plat

I see united saver 50k economy tix from lhr to iad on the 19th of july, number of return dates available


also see muc-Iad on july 9th, saver economy, return on 31st works

KSinNYC

Hi Martian.

First of all, let me say that my knowledge is a tiny speck compared to other people on this board. But I have 2 thoughts for you:

1. Perhaps there are student tickets available, either locally or in another (UK, US) market. That might bring the cost down a bit.

2. Have you considered getting to Jamaica through countries other than the UK and US? For example, could your friend fly transatlantic to Mexico or Cuba, then get a cheap ticket from there to Jamaica?

wanaflyforless

Not likely.

In my experience, in any two week period, between two continents, even peak July there is still something! But it may not be put togetherable with other flights in such a way as to be cost effective. I was looking for Europe coach seats last May for July travel, and did find something. Onward connections didn't work though...I paid for tickets in the end.

I am not inclined to spend hours looking for you now because in my experience, especially right now when thousands of flyers are calling trying to redeem for summer, every couple seats that gets released here or there will be snatched up very quickly! By the time you see something I post and you call, it will probably be gone!

One thing you could do is for those airlines that ExpertFlyer.com can monitor, set up flight alerts. That is how I got about 10 peak Christmas award tickets on the exact dates I needed last year...and a couple times I was too late calling. Someone already snatched those couple seats in a few hours (or the airline chose to make them unavailable again).

You can use the Japanese NWA.com to search all of Skyteam, the NH tool for Star, and Qantas plus ExpertFlyer for most everyone else.
Just remember, no seats today on X route does not mean no seats tomorrow.
(Also, newer routes have a higher probability of seats. And Ireland/MAN tend to be better than average in my experience.)

dgwright99

July 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6....(sorry, got bored after a while) - award seats on multiple flights each day; in fact, I can't find a day when it misses in order to be able to bring up the whole month calendar. There's plenty of PE and UC availability also. Also a few dates available to Miami.

Sale rate is 36k miles per r/t. If you don't have a VS account, simply sign up online, and you'll be able to check award availability for the exact dates you want.

Should be able to book on the CO codeshare if you don't have miles you can apply directly to VS - which will give you a lot of program options. Of course that will make it 50k miles, but maybe if you go over to coupon connection you can find a friend who will help you out.

krug

I think that's really the point about a framework martian - if you call up an agent and ask for anything across the Atlantic between Bergen and Jamaica the agent/system is likely to plug in Bergen as departure point and Montego Bay as arrival point.

That's probably how the no availability issue comes up - they won't necessarily check flights to Kingston, they won't look into flights from Oslo, they won't look into flights from london via US etc. its all too complex and although sometimes you can catch a good agent on a good day a lot is down to who you call and the time of your call (eg busy period/end of shift is going to get a bad response).

Plus no single system or phone call is going to get you a comprehensive overview of what awards are available which match the myriad of possible combinations. Though Expertflyer comes close.

Airlines like Virgin will not show up on any star/oneworld system.

By a framework I mean possibly putting together a spreadsheet of you options, in order of preference. If you can guide the agent into those choices (eg knowing from which airports in the US star/oneworld carriers fly to Jamaica would be a good start - and determining whether aiming for Montego Bay or Kingston - trust me you do not wont to arrive off a flight late at night and hitchhike to a hostel on that road).

And please do factor in the costs of the "free" reward - they could be not insignificant and should be factored in when reviewing you overall strategy, plus you risk losing you miles in Coupon Connection if the seats go while you are making the transfer, and because of availability issues and the fact you may have to purchase through a third party any changes are not likely to be possible.

I hope it does work out, but I really do think you should look again at options for purchasing the tickets - it is likely to provide a much smoother, flexible and hassle free journey to such an important event, might result in being able to stay in a nice hotel rather than hostel for virtually no extra money if you can get a package deal, and you would still have your miles (which can't have been cheap to earn....!) for future use.

The point I would make is that it is impressive that you are prepared to have a real adventure hitchhiking/hostelling etc, which is great - but as I have learned on FT travelling inexpensively can sometimes be a false economy, there are costs assocated with cheaper travel, risks from theft, the need for unanticiapted overnight stays and arriving exhausted and rumpy meaning you effectively lose a day of hols.

It really does not take very much more money to be able to travel in style, but in this case that might mean one connection rather than four, a hotel rather thana hostel, and flying into the airport on Jamaica which is actually located near where you want to stay.

However busy your friend is with his studies, even one day spent industriously could generate at least some cash to put towards this trip.

Marathon Man

right now:

AA
Bos-Manchester, UK-Brussels.

Can get tickets for 60k miles pp in econ in mid July.

Once in Brussels, why not take another carrier further or consider fast euro trains?

AA often has cancelations. I too am planning to fly BOS-AMS and while I may take the above, I will just do what you should do and keep calling them every single day!

good luck.
MM

rrgg

I don't know if this might help. With Star Alliance, I think you ideally want BGO-OSL-LHR-YYZ-KIN on SAS and Air Canada, but I see no Y awards. Maybe with more time on the ANA site I could think of something.

There are AA awards on various routings on various days from Oslo to Kingston. I don't know how to search for BGO-OSL with AA partners, so you'd have to call for that. Maybe your friend could purchase that part of the ticket.

AA economy award:

(1) First pick one of these, depending on what AA allows:
7/8 OSL-LHR BA769 20:25-21:45
7/9 OSL-LHR BA761 7:50-9:25

(2) Then continue from Gatwick:
7/9 LGW-KIN BA2263 11:55-15:35

(3) Return 7/19:
AA626 KIN-MIA 14:20-17:10
AA56 MIA-LHR 20:05-9:35
BA766 LHR-OSL 12:45-15:55

Mike1625

Being the frugal one that I am, when I booked my $2 a day easy cruise in the carribean a couple of years ago, I had to take an odd flight on Liat airlines from St. Lucia to Barbados. Our little Dash-8 parked next to, 2 Virgin 747, which I assume originated in the UK. You may want to take a look at that, (maybe the British Virgin Islands, since they would be closer to where you want to end up) If you can end up somewhere in the Islands, it won't cost too much to finish off the trip.

NickB

I have not checked on availability but you may want to have a look at AC's new route between YYT (St John's) and LHR starting April 1st.

Paid fare-wise, it is worth having a look at some of the SNN routes (CO, DL, AA), which are often cheaper than more common routes, although even this might be more problematic at the height of summer.

abrelosojos

I am going to do some searching for you ... but my question is ... who are your miles with? I dont think you have given us an indication.

Thanks,
A.

ALadyNCal

Quote:

Originally Posted by abrelosojos

I am going to do some searching for you ... but my question is ... who are your miles with? I dont think you have given us an indication.

I think the OP is trying to be flexible and open to all airlines per the comment earlier

Quote:

Originally Posted by martian

We only have 50k miles that we can hopefully trade on the CC with someone who has miles on whatever airline has availability.

Hopefully the OP will post and update and so we can find out if something panned out

martian

Hi all,

First of all, many many thanks for all of your thoughtful and helpful responses. I think this thread really illustrates how kind FTers can be to each other sometimes. I'm sure some of you put a non-trial amount of time into your responses and I truly appreciate it.

I have been able to verify availability with AA/BA for the BA flights from OSL-LON-KIN. However, with the seeming hopelessness of the situation (my friend knew/knows nothing of this thread), he went ahead and made alternate plans to visit his family (he has not seen them in 2 years). Now that I have told him about the BA flights, he is trying to change those plans. So, we are in a flux state and will see how that works out. If it does, we will just have to place a trade on the coupon connection for some BA/AA miles. However, first things first. Hopefully, his plans are changeable.

Thank you all very very much :-: :-: :-: :-: :-:

Marathon Man

I know of this pain, when friends, mom's and wives want to just "go ahead and book something else" only to later come crawing to your feet and... well, I digress...

I have put a hold on my AA trip to AMS but only have the outbound set up. I need to find a return within 2 weeks.
What are these cuponds on BA/AA? Got anything for 2 people?

ALadyNCal

FT's Coupon Connection

munkispank

Glad you got the flight sorted for your buddy martian - now get back to work on your dissertation reasearch and send your fellow UK UKY student an email :-)
love to you and you gorgeous Fiancee
Jax