Long Haul Business Class for under $2K (Long Post)

[SlowlyMan]

19 minutes ago, Little Evil said:

I just cancelled my Feb trip. Uncertain about the current state of affairs and my trip is too short to jump through any hoops. My short trips (2 weeks or under) might be a thing of the past for the foreseeable future. I think this is the third cancellation I've made throughout all of this. Sucks too, because I was going to finally try those new Qatar Q suites. 

Tried to reschedule for later this year, but noticed point values or pricing has gone through the roof on my legs, or they tried to switch one long leg out with coach. F-that. Will just get a refund and plan again.

Ended up going to CR last time. Fun for a while, but not nearly the same. Sorry I don't have anything positive to add, but I needed to vent this out with people who understand the struggle. 

I'm right there with you. I canceled my Q-Suite trip as well. Planning now for 2023

[Luv2Phuket]

Having to cancel an itinerary that was 4 legs in Q Suites for around $2400 RT was a HUGE disappointment for me last year.

I took a refund, because I doubt that I will EVER see fares that low again.

[Luv2Phuket]

On the subject of airlines, I had a loooooong call with Singapore Airlines yesterday.

I realized my itinerary (LAS-SFO-SIN-HKT) did NOT give me a very long cushion in SFO - barely over 2 hours. Ordinarily, that's fine, but I am on a VTL flight and they take forever to check paperwork at the desk. Honestly, I want to be at the check in counter at least 2 1/2 hours before the flight.

I wanted to move to an earlier Alaska flight into SFO, but hey hgad zero options codeshare-wise.

In the end, she told me she could drop the LAS-SFO leg and I could rebook it separately....for about $250 in fees! Yikes!

After pleading with her for a while, she cancelled my itinerary out, gave me a full refund (no $200 fee) AND refunded the $133 solo seat charge (so I was out nothing), and I rebooked SFO-SIN-HKTfor a little less. 

I then booked a separate Alaska flight into SFO. It gets in ABSURDLY early, BUT it allows to take a conference call in the airport that I otherwise would have missed.

My only problem now is my seat assignment sucks and Alaska's website will NOT allow me to book the seats reserved for oneworld Sapphire and above customers. I was on hold for 3 1/2 hours....until they just disconnected me! 555

[Clem Fandango]

Flying KLM from Aberdeen via Amsterdam 7th May Buisness class £1910. Quick question never went through Schiphol in all my years. Is 1hr 20 mins enough?? Heard people say it’s a big airport.  

[Abracadabra]

24 minutes ago, Clem Fandango said:

Flying KLM from Aberdeen via Amsterdam 7th May Buisness class £1910. Quick question never went through Schiphol in all my years. Is 1hr 20 mins enough?? Heard people say it’s a big airport.  

Schiphol is a big airport but as Scotland is non-Schengen now you are likely to land and depart on/from terminal B or C (gates C-G). Those distances are walkable in 10 to 15 minutes. The transit area on Schiphol I never use as I live in Amsterdam so I only depart or arrive at Schiphol but from what I've heard times range from 5 to 15 minutes. Unless your departure from Aberdeen is seriously delayed you should be fine.

Funny as I am flying on May 7th as well, but with Etihad. Booked their Business Class, or what they call Business Studio's for 1700 Euro's. 

Edited January 22, 2022 by Abracadabra

[Clem Fandango]

2 hours ago, Abracadabra said:

Schiphol is a big airport but as Scotland is non-Schengen now you are likely to land and depart on/from terminal B or C (gates C-G). Those distances are walkable in 10 to 15 minutes. The transit area on Schiphol I never use as I live in Amsterdam so I only depart or arrive at Schiphol but from what I've heard times range from 5 to 15 minutes. Unless your departure from Aberdeen is seriously delayed you should be fine.

Funny as I am flying on May 7th as well, but with Etihad. Booked their Business Class, or what they call Business Studio's for 1700 Euro's. 

That’s pal. Good information. Yeah the flight will hopefully be away on time. Your over for your birthday I remember you saying. 1700 Euro is a good price. 

[Luv2Phuket]

On 10/01/2022 at 08:34, Luv2Phuket said:

I then booked a separate Alaska flight into SFO. It gets in ABSURDLY early, BUT it allows to take a conference call in the airport that I otherwise would have missed.

My only problem now is my seat assignment sucks and Alaska's website will NOT allow me to book the seats reserved for oneworld Sapphire and above customers. I was on hold for 3 1/2 hours....until they just disconnected me! 555

Just a quick follow-up that may provide helpful info

In order to book the oneworld Sapphire and above seats, I had to link the reservation to my AA account; not my Alaska account. This is actually better for me, as it helps me move towards Platinum status for 2023.

Re the conference call, it's actually a Zoom meeting with a Magistrate Judge, so I was pretty apprehensive about doing it from an airport lounge.

I remembered that Hyatt was running an "office for the day" promotion during the pandemic, so I decided to check Hyatts around SFO to see if they had a decent rate. Basically, you get the use of a room and hotel amenities for daytime hours.

Struck out there, but checked Marriott, Hilton and IHG, and found a Hilton close to SFO that has a shuttle and had a rate around $100 for a room from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

My call is at 2 p.m., so I moved up to the earliest flight (10 a.m. arrival). I will take the shuttle and hang out in that room all day. It also allows me to put the suit coat, tie and white dress shirt in my checked bag in case I have the need to appear "dressed" for a video conference while in Thailand (very doubtful, but getter safe than sorry).

The $100 day rate isn't too bad, considering the call will likely net me around $500-700. The 5 p.m. checkout time is fine, as that's right aorund when I would want to head back over to check in for my SQ flight.

Fingers crossed my pre-flight PCR test comes back negative, but this plan seems like it should work out well.

[travelling_man]

On 10/01/2022 at 09:11, Little Evil said:

Tried to reschedule for later this year, but noticed point values or pricing has gone through the roof on my legs, or they tried to switch one long leg out with coach. F-that. Will just get a refund and plan again.

"Mixed Cabin" rewards are both a blessing and a curse.  Years ago, there was no such thing as the mixed cabin reward -- you weren't allowed to book a trip unless your desired class was available departure-to-arrival.  Then the airlines realized (I assume) that people would take mixed cabin under a variety of circumstances.

I accept them often when there is no business/first on the first domestic leg of my trip.  It is usually no more than 3 hours and their premium-economy is always provided.

Where I won't accept it is for the longer flights.  Flying through NRT if FAMOUS for showing only coach flights from NRT-BKK.  By then, I am tired and cranky and I don't want to deal witch coach for ?6+ hours.

Mileage redemption rates did increase ... but I don't know why you are seeing unusually high rates at the END of 2022??  That doesn't make sense - when I ran the dates this far out, the redemption rate was lower.

[Luv2Phuket]

I would LOVE to get some input from "the PA braintrust" on this....

SQ emailed me today offering me the chance to "bid" on an upgrade of my flight from SFO to SIN....I'm currently in PE on a "solo seat aisle." I think I can bid either KrisFlyer miles or cash.

What is the general consensus for an acceptable bid?

Fare was $1205 OW + another $130 to score the single aisle seat, so I'm effectively in for less $1350.

I think it's definitely worth $500 ($1850 for OW biz class would be a steal). I think the mileage req't for an upgrade is like 64,000, so a bid aorund 50,000 miles may be a bargain.

That said, $500 for 50,000 miles would be 1 cent per mile....I'd buy SQ miles at that rate ALL day.

So...it looks like a cash bid of $500 to $750.

Maybe split the difference and bid $650 to $675, taking my effective cost to around $2,000?

Thoughts?

EDIT:

Pulled up my flight. As of today, it looks like 22 out of 67 biz class seats are available (roughly 1/3).

I'm leaning towards making a bid of around $600. I'm not unhappy with the seat I have, so if I don't get it, I won't be crushed.

PE looks pretty full; however, 5 of the 6 "middle section" rows at the back (by me) are completely empty. When I flew SQ PE once before (LAX-ICN), I moved to the 2 middle seats, as the arm rest between them lifts and gives you a much wider seat.

 

[Jake.houston]

8 minutes ago, Luv2Phuket said:

So...it looks like a cash bid of $500 to $750.

What is the cost of a OW business class seat on your booked flight?

I normally take that number, subtract your current investment of $1350, use the remainder and divide by 2. I then would add 20% to that total and that would be my top bid.

If a OW business class is $2550, after subtracting your initial investment the cost is $1200, half that is $600, add 20%, $720 would be my bid.

[Luv2Phuket]

3 minutes ago, Jake.houston said:

What is the cost of a OW business class seat on your booked flight?

I normally take that number, subtract your current investment of $1350, use the remainder and divide by 2. I then would add 20% to that total and that would be my top bid.

If a OW business class is $2550, after subtracting your initial investment the cost is $1200, half that is $600, add 20%, $720 would be my bid.

Current price is over $3250 on SQ website (PE is now $2200+), but I saw some aggregators on Kayak offering tickets for below $2000. 

Using the formula, the difference is right around $2000, so 50% would be $1000 + 20% or aorund $1200.

I think that's outta my price range.

Doubt I am getting upgraded with my Cheap Charlie bid! 5555

[HimBadMan]

4 minutes ago, Luv2Phuket said:

Current price is over $3250 on SQ website (PE is now $2200+), but I saw some aggregators on Kayak offering tickets for below $2000. 

Using the formula, the difference is right around $2000, so 50% would be $1000 + 20% or aorund $1200.

I think that's outta my price range.

Doubt I am getting upgraded with my Cheap Charlie bid! 5555

yeah tough call.  IMO $500 is a fair bid. (I have no experience bidding with SQ).  but $1800 OW on business class isn't a great deal.   I think you know that.     but sfo to sin is a long ass leg.  and busines is onvousily better.    but like u already know the solo PE seats on SQ A350 is miles better than coach

I guess always up to you.    but 500 seams reasonable.    expecially since will be at least half full 

[Bonkabit]

Another way to do your initial calculation is to calculate the average price of economy and business class flight

i.e. add the two prices together and divide by two -

(Economy $ + Business $) / 2.

The cost to buy the upgrade will be in the region of this average amount less the economy price.

I have done just this several times, sometimes plus about $25 to increase the odds in my favour. Has worked every time on seat auctions on Australia-Thailand flights except once; the airline just emailed "No luck this time".

Airlines have seat auctions only when there are business seats unsold; better for them to let them go for less than full price than fly them empty with the punter in economy.

You can also query availability on book-in; there may have been cancellations or even no-shows.

[Luv2Phuket]

Well that turned out to be moot - should've checked it before I asked! 5555

Minimum bid was $1,205 (or 179,000 miles)....seriously?!? 

AND it was only the SFO-SIN leg -- I would be back in economy for SIN-HKT.

Needless to say, I did not submit a bid.

[Luv2Phuket]

1 minute ago, Bonkabit said:

You can also query availability on book-in; there may have been cancellations or even no-shows.
 

I might ask at the check-in counter -- I guess it couldn't hurt.

[Bonkabit]

9 minutes ago, Luv2Phuket said:

AND it was only the SFO-SIN (San Francisco-Singapore) leg -- I would be back in economy for SIN-HKT (Singapore-Phuket).

Singapore to Phuket is a short flight, only about an hour or little bit more. Not a real concern.

Flying from Australia to Bangkok, sometimes I have travelled Melbourne-Singapore-Bangkok, seeking to upgrade on the long leg to Singapore but not bothering about the two hours Singapore-Bangkok/Suvarnabhumi (BKK) or Singapore to UTP (Utapao: Pattaya/Rayong).

(I have spelled out the airline abbreviations SFO, SIN and HKT. Not everyone is familiar with these especially in countries away from home).

Edited January 24, 2022 by Bonkabit

[Luv2Phuket]

Not an airline post, but a hotel one.

I am (perhaps foolishly) coming back in late May and staying 3 weeks. 1st 3 nights in Bangkok (Test & Go after late night arrival, then 2 nights on Marriott certificates), then Pattaya for 19 nights.

I am splitting my Pattaya nights between the Hilton and the InterContinental.

InterContinental is still going for a ridiculous 15,000 IHG points per night (the immediate post-COVID ratem, which they haven't corrected yet). Tack on the 10% discount I get with my original IHG card and then a 4th night free after booking 3 with my IHG Premier card, and I'm down to a patently absurd rate of 10,125 per night.

Valuing IHG points at .55 cents each (so .0055), that's an effective rate of less than $56 per night.

Unfortunately, the timing isn't perfect. I always do a paid night to start my stay -- Ambassador status gets me an automatic upgrade (I book the level below a pool access room, but always get bumped up to a Terrace Club level room), then I pay the hotel a little extra per night on the award nights to let me stay in that upgraded room. That leaves me 3 nights for which I will need to pay. Opted to stay those 3 at Hilton at $122/night vs the $160 at InterContinental.

So 22 nights total, broken down as:
Test & Go at Bangkok Marriott property (paid)
2 free nights at same Marriott property on annual free night certificates 
7 free nights at Pattaya Hilton (5 of points; 2 on annual free night certificates)
3 paid nights at Hilton
1 paid night at InterContinental
8 free nights at InterContinental (IHG points)

By my count, 17 free nights out of 21 after Test & Go.

I still have 2 more IHG annual free night certificates and 2 more Hilton annual free night certificates, all with year-end expiration dates, but the current points/cash requirement makes this in inefficient time to use them. The 2 Hilton certs and 2 Bonvoy certs that I am using all expire by July/early August.

 

 

 

[HimBadMan]

2 minutes ago, Luv2Phuket said:

Not an airline post, but a hotel one.

I am (perhaps foolishly) coming back in late May and staying 3 weeks. 1st 3 nights in Bangkok (Test & Go after late night arrival, then 2 nights on Marriott certificates), then Pattaya for 19 nights.

I am splitting my Pattaya nights between the Hilton and the InterContinental.

InterContinental is still going for a ridiculous 15,000 IHG points per night (the immediate post-COVID ratem, which they haven't corrected yet). Tack on the 10% discount I get with my original IHG card and then a 4th night free after booking 3 with my IHG Premier card, and I'm down to a patently absurd rate of 10,125 per night.

Valuing IHG points at .55 cents each (so .0055), that's an effective rate of less than $56 per night.

Unfortunately, the timing isn't perfect. I always do a paid night to start my stay -- Ambassador status gets me an automatic upgrade (I book the level below a pool access room, but always get bumped up to a Terrace Club level room), then I pay the hotel a little extra per night on the award nights to let me stay in that upgraded room. That leaves me 3 nights for which I will need to pay. Opted to stay those 3 at Hilton at $122/night vs the $160 at InterContinental.

So 22 nights total, broken down as:
Test & Go at Bangkok Marriott property (paid)
2 free nights at same Marriott property on annual free night certificates 
7 free nights at Pattaya Hilton (5 of points; 2 on annual free night certificates)
3 paid nights at Hilton
1 paid night at InterContinental
8 free nights at InterContinental (IHG points)

By my count, 17 free nights out of 21 after Test & Go.

I still have 2 more IHG annual free night certificates and 2 more Hilton annual free night certificates, all with year-end expiration dates, but the current points/cash requirement makes this in inefficient time to use them. The 2 Hilton certs and 2 Bonvoy certs that I am using all expire by July/early August.

 

 

 

that's an amazing job of utilizing your points.  17 out of 21 covered by points and great hotels.     you cannot beat that.

funny how u go from 2 years removed.  now 3 trips in like 6 months 🤣    

I'll be there May 4 to 15 all Pattaya.   booked a condo at the Edge though. figured I'll try them out since it's a short stay..

[Luv2Phuket]

As for award flights, I have 2 return flights booked for the same day:

 - EVA via Taipei to LAX (75,000 EVA miles)

 - Singapore via Changi to LAX (95,000 SQ miles)

Boht flights leave around noon, the EVA flight gets in at around 4:30; the Singapore flight arrives at around 7 p.m.

I booked a separate Alaska flight that leaves LAX at 10 p.m. - timing is pretty good with the SQ flight (3 hours), but a pretty brutal layover with the EVA flight (5 1/2 hours).

The EVA flight is currently waitlisted, either because of unavailability OR because of the continuing transit ban at Taipei, but I DEFINITELY prefer it - less miles and less travel time, PLUS it burns some of my EVA miles, which have been useless for the past year.

If it clears, I will look into cancelling the Alaska flight and maybe switching over to a Southwest flight, so as to shorten my layover at LAX. I may book the Southwest flight soon to try to get a decent fare, as they are fully cancellable (get credit for future flight) - just have to be sure I give myself enough time to get my bags, clear immigration and walk from Bradley to Terminal 1.

[bouncewithme]

Gents, been on the sidelines for two years now with no out of US travel. My awards game is super rusty.

I have 75k Eva miles set to expire in September. Doesn’t seem like many options for 75k in business class these days, is that right or am I not looking hard enough? I saw Luv2Phulet post above that scored one though). Anyone ever use Eva miles to redeem on a partner of theirs, what’s the best way to do it? 

open to non Thailand locations, including South America, anywhere without a vax or quarantine mandate. I used to have the link to a awards site that showed all award and partner flights so if I had miles on Alaska for example I could easily find an available partner flights, anyone know that site? 

Edited March 16, 2022 by bouncewithme

[Luv2Phuket]

2 hours ago, bouncewithme said:

Gents, been on the sidelines for two years now with no out of US travel. My awards game is super rusty.

I have 75k Eva miles set to expire in September. Doesn’t seem like many options for 75k in business class these days, is that right or am I not looking hard enough? I saw Luv2Phulet post above that scored one though). Anyone ever use Eva miles to redeem on a partner of theirs, what’s the best way to do it? 

open to non Thailand locations, including South America, anywhere without a vax or quarantine mandate. I used to have the link to a awards site that showed all award and partner flights so if I had miles on Alaska for example I could easily find an available partner flights, anyone know that site? 

This may help:

https://upgradedpoints.com/travel/airlines/best-ways-to-redeem-eva-air-miles/

Check on that expiration -- I think EVA extended expiration because of COVID and the inability to transit through Taipei for over a year now.

I was able to get waitlisted for a flight in mid-June, but I don't know if the transit ban will be lifted by then. I think that may be why I was waitlisted, but I was going to call them to follow-up. I have booked a Singapore award departing around the same time, but would like to use my EVA miles before they expire (think I have longer on my SQ miles).

My basic understanding is that EVA miles are great for award travel from USA to BKK on EVA (75k each way for their excellent biz class), but kinda suck for use elsewhere.

One other thing warrants mention - the surcharge I was hit with for that waitlisted flight was higher than what I expected -- not "traveling through Heathrow" high, but kinda high nonetheless. For one way Premium Laurel from BKK-LAX the surcharge was 5345 baht (about $160 USD). By comparison, the surcharge on my SQ flight was 1535 baht (about $45 USD).

[RomaBob]

Excellent info in this thread, like the OP said originally, once you use business or above it is hard to go back to economy.

My airline of choice from the UK is Emirates, business pick-up from home (son's house actually) deposited at Heathrow. Lounge is good, separate boarding at leisure onto an A380..... Dubai business is also excellent.

Collecting air miles for quite a while now and buying when the offers come in, also, I use AmEx Gold for all purchases at home and usually get the annual 10k bonus. Last December I had about 150,000 waiting to be used. 

In the past I did regular trips to the Philippines, booking economy and hoping for a cash upgrade when checking in (downside is no extra air miles or tier points). These days I purchase business (flexible, because of the instability due to lockdowns and covid) and in January for the UK return leg (DBX - LHR) I used some miles to upgrade to first on the A380 (they initially offered the upgrade for £700 which I ignored, upon checking in online the upgrade option in air miles came up), a superb experience on the A380.

 

[Little Evil]

2 hours ago, RomaBob said:

Excellent info in this thread, like the OP said originally, once you use business or above it is hard to go back to economy.

My airline of choice from the UK is Emirates, business pick-up from home (son's house actually) deposited at Heathrow. Lounge is good, separate boarding at leisure onto an A380..... Dubai business is also excellent.

Collecting air miles for quite a while now and buying when the offers come in, also, I use AmEx Gold for all purchases at home and usually get the annual 10k bonus. Last December I had about 150,000 waiting to be used. 

In the past I did regular trips to the Philippines, booking economy and hoping for a cash upgrade when checking in (downside is no extra air miles or tier points). These days I purchase business (flexible, because of the instability due to lockdowns and covid) and in January for the UK return leg (DBX - LHR) I used some miles to upgrade to first on the A380 (they initially offered the upgrade for £700 which I ignored, upon checking in online the upgrade option in air miles came up), a superb experience on the A380.

 

I've always wanted to try boarding directly from the lounge with Emirates, but have never had the opportunity. Not the best route carrier for me on the East Coast of US. One day though...

Separately, as others have mentioned, I'm also rusty as hell in this points game, having gone 2.5 years without a trip to Asia. Been to Costa Rica a couple times, but on my own dime. Central America isn't a great return on points, so I tend to save them for longer trips.

I finally just booked for Sept of this year. CX both ways, but only got business. On the up shot, not traveling to LoS for nearly 3 years means I was sitting on top of a rather impressive cash of points over at least 3 programs. On the down side, all my F cabin skills seem to have been lost...555.

[Luv2Phuket]

Never too soon to start shopping for "high season" award travel....

With my May/June trip now looking more and more iffy (if you can understand the fucking Thai girls, you're a gazillion steps ahead of me!), I figured I might as well try to lock in a November trip.....I mean, Thailand HAS to be remotely back to normal by then, doesn't it?!?  555

On the way in, I got a nice itinerary using United miles (which seems IMPOSSIBLE to do these days) that takes me from LAS all the way to BKK for 99,000 miles. Only thing that worries me is it goes thru Chicago....and I try to avoid O' Hare from around mid-October to mid-March! 555

Coach on the LAS-ORD leg, but biz locked in the rest of the way. Layovers aren't bad - about 2 1/2 hours in Chicago and 3+ hours in Taipei

Biggest hurdle - fuck Thailand being back to normal, will EVA allow transit passengers by then?!?  555

Return trip was really difficult to lock in, but I got a shitty itinerary on the date I liked. Trying to book all the way into LAS was proving next to impossible (domestic award flights into LAS are few and far between), so I hopped a JAL flight that leaves very late (like around 1 a.m.), connects in Osaka with a shitty layover (like 9+ hours), then gets into LAX at around 11 a.m. I figure I can book a SW flight around 2:30 to 3 p.m. and have plenty of time. I think there is an Alaska flight aorund 3 p.m. that also may be an option.

An alternative that is MUCH more palatable is yet again using EVA, BUT the taxes and fees on it were about $160 and it was waitlisted. Given how much better it is -- leaves at around noon instead of 1 a.m. that night, has a very "doable" layover in TPE and gets in around 3 p.m. (so many connection options) -- I may book the waitlist and hope it comes through.

Still sifting though the rubble to try and find better options, but at least I have flights booked going in and coming back.

[Calmdown]

I payed about 2300usd for Qatar business for my trip i made in february.

I’m looking to book another trip for july which I was under the impression was the low season. However I cant seem to find a flight under 3000usd now. Is this increase because of recovering from covid meltdown or is is it more of a increased fuel prices because of the war?