I hope it's ok to create a new topic for this; all the existing threads seem fairly specific to the OPs.

I've never used rewards miles to fly anywhere, so I'd like some advice on my first attempt. I currently have over 80k Continental Onepass miles, and hope to have 75k or 150k AAdvantage miles (I think I just made it in on the Citi offers).

My family is planning on taking a trip to Islamabad (ISB) next year, probably some time around March. My family will be traveling there separately from me, but I was hoping to use CO miles to get there (one ticket, possibly on Turkish, or possibly on a United partner like Emirates), and use AA to get back with my family (up to three tickets, on Etihad or Gulf). My dates are pretty flexible, but I'd like to stay there for around 2 weeks.

Now, how likely is it that there are even tickets available for this itinerary? Also, how early should I try to book these tickets? Our plans are still tentative right now, but I should have a solid range of dates soon(ish).

Any specific help or general advice would be appreciated.

My general advice is to look at Continental's award search (ok engine), ANA's award search engine (much better), and at British Airways search engine (difficult to use but does the job). You'll get better advice in the specific forums but do indicate where you are traveling from also.

Welcome to flyertalk. I see very little hope (didn't mean to dissapoint you) for what you have described mainly because no star alliance or oneworld airline fly directly to ISB. In 2008 I was able to use BA miles (BA used to fly ISB) but that also up to LHR and on-wards I had to purchase the tickets. I have tried a couple of times to use AA miles on Gulf but have never been successful. So good luck on your quest. Personally I have come to the conclusion to use US/Europe awards if you have any miles and for ISB go on Etihad with the family. Since they allow everyone to pool their miles into family membership, you can combine them all. For example from SFO to ISB, each member will earn around 18,000 miles. Since we are five people travelling so X 5 will be 90,000. This will get you pretty close to one free ticket.

if there's nothing to islamabad on Turkish. Thai has a flight 3X p.week from Muscat to Karachi then get an internal flight. The problem is getting back using AA miles

I'm planning a trip to KHI in Feb at the moment.

Availability on TK is tough in Biz, possibly in Econ. Availability on GF shows up according to KVS, but the one time I called AAdvantage I was told there is none - I have not tried a second call yet. EY is not an AAdvantage redemption partner.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I'll be flying from Boston, or possibly JFK, if there's a good reason to. I'm also open to flying back from KHI, since we probably will have to go there anyway. However, that doesn't seem to add many options, only Cathay Pacific. (I really thought there would be more airlines flying to KHI, it's a big city).

It does look like using AA could be an issue if Gulf has low availability. (Looks like Etihad is an earn only partner).

I tried using Continental's award search, and I have some more questions. Are the itineraries purely availability based? The reason I ask is because a couple searches resulted in crazy 46 hour journeys. Other searches had more reasonable times, but only certain classes. If I call in, will they have more flexibility?

If I can't find flights all the way, how much of a hassle is it to use awards for part of an route and pay for the rest?

Emirates is no longer a partner with United, as of May this year.

Suggest you use your miles to get you to DXB, and to then buy a cheap ticket from DXB into Pakistan and back. This usually works for me. You can buy the DXB-Pak tix off Expedia, or one of the UAE travel agents (eg, DNATA).

I second mapletree. After years and years of trying to figuring out a way out, I think under the present circumstances, this is the best strategy.

If you go a lot, another good strategy is to buy a one-way ticket (or other creative way to do a one-way trip), and then start buying RT tickets originating in Pak. The cost arbitrage is fantastic, especially if you are willing to pay a bit more for a C/F ticket.

I have burned well over 2 million miles over the years flying family from Pakistan

Unfortunately a lot of great options are gone - AA miles on Swiss from Karachi - UA miles on LH from Karachi and Lahore and BA from ISB

Best bet on CO is Thai and Turkish
On AA - Cathay flies from Karachi to LAX via Hong kong (and Bangkok)

ET flies to ISB right? They will soon be a burn partner of AA as well. I thot LH flew to ISB.

If you mean Etihad, do you have more information? All the info I found says Etihad and AA are accrual only partners at the moment. (I did see a couple blog type posts saying redemption partnership was in the works for later this year, but nothing that looked official).

Also, it seems that no European or North American airlines fly to anywhere in Pakistan. (BA and LH, at least, used to).

As far as I know Etihad is only mileage earning partner with AA. In theory you can earn award flight on Gulf with AA miles. The reason I said in theory is because Gulf is not one world partner so AA has to submit in writing a request and reply comes in 5 days. I have tried multiple times this option but was never successful. In fact one AA rep told me that in his carrier of 3 years he has never seen any request ever successful which was pretty disappointing. So once again in theory this is definitely a possibility.

Etihad and AA Redemption Agreement

Looks like you were spot on, UA Fan. This is good news, although a little soon (for me ). Hopefully there will still be some availability by the time I'm ready to book.