Which Asian Star partner reward back from BKK or SGN?
 

I’m looking to get home to SoCal w/ Mrs FTF from either of these cities on a business reward, coming available in a couple days, and seeing a lot of availability to pick from.

I’m not considering Air China. I’m seeing a lot of ANA, EVA, plus Thai or ANA connections to United in NRT.

I’m kind of interested in the Thai A380 connection to UA 787 to LAX to double-up on great new airplanes; some BKK connections in NRT aren’t that long so I am wondering, does Thai check you in through to your United flight?

ANA also does BKK to NRT and then home on UA or ANA. I think I’ve heard ANA has some overwater slant-flat beds over the Pacific, is that still true? If I choose instead to do ANA to NRT then say UA 787 to LAX, will ANA check me through to UA in when I check in in BKK?

(As you can tell, I’m not a veteran NRT connector - just once - and I’m worried about being in limbo if I show up very late on business reward tickets without being checked in.)

I’m definitely considering EVA from BKK and hey are my main option from SGN, esp since they are showing 80K business while UA is all extra-pay override price. The complaint I’ve heard about EVA is that you can’t get advance seat assignments, at least on UA-ticketed rewards, and that if you do the staff in TPE give them away anyway. Does anyone know? Since I’m traveling with my wife I place a lot of priority on getting 2 seats together in the middle, not on opposite ends of a 50-seat biz cabin.

Lastly, the Asiana options from SE Asia aren’t strong but there are some. But (1) it looks like they are flying 747s with angle-flat seats to LAX, and (2) most of my ways to get there are interline connections, esp from Thai, and that brings back the question of whether I can get checked in once. Ideas?

What do you think, FTers? What would you take and why? Grateful for your suggestions to improve our big trip! ^

FTF

That is not true. EVA does not do pre-assignments until 100 days before departure. You need to get your EVA Locator and go to their site to retrieve your reservation. If it is outside the 100 days, it tells you when you can assign seats. If it is inside the 100 days, it will let you pick a seat.

They do hold back a decent number of seats for airport assignment. However, if you do it at the 100 day mark, you should be OK.

Do EVA, much better biz experience than UA or the old OZ seats

Which Asian Star partner reward back from BKK or SGN?
 

Strange to avoid air china. Their new 777s flying to the states are better than any other seat on the airlines you mention. Service is better than UA at least...

Even though Eva site says that I can't choose your seats until 100 days before departure, I was able to choose my seats about 5 months before departure. My tickets were ticketed by United.

Early this month I made a UA Mileage+ rewards booking from SFO to DPS and CMB on Eva and Thai. The trip is in Dec 2014 and the return in Jan 2015.I was able to get the Eva conformation number from UA and then select my seats on the Eva website for my SFO-TPE, TPE-DPS, and TPE-SFO flights. So it was almost 300 days out.

I believe both Eva and Thai use Amadeus for their reservation system, so the confirmation number for Thai was the same as Eva. When I logged on to the Thai website, I could see the Eva seats I had selected, but I was not able to select seats for the Thai flights. But I just sent email to [email protected] requesting isle seats for all the Thai legs, and they did it within a few hours.

EVA is the most direct routing. The TG-NH connection through NRT would be my second choice. OZ is a less appealing option due to regional J on the long flight from BKK-ICN.

All of these airlines would IMO be preferable to UA for the TPAC. The UA seat is okay (but not as good as BR, NH, or OZ's new business class products), the soft product is seriously inferior.

Which Asian Star partner reward back from BKK or SGN?
 

I have EVA (United award) tickets for late September and have had my seats assignments for about a month. I always call EVA for their confirmation #, go on the website and reserve seats.

What, you had TG replying to your e-mail? Go buy a lottery ticket! Ho, I did get a reply once... after my flight was completed!

Thanks everybody!
 

My seats came up like clockwork at midnight central time (happily, 2 hrs earlier for us) and I booked EVA through from SGN.

Huh? TG's LA ticket office always responds promptly - typically within 24 hours during the workweek. They are consistently helpful and reliable.