.

I'm wondering if the OP will loosen his CPM req. He might be able to do 16k miles for say $1800 and only spend 2 days doing it. He'll have to chime in.

valor155

You are in luck. IAH-DOH December 28-30. $1500-1600. 9-10 CPM. 17k Miles.
Verify the exact miles with the United Website. ITA and UA sites didn't match for miles for my itinerary.
I am also actually on the IAD-DOH-IAD flights for these.

shri11

on ITA, outbound show H, return shows P, $1452, all on Turkish, Dep Fri Dec 27, return Mon Dec 30.
Found the one priced by Macdonald, leaves Sat, and comes back Tuesday Dec 31st for $1841 same routing
One Wikipedia entry says if you onward reservations within 48 hours, free visa will be given on entry, need confirmation from fellow flyers who have done MRs to China!
Does one need visa for China? Shri

FlyingXplorer

Here is another option.
Cost: 1,938.00
Miles: 19,060
=> 10.2 cpm
BUT, if you have any status already with UA, you will get bonus miles anywhere from 25% to 100% for this fare. So it could work out to be 5.1 cpm for the award miles (not bonus miles). If you value award miles at 2 cpm, you are essentially buying status miles at 3 cpm.
AND, if you have expiring GPU's the first two flights are booking class W.
You can also fly back a day earlier, but why not rest for a couple of nights in BKK?


Sat., Dec. 28, 2013 | Houston, TX (IAH - Intercontinental) to Bangkok, Thailand (BKK)
Depart:
10:40 a.m.
Sat., Dec. 28, 2013
Houston, TX (IAH - Intercontinental)
Arrive:
3:45 p.m. +1 Day
Sun., Dec. 29, 2013
Tokyo, Japan (NRT - Narita)
Flight Time:
14 hr 5 mn
Distance:
6,643 miles
Flight:UA7
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200
Fare Class: United Economy (W)
Meal: Lunch
Change Planes. Connect time in Tokyo, Japan (NRT - Narita) is 2 hours 25 minutes.
Depart:
6:10 p.m.
Sun., Dec. 29, 2013
Tokyo, Japan (NRT - Narita)
Arrive:
11:20 p.m.
Sun., Dec. 29, 2013
Bangkok, Thailand (BKK)
Flight Time:
7 hr 10 mn

Travel Time:
23 hr 40 mn
Distance:
2,887 miles
Total Distance:
9,530 miles
Flight: UA837
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
Fare Class: United Economy (W)
Meal: Dinner
Tue., Dec. 31, 2013 | Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) to Houston, TX (IAH - Intercontinental)
Depart:
7:10 a.m.
Tue., Dec. 31, 2013
Bangkok, Thailand (BKK)
Arrive:
2:45 p.m.
Tue., Dec. 31, 2013
Tokyo, Japan (NRT - Narita)
Flight Time:
5 hr 35 mn
Distance:
2,887 miles
Flight:UA838
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
Fare Class: United Economy (S)
Meal: Breakfast
Change Planes. Connect time in Tokyo, Japan (NRT - Narita) is 2 hours.
Depart:
4:45 p.m.
Tue., Dec. 31, 2013
Tokyo, Japan (NRT - Narita)
Arrive:
1:30 p.m.
Tue., Dec. 31, 2013
Houston, TX (IAH - Intercontinental)
Flight Time:
11 hr 45 mn

Travel Time:
19 hr 20 mn
Distance:
6,643 miles
Total Distance:
9,530 miles
Flight: UA6
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200
Fare Class: United Economy (S)
Meal: Dinner

valor155

He is probably looking for PQM, and that won't be accelerated. But you are right on EQM. I assumed he was doing an MR for status and PQM.

BTW . . . good suggestion on the GPUs . . . this is the exact strategy I used, so I'm flying IAD-DOH in BusinessFirst. ^

FlyingXplorer

I'm actually making the same assumptions that this is for status, but I'm also assuming that award miles have a value. If he has 1K status (I didn't run the numbers for lower status) with UA already, the cost per PQM is still higher with the Turkish fare than with this UA fare.

And even if GPUs are not part of the picture, with some status he should at least get Economy Plus, chances for original routing credit, and there may be other eventualities where flying UA metal may be favorable.

Surface Interval

Here is one option found on ITA for 18K miles/$1620:

Fare 1: Carrier UA EA0KY HOU to SAT (rules)
Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code E
Covers IAH-DEN (Economy), DEN-SAT (Economy)
$232.56
Fare 2: Carrier UA SL6RCE SAT to BAH (rules)
Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code S
Covers SAT-IAD (Economy), IAD-BAH (Economy)
$360.50
Fare 3: Carrier UA WL5RCE BAH to HOU (rules)
Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code W
Covers BAH-IAD (Economy), IAD-ORD (Economy), ORD-IAH (Economy)
$395.50
UA YQ surcharge (YQ) $540.00
US International Departure Tax (US) $17.20
US September 11th Security Fee (AY) $10.00
US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $16.50
USDA APHIS Fee (XA) $5.00
US Immigration Fee (XY) $7.00
US Customs Fee (YC) $5.50
US International Arrival Tax (US) $17.20
Bahrain Passenger Service Fee (BH) $13.30

Subtotal per passenger $1,620.70
Number of passengers x1

TOTAL AIRFARE & TAXES $1,620.70
This ticket is non-refundable.
Changes to this ticket will incur a penalty fee.