Emergency vacation plans

El Ingeniero

Level 2 Member
Had a nice trip to SE Asia planned, but throwing that out the window because DW wants to go to school this fall.

Her school starts 8/24, and I can't roll over any vacation time until next year, so I am SOL unless I can figure out something for end of July start of August.

I know this is open ended, but I thought I'd throw this out there and see what people know about.

1. What route are you looking for? Asia. Oceania. Maybe Africa. Not EU or former Soviet Union.

2. What dates do you want to travel (mention how flexible you are)? 2.5 weeks. Must end by 8/17. Can't start before 2nd Friday in July.

3. Do you want to fly first, business, or coach? (maybe also "are you willing to fly coach for a positioning flight") Biz or 1st. Willing to fly coach on positioning trips within the lower 48.

4. How many passengers? 2

5. How many points do you have, in which programs?

440K AA miles if I cancel my existing trip
120K UA miles if I cancel my existing trip
100K Hyatt
80K Starwood
155K UR including points that haven't posted yet.
Met min spend on Hilton Surpass 80K and Citi Hilton Signature Visa 60K offers, plus another 60K+Hilton points that haven't posted yet this month.
65K Alaska, plus have 3 25K offers to meet min spend on.
 

Daniel

#hackingtheplane(t)
Where are you based? I'm assuming the reason for canceling SE asia was b/c the timing isn't working out, since obviously that's the easiest place your miles can take you. If you really wanted Oceania, you'd probably have to do something like US -> [japan/korea] -> singapore -> oceania.
 

El Ingeniero

Level 2 Member
Where are you based? I'm assuming the reason for canceling SE asia was b/c the timing isn't working out, since obviously that's the easiest place your miles can take you. If you really wanted Oceania, you'd probably have to do something like US -> [japan/korea] -> singapore -> oceania.
Cancelling SE Asia because her teachers would flunk her for taking 3 weeks off in the middle of the semester. Her classes are 8/24 to 12/19.

An additional wrinkle is that her interview for her 10 year green card is coming up but hasn't been set yet.

Mostly I would just like to know where the availability is. I'd go almost anywhere, bonus points for places where they don't use the Latin alphabet.
 

italdesign

Level 2 Member
AA miles are great for SE Asia, between CX and MH (JL too). I've never not found F or J a few months in advance (for one pax), though you are getting dangerously close. Last minute (within 2 weeks) availability is phenomenal. Find something acceptable now, book it, and change to something better in the last 2 weeks (keep origin and destination the same to avoid change fee).

It's also great for Oceania, though you are usually stuck with Hawaiian Air, where recliner J is the norm (it's a very nice recliner, but still a recliner). But availability is great and got me to Australia for Xmas. Fiji via FJ is also possible, as are other islands HA flies to.
 
Last edited:

El Ingeniero

Level 2 Member
DW wants to go visit her mom in China, who's doing poorly these days. Everything is truly up in the air right now.
Qantas site is close to unusable. Keeps breaking on me. I found LAX-HNL-HND flying AA/HA on 8/5, but who wants to fly domestic.

BA Explorer tool doesn't work on any computer I can access.

So frustrated right now. I'm riding the edge of burnout all the time, no way to last until next summer.
 
Top