Mike Jacoubowsky

I may have an opportunity to get away with my wife for 10 days mid-late November. I do have 4 expiring SWUs. I am short 14.5K miles for 1P.

Any recommendations for a November trip that has a good shot at using those SWUs and isn't too expensive? China is a definite possibility (although she's not into cold weather, but y'know, that's the way it goes). What am I overlooking? I can do a transcon to get 5k EQMs so anything around 10k r/t would do the trick. And yeah, I'd love to use those SWUs which rules out OZ.

If this belongs elsewhere, feel free to move it but I really couldn't figure out where that would be.

Thanks from this soon-to-be-former 1K!

flyinbob

Europe. Slow time of the year tourist-wise, weather is hit-or-miss, but usually not too bad. I'd do London or Rome (or both). They are usually OK weather-wise in November. From the west coast it should cover you.

mahasamatman

SFO-KIX could be a good bet. I haven't looked at November, but I was searching January and lots of the flights are NC9 (on the new 777 to boot). The dollar sucks against the yen, but it might still be worth it.

rerunree1

How about NRT via SEA.....if NRT is too cold, keep going till you get to BKK or SIN.

goingbananas

China in Nov is not bad weather wise if you are in PVG and HKG. I actually like it there that time of year. If you are looking to get away for awhile, go to BKK then fly to HKT and stay at the JW Marriott Phuket. Nice, relaxing, 3 pools, great tiger prawns and phuket lobster....go on john gray's sea canoe...good times...

Cheers...

Mike Jacoubowsky

You guys are good! One reason I prefer China over Japan is because China would have me way out of my element. I kinda like that. In Japan, I'd probably try to find things that I was comfortable with (Western)... more of an issue is that my wife would likely be even more so. China would likely have less opportunity that way. Or so I naively think.

London... I wouldn't mind seeing more of London. Just wish it could be some time other than the drizzle/rain season (and last time I was there it was the most-expensive place I'd ever been). Never been to Rome so definitely some appeal to that.

Something else I need to look into are cancellation policies/insurance. There's a possibility that my son's health issues (he's had recent kidney surgery and everything looks good except for often-severe pain that's likely to last until a stent is removed at the end of November) could kill the trip. I don't think that's likely, but it would be worth maybe 10% more to be able to cancel at the last minute if need be. Trying to figure out how the travel insurance works with United Vacations is a nightmare... it appears to cover just land issues, or maybe land plus the change fee, but no refunds, just opportunity to re-use the air fare.

Delta3MM

Goto insuremytrip.com and find the right insurance with the features you want. There are a staggering array of choices, but I like the ones with primary medical coverage. Bought them there many times, never really had to use them for anything. You should find better coverage for less money.

Billy

FriendlySkies

Although it is a short visit, I am going to LHR the weekend before Thanksgiving 11/19-11/21. Got a W fare for $600. SWU is very promising on the outbound, and will most likely happen on the return, but a bit unsure..

endrond

We went to Italy last November. The weather was a bit nicer than typical for that time of year but even if it hadn't been, the trip still would have been awesome.

I wasn't yet 1k then, but I bet the IAD-FCO leg is feasible to SWU.

bmvaughn

IAD-MAD has TONS of open NC. You can use the SWU, and the wife will enjoy Spain.

If MAD isn't your style, flights to Lisbon are $27 on TAP right now from MAD.

LIH Prem

Does that include HKG?

HKG is a great city, Mike. Can you find any availability to HKG using your SWUs? If you haven't been there ...
On the other hand, sometimes HKG is a tough upgrade.

-David

mechteach

We're doing ORD-LHR and v.v. in late November. We've been waitlisted for 4 SWUs on the outbound (2 sets of 2, 11/21) for quite a while now, just FYI. I remember when there was a lot of NC space to LHR, but that seems harder to come by now, at least until a few days or hours before the flights.

unavaca

HKG is a horrifically bad upgrade. I missed it earlier this year.

Try Rome? It shouldn't be quite as cold as the Northern parts.

SEA1K4EVR

Two days ago I bought a ticket to Dubai for next week.. doing it for the miles as I have some serious catching up to do this year. I would have to hang my head in shame if I were only 1P with the FT handle I chose.

Getting 18,920 EQM's for $1,178, W class. Upgrades are waitlisted but it looks pretty good both ways on the old 777.

You could fly there, do a stopover and enjoy the hot weather for a couple days, then take LH back to Europe.

SanDiego1K

As a San Diego flyer, I spent considerable time pricing upgradeable international fares for November. I was very disappointed in what I found. Japan, China, and Hong Kong were both in excess of $1300. I remember Tokyo fares being about $1700. If you go to China, you need to add the cost for a visa. This is not trivial, particularly since you really should use a visa service to spare yourself the pain of physically walking it in and physically picking it up. (At least these are the rules for the LA consulate.) Buenos Aires was also high. Upgradeable European fares in general were around $1K.

I did find a fare for Saigon that allowed stopping in Hong Kong for $20 extra. I think it was about $1200 but no longer have notes. You have to get a visa for Saigon but you can mail in your passport. I like both Vietnam and Hong Kong, so have this on the short list for 2011. But as others have posted, SFO-HKG is a bad route for your upgrade clearing.

Upgradeable fares for Europe were around $1K. Remember that if you fly back from Paris, you will be charged a luxury tax of roughly $50 per ticket.

If I were you, I'd do some fare checking for possible destinations. Once you time that cost x 2, it might drop some locations from your list.