So I have a FC *A award IAD-JNB booked in November.

But the outbound is IAD-JFK-CAI-JNB on MS. And apparently MS is a dry airline.

So I have been checking availability either on the ANA tool or by calling UA pretty much every day to see if anything opens up on
LH (via FRA)
SA (via DKR or JFK or LHR or MUC or GRU)
LX (via ZRH)
TP (via LIS)
There is a nice flight with business availability on TK, but at 9863 it is 35 miles over the maximum allowable miles of 9828. .

Firstly, am I missing any routings? I'm already in for the 160k since I got LH FC via FRA on the way back and like that a lot. But I really don't mind 2-class booking on the outbound (including the current CAI-JNB on a 2-class MS plane) if necessary. I just hate to have to break out the duty-free on MS.

And secondly, am I over-doing it by checking every day? Because it feels a little like I am over-doing it.

What is the desired date for your outbound, out of interest?

Remember that you can mix and match airlines too - at the very least, I would have thought you could get across the Atlantic on a decent airline before changing to MS at either Europe or (even better) CAI.

As for "how often is too often?", my experience is that although once a day is usually the most sensible, I end up spending almost all free time I have on the ANA tool and Expertflyer when I'm about to book/change flights. I can't help it...

Perhaps SK via Stockholm-Cairo to MS? LX ZRH-NBO and onward on SA? LH FRA-ADD/ACC and then SA?

The 8th/9th.

BRILLIANT suggestion!!!!

When I first booked them I couldn't find a better routing than the nonstop JFK-CAI. But I KNEW I was missing something after the IAD-FRA FC seats came on ANA (hence my post here). Thanks for putting the puzzle piece in place!!!!

Just switched IAD-JFK (UA Y emb)-CAI (MS FC 744)-JNB (MS BC 330) to

IAD-FRA (LH FC 744) -CAI (LH FC 346)-JNB (MS BC 330).

Ahhh...LH FRA FTerm. Now I can just limit my checks to see if anything opens up on the nonstop FRA-JNB. ^

I owe you a drink (at least!). ^

Actually, make that ZRH-JNB as well. LX F is really, really excellent (I'm writing up a trip report on a recent ZRH-LAX at the moment) and worth the extra flight on FRA-ZRH. Would be interesting to do a compare-and-contrast between LH and LX, don't you think?

An Expertflyer membership can be very useful because you can set up alerts on reward space (but only those that are visible on EF, such as AC/NZ/LX). In your case, you can set up an alert for ZRH-JNB on LX O-class and it will email you when a space opens up.

I'll hold you to that! (though I'm certainly not flying MS to collect!)

Was just going to suggest LX.

And, on top of that, if you do end up doing FRA-ZRH-JNB, you still get FCT access in FRA.

But, I'd do IAD-ORD/JFK-LX333-ZRH-JNB instead. LH F is unfortunate, but much better than MS anything.

Good suggestions all around. LX is a glaring deficiency of the ANA tool and is the reason why I am on the horn with UA every day. I suppose my time alone makes Expertflyer a worthwhile investment.

As for that drink, it would have to be top shelf duty free carried on to MS, so you might just be missing out! @:-)

If you are still eyeing the TK option, (presumably on IST-JNB), have you considered moving your departure point a little further west so as to increase the MPM?

You can check LX availability via the LH website (the kids program if you don't have an active account).

I did try just about every trick in the book on IST. It was almost as if the MPMs were set to specifically preclude using IST as a connection point from the US to SA; most of them were less than 100 miles over the MPM. And throwing in CPT on the other end REDUCED the MPM in a couple cases.

In the past couple weeks I've gone from not knowing MPMs exist to their being the bane of my existence.

Thanks for the tip, soitgoes, but I did suck it up and subscribe to expertflyer...

Ok, to answer my own question: it is IMPOSSIBLE to check too much.

Checked LH572 before I went to bed at 11pm EDT, got an x.

Checked LH572 this morning at 10am EDT, got a big ole O! ^

Or maybe LH keeps an eye on this forum and were testing me to see how long it would take me to find it after I posted my travel date here.

In any case, it's 747 row 83 on all the flights now, so unless I can mix in some LX to break up the 15 hours in FRA I feel pretty good. ^

Lucky you.^ Still no sign of either MUC-SFO or FRA-SFO opening up in F for me.

VERY lucky! Did I mention that this was for 2 F seats? ^

Hey koko, I'm not sure if you've taken that trip yet, but if not, be sure to call LH periodically to ensure that you're still in 83, so you're not unpleasantly surprised later.

Sorry, WAY OT here, just tryin' to help.

Will

Or AC right?