Looking ahead to trip in Asia in the end of 2016

[sungchiahao]

Home in PHX, destination list flexible, but needs to include TPE. Stopover is probably good.
When I just put PHX to TPE, I am not getting any award results. I think it is because the engine doesn't like non-direct flights.
Planning a 4 week vacation in Asia in the second half of 2016.
Ok with flying coach with 2 person. Or flying first with 1 person.

UR:50k
MR:1k
TYP: 63K
SPG: 33K
Alaska: 52K
AA: 53K
BA:37k

Thank you,

 

[Matt]

Ok with flying coach with 2 person. Or flying first with 1 person.

So you're saying if we find you F tickets you're just going to drop that other guy? That's cold...

 

[stellar]

try Alaska miles on the outbound. They allow for a stopover. Maybe you can use Cathay Pacific stopping in Hong Kong on the way to TPE. business class on Cathay using Alaska miles is only 50 K.

55k in AA can get you home routing through Tokyo to an AA gateway like ORD or DFW.

Home in PHX, destination list flexible, but needs to include TPE. Stopover is probably good.
When I just put PHX to TPE, I am not getting any award results. I think it is because the engine doesn't like non-direct flights.
Planning a 4 week vacation in Asia in the second half of 2016.
Ok with flying coach with 2 person. Or flying first with 1 person.

UR:50k
MR:1k
TYP: 63K
SPG: 33K
Alaska: 52K
AA: 53K
BA:37k

Thank you,

 

[Matt]

Some more observations

You are skewing towards OW.. AS, AA, BA, SPG lend themselves that way.. TPE is naturally lended towards EVA air, and that is *A... stopovers lend themselves towards *A Also.. but you are light there.

I think the solution may be something like Cathay on OW to HKG.. from there hopping around to the various stops on your journey.. its not ideal, because you'd do better with more *A pts to have stopovers and openjaws...

Can you find seats on OW routes such as Cathay, or wherever else you consider to be Asia?

 

[sungchiahao]

So you're saying if we find you F tickets you're just going to drop that other guy? That's cold...

I'll tell the other guy to get his own points! These are pretty much all from CC signup bonuses.

 

[smittytabb]

I flew Cathay from HK to TPE. Flew to Tokyo on AA. Doable with OW.

 

[sungchiahao]

Some more observations

You are skewing towards OW.. AS, AA, BA, SPG lend themselves that way.. TPE is naturally lended towards EVA air, and that is *A... stopovers lend themselves towards *A Also.. but you are light there.

I think the solution may be something like Cathay on OW to HKG.. from there hopping around to the various stops on your journey.. its not ideal, because you'd do better with more *A pts to have stopovers and openjaws...

Can you find seats on OW routes such as Cathay, or wherever else you consider to be Asia?

I'm not sure what you mean there. Are you saying I should look for EVA air points? I have a target offer for United 50K that can book EVA air.

 

[Matt]

I'm not sure what you mean there. Are you saying I should look for EVA air points? I have a target offer for United 50K that can book EVA air.

Yep, using UA on EVA is a natural choice, I was just saying that you don't have many based on the balances you presented. Note that I've never used them to fly EVA so I don't know how they are for space, but a quick glance shows a non stop from LA. The advantage should be the stopovers/open jaws with that program, so you could create a solid foundation of your trip by leveraging those rules.

 

[TheBOSman]

Yep, using UA on EVA is a natural choice, I was just saying that you don't have many based on the balances you presented. Note that I've never used them to fly EVA so I don't know how they are for space, but a quick glance shows a non stop from LA. The advantage should be the stopovers/open jaws with that program, so you could create a solid foundation of your trip by leveraging those rules.

EVA can be difficult to find far in advance, especially for business. Not impossible, but difficult.

 

[sungchiahao]

The 2016 AA devaluation sucks for future US -> TPE travel on first class. I'm going to burn those AA miles now on the 1st class redemption (67500 miles 1 way). Current route I see is PHX-(SFO, LAX,etc)-HKE-TPE with AA and CX.

a few question:

• Would I only allowed stopover at SFO, LAX, etc? And cannot stopover at HKE?
• How flexible is award tickets on AA? Would I be able to change the cabin from business to first for no extra $$, even if the routing and the travel date is different, given PHX and TPE stays the same? I am hoping to find 1st class tickets before March 22, 2016
• Is the best search for CX first class award using BA.com?

What other First class experience would people recommend from US to Asia? I am thinking Singapore? If I cannot find the return flight, I would look into Singapore First class. What is the best currency to book Singapore?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Matt]

The 2016 AA devaluation sucks for future US -> TPE travel on first class. I'm going to burn those AA miles now on the 1st class redemption (67500 miles 1 way). Current route I see is PHX-(SFO, LAX,etc)-HKE-TPE with AA and CX.

a few question:

• Would I only allowed stopover at SFO, LAX, etc? And cannot stopover at HKE?
• How flexible is award tickets on AA? Would I be able to change the cabin from business to first for no extra $$, even if the routing and the travel date is different, given PHX and TPE stays the same? I am hoping to find 1st class tickets before March 22, 2016
• Is the best search for CX first class award using BA.com?

What other First class experience would people recommend from US to Asia? I am thinking Singapore? If I cannot find the return flight, I would look into Singapore First class. What is the best currency to book Singapore?

Thanks for the help.

I may be wrong, but as I understsand it:

• You can't stopover on AA, anywhere.
• You'll pay a fee on AA for changing dates, but not cabin or route IIRC... but there may be some nuance involving a partner that I forget right now which impacts changing cabins also.
• I use BA.com for it, but I've never flown them either!

 

[dukerau]

I may be wrong, but as I understsand it:

• You can't stopover on AA, anywhere.
• You'll pay a fee on AA for changing dates, but not cabin or route IIRC... but there may be some nuance involving a partner that I forget right now which impacts changing cabins also.
• I use BA.com for it, but I've never flown them either!

Correct on stopovers - AA allows none. However, on change fees, AA doesn't collect fees for changing dates, routes, or carriers. They DO charge fees for change in origin or destination airport or for cabin change. There is an exception for going up in cabin class, as that's allowed without fee. Not sure if that's codified or a near-100% "exception."

I search for CX using a combination of BA and QF websites. QF has a better calendar view, so if I'm really flexible I'll use that to see which dates have J/F availability. There are usually few and scattered, particularly for F, so it's easier to capture the possibilities with QF calendar view. Then you need to dive into each date because QF is weak in that it (a) has partners that AA doesn't, e.g., Emirates; (b) will show J/F availability as long as at least one leg is available in J/F, even if the over-water leg is in a lower class; and (c) allows more liberal routing with AA, i.e., US-HKG via Europe. Once I get all of the dates that Qantas shows availability for that are acceptable to me, I use BA's website to look at that date to see if it's "true" availability, as in legal AA routing, not on Emirates, and premium class for the over-water leg. Often, nearly all of the dates that showed on Qantas are one of these disqualifiers. But I find this method much better than searching day-by-day through BA's tab view, especially if you're spanning multiple months. If your target travel window is a week or two, BA is superior as you can easily tab through all your possibilities quickly.

 

[Matt]

Correct on stopovers - AA allows none. However, on change fees, AA doesn't collect fees for changing dates, routes, or carriers. They DO charge fees for change in origin or destination airport or for cabin change. There is an exception for going up in cabin class, as that's allowed without fee. Not sure if that's codified or a near-100% "exception."

Yeah I only ever go up- who downgrades?! Thanks for clarifying, I should have remembered the date thing, clearly haven't been booking enough recently

 

[sungchiahao]

Correct on stopovers - AA allows none. However, on change fees, AA doesn't collect fees for changing dates, routes, or carriers. They DO charge fees for change in origin or destination airport or for cabin change. There is an exception for going up in cabin class, as that's allowed without fee. Not sure if that's codified or a near-100% "exception."

I search for CX using a combination of BA and QF websites. QF has a better calendar view, so if I'm really flexible I'll use that to see which dates have J/F availability. There are usually few and scattered, particularly for F, so it's easier to capture the possibilities with QF calendar view. Then you need to dive into each date because QF is weak in that it (a) has partners that AA doesn't, e.g., Emirates; (b) will show J/F availability as long as at least one leg is available in J/F, even if the over-water leg is in a lower class; and (c) allows more liberal routing with AA, i.e., US-HKG via Europe. Once I get all of the dates that Qantas shows availability for that are acceptable to me, I use BA's website to look at that date to see if it's "true" availability, as in legal AA routing, not on Emirates, and premium class for the over-water leg. Often, nearly all of the dates that showed on Qantas are one of these disqualifiers. But I find this method much better than searching day-by-day through BA's tab view, especially if you're spanning multiple months. If your target travel window is a week or two, BA is superior as you can easily tab through all your possibilities quickly.

Ok Thanks! Time to sign up for QF. Is QF's search able to handle multiple segments? BA won't return anything if I just put PHX-TPE, so I have to search segment by segment.

 

[dukerau]

Ok Thanks! Time to sign up for QF. Is QF's search able to handle multiple segments? BA won't return anything if I just put PHX-TPE, so I have to search segment by segment.

QF definitely returns multi-segment results, but I haven't tested it to confirm it captures all results. I have seen phantom availability with connections, as in BOS-HKG has no availability, but when I search JFK-HKG it says there are seats via BOS (and there aren't). I always search by segment, using QF for only the over-water segment (CX flies to HKG from LAX, SFO, YVR, and ORD, plus NYC, BOS, and YYZ but I assume you'll want to avoid those).

 

[sungchiahao]

After 2 or 3 calls to AA.com, I finally got one F ticket on hold (PHX-SFO-HKG-TPE). I'm excited for my 1st CX F award ticket. It seems like some AA agents are better at finding awards than others. Not sure how that happens if they all use the same system... Some awards on QF can't be booked by AA, and some could... Any helpful trip experiences or tips for fully enjoying CX First is greatly appreciated. Do I get First Lounge access? Are lounges open 24 hrs? Thanks!