Trying to Meet a Friend

[Air Land and Sea]

The itinerary is all set and I'm trying to meet up with a friend and get as close to the travel plans that are in place as possible. I would fly out of IAD. I'd like to do this:

IAD - DOH on 3/28 or 3/29
DOH - MLE on 3/31. Friend is on Qatar 674
MLE - SIN on 4/3 Friend is on SQ 461
and either SIN - HKG on SQ 860 OR 4/6 SIN to IAD
If I do go to HKG, then my return could be back to IAD on either 4/9, 4/10 or 4/11

I have 235,000 UR
12,752 United
342,068 AA
10,344 Delta
77,595 Alaska
88,459 SPG
68,994 Thank You

Ideally, I would love to do it in Business. Do you think this trip is possible?

 

[SanDiego1K]

Here's how I work on trips such as yours. I go to flights.google.com and put in the city pairs. I see what alliance they are. I then check for award availability. I set up an online scratch pad and keep notes.

In looking at your points balances, I'd ignore Delta. You've got nice balances elsewhere. You can move UR points into United should UA prove to have flights of interest. You can move SPG into Alaska, should AS have flights of interest. I've recently done so. Move it 20K at a time so that it picks up the 5K bonus going over. SPG generally moves into AS overnight.

Other tips:
You have a nice chunk of UR points. You can move any amount you want near instantaneously into United. Find award seats before you move any points.
UA does not allow layovers unless you are doing a roundtrip. AS allows unlimited layovers. AA does not allow layovers.
If you use AS, you need to learn their partner charts. They only allow AS plus the one partner. So, for instance, should you want to fly IAD-DOH-MLE, you'd need to find a partner that connects in Doha. I don't think they have one.
You can of course put together your entire trip with one way awards.

I only went as far as looking at IAD-DOH. There is a business class seat on LH that leaves IAD on March 28 and arrives in Doha on March 29. It has a 5 1/2 hour layover in FRA. It costs 80K UA miles plus $40.65. I didn't look at using AA miles for an Etihad award. That's another possibility.

Be aware that UA does not show SQ availability. You'd need to call to check on that.

You can look for a CX award from SIN to IAD or HKG to IAD using AA miles. That would be nice.

Come back and report how far you get. I'll be happy to try to help with bits and pieces as you need.

 

[Air Land and Sea]

Thanks

Here's how I work on trips such as yours. I go to flights.google.com and put in the city pairs. I see what alliance they are. I then check for award availability. I set up an online scratch pad and keep notes.

In looking at your points balances, I'd ignore Delta. You've got nice balances elsewhere. You can move UR points into United should UA prove to have flights of interest. You can move SPG into Alaska, should AS have flights of interest. I've recently done so. Move it 20K at a time so that it picks up the 5K bonus going over. SPG generally moves into AS overnight.

Other tips:
You have a nice chunk of UR points. You can move any amount you want near instantaneously into United. Find award seats before you move any points.
UA does not allow layovers unless you are doing a roundtrip. AS allows unlimited layovers. AA does not allow layovers.
If you use AS, you need to learn their partner charts. They only allow AS plus the one partner. So, for instance, should you want to fly IAD-DOH-MLE, you'd need to find a partner that connects in Doha. I don't think they have one.
You can of course put together your entire trip with one way awards.

I only went as far as looking at IAD-DOH. There is a business class seat on LH that leaves IAD on March 28 and arrives in Doha on March 29. It has a 5 1/2 hour layover in FRA. It costs 80K UA miles plus $40.65. I didn't look at using AA miles for an Etihad award. That's another possibility.

Be aware that UA does not show SQ availability. You'd need to call to check on that.

You can look for a CX award from SIN to IAD or HKG to IAD using AA miles. That would be nice.

Come back and report how far you get. I'll be happy to try to help with bits and pieces as you need.

Thanks San Diego for your helpful suggestions. Sometimes I find it overwhelming and need to take it one step at a time.