UA to French Polynesia???

Old Nov 16, 2017, 6:44 pm
  #46  
 
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Originally Posted by JVPhoto
Sure bet, how are you on FT and find this surprising?It's leisure travel and there's plenty of places on the list I can go in the meantime. Why not maximize my utility by doing so? Why spend thousands on a flight that will get me nada when I can buy a J ticket and get enough RDMs to redeem BKK-SYD in F?
just making sure you are aware that u could have banked AA miles and flown TN...also earn aa miles while flying a paid ticket as well. I did this and while UA/*A can't take you everywhere i fill in the gaps with other programs.

the real question this thread should focus on is potentially 5 carriers from the US serving PPT (UA, TN, AF, HA & an LCC)...is there money to be made?
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Old Nov 16, 2017, 7:01 pm
  #47  
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Originally Posted by Halo117
just making sure you are aware that u could have banked AA miles and flown TN...also earn aa miles while flying a paid ticket as well. I did this and while UA/*A can't take you everywhere i fill in the gaps with other programs.

the real question this thread should focus on is potentially 5 carriers from the US serving PPT (UA, TN, AF, HA & an LCC)...is there money to be made?
Exactly. UA is not the only game in town. We redeemed HA miles to PPT, and AS miles to APW. I used VA miles to get to Tonga. And UA miles to get to Fiji.
There is always a way. This is FT, we make a way.

How is there enough traffic to warrant this capacity to PPT - its not like its the Bahamas - not exactly a common destination to visit. Are there really that many Americans that would go there to fill >4000 seats a week?

Originally Posted by DA201
I will be extremely happy if this is true. I have been trying to take my family to Bora Bora for years, but the prices during the times I have wanted to go are ridiculous. When Asia, Europe, and even Hawaii are much cheaper, it is difficult to argue for Bora Bora. However, even if UA keeps the prices high, I can now use miles and not have to fly to New Zealand first!
Youre AA Gold - assuming you have AA miles - you can already get to PPT on miles, even from Hawaii.
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Old Nov 16, 2017, 7:15 pm
  #48  
 
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Originally Posted by ctownflyer
Wouldn't UA have to bring back Ted to start RAR service
LOL... that's an old school reference back in the day...

I just realized how well UA could have partnered with the CBS show, How I Met Your Mother... whose main character's name was Ted... and was frequently introduced to girls as, "Have you met Ted?".

It would be a welcome competition... too bad it will likely not have a nice premium cabin.
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Old Nov 16, 2017, 7:46 pm
  #49  
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Originally Posted by Halo117
just making sure you are aware that u could have banked AA miles and flown TN...also earn aa miles while flying a paid ticket as well. I did this and while UA/*A can't take you everywhere i fill in the gaps with other programs.

the real question this thread should focus on is potentially 5 carriers from the US serving PPT (UA, TN, AF, HA & an LCC)...is there money to be made?
Sure you can, but why dilute the mileage accrual among multiple programs, especially if the trip is leisure? If I take 3 paid J/C in a year to Asia, Europe or South America from US West, that could easily be about 60,000 earned in MP if I keep that all in Star Alliance. Depending on status and CC, that can be 2 round trip tickets for travel within the US. Those are only flown miles and does not even include the CC miles I get via MP CC. Now if one of those destinations is not where Star Alliance can reasonably get me there and I have to use another alliance carrier, now I have 40,000 on MP and 10,000 on AA (All estimates). Now MP will barely get me one domestic ticket and the miles at AA is useless until I accumulate more.

I've had points and miles with Southwest, Hawaiian and Alaska from the one off flights when UA couldn't get me to where I needed to go. All of those miles have expired and are now gone. The world is big and there are still plenty of places I want to visit, so until the day I've run out of places that Star Alliance can take me, I can move places around on my list forward or back based on which airline flies there. Also, as someone who has cashed out my miles for three J class ticket for Christmas week, YES mileage matters.
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Old Nov 16, 2017, 8:15 pm
  #50  
 
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Originally Posted by JVPhoto
Sure bet, how are you on FT and find this surprising?It's leisure travel and there's plenty of places on the list I can go in the meantime. Why not maximize my utility by doing so? Why spend thousands on a flight that will get me nada when I can buy a J ticket and get enough RDMs to redeem BKK-SYD in F?
Fair point. That BKK-SYD (or if you're me, HKG-BKK-SYD to maximize TG F) has gone up in price now, so have to plan carefully. I'm somewhat with you - as long as I have options of places I haven't been to that I am keen to go to, I will systematically optimize for my preferred points currencies (either earning or redemption). I've got 150-odd countries to go, so currently no real shortage of attractive options.

Hope this rumour translates into a good redemption and/or GPU-friendly route.
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Old Nov 16, 2017, 8:37 pm
  #51  
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Originally Posted by seat38a
I hope they don't shove people in like AOM did in their DC10's. That was miserable on the 7+ hours from LAX. They will most likely to 10 abreast on the A350. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the A350 narrower than the DC10?
They are 9-abreast on the 330; I assume 10-abreast on the A350, too. The latter is not all that much worse than 9-abreast on the 787 and similar to the 777 fuselage diameter which UA is converting to 10-abreast anyways.

Originally Posted by JVPhoto
Sure bet, how are you on FT and find this surprising?
Sadly, it is not surprising. But - especially for someone buying leisure travel with some flexibility - it makes less and less sense. Premium cabin sale/mistake fares are generally a way better deal than focusing on loyalty IMO.
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Old Dec 13, 2017, 1:23 pm
  #52  
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As UA has announced https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...30-2018-a.html will close this thread and refer all to the new thread.

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