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

[ThePope]

here's an example of rebooking. My January departure is Home-YYZ-TPE-BKK with AC from Home-YYZ. booked for 101k flexi. since there was a time change of 30m on the Home-YYZ AC flight i am able to rebook to any available flight within 3 days... and its all done online no need to call. Those Home-YYZ-YVR-BKK are going for 346k right now... I might keep the TPE option though as transferring through 2 Canadian airports during winter isn't advisable...

Also i dont have to lock in a change I can sit on the itinerary as it is right now and if my plans change i can use my free change to change dates up to 2h before departure (or less is even rumored)

 

 

[ThePope]

one more AC benefit is theres a guy on flyertalk called canadiancow. he has a website utility that lets you view your PNR to see if youre confirmed etc... takes a lot of the guesswork out of knowing if youre good to go or not...

heres a redacted screenshot of my above trip... even though its in the midst of a time correction/ i didnt click though on it you can see its status TK which means "Confirmed, Time Change" and my EVA flights are HK "holding confirmed"

[bgtp]

I had planned on getting a new cc (Citi AA Plat) upon arriving home last week, but decided to pass due to a combination of very limited award availability currently, a reduced sign-up bonus compared to before my trip, and the fact that I'm 4/24. I'd rather keep all my options open for the fall when I have some major yearly expenses (the way Florida's insurance rates keep going up, it won't take much effort to meet a min spend).

I did some poking around on United and still nothing at the saver level for my November outbound. I did notice that last minute saver awards are available, but now cost 110K instead of 99K. So the deval doesn't seem as bad as I thought it would be. The hard part is finding an award at the saver level, but that's been an issue for a while now. So with limited award space at low levels and high redemption amounts for what I can find, I'm not sure how long I can keep my 'winning streak' of free biz class tickets to Thailand going. Last time I had to pay out of pocket for a trip was 2012.

On my return last week, I found out that there is no longer a spa and complimentary massage when flying TG first or business. Flight itself was OK. I was worried about my United ARN-EWR segment since it was on a B757 with 2-2 seating. However the cabin was less than half full, so everyone had both seats to themselves. That flight also happened to be UA 69. On my outbound, one of my segments was JAL 69. Interesting coincidence.

[Luv2Phuket]

Air Canada adding a non-stop from Vancouver to Singapore starting next April:
https://onemileatatime.com/news/air-canada-singapore-flights/

Anybody have any luck getting award space on their Vancouver to Bangkok non-stop flight? I would love to snag it sometime, as it could cut out a stop for me. 

I used to be a 15 minute drive from LAX, so 1-stops to BKK were a given, but, with the move to Las Vegas, my options are all 2-stops, with the very narrow exceptions of Vancouver to BKK OR Korean Air from Las Vegas to ICN, and then on to BKK (but I have no idea how to build Korean Air miles these days and award space seems nonexistent on it).

[Luv2Phuket]

41 minutes ago, bgtp said:

That flight also happened to be UA 69. On my outbound, one of my segments was JAL 69. Interesting coincidence.
 

I'm guessing there were a number of third "coincidences" involving "69" on your trip....  555

[ThePope]

3 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

 

Anybody have any luck getting award space on their Vancouver to Bangkok non-stop flight? I would love to snag it sometime, as it could cut out a stop for me. 

I

the thing with AC flights is they don't always 'release reward space' but any AC seat is bookable with points... for anything like YVR-BKK or YVR-SIN i will bet there will be no award seats released at the lowest valuation/ to partner airlines and they will price out at dollar value divided by 1.7cents per point. So a flight like LAS-YVR-BKK will be 300k points or more

But as i showed previous if you book an itinerary that includes AC metal and there is a time change to the AC flight the engine allows you to rebook your whole itinerary with same origin+destination. I used this trick to fly YYZ-YVR-BKK the day after Christmas for 118k points as my YYZ-DEL-BKK had a time change on the AC YYZ-DEL flight. The YVR routing was booking for more than double the points

So if you are somewhat flexible on dates and want to try for a LAS-YVR-BKK trip try booking any business itinerary that includes 1 or 2 AC flights that prices cheaper and hope for a time change to one of the AC flights. If you book business lowest its $150cad cancellation fee, if you book business flex its no cancellation fee. Also business flex gets you AC Signature Lounge access in YVR which is basically a swanky restaurant

 

[travelling_man]

On 09/06/2023 at 22:10, Luv2Phuket said:

to get me to the 85k required. 

That's a pretty damn good price for OW Biz class....

Who is showing 85k na to bkk one way???

I don't see them, and anything lower mileage is mixed cabin.

[Luv2Phuket]

11 minutes ago, travelling_man said:

Who is showing 85k na to bkk one way???

I don't see them, and anything lower mileage is mixed cabin.

Aeroplan (AirCanada) - see @ThePope's June 8 post above

EVA is 75k each way in their program

[ThePope]

AC is 85k on partners for Toronto-BKK, maybe 75k for west coast to BKK. I always book biz flexible so my best price is around 101k on partners. I also use points+cash option which basically buys 40% of the points at about 1.7cpp canadian at time of booking. So an upcoming YYZ-AUH-BKK on etihad costs me 62.1k Aeroplan and $902 Canadian. I book refundable because i usually have 2 or 3 outbounds and returns spread by a few days to avoid the dupe engine

My next trip i have a speculative Home-YYZ-DEL-BKK with the Home-YYZ flight on AC and the remaining on AirIndia. I have no intention of taking this flight but im hoping my Home-YYZ flight will have a time change and ill be able to use it to rebook to something better. Or if something better comes up usually at 3days out ill just book it quickly and cancel my existing reservations online

I think someone was saying they were going to buy 85k points but you really dont have to due to the Points+cash option you can get away with much less depending on partner airline. MY cheapest is 60.6k $844cdn for BKK-TPE-YYZ-Home with Eva so 65k points is probably enough

Even fewer points i have BKK-AUH-YYZ on etihad for 52.5k $748 but i booked that as business lowest so if i cancel its a $150 change fee unless there are a bunch of time changes ahead of it which im betting there would be... but im 99% taking that flight

Edited June 15, 2023 by ThePope

[Luv2Phuket]

To those who -- like me -- are struggling to find ANY award availability on Oneworld from USA to Asia....we are not alone!  Check out the comments to this blog post:

https://onemileatatime.com/insights/japan-airlines-first-class-awards/

[The Blue-Eyed Sheikh]

On 07/06/2023 at 21:43, Luv2Phuket said:

I was listening to a frequent flyer podcast today about United's latest devaluation, and they were REALLY hyping Aeroplan.

I don't think I have ever used them in the past, but I have had a membership for years.  They are a transfer partner for many of the transferrable cc programs, and they apparently have quite a few transfer partners outside of Star Alliance.

Anybody hear a big Aeroplan fan?

I wouldn’t consider myself a fan, but being a Canadian, I’m somewhat captive. 
 

I actually credit my flights to KrisFlyer for the most part, but the best credit card options here are for Aeroplan. 
 

Status on Aeroplan requires spend on AC ticketed flights (which is why I credit my flights to SQ), but purely as a redemption program, they aren’t bad, and the number of non-Star-Alliance partners they have been adding is impressive. The search interface is kind of annoying, though - searching for business class flights tends to return trips where the short legs are business class and the long legs economy. Persistence & flexibility can pay off, though. 
 

TB-ES

[Luv2Phuket]

Coincidentally, Chase is currently offering a 20% transfer bonus to Aeroplan.  Rather than buying miles, this may be a more opportune moment for me to get a "foothold" in the plan.

My old "go to" with Chase UR was United, but they are becoming more and more useless.

I should be scoring an additional 115k URs shortly, so I can afford to move a few.

[travelling_man]

2 hours ago, The Blue-Eyed Sheikh said:

The search interface is kind of annoying, though - searching for business class flights tends to return trips where the short legs are business class and the long legs economy. Persistence & flexibility can pay off, though.

Their interface isn't unusual then -- at United, 95% of business class flights return as "MIXED CABIN" which is exactly what you described.

[jmukh]

Scored another major redemption this week: close-in bookings for Europe on Air France business, with nice stopovers in Paris both ways, at ~56k points each way. I'd transferred a few Chase points earlier with the 30% bonus last month, and topped up the rest from Amex, so I'm actually spending a little less than the full 56k rate (which is phenomenal to begin with).

These will be my second and third international business class trips; I'm getting really spoiled for a recently-laid-off dude. The shower suites in Paris are massive, and the lounge has food good enough that I may want to eat it even after eating in Paris.

Given current recruiting timelines, I suspect I will be barely squeezing in an Asia trip this winter if at all (possibly Medellin otherwise), and will just end up paying cash for a massively overpriced last-minute economy middle seat next to a toilet. Uncertain if my newfound snobbery will survive that trip.

Also had a bit of fortunate timing here; my Amex Gold was up for renewal, and I've switched to a heavily meat-based diet where my main supplier no longer codes as groceries (Amex used to be good at manually recoding my purchases for the 4x multiplier, but can no longer do so). It's becoming difficult to use the credits; I don't really need anything from GoPuff, because Costco exists. I was offered a measly 15k point retention, which is more than enough to justify the year (I'll use the $120 Uber credit easily, and 15k is worth $300+ if I keep scoring these Air France tickets). However, since they probably won't repeat the retention offer after a recession this year, I'm thinking of it more as a $300 retention for the next two membership years, which is just about break-even since I value the Uber credit the same as cash. It also gets 3x on airfare, which made it reasonable to use on my Air France tax bill on this trip and to start working on that retention.

It turns out that the card doesn't do 4x on international groceries, but *does* do 4x on international restaurants, so slamming my rose gold down in Pattaya (assuming I can find a bar that takes Amex and codes as a restaurant) = 8% off on the price of pussy. As I have to yet to find the holy grail hooker who takes Amex points, this will be a close second.

Edit: apologies, I belatedly realized some recent posts were from Canadians, so I'll clarify that my Air France booking was from DC. Tons of availability from NYC as well, however, if anyone from up north is looking to reposition.

Edited June 20, 2023 by jmukh

[momo5]

On 14/06/2023 at 10:32, Luv2Phuket said:

(but I have no idea how to build Korean Air miles these days and award space seems nonexistent on it).

I’m not sure anyone really knows; international award space on KE is a bit of a unicorn.  

[Luv2Phuket]

4 hours ago, momo5 said:

I’m not sure anyone really knows; international award space on KE is a bit of a unicorn.  

KE used to be fantastic - IIRC, it was 95,000 miles for first, and it wasn't impossible to find availability. 

Then they dropped Chase as a transfer partner....then their space seemed to vanish....

Also doesn't help that they are SkyMiles - good luck getting any kind of International award using Delta miles.

Now with the proposed takeover of Asiana, who knows what will happen.  Then again, it sounds like the merger is FAR from a certainty with both US and EU blocking it.

I used to have KE credits cards -- both the personal and the business cards.  Their bonuses suck, but it was a way to get a chunk of miles.  Also a Marriott transfer partner, IIRC.

[Bonkabit]

Skytrax World Airline Awards

• Winners 
   
• About 
• Press 

 

The World's Top 10 Airlines of 2023 | SKYTRAX (worldairlineawards.com)

The world's Top 10 Airlines of 2023 voted for by travellers around the world.

Mr Goh Choon Phong, Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Airlines, received the World’s Best Airline award on behalf of the Airline in Paris on 20 June 2023. “This award is a testament to the indomitable spirit of our people, who worked tirelessly and made many sacrifices to ensure that SIA was ready for the recovery in air travel. That has allowed us to emerge stronger and fitter from the pandemic as a leading international airline,” said Mr Goh. “We are very grateful to our customers for their enduring loyalty to and affection for Singapore Airlines. During the pandemic, their support and encouragement gave us the strength and determination to overcome the unprecedented challenges. Today, as we recover from the pandemic, we are firmly committed to innovating and investing in industry-leading products and services, and ensuring that SIA continues to offer our customers a world-class travel experience.”

 

 

1

 

WORLD’S BEST AIRLINE

Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines success has been fuelled by its dedication to customer service. In-flight menus in all classes of service offer gourmet meals created by a panel of internationally renowned chefs, and all customers can enjoy the carrier’s state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment system, which offers a wide choice of movies, music and games. Together with its budget carrier arm, Scoot, Singapore Airlines operates a fleet of more than 180 aircrafts, with a combined passenger network that spans more than 110 destinations.

2

 

Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways is the national airline of the State of Qatar. Based in Doha, the Airline’s trendsetting on-board product focuses on: comfort, fine cuisine, the latest in-flight audio & video entertainment, award-winning service and a modern aircraft fleet averaging around 5 years of age. Qatar Airways serves more than 150 key business and leisure destinations worldwide, with a fleet of over 200 aircraft. The airline flies to Australia, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa, North America, and South America.

3

 

ANA All Nippon Airways

ANA was founded in 1952 with two helicopters and has become the largest airline in Japan, as well as one of the most significant airlines in Asia, operating 82 international routes and 118 domestic routes. ANA offers a unique dual hub model which enables passengers to travel to Tokyo and connect through the two airports in the metropolitan Tokyo, Narita and Haneda, to various destinations throughout Japan, and also offers same day connections between various North American, Asian and Chinese cities. ANA has been a member of Star Alliance since 1999.

4

 

Emirates

Emirates connects the world to, and through, our global hub in Dubai. We operate modern, efficient and comfortable aircraft, and our culturally diverse workforce delivers award-winning services to our customers across six continents every day. Emirates current fleet comprises 262 aircraft, with the airline serving 152 destinations. In 2020 Emirates was the largest international airline as the industry recovered from the COVID‑19 pandemic, carrying 15.8 million passengers in 2020.

5

 

Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines as founded in 1951 and has a modern fleet of more than 230 aircraft. It is one of the world’s premier carriers and joined the oneworld Alliance in 2007. With four major hubs in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Okinawa, Japan Airlines serves 95 destinations across 20 territories. An airline with a rich history and a reputation for defining the essence of traditional Japanese hospitality, JAL is committed to providing guests with the highest levels of flight safety and supreme quality in every aspect of its service.

 

6

 

Turkish Airlines

Founded in 1933 with a modest fleet of 5 aircraft, Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines is an airline company that flies to more than 300 destinations in the world with a fleet of more than 300 (passenger and cargo) aircraft. Turkish Airlines proudly carry the Turkish flag across the globe, opening doors to the wider world for its passengers. Turkish Airlines uses the statement “We fly to more countries than any other airline in the world”.

7

 

Air France

Air France turns the flight into a moment of real pleasure in all its daily operations. Air France operates 1,500 daily flights in France, Europe and worldwide. Since 2004, Air France and KLM have formed one of the leading European groups in the air-transport sector. From their hubs at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam-Schiphol, the Air France-KLM Group offers its customers access to a network covering 312 destinations in 116 countries.

8

 

Cathay Pacific Airways

The Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Group offers scheduled passenger and cargo services to over 200 destinations in Asia, North America, Australia, Europe and Africa, using a fleet of close to 200 aircraft. Cathay Pacific is a founder member of the oneworld global alliance.

9

 

EVA Air

EVA Air was established in 1989, and is a member of Star Alliance. EVA serves a global network that connects Asia and Mainland China to Europe, North America and Oceania and links more than 60 major business and tourist destinations. EVA operates from their hub at Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan.

10

 

Korean Air

Korean Air, a founding member of SkyTeam, is a leading international airline headquartered in Seoul, with its main hub located at Incheon (ICN) Airport. The airline’s core business includes passenger, cargo, aerospace, catering and in-flight sales. With a vision to be a respected leader in the world airline community, Korean Air is dedicated to providing excellence in flight. Korean Air serves 125 destinations across 44 countries , with a fleet of 169 aircraft.

 

 

[Luv2Phuket]

Pretty surprised to see Cathay still in the top 10.

Setting aside their crappy award availability, they really scaled back their operations due to COVID, and I can't help but wonder of their level of service has risen (it was dropping substantially pre-COVID).

I'm a fan of Singapore.  Knock on wood, I can't recall an especially negative experience with them (despite the relatively narrow footwell on the biz class seats! 555).

[ThePope]

skytrax is a pay for rating service... like JD Power

Although some of their ratings are reasonable companies can pay them to sneak their way up the ratings

However name the 11th-15th airlines... there really aren't that many large carriers when you think about it so being top 10 doesn't really mean your doing great

AC, Delta, AA, BA, Jetblue? I think korean + Cathay just chipped in a few bucks to get in the top 10 over others

[ThePope]

Might have found a way to burn off my remaining Alaska Miles...

25k $55 business BKK-SIN-MNL on Singapore and return for same price

I could take the direct and pay cash but i don't really mind killing a day in business and lounges

Fully refundable for $12.50 fee, so if i dont feel like heading to PI for 4 days/ or if i want to stay longer im not losing much

Previously ive used Alaska points to book hotels as they just have no use for me due to poor availability out of Toronto/ high costs as many are aware Cathay has been horrible lately (and HKG worth avoiding)

[Luv2Phuket]

With news of cancellations and delays daily, I am getting concerned about my positioning flight early next month from LAS to SFO.

My original itinerary had me getting into SFO around 6 p.m. with a 10 p.m. departure on Singapore.  I bumped that up to an earlier flight, and now get in at 1 p.m., giving myself a BRUTAL 9 hour layover. BUT if there were problems with the 6 p.m. arrival, I was fucked, whereas the 1 p.m. arrival has 2 later flights in the event of a cancellation.

In the "WTF is wrong with you?!?" category, I am now thinking of going even earlier, and getting the 8 a.m. flight that arrives at 9:30 a.m., and getting a "day room" at the DoubleTree by SFO for about $135.  That would allow me to work (or nap) during the day, with a 5 p.m. checkout. 

Getting the room after the 1 p.m. arrival doesn't make much sense -- I'd basically only have it for about 3 hours.  If I stick with the 1 p.m. arrival, I will just "lounge it" for the time I have to kill (before grabbing dinner at Mustard's Grill on my Priority Pass credit!).

I think Centurion limits lounge access to 3 hours pre-flight.  Not sure if my Singapore biz class ticket would get me into a lounge that far in advance of my flight OR if I should pony up the cash for United Club access?

Any thoughts?

Looking at similar issues with my November trip (assuming I able to go then).

 

[Little Evil]

Cathay Pacific just devalued their Asia Miles award chart. Biz used to be 85k one way at longest range, but is now 110k. That used to be what they charged for F. Now F is 160k. I'm sure this will ripple through CX awards on other platforms as well. Changes start Oct 1st. 

But maybe all of this is moot considering CX award availability is a unicorn right now.

[HimBadMan]

4 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

With news of cancellations and delays daily, I am getting concerned about my positioning flight early next month from LAS to SFO.

My original itinerary had me getting into SFO around 6 p.m. with a 10 p.m. departure on Singapore.  I bumped that up to an earlier flight, and now get in at 1 p.m., giving myself a BRUTAL 9 hour layover. BUT if there were problems with the 6 p.m. arrival, I was fucked, whereas the 1 p.m. arrival has 2 later flights in the event of a cancellation.

In the "WTF is wrong with you?!?" category, I am now thinking of going even earlier, and getting the 8 a.m. flight that arrives at 9:30 a.m., and getting a "day room" at the DoubleTree by SFO for about $135.  That would allow me to work (or nap) during the day, with a 5 p.m. checkout. 

Getting the room after the 1 p.m. arrival doesn't make much sense -- I'd basically only have it for about 3 hours.  If I stick with the 1 p.m. arrival, I will just "lounge it" for the time I have to kill (before grabbing dinner at Mustard's Grill on my Priority Pass credit!).

I think Centurion limits lounge access to 3 hours pre-flight.  Not sure if my Singapore biz class ticket would get me into a lounge that far in advance of my flight OR if I should pony up the cash for United Club access?

Any thoughts?

Looking at similar issues with my November trip (assuming I able to go then).

 

The 1pm  arrival and 9 hour layover seems like it will be sufficient ..    that already will be a brutal long travel day for you!   But I totally get we’re you are coming from and puke rather be safe than sorry..     Your SQ business class ticket should get you into a star alliance lounge even at that early arrival.

I think 1pm arrival is fine.  But also can relate to being really safe as Ive made that decision plenty of times before 

[HimBadMan]

So after I scored the “unicorn” Cathay Pacific business class award ticket via Alaska miles months back for my sept 1st trip, I was struggling to find an award ticket back home..      I wanted to come home either sept 16 or 17th, and I really wanted to avoid paying around $1200 for a OW flight home.   I thought a ticket would never show up.   I’ve been checking flights everyday on AA and all that would show was the phantom JAL 1st class.

well out of nowhere, yesterday I scored a JAL business ticket from BKK back to the states for the standard 70k AA miles and $54 in tax.   But the flight leaves at 8am on the 15th.   A day earlier then I would like, but saving me $1200 or so.    So I guess that’s a win ??  (but I’ll continue To check if anything opens up on the 16th of sept).

this trip is two weeks but only 6 days in Pattaya.  Will spend the night in bkk at the Marriott Sukhumvit and get into trouble on Nana or hit up some regulars (or both)..  

The next day heading to Chiang mai for 3 nights before heading back to patttaya and renting a car to drive down to koh kood / Mak for 3 nights .    Renting a car for 4 nights is cheaper then RT taxi and much more comfortable  and better schedule than mini bus.

Still haven’t decided on a hotel for Pattaya yet.  

Edited July 6, 2023 by HimBadMan

[Luv2Phuket]

9 minutes ago, HimBadMan said:

So after I scored the “unicorn” Cathay Pacific business class award ticket via Alaska miles months back for my sept 1st trip, I was struggling to find an award ticket back home..      I wanted to come home either sept 16 or 17th, and I really wanted to avoid paying around $1200 for a OW flight home.   I thought a ticket would never show up.   I’ve been checking flights everyday on AA and all that would show was the phantom JAL 1st class.

well out of nowhere, yesterday I scored a JAL business ticket from BKK back to the states for the standard 70k AA miles and $54 in tax.   But the flight leaves at 8am on the 15th.   A day earlier then I would like, but saving me $1200 or so.    So I guess that’s a win ??  (but I’ll continue To check if anything opens up on the 16th of sept).

 

I think JAL itineraries usually requires that 8 a.m. departure.  Makes for a brutally early departure from Pattaya.