787 on the way from LAX-IST?
 

I need help. I have not yet flown on the 787, and am in the process of booking a business class award ticket from LAX to IST in January. Is there a way to fly the 787 on the way? What are your recommendations? I could book on star alliance or others (probably transferring Amex points for this flight).

thanks!

I was pretty sure LO opened LAX-WAW nonstop, so LAX-WAW-IST on LO could have been an option, but I can't find that flight right now. Might be seasonal.

LAX-ORD-WAW-IST seems to be year round, but of course it requires two stops.

Ethiopian flies the 787 DUB-LAX

It does leave very early in the morning so you might need to fly TK in to DUB the night before

Dubai isn't anywhere close to Istanbul, much less after a stopover in Addis Ababa.

Turkish flies non-stop LAX-IST. Otherwise, route through either the East Coast hubs or one of the *A European hubs for one-stop flights to IST.

Don't mix up DUB and DXB.
DUB is Dublin (Ireland). Ethiopian flies ADD-DUB-LAX a few times a week arriving in the late afternoon.
So the OP would need to get from DUB to IST which most likely requires an overnight somewhere.

My mistake, but the reality isn't much different. Connecting *A to *A in Dublin is no picnic.

Thanks, everyone

I'd just fly TK nonstop or OS/LX/LH one-stop and be done with it.

787 not worth some weird routing. Not even close.

Aer Lingus is also a Mileage Plus partner, though they don't fly to IST directly.

The ET flight would be perfect, it lands in DUB around 2pm and TK has a flight to IST at 4:30pm. Meets the OP's desire to fly the 787 and is a short connection. Service in business class is generally quite good, though it's hit or miss with the seats. Some are true flat and some are angle flat.

Keep in mind if booking ET with MileagePlus, right now it's still glitched out on United.com, so you have to search for availability another way (ANA, Aeroplan, LifeMiles, etc) and book via United on the phone. This wouldn't matter if using Amex points as they aren't a partner, but from Chase for example it's one of the popular ones.

Once you start looking for availabilty LAX-Europe you will most likely find availability for business class awards scarce (even in January/low season) and any dream to fly 787 aircrafts only will be impossible. You should grab any availability in business class and be happy that redemption tickets were possible - if you can seats on the direct LAX-IST TK flights on 77W you should consider yourself lucky.

The ET flight to DUB has plenty of availability. Just need to search it a different way now.

I was going to say the same. Unless the OP has zero flexibility on dates, the ET flight to DUB is a very easy score. I think SK AAR was being entirely too snarky in their comment or totally uninformed about how easy ET long hauls are to get on award tickets. The fact that they no longer show up on the MileagePlus website is a bonus as well since many UA mile holders don't know about them and don't book them leaving more seats for those in the know.

Yes, I may have no knowledge of award availability with ET (as ET does not appear when I search for availability and secondly, ET would not be my choice of carrier) but great that apparently it is not difficult to get to DUB with ET, but the OP needs to get to IST! DUB-IST with TK is of course an option (if seats are available) but it will not be on a B787 (most likely on a B737 or A321)

The reality is that the OP will face scarce award availability and will not be in a position to be able to choose between multiple carriers. If the OP is prepared to go with ET to DUB, then fine by me, but this will not be what the OP wish for.

He'll get exactly what he wants though... 787 to DUB and then a short connecting flight to IST on whatever 737/a320 type aircraft they're flying that day.

Dublin to Istanbul isn't a short flight. It's about 4.5 hours. 1,837 miles.