DESPERATE- NYC-DPS travel planning challenge!

I'm not sure if this is the right forum in which to post this, but am pretty desperate for help.

We need (OK....WANT) to fly NYC to Bali, leaving sometime between Thurs eve, 8/18 and Sunday 8/21. Would LOVE a stopover somewhere from which we can hop a cheapie RT to Bangkok for 4-6 days to visit friends.

We want to return on or about 9/11 to NY. Stopover could be either going or on return.

We are desperately trying to find a way to have (AT LEAST) the transpac flight in business or first... though of course would be nice to have the whole RT in C/F.

Currently, have the following:
275,000 Membership rewards points
250,000 Delta miles on my account, 90K on partner's
125,000 United
165,000 Marriott
membership in LOTS of other programs for transfers
Have an Amex Platinum card, so can use 2-for-1 tickets

Willing (if necessary) to spend up to about $6000 either for 2-4-1 or coach tix to upgrade.

Although I think of myself as a fairly sophisticated mileage burner, am totally stymied in attempts to book something. Best I've managed to reserve (but it's just TOO nuts, I think) is using Delta miles- in first, but a nightmare--
LGA-CVG-LAX Delta
LAX-TPE-KUL-DPS on MH (but with ridiculous layovers)
basically the same in reverse, with TWO overnites (KUL and LAX) on return.

PLEASE, PLEASE, you folks who love a challenge... any and all suggestions, pointers, or even (bless you) actual attempts at figuring out specifics will earn you a place in our hearts!!

Thanks.... and a Balinese gift for someone who helps us make this happen!!!

Terimah kasi banyak (dying to brush up on my Bihasa)
Steve

Have you talked to the nice folks at www.awardplanner.com?

my sentiments exactly!

www.airasia.com has cheap flights between bkk-kul and kul-cgk.

i think that delta actually delivered for you. i've flown that routing on mh and was extremely satisfied with all aspects of mh ground and inflight service.
plus, kul is actually a cool place to knock around for a day or 2.

I agree that that's a pretty good route you've scored. If you can't deal with the timing, and willing to spend the AMEX money, have you checked availabilty for the EWR-KUL Trans-Atlantic Flight on MH??
OR have you looked at the TG Trans-Atlantic via BKK, that flies all Economy Deluxe and Business and is in Star (don't know about upgrade options with UA miles and TG)

Malaysian has a two for one in C deal that may work for you. Should be less than 6,000 for two c class tickets - if I recall correctly also to DPS - they emailed this out a week back - but I deleted the email. You may have to call Malaysian to see what dates are available.

KNEW I could count on FTers!

The Delta route, just so it doesn't sound like I'm being overly prissy, Leaves NY on Sat at 15:40 and doesn't arrive in KPS until Tues afternoon, returning 6:45 on Sun and arriving in MY midnite Tues..... (and that's with the 'gained day'... would mean almost a week en route, total.

Looks like, for $$, able to do EWR-ARN-KUL-DPS all MH C for under$6000 with Amex 2-for-1.... not bad. Will work with Awardplanners and see if there's any other alternate.

But as always, grateful!

Steve

Another option is to look on Thai Airways JFK-BKK-DPS, taking the new Thai Airways flight from JFK-BKK nonstop and seeing if you can get a layover there, I know they started this superlong flight a couple of months ago

http://www.thaiairways.com.hk/hot/co...t_en.php?id=43

It looks like it's modeled after SQ's EWR-SIN nonstop flights with Royal Silk (C class) Premium Economy, and some regular Economy seating (so not completely like SQ...)

That would save you tons of time, and you'd probably can throw a stopover in BKK along the way with out paying extra money.

Hope that helps!

FYI - The two for one is not with amex- but direct with malaysian - they are the ones who sendt out the email.

You can burn 60000 United miles on a Star Alliance pacific award, fly EWR-SIN-DPS, the award allows one stopover in SIN, then buy a tix from SIN-BKK. If SIN-BKK is too expensive there might be cheap fares from Johor Bahru (forgive me if I butchered the name), a city in Malaysia right next to SIN.

60000 miles gets you Executive Economy- go to the SQ board and search for a trip report (or search under my username for my report)- although it isn't business class overall, the service is just as good, seats are very tolerable for a 18 hour flight. This way you have no overnights, one stopover, and only have to burn 60K miles! Availability from EWR is quite good.

As the other posters suggest, JFK-BKK on TG is also a good option. Read the TG board for reports in their enhanced economy class, it's supposed to be similar to SQ's.

Thanks to all!

We checked out all options. Amex 2-4-1 meant spending about $8000 for what we wanted... and at $10 an hour, that meant a lifetime of massages in Thailand and Indonesia. TG looked great but woulda been around $12K!

Finally, ended up deciding tohat maybe the Delta free deal wasn't so bad... took a bit of miles rearranging (didn't want to 'spend' my "old miles" on new rewards, so transferred new miles to my partner.

DID end up changing to KUL-BKK, and treating ticket as an open jaw. We'll try out airasia from BKK-KUL-DPS and just pay for that leg...and likely , our own way LAX-JFk to avoid a 20 hour layovr for DL free ticket on song!

I can taste the Moh Krob and Nasi Goreng as I type.

Again, you folks are wonderful!
Steve

Air Asia is perfectly comfortable on their 737s. Loading is line up and first come first served, no groups other than children and persons 60 & over load first. Otherwise kind of a controlled free for all. Bulkheads and the exit row are quite good. Pitch is tight, but many of the people who fly Air Asia are fairly small of stature.

Is it possible to book the LAX-NYC on either CO or NW to save the 20 hour layover? Also is standby available on an earlier DL flight. Certainly does not hurt to ask.

Did you consider CO EWR-NRT-GUM-DPS, either SkyTeam award, upgrade (never mind), or purchase?

Are there any cheap flights DPS-BKK?

In May, I took a 120K DL SkyMiles award ticket trip on DL and SQ: ATL-LAX-(TPE)-SIN-BKK. I left it as an open jaw, returning ten days later SIN-(NRT)-LAX-ATL. I spent two days in BKK, then Mr. Megatop and I flew on a paid Y ticket on SQ (they have a "Two-to-go" program that discounts tix if you buy two at the same time) BKK-SIN-DPS. Spent five days in Bali. Then went back on the same paid Y ticket DPS-SIN and spent two days in Singapore. From there, I picked up my return to the US and Mr. Megatop went on home to BKK.

For your trip, I would have tried the SQ or TG nonstops EWR-SIN or JFK-BKK. Both have a premium economy product, which is about as good as DL domestic F. I saw that you couldn't buy the paid C tickets for anything reasonable, unfortunately.

When I was booking, TG had only one flight per day BKK-DPS. The times weren't terribly convenient and we wanted the stopover in SIN, so we took SQ. Tourism demand in Bali seems to be picking up a lot, so TG may have added flights, especially now to work connections from the "New York Express."

Hey Steve -
Not sure if you've got this solved yet, but you could try using 120K Delta miles to get a C class EWR-SIN (nonstop) or JFK-SIN (via FRA). Lately the availabilty on SQ has been okay on DL (compared to last few years). For some strange reasons the trans-Atlantic SQ portion has been easier to secure than the within Asia award tix. If you can't get any SIN-DPS tix on awards, they usually run for US$250 R/T - most of the time you can get good package deals that include accommodation.

Last month I flew BKK-SIN-DPS using GA (Garuda Indonesia). It wasn't as bad as I had imagined it would be.

Selamat berlibur di Bali! Don't forget to try 'Nasi Campur' too.

There's no reason to fly from SIN to Johore Bahru. Just take a train or drive across the bridge connecting Singapore and Malaysia.