DXB and More

[Hanoi IG]

OK, just joined Alaska as a possible way to use emirates to Dubai. I've read a bunch of things about which routes afford best value but I'm more interested in flying the routes I need rather than going way out of our way to save a few bucks.

First off JFK-DBX using Alaska miles business class was 80,000 plus about $700 in fees at least in January when we'd want to go. RT for cash is only $4500 so it seems not worth it.

Looking towards Morocco and perhaps one other destination. Is it difficult to book such complex trips with award miles. To go from JFK-Casablanca on Emirates involves Dubai so a round trip doesn't seem sensible. Would it be better to just get to Casablanca then CMN-DXB(with stopover if permitted)-JFK?

I've only booked one way or straight RT award flights and they are easy. Thanks for any guidance.

 

[Matt]

First off JFK-DBX using Alaska miles business class was 80,000 plus about $700

That's probably because the carrier is BA... on Emirates it is cheap.. I forget how much but either super cheap (under $10) or pretty cheap (under $100)

 

[SanDiego1K]

I encourage you to read the wiki on FlyerTalk about the Alaska Airlines awards on Emirates. It's very informative.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alaska-airlines-mileage-plan/1756872-consolidated-emirates-ek-awards-availability-booking-routing-thread-2016-edition.html

Matt is correct that the fuel surcharge that you found indicates that the space is on BA. That's a way to spend a lot of money. You want to find nonstop space from JFK-DXB on EK . Should you decide to fly NYC-DXB-xxx, be aware that the Alaska rules allow you a free stopover in DXB. Alaska also allows unending changes for free til you get within 60 days of travel. Their rules are very customer friendly, and their agents are very pleasant.

Look at the Emirates route map to get inspiration for where you might travel. We had a great trip to Jordan a year ago. There is a lot to see and do there beyond Petra, which of course is absolutely amazing. Depending on your travel interests, you could go to South Afirca, the Seychelles, Maldives. They have 140 destinations so I can't say the sky is the limit, but there are a lot of choices.

 

[Suzie]

I encourage you to read the wiki on FlyerTalk about the Alaska Airlines awards on Emirates. It's very informative.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alaska-airlines-mileage-plan/1756872-consolidated-emirates-ek-awards-availability-booking-routing-thread-2016-edition.html

Matt is correct that the fuel surcharge that you found indicates that the space is on BA. That's a way to spend a lot of money. You want to find nonstop space from JFK-DXB on EK . Should you decide to fly NYC-DXB-xxx, be aware that the Alaska rules allow you a free stopover in DXB. Alaska also allows unending changes for free til you get within 60 days of travel. Their rules are very customer friendly, and their agents are very pleasant.

Look at the Emirates route map to get inspiration for where you might travel. We had a great trip to Jordan a year ago. There is a lot to see and do there beyond Petra, which of course is absolutely amazing. Depending on your travel interests, you could go to South Afirca, the Seychelles, Maldives. They have 140 destinations so I can't say the sky is the limit, but there are a lot of choices.

Aside - did you do a trip report on Jordan? We are going next Spring and I'd love to hear your thoughts/experiences.

 

[Hanoi IG]

I encourage you to read the wiki on FlyerTalk about the Alaska Airlines awards on Emirates. It's very informative.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alaska-airlines-mileage-plan/1756872-consolidated-emirates-ek-awards-availability-booking-routing-thread-2016-edition.html

Matt is correct that the fuel surcharge that you found indicates that the space is on BA. That's a way to spend a lot of money. You want to find nonstop space from JFK-DXB on EK . Should you decide to fly NYC-DXB-xxx, be aware that the Alaska rules allow you a free stopover in DXB. Alaska also allows unending changes for free til you get within 60 days of travel. Their rules are very customer friendly, and their agents are very pleasant.

Look at the Emirates route map to get inspiration for where you might travel. We had a great trip to Jordan a year ago. There is a lot to see and do there beyond Petra, which of course is absolutely amazing. Depending on your travel interests, you could go to South Afirca, the Seychelles, Maldives. They have 140 destinations so I can't say the sky is the limit, but there are a lot of choices.

 

[Hanoi IG]

Thanks. I don't get it though why do they show BA when I was looking for EK?

 

[SanDiego1K]

Thanks. I don't get it though why do they show BA when I was looking for EK?

BA is also a partner of AS. You can combine AS and BA or you can combine AS and EK.

 

[SanDiego1K]

I've uploaded a screen shot where I looked for 2 business class seats on Emirates in early January. You'll see you can select various choices in the left hand column. I chose nonstop, since I know that Emirates flies nonstop between JFK and DXB. I also chose Emirates only. I only looked at a couple days but found Emirates availability both days.

 

[SanDiego1K]

For my second search, I chose JFK-AMM (Amman, Jordan). Again I chose Emirates only but there is no nonstop option. Thus, I changed that filter. Again, there was availability in business class for 2 people. If you want to stopover in Dubai, you'll need to select a stopover when searching for your award or pay the fee to have an agent build the record.

 

[SanDiego1K]

In my final search, I choose JFK-MLE (Maldives). Note the stopover time for the various onward flights. One of the trips goes via Colombo. Also, note that the points requirements do not increase. I believe this is the "most affordable" points redemptions to the Maldives. AS awards really have terrific value.

 

[Hanoi IG]

Thanks so much. I could pay for a ticket but I enjoy the game and money is still money.

 

[Hanoi IG]

In my final search, I choose JFK-MLE (Maldives). Note the stopover time for the various onward flights. One of the trips goes via Colombo. Also, note that the points requirements do not increase. I believe this is the "most affordable" points redemptions to the Maldives. AS awards really have terrific value.

 

[Hanoi IG]

OK I'm starting to see it. So perhaps for same mileage could book JFK-DXB-CMB with stopover in Dubai? This will be a lot of work I guess especially if I want to go to Morocco since I'd have to go to Dubai first and backtrack

 

[SanDiego1K]

OK I'm starting to see it. So perhaps for same mileage could book JFK-DXB-CMB with stopover in Dubai? This will be a lot of work I guess especially if I want to go to Morocco since I'd have to go to Dubai first and backtrack

Serious question. Why do you see this as a lot of work? I did the searches about in about 5 seconds each. It took me more time to come here and upload and post than it did to search.

Would I fly to Morocco via Dubai? No, I wouldn't. I've flown and will fly Emirates so don't need that experience. I've also been to Dubai. And as you point out it is considerably out of the way. But that really is a decision for you to make. I grabbed a screen shot of the schedule via Dubai to Casablanca and the length of the individual flights.

 

[Hanoi IG]

Serious question. Why do you see this as a lot of work? I did the searches about in about 5 seconds each. It took me more time to come here and upload and post than it did to search.

Would I fly to Morocco via Dubai? No, I wouldn't. I've flown and will fly Emirates so don't need that experience. I've also been to Dubai. And as you point out it is considerably out of the way. But that really is a decision for you to make. I grabbed a screen shot of the schedule via Dubai to Casablanca and the length of the individual flights.

 

[Hanoi IG]

I mean if I want to go to Morocco I can't really fly EK unless I go in the other direction. Thing is a business or first flight is only worth it if it is really long. I like the idea of going back to Sri Lanka which I could do on EK via DXB. We have a friend who is the GM of a hotel in Dubai and my wife wants to go back.

We are old and who knows how much we will be able to travel once one of us becomes infirm. We know we have a few places on bucket list and other than that will just keep going back to Hanoi and Paris and a few other spots.

I'm saying that perhaps Morocco and EK don't really mesh well coming from the East Coast so maybe we should just do Dubai, Sri Lanka and keep going east.

I say it is a lot of work because I have to find out how the flights mesh and then look for availability. I checked and JFK-DXB-CMN is way more expensive than JFK-DBX-CMB not to mention out of the way.

 

[Hanoi IG]

OK I heard JAL or possibly KAL are better deals on EK than
AK but when I go on JAL site it doesn't list EK as a possibility. Do I have to call and speak to agents? I'm trying to build up enough points to transfer and don't want to make a mistake.

 

[Hanoi IG]

OK I heard JAL or possibly KAL are better deals on EK than
AK but when I go on JAL site it doesn't list EK as a possibility. Do I have to call and speak to agents? I'm trying to build up enough points to transfer and don't want to make a mistake.

Also I can't see a way of getting enough JAL miles since it doesn't appear that flexible points can be transferred to JAL.