Maximizing *A award using EB points
 

SIN-xNRT-xICN-TAS(point of turnaround)-xICN-xPVG-SIN
x(no stop, transfer only)

Day 1:
SQ 12
SIN 09:45 NRT 17:35
Duration: 6h:50m

Day 2:
OZ 103
NRT 15:25 ICN 17:50
Duration: 2h:25m

Day 3:
OZ 573
ICN 17:30 TAS 21:10
Duration: 7h:40m

Day 10:
OZ 574
TAS 22:30 ICN 08:50+1
Duration: 6h:20m

Day 11:
OZ 365
ICN 14:10 PVG 15:00
Duration: 1h:50m

Day 12:
SQ 825
PVG 14:30 SIN 19:45
Duration: 5h:15m

45000 EB points in Biz is not bad at all! ^
It's much better than using 40000 EB points for Sweden-Europe2 in Eco.
I'm surprised that there is no requirment of most direct route etc. Only requirement I heard was "no stopover" and "max 3 flights each way"

It was very hard to find Biz award on SQ12. I don't know why.
Total tax was 1082 SEK, it seems SAS doesn't charge fuel surcharge for Award ticket. Have anyone any info of it?

I'd always like to see oasis cities like Samarkand and Bukhara. Now, the time to apply Uzbek visa. :D

nice one. my best one is Per - akl - ppt, and back. 40000 EB points in business is a bargain. some 14 hours each way. downside is loooong transfer times in akl, but then again, you get to visit friends there as well.

looking into SIN - KIX - GUM with ANA, sohuld be 40000 in buz as well, but i need to get my company to fly me into SIN first... ohh... we have a branch there you say... hehehehe

guam here i come. (allthough kix gum is an all Y flight :( ), maybe i'll as for sq one way and ana the other... but yeah, no point in using SK points in europe...

What city is TAS?

I have also looked at the intra-Asian awards which are really good value for money (points).
I might be doing an RTW later this year so was thinking about combining it with an award trip in F within Asia.

When are you travelling? How early did you book?
I'm also thinking about SIN-Japan.

No stopovers and maximum three flights each way, are those the rules?

TAS is Tashkent in Uzbekistan.


4 months ahead.


My old SAS EuroBonus member's Guide says:
Star Alliance award:
* A bonus trip may not comprise more than 8 flight segments.
* Time between transit flights may not exceed 24 hours.

But when I told with SAS lady over the phone, she told me that "3 flight segments each way" and my Member's Guide is old.
(I couldn't insist as my Member's Guide still says: SK bonus trip must be booked at least 7 days prior to departure. and I know this rule is not valid anymore.)

Woow! how do you do that? if i try replicate the result is astronomical!

One advise, use ANA's Online *A Award Booking System and check Award seat availability BEFORE you call to SAS. It saves your time a lot!
(You must be a member of ANA Mileage Club, but you needn't have enough miles to check itinerary. :))

The ticket would have cost nearly 40000 SEK all-in if I bought it. Of course I would never pay that price. ;)

Fuel Surcharge on SK metal award flights
 

I raised this a few months ago and since then have booked an Aeroplan award ticket with several SK segments (EWR-CPH-OSL) and there was no fuel surcharge as SK now includes this in the ticket price, not as an add-on like most other carriers. This means the STAR partner does not have to tack this fee onto an award ticket. That, plus the lowering of the charges associated with entering Europe at CPH, made the total cost of my award ticket less than U$100, a rarity these days. (I have two AC segments which have a fuel surcharge, plus US INS/customs fees and security charges, and two OS segments which I don't believe have fuel surcharges either.)

Aeroplan limits its STAR award tickets to 10 segments.

Wow!! Great!!
Thanks for the tip...

I'll join ANA Mileage Club straight away... :)

Thanks for a great tip! I just joined ANA :D

Is the award availability the same for all members of all *A FF-programs?

For example does a member of NH Mileage club have the same chance/possibility to successfully book an SK award ticket as an EB-member (and vice vera)?

At least NOT for UA MileagePlus. :td: I have experience of it.

I suspect UA limit their members to use his/her miles on another *A partner. (Because then UA have to pay some kind of compensation to their *A partner. Which they don't want to do.)

AFAIK, LH/SK/AC/NH have same availability for their *A partner award when I checked with ANA's Online *A Award Booking System.

sin kix gum
 

Hi,
The SIn KIX GUM with ana has biz to KIx then it has the all y class to GUm except that the flight is operated by a subsidiary of ANA (think its air japan from memory) and the forward seats are old biz type seats. Star Gold gets you one of these seats but meals are same as Y. In fact its a cold snack of seaweed rice rolls and western sandwiches plus kit Kat and drinks.
Flight is pleasant though and so is Guam and the Chamorro people..
cheers

That itinerary is just brilliant ^ Let's see what the friendly ladies at SAS Singapore have to say when another nutcase calls 'em up to book exactly the same award :D

What exactly was your experience? One should have the same access to award seats on STAR flights with UA/MP as we do with other programs. It is true that UA charges you less than many other programs for the same trips, and that it does have to pay STAR carriers, whereas it only does an internal transfer for seats on its flight, but I've never faced the problem with Aeroplan and often find it is easier to get award seats on STAR carriers flying to the same destination that it is getting seats on AC flights.

wow, iget tired just looking at it!

I think SK didn't include the fuel surcharge in the taxes for Eurobonus award tickets last year, either. However, yesterday a strange thing happened. I booked an award ticket from Copenhagen to Tokyo for 40k points (a special offer), and the taxes mentioned on the payment site were 36 euros. I booked the flight, but then the confirmation page said "Fare: 81 euros + Taxes: 36 euros". So far all my Eurobonus awards didn't include any "fare". Where do 81 euros come from, I wonder. It's not much, but is it okay to change the final price after I clicked on "confirm payment"? I don't know why this should be so, but perhaps the reason is that I'm based in the Netherlands, while the trip starts in CPH (had to buy a separate AMS-CPH ticket later).

Often lately the 'special offers' are of this new cash + points variety. Perhaps that's what it was but you didn't notice it?

cheers,

Henry

No, it was this nice offer:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=537034

Call EB and ask (and report back here pls...)

I called the internet support today, and they told me to call EB tomorrow morning, because they can't touch the booking themselves. The booking looks fine, though.

By the way, the resevation was ticketed immediately after I booked it (some time after midnight). I received an e-mail with an itinerary in the pdf format, which included the ticket number (117 ...etc), issued in Amsterdam.

It was last August when I tried to book *A award on PEK-ICN-NGO r/t on OZ by using my UA miles and my GF's LH miles.

LH said there are at least two award seats both out- & intbound, while UA said there is no OZ award seat at all.

Aeroplan Online Award Booking showed me there were 3 award seats available.

I told to UA agent that there should be at least 2 award seats available. but she said "no availability". :td:

Wait, now I've found something wired.
When I check now(2006-03-26 23:00 CET) OSL-LYR on 04AUG and LYR-OSL on 07 AUG at ANA web site, I can find SK award seat in Biz.
But at the same time, SAS EB site shows there is no availability at all on the routes.
It seems SAS limits/block their award seat to their own member, but give it to other *A partner's member. :confused:

Does SK offer biz inventory for award flights domestic Norway? They do it intra-scandinavian where you can effectively increase options by paying more (kind of similar to the FlyingBlue OpenMiles -- all revenue seats can be had for awards if you pay double).

It might be that the LYR seats in domestic C (what a self-contradiction) can be had if you book it CPH-OSL-TOS-LYR and pay the intra-scandinavian C price.

I've just called EB. They said that because of a problem on the SAS website, my credit card was charged more than it should, and the 81 euros mentioned above will be transfered back to me.

And yes, SAS offers C-seats for award flights between OSL and LYR. I noticed that some time ago while trying to make a booking.

You can only use I-class (Business) Domestic SE, NO DK and Fi if you continue to another country in Business-class on the award tickets. You cannot only use Domestic flights in "business-class" on awards.

Thank you, Balboa. I have learned something new today! :)
It seems it only works when international segments are involved (ie. CPH-OSL).

Actually, that is not correct. You CAN use business class awards on purely domestic flights (without any previous or ongoing international connection). For intra-Scand and domestic flights within Norway and Sweden it's 12 K EB points in M-class and 20 K EB points in C. The only exception to this rule is domestic flights in Denmark, where it isn't possible to have a C-class award on a domestic flight without a previous or ongoing international flight.

Sure, there is no C-class cabin on intra-Scand flights or domestic flights within Scand, but the C-class award ticket on intra Scand flights and domestic flights within Norway and Sweden gives you the right to carry 30 kilos instead of 20, to check in at C-class counters and to use the business lounge.

SORRY SORRY SORRY. I'm wrong. It has changed since some time ago. Balboa is absolutely correct. It is not longer possible to have C class awards with a domestic flight wihtout an ongoing international connection.

True mate, I actually remember that when booking my first award in -98 that I got that option to buy it for 20.000..but..I took the train instead :cool:

Hiya people!
Another addition to the "maximizing *A award"-thread. What do you think?

The woman at EB memberservice didn't actually think my itinerary was valid/possible when I called, she was very sceptical but I was persistent and she eventually told me she would check and call me back in 15 mins.
Well after 45 mins she calls me back and tells me "you have really found the loophole in Eurobonus, I'm impressed...!!" :D

So here is goes:

Monday
Sydney-Wellington
NZ 744, 17:15-23:25
A320 (Business Class)

Tuesday
One day in Wellington

Wellington-Auckland
NZ 460, 18:00-19:00
B733 (one class only)

Auckland-Rarotonga (Cook islands)
NZ 848, 21:00-02:00
A320 (Business class)

Passing date line between AKL and RAR

One day on Cook Islands

Tuesday
Rarotonga-Papeete (Tahiti/French Polynesia)
NZ 022, 23:15-01:00
B763 (Business class)

Two days in French Polynesia

Friday
Papeete-Auckland
NZ 041, 02:30-07:35
B763 (Business class)

Passing date line again between PPT and AKL

Saturday
Auckland-Christchurch
NZ 547, 17:00-18:20
B733 (one class only)

One day in Christchurch

Sunday
Christchurch-Sydney
NZ 783, 16:00-17:30
A320 (Business class)

Price: 40000 points (and SEK 2000 in taxes)

Total travel distance: 8598 miles (Great Circle Mapper)
Total travel time: Around 20 hours (18 hours in C, 2 hours domestic M)

Only drawback is the stupid timetable of NZ on their Polynesian flights, but well, I'm not going to complain too much this time... :p

Many thanks to AHO for the tips about ANA and their award availability page!!! Very useful!
I managed 7 segments as well (was told 8 segments is the limit).

Congratulations on your fun trip! The most I did was crossing Sweden three times one way by flying CPH-ARN-OSL-HEL and back for 12000. For that trip one of the agents refused to book me, saying she though I was up to something bad since noone in their right mind would do that. She actually was pretty rude, but next agent was wonderful! Have fun jacob_m!

jacob_m

Good job ^ ^

How did you mange that - I would have thought that a trip like that would be impossible for a "* Pacific return award"?

It's nice, jacob_m!

Have a fun!

Well I've just followed the rules (and read those carefully).
Even though it may look like a one week tour of New Zealand and the South Pacific (three cities and two islands), it is technically just a return ticket SYD-PPT with a number of transfers.

A stopover is defined as a stop lasting more than 24 hours, so as long as your next flight departs latest 23h 55min after your arrival the stop is only considered a transfer (stopovers are not permitted on *A awards).
That's the key to my entire itinerary, none of the stops actually last more than 24 hours, in my case it got even more complicated as I'm passing the date line twice (I will be spending the Tuesday twice, but the Friday disappears).
Of course it is not meant to be like this (as the SAS agent put it), but it does follow the rules...

Other than knowing the rules you need a good bit of imagination, access to various timetables, and lots of luck (award seats are limited).

Really looking forward to it, too bad there are a few more months to go.

The NZ inflight service looks absolutely amazing, even on the Sydney-New Zealand flights (3h-3h30) they serve a full three courses meal in C with a choice of three main courses and with all dishes served separately.
After the meal, cheese, crackers and port wine are served to round up the meal (I checked the meal photos on airlinemeals.com).
They hand out handheld DVD players to all passengers in C as well and naturally there are proper business class seats.
And that's just on a mediumhaul flight of three hours!!! ^
The SAS European C-class is simply embarassing in comparison.

Apparently PPT-AKL (6-7 hours) is considered longhaul, so I guess even more to expect from that flight.

To basically understand how you did this. You find the imaginative itinerary first and make sure there is award availablity. Then you called to SK EB and said I want to book these flights with this award. And he or she more or less just took your order. How much assistance do they provide in finding options?

I am looking at another star award that appears to have interesting posibilities, Caribbean to South America 45000 C. Varig has twice weekly flights from AUA (aruba) - GRU and you get some interesting options then down there with LH, UA and LX segments.

Any ideas how I could start planning that?

Looks great, although you may end up regretting that you are spending so little time on the islands.

Whereas your itinerary is within the rules they don't "owe you" 23-hour-ish transfers. If there are schedule changes that cut down your transfer times you don't have a case for complaining, that's the drawback of the strategy. But, let's hope it works out. Have fun!

But it works the other way around too: last year I managed to spend 24 hours and 10 minutes in exciting Nagoya (who needs Tahiti?) as the plane arrived a little early :D

Well I guess that's about right...
I knew where I wanted to go, and as a true FTer of course I wanted to get the most out of the award.
Since I've never been to the region before I had a look at the NZ route map and the NZ timetable to see if it was possible to make a few stops on the way, and step by step the itinerary was created.

Basically, as you said, the SAS woman just "took my order", checked the routing was valid, award seats available, and then booked it.
Of course they can check availability, provide assistance and give you advice, but you're much better off doing a bit of work yourself before calling if you want a more complex itinerary.
They will always suggest the fastest/easiest routing with as few stops as possible unless being told otherwise.

Sounds interesting...
Download the *A timetable and join ANA mileage club so you get access to their award availability tool (I can confirm it's exactly the same award inventory for ANA and SAS).
Then it's all up to you what you want to get out of it, if you just want to go straight to the destination as quickly and easily as possible, or if you want to make one or two "23-hour-ish transfers" on the way (GIG, GRU?).
It's always a bit rushed to try to see a city/island in 22-23 hours, but on the other hand it doesn't cost you anything extra.

Yeah I know... ;)
But time is a bit of a problem, and apparently French Polynesia is incredibly expensive as well which makes it discouraging to stay longer.

My trip was

SQ11 F NRT-SIN
SQ74 F SIN-MNL
TG621 C MNL-BKK (stopover)
SQ63 F BKK-SIN
SQ638 F SIN-NRT

60000 points + 177 eur. Not bad for 9000 flown miles, most of it in SQ F, plus two long visits in the SIN SKL F lounge with endless supply of Dom.. :)

Would have made this even more complex but needed two seats so options were limited. Had to downgrade one C to Y and one F to C for the second pax, but managed to get exit row seats for those.

I know how to spend my EB points in the future.

Maximizing your EB points usage!
 

You can enjoy Business class of all 8 *A airlines which traffics within Asia for 45,000 EB points.

NRT-HKG NH C 18:45 - 22:25 763
HKG-SGN UA C 20:40 - 22:05 744
SGN-BKK TK C 20:25 - 21:50 343
BKK-KUL LH C 15:15 - 18:15 744

SIN-BKK SQ C 09:40 - 11:05 772
BKK-PEK TG C 10:10 - 15:50 747
PEK-ICN CA C 13:45 - 16:50 738
GMP-HND OZ C 15:30 - 17:35 333


Pros:
You have so much fun :cool:
You can experience 8 *A Airlines Business class
You can visit 6 countries/8 cities in one trip

Cons:
Different currency every day :eek:
You have to pack/re-pack your luggage every day
You need to apply visa of P.R. China and Vietnam
You need few pages of your passport for the stamps/visas

How would you book this?

How much tax do you have to pay?