Planning for India trips
 

I am trying to plan some (recurring) trips to India for next couple of years. i haven't planned on the dates yet but I could be little flexible if I have redemption available in business rather than paying for it.

On my last trip, I took CX to HKG and then after few days HKG-DEL... their business class was an awesome experience. Unfortunately, all the best airlines can't be used in a route that have DEL has final destination (Thai, Cathay, Singapore....). I have BA/LHR and try to avoid it at all costs. This is also a problem because LHR seems to be a big stopover for India bound flights. Any suggestions on good airlines to consider here (*alliance or OW)?

Award availability - is there a specific season for better award availability to India tickets? I'll probably be doing JFK-DEL route. I was thinking November for the next trip but not sure if it's heavy travel season for flights on that route.

I don't have elite status or any airlines preferences as long as it's between *alliance or OW. If I have to pay, I'd rather buy the cheapest business fare or redeem award on a really good airlines. But not having a lot of luck in my planning right now.

Lots of options for using miles to get to India. Peak season is definitely summer time and during the Christmas holidays, so book awards early if you are planning to visit during those times, but also keep in mind the weather. You don't want to go to Delhi when it is extremely hot or extremely rainy.

I wrote a post here describing our trip on Continental's (now United's) direct flight from EWR to Delhi:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html

On that trip, we flew business class on Continental (BusinessFirst), Singapore, ANA, and United (Business Class). We enjoyed all 4 flights, but United's was clearly the weakest of the carriers.

Good luck!

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AA miles can be very good for getting a roundtrip to DEL in Business Class. For 130,000 AA miles, you can get a distance-based "Explorer" award which would allow for a variety of roundtrip routings that do not exceed 20,000 flown miles, including JFK-HKG-DEL-AMM-JFK. And once QR joins oneworld, you could include QR on the itinerary. On an Explorer award, you are also entitled to free, en-route stopovers, if desired.

Turkish seems to have good availability (via IST) later this Summer, although not all their planes may have their latest seats. Austrian usually has good availability too, and if you get on their new J, it should be quite nice.

For AA miles, I think EY is a great option, and offers plenty of space in J and F to various destinations in India via AUH.

I think Explorer awards are great for open jaw but a distance based routing for something like 'JFK-HKG-DEL-AMM-JFK' would cost lot more in RDMs!

As for EY.. not really impressed by their BC cabin although their FC cabins are another league. Is there any way to go to India over the pacific on awards? I just don't want to travel on any US based airlines or BA for long hauls unless I am in Y. Then, it's all the same... 15hrs of misery.

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"I think Explorer awards are great for open jaw but a distance based routing for something like 'JFK-HKG-DEL-AMM-JFK' would cost lot more in RDMs!"

No, you're mistaken. In Business Class, an Explorer award would actually save you miles.

AA's one-way awards between North America and India -- which only permit routings via the Atlantic -- cost 67.5K miles each way in Business, or 135K miles for a roundtrip. By contrast, the JFK-HKG-DEL-AMM/HEL/DOH-JFK routing would cost only 130K AA miles in Business if booked as an Explorer award. As previously noted, on an Explorer award, you could travel via the Pacific (on CX) in one direction if desired, and you could also have free en-route stopovers if you wanted them.

Maybe I understand the Explorer rewards incorrectly then... wouldn't JFK-HKG be one segment and HKG-DEL different segment? And, I'd be redeeming against miles required per segment? Like the way as it works with BAs Avios?

I did a RTW last month and this is what how the miles were redeemed -
JKF-HKG (55K)
HKG-BKK(layover)-DEL (30K)
DEL-AUH-IAD (67.5K)

According to your theory, I used 22.5K miles more than I was required?

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Your math would be correct if you were just stringing together a series of one-way awards. Explorer awards work differently: you add up the flown mileage of each individual flight, and then your total flown mileage determines the number of AA miles required for the entire trip. For a trip of between 14,001 and 20,000 total flown miles, AA would charge 130,000 miles for the entire itinerary in Business Class.

Your previous itinerary via AUH was correctly priced. EY is not a oneworld carrier, and only oneworld carriers can be used on an Explorer award.

You can find a dedicated Explorer-award thread with a wealth of information in the FT AA forum.

Cool, thanks man. This helps a lot.

Never miss the Tajmahal(Agra) & Eden Garden(Kolkata).