JustinNashville

I'm not sure if this is the best place to put this.

I live in BNA and want to get to Cairo in January. I'm going with taking a positioning flight out of BNA.

Goal: fly Economy Plus / Delta Comfort / AA MCE, etc or above. Premium Economy would be ideal.

I have UA Silver in 2017 but not 2018. Flying in 2017 isn't an option. All else being equal, I'd prefer to fly Star Alliance that I can book through UA but not necessary.

I have a E+ subscription with UA.

I have 6k points on UA plus 115k UR points.



I see this one for $2k on Air Canada for PE

https://www.google.com/flights/#sear...NA0AC7333;sc=p

Does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to get there?

Thanks!
Justin

Broncos Country

If you fly with UA TATL then your status will get you E+ through Jan 31st, 2018. There is award availability to CAI on Jan 3rd in biz for 80k miles one way (at least the TATL on LH) so you could fly over on miles and then back through Frankfurt on UA and get E+.

Looks like there is good econ saver award availability to Europe in Jan, so you could get E+ to Europe and then book separate tix on to CAI. Its about 4 hrs from FRA to CAI, so depends on how you value intra-Euro biz class (3 across with middle seat blocked on narrow bodies). Not sure about biz/PE on MS, if you go that route may be good to post in the middle east forum.

findark

AC PE for $2k sounds like a good deal to me - see if you can get the North America segments onto UA metal so you can use your E+.

JustinNashville

Thanks!

I didn't realize Intra-Europe B-class was 3 across, 1 blocked. Not much value to me personally!

Would you recommend LH, AC or AF for PE?

All else being equal I'd prefer LH or AC since they are Star Alliance. Unless AF has a much better product.

Agreed on flying on UA to get E+!

Justin

findark

I'd let price and schedule determine that one - don't think any carrier has a substantially better/worse product to the point it's worth sacrificing that.

Note that if you fly AC or LH, you should be able to get the ticket issued by United (call them) so that it earns PQD toward re-qualifying for your UA status

JustinNashville

Findark - I can't find it available on their website since it's PE. So they might be able to book it with 016 if I call them? That'd be awesome!

findark

Correct. There is a lot of nuance to it, but loosely speaking it should work. I would recommend using ITA Matrix to price out the exact itinerary you want, and then calling United Reservations. You should be able to get them to manually construct an itinerary for you by reading out each segment in the following format:

Departure date, origin, destination, flight number, booking code

(for example: 11-Dec-17, depart YYZ and arrive FRA, on Air Canada flight 872, in booking class November)

This order is a good hint as to whether the agent is doing the correct thing - they should be pulling up SHARES and typing it in using this order. After the entire itinerary is input, they should be able to attempt to auto-price it (without calling the rate desk); if you have given a legal combination of segments and booking codes, they will quote you the price and it will ticket.


I've swept a lot of details under the rug about when this is/isn't possible (i.e. when the computer will allow you to ticket this), but as a general rule flying AC, LH, or NH with an origin in the United States will allow you to do this. Some agents will be more comfortable if at least one segment uses a United flight number; if you can force any such segment it can help your case.

horse glasses

I did LAX-IAH-FRA-CAI-LHR-IAH-PIT on UA and Egyptair on the Europe connections. I was Gold so E+ wasn't an issue but Egyptair is not really an experience I would repeat given the option. They spray the cabin with chemicals before landing in LHR which I definitely would not want to experience again. That LHR-IAH was my one and only op-up to J (and it was Xmas eve) so I do remember it a little more fondly than I would have otherwise.

WineCountryUA

Experiences of others can be found in Purchasing (Cash/Award) AC Premium Economy on UA ticket stock (016)

TomMM

Don't think that's specific to EgyptAir. I've had that happen on OS and TK usually when departing.

I flew MCO-FRA-CAI on LH back in March in J. Not fond of their Euro-Biz. I thought about flying JFK-CAI on EgyptAir but decided to go with a known product.

OTOH, last year I flew ADD-IST on TK in Biz on a 737 and it was really nice.

shek3112

Depends on how you value the miles, but I'd prefer @Broncos Country 's suggestion of Biz class one-way award:
Easy find biz saver on United for 80k + $10 tax, flying Air Canada from BNA-YYZ then YYZ-CAI on Egyptair

Then from CAI you can get pretty cheap biz/PE tickets, e.g. <1k on Turkish back to the States (note, sometimes you need to purchase a roundtrip originating from CAI to get a lower fare, "not recommended" though)

Aussienarelle

I flew Egypt Air in coach LHR-CAI three years ago on December 23 and enjoyed the flight. I flew back on January 1 on LH CAI-FRA in coach and the flight was okay but preferred coach on Egypt Air. For the long haul flights I flew in J on UA.

og

That will severely limit your travel opportunities. For example, ET ex ADD and many airlines on arrival into Oz such as AC and sometimes UA. Breathing through a cloth and closing eyes for a minute solves the irritation. Spraying is important for biosecurity eg spread of malaria.

horse glasses

I have yet to be "severely limited" by this, as it is the only time I've ever experienced it in many countries. Maybe someone else can confirm if this is standard for Egypt arrivals everywhere, but I recall someone telling me this can be avoided on certain routes.

TomMM

Actually, my experience is that it is a standard on departure and just not Egypt. I've encountered it leaving CAI, ADD, AMM, DKR, LIS(Departing to DKR).