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Mileage Conversion Tool
Check out the site below. It seems to be a good resource for mileage conversions.
http://www.webflyer.com/programs/mileage_converter/ |
Works very well!
Originally Posted by 777 global mile hound
How is doing business with Asia Miles ?
Do they do electronic ticketing or is it paper for BA redemption ? I know the miles expire in the program regardless of useage every 3 years. I was told NY to London in Business class is 60,000 Miles which certainly sounds like a great deal. Thanks Not only is NYC-London 60K return on BA, but most USA destinations-Europe are a 60K redemption. Any routing under 5K each way costs 60K to redeem in J. I just redeemed 4 BA F tickets SEA-LHR for 90K per person next summer. Asia Miles CS is pretty good - they have a toll free US number with generally low wait times but a long string of options to work through each time you call - tickets usually take about 2 weeks to get issued though - they won't do it fast. You can request e-ticket or paper for BA redemption - they do both. BA availability has been identical to BA.com Every 50K I spend on SPG and every 55K I spend on my MBNA MasterCard = 60K Aisa Miles - thats 60K for Business to Europe on good carriers - a great deal! Yes, miles expire....but make it one of your primary programs and your set (use the miles before they expire). Transfer from SPG and if you spend a lot at not Amex places get a Ebay Anything Points MBNA card - no annual fee - and 1.15 Asia Miles/$ after you convert with points.com |
Originally Posted by wanaflyforless
Not only is NYC-London 60K return on BA, but most USA destinations-Europe are a 60K redemption. Any routing under 5K each way costs 60K to redeem in J.
I just redeemed 4 BA F tickets SEA-LHR for 90K per person next summer. Asia Miles CS is pretty good - they have a toll free US number with generally low wait times but a long string of options to work through each time you call - tickets usually take about 2 weeks to get issued though - they won't do it fast. You can request e-ticket or paper for BA redemption - they do both. BA availability has been identical to BA.com Every 50K I spend on SPG and every 55K I spend on my MBNA MasterCard = 60K Aisa Miles - thats 60K for Business to Europe on good carriers - a great deal! Yes, miles expire....but make it one of your primary programs and your set (use the miles before they expire). Transfer from SPG and if you spend a lot at not Amex places get a Ebay Anything Points MBNA card - no annual fee - and 1.15 Asia Miles/$ after you convert with points.com Wannaflyforless, Could you direct me to the webpages where you are able to find the 60K amount for business class flights on BA to Europe from NYC? I have gone on the Asia Miles website and have done the conversion in miles from their mileage calculator from JFK to LHR and it comes out to a bit less than 7,000 miles. Then, by the AsiaMiles Award chart, that comes out to 100,000 miles for a business class tix and from the OneWorld award chart that can also be found on their site, it seems to indicate that it would "cost" 80,000 miles for that trip in business class -- that is award zone # 5. It does appear that it would cost 60,000 miles in that award zone, but that would be for ECONOMY CLASS seating. Therefore, I am certainly confused as to where you and others have indicated that it would only be 60,000 miles per tix? The reason I am asking is because I am thinking of tranferring out 250,000 Membership Rewards points into Marriott before the curtain is brought down on that deal. Once in there, I think I could redeem those points for a 7 night award plus 120,000 FF miles into Asia Miles -- you don't have to be flying to the destination that you are using the hotel reward at. Therefore, I could then wind up staying for 7 nights in London and placing the miles into Asia Miles and redeem for 2 Bus tix to LHR for the 120,000 miles -- but I just don't see where these great convesions are coming from!! Thanks in advance for your help! NJ ---------------------- EDITED TO ADD: NEVER MIND!! My mistake was not hitting the earn tab in the OneWorld Redemption form to the SPEND tab -- if you do it pops up right away! 60,000 miles it is!! |
A bit of a primer
Asia Miles is one of the most generous programs out there for the average US or Canada based miles hound, both from earning and redemption standpoints. Because it is Cathay Pacific Airways frequent flyer program based in Hong Kong, most North American flyers fail to consider its benefits for them. It is not my preferred program for crediting flight miles to because of their lack of a generous status based mileage bonus, But combine the most generous fee free credit card earning potential of any North American FF program with the lowest award requirement for premium transatlantic travel and you have a winner!
Lets start with redemption before moving on to earning. For those trying to gain a better understanding of Asia Miles redemption, study this redemption chart. With this chart all distances are the one way distances. So, for example, if I want to fly Chicago-Paris on LX I would calculate the distance of ORD-ZRH-CDG = 4740 miles travelled each way. So I would look under the "2,500-5,000" Award zone to see how many miles are required for an award. All redemption levels are for round trip award travel unless specified "One-way" on the left. So.... since NYC, CHI, SEA, MIA, ATL, etc to Europe are usually under 5K distance (routing), a roundtip Business Class ticket to Europe in Business Class would cost 60,000 Asia Miles and a rountrip First Class ticket would cost 90,000 Asia Miles. Eligible carriers include all One World Airlines and LX (Swiss International Airlines), with BA's Business product being one of the best in the industry. Note, however, that cities in the southwest USA would exceed the 5K distance and thus fall into the next (higher) award zone. Asia Miles IS NOT a good deal on every route - if fact on many routes it is a bad deal. For example, say I wanted to fly Chicago-Hong Kong in First Class. The one-way distance is 7794 miles, so going down the "7,500-10,000" zone chart we see 180,000 Asia Miles would be required for First Class. Compare with AA at 135K Miles or UA at 120K Miles, etc for this same route. It really pays to know different programs and bank in diverse programs - ones that calculate awards differently. For US residents (not living in the southern west as Europe exceeds 5K from there) wanting to redeem for premium transatlantic flights on airlines like BA and LX, Asia Miles may win bigtime. Please note, with this chart one CAN NOT mix multiple carriers on the same ticket - unless CX is one of the carriers (not applicable yet to Europe). Upgrade awards are valid on BA, AA, and CX. On BA, it seems only bookings in fare classes that would be upgradeable if using BA miles are eligible for upgrades. Also, you must have an e-ticket to upgrade and Asia Miles will process the upgrades electronically. You can waitlist for upgrades on CX flights but I don't know if you can waitlist for BA/AA upgrades. Also, when upgrading BA, "Upgrade award tickets on British Airways are now possible with just 50% of the Economy Class round-trip required mileage. Choose from an Economy Class (World Traveller) to Premium Economy Class (World Traveller Plus) upgrade OR Premium Economy Class (World Traveller Plus) to Business Class (Club World) upgrade." So, a roundtrip upgrade from World Traveller Plus to Club World would cost 22,500 Asia Miles - probably one of the best vallues out there! I have yet to use Asia Miles for AA flight upgrades, but as Tclin helpfully pointed out below, AA has restricted Asia Miles awards to higher booking classes - so for uprade purposes upgrading BA flights from World traveller Plus remains the best value. For awards requiring multiple carriers, either one needs to somehow inlclude CX in the mix with the before mentioned award chart,or use a One World Award. Unlike the previous award chart, the distances shown on this chart are total distance - not one-way distance! This is because these awards need not be roundtrips - they can be practically any routing (Members are allowed to make a maximum of five stopovers, two transfers and two open-jaws at either origin, en-route or turnaround point,) and the distance = sum of all sectors. To use a OneWorld award, a min of two O.W. carriers other than CX need to flown. All eight One-world carriers may be used. Asia Miles is a great program for US travellers because of their incredibly low requirement to Europe in premium cabins, the abiltiy to save miles on one-way awards on many airlines, it gives flyers the ability redeem and upgrade on BA transatlantic flights with their relatively high level of service and great choice of destinations, and because they are the only airline program with a no fee MasterCard option of earning more than 1 mile/$ spent on all purchases: Earning Asia Miles Earn Asia Miles by earning eBay Anything Points and converting them to Asia Miles! MBNA eBay Anything Points MasterCard 1.125 Asia Miles/$ 1 eBay point/$ - converts to 1.125 Asia Miles through Points.com No annual fee - 2500 point sign up bonus - transfers works easily with a low minimunm and no max. IF they run another promo like they did last May, this could get even better. To get started with Points.com: Sign up for a Pointsplus membership - choosing 2500 eBay points as your bonus - then convert the eBay points to 2800 Asia miles. Your Pointsplus membership costs $30/year and it gives you unlimitted free points.com transfers for a year. They offer the same points for renewals too, so you can get something back for what you pay them each year. The Amex SPG - FTers favorite credit card is also a good option - 1.25 miles/$ if transfered in 20K chunks. I recomend using your SPG Amex everywhere it is accepted and MBNA Anything Points MasterCard where Amex isn't. Also, accoring to Shareholders post in the CX forum, there appears to be a current (possibly targetted) promo where 20K SPG = 35K Asia Miles (promo good through Feb). Earn Asia Miles at a generous rate from CC spending, from booking your flights, hotel, car, etc on most any airline, hotel, or rental with this website, from hotels directly, from Hotels and Restuarants through the Rewards Network (I-Dine), and even when booking priceline hotel stays. (Remember - Ebay Points convert to more Asia Miles than the points you started out with). FYI - I have redeemed 8 BA tansatlantic tickets so far with Asia Miles and all has gone well. In my opion, Asia Miles CS is pretty good - they have a toll free US number with generally low wait times but a long string of options to work through each time you call - tickets usually take about 2 weeks to get issued though - they won't do it fast unless your travel date is imminent. You can request e-ticket or paper for BA redemption - they do both. BA availability with Asia Miles has been identical to BA.com BA miles availability. Asia Miles do expire after 3 years but so long as you are earning at a decent rate and burning at a decent rate that shouldn't be problem. And to clarify - don't get confused between the Marco Polo club and Asia Miles. Some people get confused thinking Cathay Pacific has two frequent flyer programs...not really. They just chose to separate the "frequent flyer benefits" from the "loyalty program currency." Asia Miles is the loyalty program currency and you can sign up for Asia Miles never flying Cathay but earning lots of points and redeeming them for flights. You only want to sign up for the Marco Polo Club (and pay a small sign up fee) if you want to be rewarded for your loyalty to Cathay (and Oneworld) as you credit your flights to Asia Miles. The Marco Polo club tracks your Asia Miles flights and grants elite status. Their top tier provides some of the richest benefits of any program (they will regularily open up premium revenue seats for miles redemtion, outstanding customer service, etc) - but it is also one of the hardest status' to attain. |
Some corrections...
Originally Posted by wanaflyforless
I have yet to use Asia Miles for AA flight upgrades, but am guessing all fare classes are eligible as with AA miles.
Originally Posted by wanaflyforless
MBNA eBay Anything Points card 1.15 Asia Miles/$
1 eBay point/$ - converts to 1.15 Asia Miles through Points.com |
Thanks for the corrections...I see I was a little off on the conversion ratio - not enough to make a huge difference though.
Too bad about the upgrade restrictions - but the best deal still remains: free premium transatlantic tickets. |
Sorry, I might be a little picky. I agree with you, this minor difference is not big deal. Your post is well-informed. Thank you for your post.
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Okay, this may be a dumb question. But if Asia Miles is so good, why is this the first I'm hearing about it? :)
Seriously, it sort of looks like oneWorld, I'm not sure what the differences are, and I don't see a section for it in the Alliances forum. Is there a section on FT where Asia Miles info resides? :confused: |
Originally Posted by KSinNYC
Okay, this may be a dumb question. But if Asia Miles is so good, why is this the first I'm hearing about it? :)
Seriously, it sort of looks like oneWorld, I'm not sure what the differences are, and I don't see a section for it in the Alliances forum. Is there a section on FT where Asia Miles info resides? :confused: There sure is: under the airlines section see "Cathay Pacific Asia Miles" Asia Miles is the frequent flyer program of Cathay Pacific Airways - one of the eight OneWorld airlines. Generally, non Cathay Pacific FTers have ignored the program because they don't realize how good of a program it is for US residents. As an aside - don't get confused between the Marco Polo club and Asia Miles. Some people get confused thinking Cathay Pacific has two frequent flyer programs...not really. They just chose to separate the "frequent flyer benefits" from the "loyalty program currency." Asia Miles is the loyalty program currency and you can sign up for Asia Miles never flying Cathay but earning lots of points and redeeming them for flights. You only want to sign up for the Marco Polo Club (and pay a small sign up fee) if you want to be rewarded for your loyalty to Cathay (and Oneworld) as you credit your flights to Asia Miles. The Marco Polo club tracks your Asia Miles flights and grants elite status. Their top tier provides some of the richest benefits of any program (they will regularily open up premium revenue seats for miles redemtion, outstanding customer service, etc) - but it is also one of the hardest status' to attain. Tclin - I will edit my above post to correct the minor inaccuracies - thanks for pointing them out. |
more on why bad CS is bad for business!
Originally Posted by quinella66
Well I think that mileage problems have little to do with 911. In fact, maybe someone can find out why the same terrorist group attacked the WTC in 1993 (with only 40% of the required explosives to take down the towers from the bottom). There is a long history here that is beyond the scope (and relevance) of this thread ....
Honestly, I think that customer service in the US, almost across the board, has been degrading over the last 10 years. The "customer is always right" is a long extinct phrase. Undoubtedly, this is fueled in part by customers who try to find loopholes to screw the company, but it is mainly due to cost cutting. As far as I am concerned, I do not prefer to deal with any company that cannot resolve issues with a human being. I would rather pay more and have good service, but maybe I am in the minority. It is a more pleasant experience than having to constantly fight with people who could care less if your business came or left. As to points.com, I have never dealt with them, it seemed that their conversion rates and/or fees seemed to be a raw deal. Kind of like CO's regular "transfer miles from one account to another" - and pay as much in cash as the miles are worth (to me). I think that MM's website is a good idea. The points (no pun intended) on the website are accurate. Sometimes I do get tired of calling numerous times asking for points to be posted and waiting it out. As much as I hate to waste time calling again and again, I think some of these companies figure that you will give up before they do. Probably the best solution is to stop dealing with a partner who does not fulfill the request without a fight - and let them know it and post it here on FT. my point about 9/11/01 had to do with acountability and how I felt that those who should be revealing to us all a bit more on why and how this happened are too hush hush about it to save their own butts. Yes, it is for another subject elsewhere but in keeping with you said, I totally agree: Customer service is either automated (and therefore, not covering all the real issues that could possibly take place in life) or it is handled with less care than it should be. I have run into issues with places like Amazon.com who cannot even put you thru to managers! Ebay has no way to talk live or even to mail or fax them! Everything is email! Everything is low-level personnel and all of it comes back with these annoying "happy to serve you" and "we're working hard to make this a better consumer experience" in the case of points.com, the manager who went on vacation twice during a long drawn out period of several months when one of her own promos fell apart affecting over 100 people, does not reply anymore to the emails coming from those patiently waiting customers. Her autoreply says her title is "manager-customer delight" what is delightful about that? The onus is on us, and so I have actually become one of those people who refuses to do business with several companies all across the board. (Wow, and my choice doesnt even have to do with environmental problems caused by some company or political issues like that, but it may as well be the same thing! I chose to stop doing commerce with companies because they have bad CS policies in place!) Now if a lot more people started to do like I have done, what do you think would happen to our economy--or to the businesses that affect you negatively in this way? (Gee, over zealous CS manager, have any ideas? Hmmm, I wonder if THIS is somehow tied to it!) All I want is some accountability and someone willing to try to fix it and work outside the box. The only thing I can equate this to where it DOES work is this: When I worked as a bartender years ago, we had many locals come in who kinda deserved a break once and a while. It was a ski town and there is a sub economy in places like those. Beach towns can be similar. Anyway, we decided to have a sort of comp list that was loosely held by the owner and the bar staff and manager. We could, as bartenders, use our position to give a drink here or there and have the establishment pick up the tab on it once and a while. We did this with discretion and none of us abused it. Granted we were a smaller group of co-workers (and maybe that too is the key to making sure good service takes place!) but we tried to take care of people, and that list could modify over time to be fair to all who we dealt with on this level. The reason I bring this up is because I think that when company policy prevents the fixing of extenuating circumstances, someone in there should have the power to override it once and a while and employ some sort of "comp" or adjustment (manually performed) for a customer who can show that something beyond the norm has in fact occurred. The key is also to try to take care of existing customer and not just blow them off like they dont matter after you have the money. Points.com has done this all too often. I have said in another thread that I dont tolerate stupid companies and they WILL ultimately go out of business if I have any hand in making sure this can happen. :)MM |
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