Best way to get to Paris
 

Hi all

For many years it has been a dream of mine to go to Paris. For various reasons this dream has not yet become a reality.

However in recent years I have been able to accrue some significant amounts of frequent flyer miles on various programs and I am getting close to realising my dream.

My question, that I hope someone can advise me on, is what is the most efficient way for me to utilise my miles?

Here's how things stand at the moment. My wife and I have each equal numbers of miles as follows (approximately)


American 22,000 miles
United 46,000 miles
Swissair 15,198 miles
Continental 8,000 miles
Ansett 38,000 points

Essentially the goal is to get from Melbourne Australia to Paris, France return in the most direct manner possible and using as few points/miles as possible. At this stage I think that it might be a good idea to work towards United's 60,000 mile award that gets you from Melbourne to say Boston and then use 40,000 Global Rewards points to get from Boston to Paris return.

This is the long way to get to Paris however. Is there a better way I coudl use my miles to get to France?

Thanks for your help

cheers Peter

Buy tickets - use your miles to upgrade. You don't seem to have enough on any one airline to get a free ticket, yet alone two. It's a long flight - you'll appreciate the upgraded service and space! Good luck - Paris is one of my most favorite cities in the world!

Thanks Idsant

My wife and I have an equal number of miles (as detailed above) so 2 tickets is a realistic possibility. It's always nice to but tickets however I'd rather save my $$$ as a defence against Paris's high prices!

A ticket via Europe is not that far away. Our Global Rewards points will tip over 40,000 each shortly and that will be enough for a Boston to Paris round trip ticket. 60,000 United miles will get you from Melbourne to Boston return so I simply have to find the remaining 14,000 miles each . I could possibly use Hilton Honours to transfer some of my other miles to United but that is expensive.

My personal preference is to fly via Asia however. It is just a question of what combination of miles and points I could use to get from Melbourne to Paris via say Hong Kong or Singapore.

One possibility might be to work towards Continental's 20,000 miles saver award from Cairns to anywhere in Asia. So I could use some miles to go from Melbourne to Cairns then Cairns to say Hong Kong and then some more miles Hong Kong to Paris.

I think I may have asked this question previously but I don't recall getting an answer I was happy with. I searched for the previous discussion but could not find it. Apologies if I have doubled up.

Still at worst I could probably get to Europe via LA as described above. The upside is that I could have a look at the new California Adventure (Disney) theme park that's just opened.

cheers Peter

Fly to LAX or SFO then on to Paris. It will break up the flight lenghth if you're doing all coach. Plus because you're doing two different flights you can spend some time in the Golden State (I'm partial) or connect through New York if you've never been there. Get yourself two vacations out of this if you can.

I agree with the previous person who suggested looking for a discounted fare and using a mileage upgrade - you'll really enjoy it better.

Based on the information that ffhound gives us, I would strongly disagree with ldsant's and TravelManKen's suggestions of buying a cheap ticket and upgrading (as opposed to using ff miles for a free econ ticket).

The least expensive MEL-CDG listed on Travelocity is about US$1170. ffhound appears to be on a budget for the trip. That means that if he buys a ticket and upgrades, he and his companion are spending ~$2300 for the [significantly] more comfortable trappings of business class. That also means that he would have $2300 less to spend in Paris. For, say, 10 nights in Paris, that could mean the difference between a cheap 2-star hotel and a 4-star hotel, plus a few great dinners.

Go for the free ticket, ffhound. And getting the UA ticket to BOS is an excellent idea: Boston is a superb place to spend a few days at either end.

Thanks Wideman

You are right about the cost of fares to Europe from Australia. It is a lot more expensive for us down here in the antipodes.

I shall be travelling with my young daughter so I am mindful of the need to make the journey as short and comfortable as possible hence I favour the Asia route.

Still, there are some places in the US I'd like to see (Niagara falls, Yellowstone National Park etc) so the trip via the US does have certain attractions. And I'd get to fly Air New Zealand (more yummy cassava chips!) for some of the journey which would be a pleasure.

I can smell those croissants now!

cheers Peter

[This message has been edited by ffhound (edited 02-17-2001).]

ffhound. . .umm. . .not to sound snotty or anything, but you do know that Niagra Falls and Yellowstone aren't anywhere near Boston or Los Angeles, right? :-)

That's ok Idsant

As far as I can recall Niagara Falls is somewhere in the North-East of the US. Boston I think is to the North-West from memory although there would probably be a bit of travel to get to Niagara Falls from it. Admittedly I had thought the two were reasonably close ie a day trip by car. Maybe New York would be a better option.

I have a pretty good idea where Yellowstone is though. When I was planning my trip around California last year including my visit to Yosemite National Park I noted that there were a couple of tours that came from or went from Idaho and visited Yellowstone National Park. I'd probably have to take a train and/or drive to get there from California.

One way or the other I have to go via LAX and an East coast city so New York might be the better option.

However as I said previously my preference is to fly via Asia. I haven't seen Singapore yet and I wouldn't mind picking up a blazer or two from the Indian tailors on Nathan Rd in Hong Kong (their workmanship is very good).

cheers Peter

ffhound- No, Niagra Falls is not a day trip from Boston if you are going by car. If you are pressed for time, you can catch a cheap flight to Buffalo, see the falls, and then get back on a later flight that day. That is the quickest way, but not the most enjoyable to see Niagra falls from Beantown.

PS. If you hotel/restaurant reccomendations I am sure that myself or any other of the many BOS FTers would be willing to help.

Sorry, I forgot to mention one thing.
For your reference there are 3 flights per day from BOS-CDG, they are as follows:

Depart : 9:00 PM Arrive: 9:50 AM +1
FLT: AA 146 EQP: 767-300 FREQ: DAILY
or

Depart: 8:10 PM Arrive: 8:50 AM +1
FLT: AF337/DL8203 EQP:767-300 FREQ: DAILY
or

Depart: 5:50 PM Arrive: 6:30 AM +1
FLT: AF 321/DL8259 EQP:763 FREQ: MON,THUR,FRI,SAT,SUN

Bon Voyage!!!!

ffhound

If you fly into Toronto(YYZ) rather than Boston you can get to Niagra Falls in about an hours drive from the airport, spend the day there and catch a flight out that evening. Although don't know much about the connecting flights from there to Paris http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

If you choose to fly into NY go to Buffalo rather than flying to Boston, it would also be a driving possibility for you to the falls.
Hope this helps.

[This message has been edited by ASCJSTEP (edited 02-18-2001).]

Hi again

Thanks for all the help.

I have discovered that one can fly from Singapore to Europe on Singapore airlines for 60,000 MP miles. I am not too far away from that.

That aside, it really is just a question of juggling the miles to get to Singapore. Mel-Sin flights are often only $300 US so that might be an option. Failing that I probably could do Melbourne to Singapore via say Perth in 2 hops without too much problem.

cheers Peter

I might add that Yellowstone is far from being a day trip from LA! In fact, Yellowstone is far from major airports. The 3/4's that missed the fire some years ago is quite beautiful, though. We were just there last year, flying into Salt Lake City and driving around some gorgeous western territory, inc the Canadian Rockies.