Using miles to visit SE Asia
 

My wife and I are planning a trip for next summer to Taiwan (to visit family), and then to Thailand and Vietnam. We live in the Philadelphia area, but could relatively easily go to the DC or NYC airports if it made sense. The goal is to spend a week in Taipei and then 3 weeks traveling around Thailand and Vietnam (and possibly Laos and Cambodia).

We don't fly a lot, but between credit card bonuses and a few flights, we have 230k BA miles and 100k AA miles. We'd love to use these for the trip, but I realize that not all legs would necessarily be covered.

So how should I go about this? I'm a newbie when it comes to OW and booking flights internationally. Any wisdom would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Your BA miles would almost get you 2 x round-trip economy flights from PHL (or DC or NY) to Hong Kong or Bangkok - you need 120k each for a full redemption but you could use a miles + cash option = 1 x redemption @120k miles plus 1 redemption @96k miles + $255 cash. There are other miles + cash options if you wanted to say use premium economy - e.g. 108k miles + $775 each. Personally, I'd shudder at the idea of flying PHL-LHR-HKG in Y and would do Premium Economy at a minimum, but depends on whether $775 is a lot of money to you. Bear in mind that there will be taxes on top of this for either a miles or a miles + cash redemption.

From HK, you have access to CX's network for Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam which you could use AA miles for at least part of that. If you structured it right, you could do something like HKG-TPE-(HKG)-SGN all on CX and then get a cheap one-way fare to BKK from SGN and fly back to the US ex-BKK (i.e. PHL-LHR-HKG (open-jaw) BKK-LHR-PHL). Air Asia flies SGN-BKK for about USD65 one-way incl taxes if booked far enough in advance.

Awesome - this info in particular was exactly what I needed. Thank you.

Why not fly NYC to either Bangkok/Hong Kong/Taipei using either JAL or Cathay Pacific via the Pacific? That is only 50K BA miles (return economy class) for a partner award. Don't mix JL and CX otherwise it is a lot more BA miles. Less time flying (and lower fuel fines by BA) Then use AA miles for 1-way trips (20K economy) within Asia. Or just use budget airlines in Thailand/Vietnam.

I hadn't realised how low the partner award from North America to the Far East is. 50K is amazingly good value considering the same zone from LHR is 80k for less flying time. And at that rate the OP could get 2 biz class returns with the 230k BA miles.

Wow, I had no idea this was an option. Do I book those flights through OW or directly through the airlines? I've read in other posts that many people recommend calling in for award redemption rather than trying to do it online. Pardon my ignorance.

I find that partner awards are best done by phone with BAEC, especially if you want to take advantage of enroute stopovers (not possible online).

I'd advise that you consider a JFK - HKG - BKK routing on CX in J (100K BAEC miles per person), and then work out separately the HKG - TPE trip (either cash or use either BA or AA miles for CX seats) and the BKK to Cambodia/VietNam/Laos legs.

Thanks - I really appreciate the help!

partner awards are best done by phone with BAEC Noted. What about just wanted to check on availability in J (for itin JFK-HKG-BKK) for a series of dat online? Can't seem to do it on BA site (as it always routes me thru LHR). Can I use CX site for that purpose, and then call BAEC to book? How many stop-overs are allowed?

You can use ba.com, but need to check your itinerary leg by leg. Checking HKG - BKK you'll probably find lots and lots of availability. The chokepoint is the TPAC, so check JFK to HKG (and vice versa), being sure to click on partner airlines. When you find your available CX flights on dates that work for you, then call BAEC to book.

Got it ^ Thank u.

TPAC is always tough to get, hence looking as far ahead as possible. I read that you can make stop-overs with award tickets. Right?

Thanks

That's correct (and the primary reason for having to book by phone rather than directly online).

It's worth remembering that there's no advantage to booking a roundtrip award ticket over 2 one-way awards. For example, if you'd prefer a stopover in Japan in one direction, just book a one-way award using JL in one direction, and book a separate one-way award with CX (with a stop in Hong Kong) in the other.

Thanks. Yes, I do remember this being mentioned a few times in other threads/posts. Besides, it is easier to find availability for one-way than roundtrip.

Execellent idea! I was thinking exactly the same. Is there a limit to the # of stop-overs (assuming all in forward direction of travel, or does it matter?)?

Thanks jbalmuth and allset2travel for the additional extremely helpful details!

I'm having trouble finding JFK to HKG on partner airlines via ba.com. I tell the search to include partner airlines, but it keeps only bringing up flights that go through LHR, and none via TPAC. Any ideas about what I might be doing wrong?

I always fix my queries to be one-way and only the routes that I know the partner flies. For example, if you choose one-way, JFK - HKG, First, for Oct. 1, for one passenger, click continue through no stopover, click search for partner airlines, and then when nothing is found on Oct 1, click Search up to 7 days later, the website will then return availability on CX 841 on Oct 6. If I'm interested in a routing in F with a stopover in HKG, I piece it together one segment at a time, and then call BA when I've found the dates I'm happy with.....

Ah - I see. I wasn't setting the "no stopover" flag, which was the problem.

Thanks for all of your great advice!

Scratch my previous post. I just tried exactly what you mentioned above except for various dates in May 2011. All of them only show availability through BA even after clicking "search partner airlines". Is it too far in advance for partner airlines? Sorry if I'm being a dunce.

When I query JFK-HKG for May 1, 2011, I see 5 CX J seats available, 2 on CX 841, 2 on CX 889, and 1 on CX 831.

The site "tool" that I use is the Book with BA Miles screen that appears on the bottom left of the first ba.com screen that appears immediately after I sign in with my BAEC number and pin (the bottom left of the Welcome to the Executive Club page). I've never successfully used the Reward Flight Search function (as it didn't work the first time I tried it, and the other one always has....).

I had the same experience with the Reward Flight Search tool, so we're using the same tool. But here is what I see for May 1 after selecting No Stopover and Include Partner Airlines.
http://i.imgur.com/vjAyw.png
Am I just being stupid?

I get the same as jbalmuth.
But, our results are for Business.
I do get your results for World Traveller - everything through LHR - checking to May 7th.
I suggest you try Business just to check you get the same results as we do for the 1st...then at least you know you're on the right track.

Your screenshot reflects the output of a query where you've chosen Economy class (as opposed to Business/Club or First). Since I would honestly never consider flying a 15+ hour flight in the back of the bus, it never occurred to me that your problem was related to class. Try it again, using Business/Club (50k BA miles) or First (75k BA miles), book it, and then spend the next 11 months looking forward to a great trip!

Bingo - that's it. I was planning on using business, but just failed to make the change in my search. Thanks so much for all of your help with this!

jbalmuth, your advice worked perfectly. I figured out which flights I wanted online, called in to BAEC, and had the agent book them. I even had to correct the agent when she said there weren't any flights available on the day I wanted. :)

I now have two one-way JFK-HKG-BKK on CX in J for 100,000 miles with a two-day stopover in HKG so we can explore. That is amazing value. I'll get the return leg as soon as the dates become available.

If you are ever in the Philadelphia area, let me know so I can buy you a drink. Thanks again.