NYC-MLE-IAH in June '20: Best Strategy to Pay Y and get J?
Jul 2, 2019, 4:38 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2018
Posts: 10
NYC-MLE-IAH in June '20: Best Strategy to Pay Y and get J?
Hi all,
I am going to the Maldives for my honeymoon in June 2020 and looking for advice on booking. I am a UA 1K with plenty of GPUs for this. My base option is: $2700 on QR for JFK-DOH-MLE / MLE-DOH-IAH with the outbound in Y and return in J, all cash.
I'm trying to see if it's reasonable to fly UA / *A and take advantage of my GPUs (and more importantly get PQM/PQD). The best strategy appears to be getting close (SIN or BOM) and booking separate itineraries to get from SIN/BOM to MLE.
I assume there are lots of people that have looked into this. Is EWR-BOM and BOM-EWR-IAH my best bet? Alternatively, EWR-SFO-SIN, SIN-NRT-IAH?
Any advice on proceeding would be great.
Thanks!
I am going to the Maldives for my honeymoon in June 2020 and looking for advice on booking. I am a UA 1K with plenty of GPUs for this. My base option is: $2700 on QR for JFK-DOH-MLE / MLE-DOH-IAH with the outbound in Y and return in J, all cash.
I'm trying to see if it's reasonable to fly UA / *A and take advantage of my GPUs (and more importantly get PQM/PQD). The best strategy appears to be getting close (SIN or BOM) and booking separate itineraries to get from SIN/BOM to MLE.
I assume there are lots of people that have looked into this. Is EWR-BOM and BOM-EWR-IAH my best bet? Alternatively, EWR-SFO-SIN, SIN-NRT-IAH?
Any advice on proceeding would be great.
Thanks!
Jul 2, 2019, 5:47 pm
#4
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: YEG
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 755
I went to MLE for my honeymoon 2 years ago.
I used my UA miles and booked on Turkish to IST and down to MLE, not sure if award availability is still open for that routing for you, got there perfect time to catch my seaplane to the resort, you are going to have a blast!!
I used my UA miles and booked on Turkish to IST and down to MLE, not sure if award availability is still open for that routing for you, got there perfect time to catch my seaplane to the resort, you are going to have a blast!!
Jul 2, 2019, 5:49 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2018
Posts: 10
I went to MLE for my honeymoon 2 years ago.
I used my UA miles and booked on Turkish to IST and down to MLE, not sure if award availability is still open for that routing for you, got there perfect time to catch my seaplane to the resort, you are going to have a blast!!
I used my UA miles and booked on Turkish to IST and down to MLE, not sure if award availability is still open for that routing for you, got there perfect time to catch my seaplane to the resort, you are going to have a blast!!
Jul 2, 2019, 6:00 pm
#6
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: YEG
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 755
Once June opens up for bookings just check everyday and hopefully find some business awards open for you guys
Sorry forgot to mention the other option was to find award space to CMB (colombo sri lanka) and pay for a quick 1 hour flight which was super cheap from there to MLE (even cheap in business)
Jul 2, 2019, 6:00 pm
#7
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA LT Plat 2MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,936
Long discussion on why changing an existing partner award is very problematic, https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...lems-help.html
Jul 2, 2019, 7:45 pm
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS/EAP
Programs: UA 1K, MR LTT, HH Dia, Amex Plat
Posts: 32,190
if you go with the well-established ones such as fareboom and others there is no risk. I would not book a honeymoon hoping for an UG to clear or waiting for C awards to become available.
Last edited by cfischer; Jul 3, 2019 at 5:48 pm Reason: :)
Jul 2, 2019, 8:19 pm
#9
Join Date: Jan 2017
Programs: UA MP 1K
Posts: 119
Do you have any OW miles? or potentially buy some AS/AA miles for use on OW carriers.
Quick search using QF shows that there is some J and F availability in June going both ways on QR, EK, and BA.
On EK, you are even able to fly F on their new 77W from MLE-DXB and F on their A388 from DXB-IAH (shower anyone?!).
Quick search using QF shows that there is some J and F availability in June going both ways on QR, EK, and BA.
On EK, you are even able to fly F on their new 77W from MLE-DXB and F on their A388 from DXB-IAH (shower anyone?!).
Jul 3, 2019, 7:13 am
#10
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 1,394
Do you have any OW miles? or potentially buy some AS/AA miles for use on OW carriers.
Quick search using QF shows that there is some J and F availability in June going both ways on QR, EK, and BA.
On EK, you are even able to fly F on their new 77W from MLE-DXB and F on their A388 from DXB-IAH (shower anyone?!).
Quick search using QF shows that there is some J and F availability in June going both ways on QR, EK, and BA.
On EK, you are even able to fly F on their new 77W from MLE-DXB and F on their A388 from DXB-IAH (shower anyone?!).
Jul 3, 2019, 6:01 pm
#11
Join Date: Jan 2017
Programs: UA MP 1K
Posts: 119
For F - I would opt for EK based on the chance to fly on the new 773 and for J - I would opt for QR based on their Q-Suite and EK's sub-par 773 J layout.
Jul 3, 2019, 6:58 pm
#12
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: FLL
Programs: United Premier 1K; Alaska MVP 75K; Hilton Honors Diamond; Hertz Pres Circle
Posts: 667
I just booked a trip to the Maldives and decided to take UA to HKG and then continue onwards on Cathay using Chase UR. You can find a $1000 or so W fare in/out of HKG and can even find confirmable upgrade space if you want to connect in SFO. Couldn’t think of a cheaper way to do most of the trip up front.
Jul 3, 2019, 10:00 pm
#13
Join Date: May 2000
Location: IAH
Programs: UA 1K 2.7MM, Marriott Titanium/LT Plat, IHG Spire
Posts: 3,317
I just booked a trip to the Maldives and decided to take UA to HKG and then continue onwards on Cathay using Chase UR. You can find a $1000 or so W fare in/out of HKG and can even find confirmable upgrade space if you want to connect in SFO. Couldn’t think of a cheaper way to do most of the trip up front.
Jul 4, 2019, 12:40 am
#14
Join Date: Jan 2005
Programs: SQ, QF, UA, CO, DL
Posts: 2,920
I just booked a trip to the Maldives and decided to take UA to HKG and then continue onwards on Cathay using Chase UR. You can find a $1000 or so W fare in/out of HKG and can even find confirmable upgrade space if you want to connect in SFO. Couldn’t think of a cheaper way to do most of the trip up front.