faerieloch

if you're going to be there for 20 days out of 30 each month, renting your own apartment would be way cheaper..... and way more fun in my books. you can leave your stuff there, etc, etc, etc.....

actually, now i am wondering what the health care advantages are to looking into getting an australian work permit and becoming a resident......
and staying in a hotel state-side when you come back for 10 days.....

hmmmmmm...... the possibilities......

3544quebec

How about ORD-DEL $1400 return on AA upgraded with eVIPs and DEL-PER on MH in Business Class for $2240 return. Seems pretty competitive with the options on QF or CX which would be all coach. And when MH joins Oneworld all the miles will credit to AAdvantage.
If you could ticket the two fares together you would save an extra $140 on the Indian taxes for a total of about $3500. Lots of eVIPs in the Coupon Connection for when you run out of your own

TCove

"I hope you have taken into consideration that in economy on CX only Y,B and H fare buckets earn any miles in AAdvantage. "

I didn't know that.

When I look at the quotes on Kayak, I'm seeing fair codes like:
LLWSPCL
YOW5

Are those what you're speaking of, and I should be looking at the first letter?

3544quebec

Yep,the first letter is the one.

Go to http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/ea...lines/main.jsp to check the QF codes that only earn 50% or zero miles and the JL codes that only earn 50% and 70%

tikadaxx

ORD-HKG-PER should be the best option, all others requires 2 stops. More stops = more trouble, you might somehow miss a flight/baggage went nowhere etc, and given your frequency to fly it is fairly possible.

You will most probably qualify for the fare requirement of miles thru cx, as even if they post their lowest standard fares it's just less than 200 cheaper than H (exclude special offers). Not to mention HK has the best airport to spend a few hours, and cathay lounge really stand out of the crowd.

I'm flying ORD-HKG next week. I don't dare to try any American trans-pacific anymore, even in business. I was in business in March from HKG-SFO, and when I'm hungry, the flight attendant told me there's only 2 meals and they don't serve any food in between. Complete waste of money. Even cathay coach serve hot snacks and noodles.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

welcome to FT tikadaxx!

The other thing with CX is that you can get silver status I think fairly quickly based on miles... so lounge access should be available at HKG (only) until gold status comes through. Dont they also have special check-in for marco polo members?

IHG Service

Dear TCove,

We noticed your review regarding your current Holiday Inn stay. We are the Parent Company for Holiday Inn, known as InterContinental Hotels Group or IHG. We do have a rewards program called Priority Club. Go to the Front Desk and request to be enrolled in this free program and request your new Priority Club number be applied to this reservation. They will be happy to assist. You will be able to start earning points with this stay.

Sincerely,
Brenda J.
IHGCare

TCove

Thanks for the info, Tik.
Yes, I'm leaning towards the ord-hkg-per route, and I'll use my AA frequent flyer number since AA code shares with Cathay....I just need to double check my class code to be sure and get my 100% credit. One thing I'm confused on...if I'm building credit with AA, ... not Cathay, that won't allow me access to the Cathay lounge, correct?

TCove

Well gang, I just realized that due to the ticket class I purchased, I'm only going to get 50% credit on my AA account, on my Qantas legs....I'll pay attention in the future.

However, I'm in Australia right now, and will be flying back to ORD soon. When I get to the boarding counter, do you suggest I replace my AA FF number with my Qantas FF number, in order to at least get 100% credit with Qantas, rather than 50% with AA?

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

once you reach one world sapphire then you will have access to all cx lounges.

if you were to begin crediting to Cathay, they allow lounge access in hinge kong only once you reach silver I think, which is 20 flight segments on cx (or some equivalent number of miles).

you might get around this - maybe - if AA still offers a status challenge. they used to have it where x number of fight points within three months would give you status based this initial points ( you then qualify annually after that). I believe there is a requirement for a certain number (4?) of AA segments during the challenge? that can be achieved iirc through code shares.

this would be one way to get status quickly and then have priority checkin and lounge access.

Mwenenzi

50% in AA may be worth more to you than 100% in QF. If the miles/points are in QF will you ever be able to use them ?
If on AA flight numbers do the AA challenge as suggested above

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

I'd agree. Look at the rewards table... Australia to Asia in business class... 35K through AA, or 60K through QF (or 65K if travelling on a partner airline such as CX). Those are for one ways.

50% mileage on AA = the same thing as 100% mileage on QF (and its pretty much the same availability unless you are a QF platinum or above).

TCove

Brenda, I will take this moment to let everyone know that when I checked out of my $500/night room (with two double beds rather than 1 king), your invoice was charging me for each breakfast during my stay. The breakfast was to be included in my rate, but had I not pointed that out, I would have indeed been charged the exorbitant rate you ask for breakfast. When I pointed it out to the gal behind the counter, she very quickly removed those charges (with the comment "hmmm, I'm not sure why those showed up"), and it was clear these additional breakfast charges are something this Holiday Inn "trys" to sneak past the guests. Beware of this property, travelers. And yes, Brenda, I am a member of your Priority Club, tho I forgot to give my number at check-in. I'll scoot over there in the next day or two, give them my number, and have them apply my stay.

Boraxo

For me the consideration would be SWUs (United) or eVIPs (AA) so that I could upgrade from intolerable coach to business class (which won't cost your company any money). A secondary factor would be the cost of mileage upgrades, i.e. miles + co-pay, again to avoid intolerable economy seating. You are not going to be happy doing 24+ hours in economy on a monthly basis. The 3rd factor would be E+ seating. You wrote on another thread that you will pocket $1500 by booking coach. With UA you will be getting free E+ after a couple of trips so maybe that's a factor if you value E+ (as you won't be able to upgrade all your flights to business class). 4th would be your intended use of miles. What awards and destinations? That might affect choice of *A or OW. In general AA miles are easier to use, but UA does have a wider partner network. IMO UA is also near impossible for using miles+copay to book international business class upgrades but that may change in 2012 with some program revisions. 5th and least important are lounges. The QF lounges in Australia (and Cathay elsewhere) are nicer than *A, and you'd get free access when you hit Plat on AA.

As for credit cards, the CitiAA cards are fine, I've had one for years, and you get frequent bonus mile offers as well as 0% balance transfer (in the event you'd like to borrow free money).

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

while ua's e+ would give an extra three inches of legroom over qantas, they don't have ptv in economy on the lax-Australia runs... would be a bit of a killer...