Ask
I get a stream of travel questions in my email, which I’m happy to help answer. Sometimes I get questions posted as comments on unrelated posts. Those are generally more difficult to deal with, in that replying as a comment is off topic for the post and if I don’t have an email address I can’t respond privately.
Email is my preferred medium for dealing with travel questions, but copying the idea from One Mile at a Time, I’m also happy for questions to be asked as comments on this page.
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Ranga said,
Hi,
I am an avid follower of your blog and your trip reports on FT & AFF (somebol). I have a couple of questions about AirNZ… I am looking at redeeming 2 J seats using BMI points akl-hkg the dates I am after is 5/3 or 6/3. atm there is nil availability is there any chance anz will release more awards closer to the date?
Cheers,
Ranga
The Global Traveller said,
Hi and thanks for the support, @Ranga
Your odds do not look good at the moment. Using availability tools I see that only the highest paid booking class is available on both dates. From the Air NZ website I also see there are only 3 paid business class seats available for sale.
If you are a gambler you could keep checking back in case seats become available on your preferred dates, but in my view the chances of getting 2 award seats is very slim. Especially when you factor in that they would need to be released early enough so that you could get the bmi award (re)ticketed.
I also checked for you other dates in early March. Most flights are full in business class with between 0 and 3 seats available for sale. The flight on 9 March looks promising – no award seats currently available but the load in business class is light so some should be released at some point.
Ranga said,
kiwi,
do you post your scheduled flights anywhere? would love to catch up with you for a cup of coffee if our paths ever cross.
Ryan said,
i dont prefer to use the services of any one air line, hotel chain or rental car agency. i beleive it is better to stick to as few loyalty programs as possible. is this correct? the problem is there are too many programs to keep track of especially the expiry dates of the miles. is there a quick way of being sent a reminder when miles of a certain program are going to expire? another problem is there are too many cards to carry. any suggestions on that?
i dont prefer to use the services of any one air line, hotel chain or rental car agency. i beleive it is better to stick to as few loyalty programs as possible. is this correct? the problem is there are too many programs to keep track of especially the expiry dates of the miles. is there a quick way of being sent a reminder when miles of a certain program are going to expire? another problem is there are too many cards to carry. any suggestions on that?
The Global Traveller said,
For relatively infrequent travellers it is a good idea to stick to one frequent flyer program and one hotel program, as much as possible. This ensures you get maximum status benefits, if you fly enough to qualify for elite frequent flyer status; and also ensures you collect enough miles to be usable instead of having small amounts scattered across many programs which are then too small to redeem.
You can use software such as Award Planner to keep track of your account balances and expiry dates for free (some services have a fee).
Adrian said,
I am unclear on what “Minimum miles” refers to. Is it the minimum needed to get credit? Or is it the minimum that will be credited per segment? I have a couple of Economy flights coming up and am not sure it’s worth crediting to Aegean at 50%. However, I have some short segments that are less than 500 miles so if that’s the minimum that they credit I may use Aegean for those. Thanks!
The Global Traveller said,
It is a minimum amount that will be credited per flight, although care is needed in interpreting. Aegean minimum miles, are on flights with selected airlines only, and vary by booking class (higher minimums for full fares than for cheap fares and also higher for first & business than for economy). Crediting flights on some airlines does not attract a minimum mileage – eg even the most expensive booking class on Air New Zealand will earn only about 50 miles for a Wellington to Blenheim flight.
Whereas for most frequent flyer programs with a minimum mileage earning, this is an absolute number (eg 500 miles) but may have eligibility requirements (eg only applies if you have elite status).
Check out the Aegean earning table for more information.
dcutcher said,
When I look for reviews of pax who have flown–admittedly in various cabins, so fair comparison is not really possible–almsot ALL berate their carrier EXCEPT thos reporting flights on Qantas. Are Oz pax more easily pleased or is there something special about the way Qantas treats its pax?
Rhonda fawson said,
Can I use my advantage points to purchase a flight for my spouse?
The Global Traveller said,
Yes. AAdvantage awards can be used to book flights for other travellers, provided you are not trading in awards or miles.
Charlie said,
Hi, I’d like to ask about which airline use A380 fly from narita to bangkok? And price for ticket. Thank you
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