May 5, 2011
There are so many places I want to go,but getting to some places are not cheap, thanks to frequent flyer/guest programs and great airline alliances, so I can travel to so many places in comfort and cheap.
Back to one month ago, I mentioned my planned trip in May.Now, I’d like to share the process of booking all these awards.
The completed trip will be like this
PVG-FRA-ALA-IST-AMM//AQJ-AMM-JED-DXB-HKG-PVG//PEK-HKG-RUH-AMM-ADD-FRA-LCA//ECN-IST-ALA-DYU-IST-FRA-PVG
all bold cities are places I will enter or at least attempt to enter.
Confusing? 
because they are 5 separate tickets using 3 different airlines miles, so let’s me break them one by one. All award search was done by kvstool
First part and last part, PVG-FRA-ALA//DYU-IST-MUC-PVG, Lufthansa A346 and A 330 First Class, Turkish Air B737 business class and Air China A340 First Class, Using US airways , taxes amount 100+ 50 processing fee. It only took 2 phone calls to get this ticket issued because first agent refused to let me backtracking. I did not have option to try any other airlines first class product on the way back because flight from DYU-IST only operates 2 times per week, Monday and Wednesday, and I needed to find a way connect back to China same day. Also, DYU-IST was the segment I booked as Economy and just moved to Business last week
Then I used BMI miles for ALA-IST-AMM(stopover)-ADD on Turkish Airways B737 Business and BMI A321 Business class. This was a easy one, 1 simple phone call finished booking。BD flight only had economy left, but since I am Gold member, revenue management released business award seat for me. Never been to Africa, always want to be there. Although days spend in ADD(Addis Ababa) will be very short, I don’t want waste a free stopover when using BMI one way award. Tax amount was very strange, I checked with ITA first with Point of Sale Boston, the taxes and fuel were not too high, but when I called to book the ticket, taxes and fuel were a lot higher than I checked. Then I went back to ITA again with POS London, exactly same kinds taxes line by line, but currency was UK AND amount was higher. I knew POS can affect the fare price, but I didn’t how this affected taxes amount. Total taxes include Cash + miles copay were 300+USD
Originally, I planed to tour around Jordan, Syria and Lebanon for around 3 weeks, but now Syria is not stable, so I decided to go back to home in middle of the trip. From middle east to China, the cheapest option of using miles was American Airline, but unlike above tickets, this one took me some checking and calling. I will travel in a single direction in Jordan, which means I will start from Amman and finish in Aqaba. When I called AA to book from AQJ-AMM-JED-HKG-PVG, flight AQJ-AMM was priced in addition to normal Middle East to Asia 2 business class. The explanation I got was there was no published fare btw AQJ-PVG. I then tried something like AMM-BAH-BKK-HKG-PVG and more such as via BOM, DEL, KUL, all came back with same result, 3 segments, correct pricing, 4 segments, miles increase. I mentioned before there are many restrictions with AA, so nothing to argue about it, move on. I eventually settled with AMM-JED-DXB(through flight)-HKG-SHA on Royal Jordanian A320 and Cathay Pacific A330 business class, but too bad, it’s regional A330.6 hours layover in JED, hopefully, I can get a transit pass to exit the immigration. As for AQJ-AMM, I bought a one way from AQJ-AMM for $75 on Royal Jordanian. Taxes were only 30+USD.
Return from China to continue my trip also used AA miles PEK-HKG-RUH-AMM on Dragon Air A330 and Cathay Pacific A330 business class regional and Royal Jordanian A320 in Economy. From Riyadh to Amman there was no way to get business class award(I did some checking) . Unlike above flight, I added a exactly 24 hours connection in Hong Kong and 17.5 hours connections in Riyadh. I picked Riyadh because of final arrival time in Amman to connect to ADD on the same day on BMI flight was perfect. All other options including Bahrain, Delhi, Mumbai and Dubai were not working either because of finally arrival time in Amman or India visa issue. I knew I should try different airlines, but for this one, I just had to stuck with Cathay. Total taxes for these flights were also only 30+ USD
The final part: ADD-FRA-LCA//ECN-IST-ALA on Lufthansa A340-300 and A321 business class and Turkish airline B737 business class using BMI miles. This was an interesting part. Again, I don’t want to waste BMI miles one way stopover, but not too many options. I did not want stopover in Egypt, could not stopover in Europe according to BMI redemption rules, holding PRC passport, so need to find a country visa free and there was no *A flight from ADD continued to Southern Africa until Ethiopia airline joins *A. With so many restrictions, I decided Cyprus, which still part of Europe, but I did not think BMI agent had knowledge where it located. Then my friend suggested me to try to make agent believde Larnaca and Ercan airport were co-terminals. My luck was very good, first agent believed me LCA and ECN were co-terminals and she had no idea where the Cyprus was, so ticket issued, total taxes were 400+USD including cash portion for C+M.
let’s recap here:
US Airways for PVG-FRA-ALA//DYU-IST-MUC-PVG, Lufthansa A346 and A 330 First Class, Turkish Air B737 business class and Air China A340 First Class
BMI miles for ALA-IST-AMM(stopover)-ADD and ADD-FRA-LCA//ECN-IST-ALA, Turkish Airw ays B737 Business, BMI A321 Business class and Lufthansa A340-300 and A321 business class
AA miles for AMM-JED-HKG-PVG and PEK-HKG-RUH-AMM Dragon Air A330 and Cathay Pacific A330 business class regional and Royal Jordanian A320 in business and Economy
Cash paid for ALA-DYU on Air Astana and AQJ-AMM on Royal Jordain
Total miles used for all tickets: 115,000
Now, let’s go to hotel part, fairly easy and straightforward
Almaty: Hyatt just rebrand to different hotel, so I still have not decided where to stay yet
Amman: Le Meridien, C+P
Petra: Marriott, Cat 1-4 certificate
Riyadh: Marriott, Cat 1-4 certificate
Nicosia: Hilton, standard award redemption
Dushanbe: Hyatt, stay certificate, Classic level.
I hope I did not make you guys fall in sleep while reading!
Posted by Troy under 2011 Trip, Africa, American Airlines, Asia(Including Central Asia and Middle East), Award redemption, BMI Diamond Club, Hilton, Hyatt Gold Passport, Marriott, Starwood Hotels, US airways |
May 2, 2011
Transfer your hotel points to US airways btw May 1st to May 31st, you will earn UP to 75% bonus miles.
the base bonus amount are 25%, then if you are preferred member, another 25%, then you have US airways credit card or debit card, another extra 25%.
You must register before transfer
Posted by Troy under US airways |
April 29, 2011
I had an first class award ticket issued by us airways few months ago, but one 2000+ miles segment was in economy class. I kept checking back once a while until today, 1 seat finally opened in business on 2 cabin AC, so I called to make the change. As Gray mentioned many times,if you are lucky, they don’t charge this fee for just changing the class of service for part of reservation if miles originally pulled at higher level.
First 4 calls got “sure, but there will be $150 change fee to reissue the ticket”
5th call, I got “Let me just reissue the ticket, you are good to go”
My luck is not too bad today!
Posted by Troy under US airways |
April 25, 2011
They are all technical related!! I don’t expect them to get fixed anytime sooner
I was trying to use US airways miles for flight fron HND/NRT-HNL on Air Japan, wholly owned by ANA, CO could see them and I used UA to book them before, but when I called US airways, they just could not see the flight at all. Unlike United*Net blocking, which they can see the flight, but just not available for awards, if you can eventually find an agent to do the long sale, it can be done. With US airways and Air Japan, I couldn’t even find an agent to see the flight at all! 20+ calls
In addition, I was trying to use CO miles for Intra Asia award flights online, I need 6 business class seats, but only 1 and half months left before new award level applies, I need to book first 2 ASAP, so I can have enough time for them to release another 4.Again, technical issue. I thought it was related to credit card, but same error message showed when I selected paypal. I tried to call, but the wait time was greater than 30 minutes++
it was just a bad week to redeem awards!
Update: finally, CO agent was able to figure out problem after checking every detail of my acct history.
1 I should not select infant with seat, do it as child
2 I should not add any FFP number besides CO for award ticket.
Posted by Troy under Continental Airline, US airways |
February 16, 2011
Gary has already mentioned every deal about this offer, I am not going to go over again, all I want to say is “There is no need to fly with them to get miles”
Posted by Troy under US airways |
February 12, 2011
After selling their redeemable miles for 1 year, they are now selling Elite Qualifying miles.
You can buy up to Chairman preferred level now
Preferred miles needed
|
Preferred segments needed
|
Buy up to Preferred fee*
|
| 1 – 1,999 |
1 – 2 |
$249 |
| 2,000 – 4,999 |
3 – 6 |
$399 |
| 5,000 – 9,999 |
7 – 11 |
$579 |
| 10,000 – 14,999 |
12 – 18 |
$789 |
| 15,000 – 24,999 |
19 – 29 |
$989 |
| 25,000 – 49,999 |
30 – 59 |
$1,299 |
| 50,000 – 74,999 |
60 – 89 |
$2,199 |
| 75,000 – 99,999 |
90 – 119 |
$2,999 |
| 100,000 |
120 |
$3,999 |
Posted by Troy under US airways |
February 9, 2011
We all know that Delta award pricing are fully computerized, computer will automatically calculate number of miles required based on origin, destination and routing. How about other airlines?
Based on my experience, American Airline is another airline using similar system. Last year, I tried to book award PVG-NRT-PPT, which was the most direct routing and it’s published routing. However the AA system calculated as 2 awards Asia 2-Asia 1+Asia 1+South Pacific. I guess it’s because I routed via higher zone. Then, I tried PVG-HKG-AKL-PPT, this time it calculated as Asia 2-South Pacific, then within South Pacific.
After some disscusion on FT, I tried PVG-HKG-SYD-AKL-PPT, this time was told only 1 award Asia 2-South Pacific.
I also tried above trip by adding PPT-IPC, now it counted as 2 award again.Every time, I was trying to argue with agent, rate desk, supervisor, all they told was “sorry, computer does the job, we only put flight together”
Just yesterday, I saw a post on FT, someone redeemed LAX-PPT-AKL on TN with no stopovers, the computer counted as two awards again. So Delta is not the only one, AA does the same except much better domestic award availability than Delta.
How about US, UA and CO?
Again, based on my experience, their system doesn’t calculate amount of miles automatically based on city or routing. There should be a place for agent to put in region, then computer calculating required miles based the agents’ input. That’s why we all heard many crazy routing when using US or CO miles, even UA.
update: Gary confirmed that CO is fully computerized, I am surprised to see they did not program the routing restrictions.
Posted by Troy under American Airlines, Award redemption, Continental Airline, Delta, Star Alliance, United Airlines, US airways |
January 28, 2011
I know there will be a JW open in Maldives in Oct 2010, but never paid attetion. Today, a friend mentioned this hotel to me again because it pre set as a Cat 5 hotel, which requires only 100,000 points for 5 nights, or if you have lots of Marriott points, you can do travel package, which requires 270,000 points for 120,000 miles +7 nights at this property. If you are doing travel package, US airways and Delta are best option because 120K miles can get you 1 business seat to Central Asia(including Maldives or Sri Lanka) consider business class on SQ from SIN is extremely hard to be found, fly all the way to Sri Lanka, then buy a cheap economy fare to Male is the best option.
Delta also has partner serve to MLE, but you need some creativity. award level is 120K per person in business class
you don’t get free Breakfast as Marriott Elite at resorts, but some Asia resorts do offer free breakfast to Gold or Platinum.
Personally, I think Maldives is not worth a trip all the way from US and I will be surprised to see the hotel stay at Cat 5 for more than 1 year
Posted by Troy under Delta, Marriott, US airways |
January 27, 2011
View from the wing talked about award from US to OZ/NZ, Tahiti and Maldive, I want to add a little bit my own advice.
The easiest program to go to OZ/NZ are CO/US because both programs allow routing via Asia and Thai airways have plenty of seats to these areas.
AA is a little bit limited because of routing on Qantas or Air Tahiti or Air Pacific via Nadi, seats are limited。 however, if you want to pay some extra miles, you can use AA one world redemption, which can be route via Asia, but award are distance based
Delta also permits routing via Asia, have you thought about using China Southern, china Eastern, China Airline, Malaysia airline, also Air Tahiti routing via NRT to PPT, Tahiti? let’s ignore Korean Air because you can not find 2 seats in business class across Pacific at same time, Delta blocks the seat(like *net blocking)
As for Maldive, Male, the easiest way to get there is to Sri Lanka, Colombo, then buy a cheap ticket to Male, Colombo is partner Central Asia for most programs. Personally, I don’t think Male is worth a trip all the way from US.
Posted by Troy under American Airlines, Award redemption, Continental Airline, Delta, General Frequent Flyer Advice, United Airlines, US airways |
January 14, 2011
As you may already know, unlike other frequent flyer programs in other countries, most programs of North American airlines don’t charge fuel surcharge when you redeem miles for awards, but there are few exceptions, they don’t pay these fuel charge to the operating airlines, they keep in their pocket as their own revenue.
1 United, Continental, US airways don’t charge fuel surchage on any airlines to anywhere
2 Air Canada collects fuel surcharge only on their own metal
3 American airlines collects fuel surcharge on British Airways redemption, but they made public announcement about it.
4 Delta is a “special” one, they try to figure out way to make money in every possible way and they do collect fuel for many airlines, here are list at my knowledge
- Delta, Alaska, Airfrance, Aitalia, KLM and Korean Airline, aeromexico, air Europa, kingfisher and jet airways no fuel charge
- Aeroflot, China Eastern, China Southern, V Australia Airlines, China airlines, Tarom Airlines, Vietnam airlines, Air Tahiti, Malaysia airlines all collects fuel charges, so that make economy class redemption on those flights using delta miles no longer worth it.(except China domestic, fuel very low)
- Avianca, Czech airlines, Kenya Airways and Hawaii airlines, no experience, but I think they don’t collect for Kenya and Czech because they were old member of Skyteam
The most interesting part about Air Tahiti was, I have an award on 2 of their flights from NRT-PPT-AKL, then return with Korean air, total taxes was $100 USD, but the ticket was issued back in September of last year. Back in December and this month, I also issued several Air Tahiti flight from CDG-LAX, but fuel was collected, I thought the charge was by route. Today, I called in to modify my tickets issued in September by 1 day and was told to pay $330 per person in taxes. they check for me, YQ was showed, which means DL just added YQ for Air Tahiti not too long ago.
The good thing for me was I can change my flight after I flew all Air Tahiti segments, but for any new reservations with airlines charge fuel, economy class redemption are not really worth it.
Posted by Troy under American Airlines, Award redemption, Continental Airline, Delta, United Airlines, US airways |
December 2, 2010
I just redeemed 2 awards in business class to Europe on Us airways using their off peak business class award, total 120K+369 in taxes. amazingly cheap.
In addition, I guess because of US airways MasterCard, award was future reduced by 10K+ $100, so total 110K miles for 2 people.
I know this off peak award long time ago, but never had chances to try one and always thought US airways flight seats are very limited. I guess it’s better than what I thought, seats are not too hard to be found!
Posted by Troy under Award redemption, US airways |
