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

[wackyjacky]

If you're flying Cathay first class out of Bangkok (as I am in February), are there any other lounge options made available by the ticket?

I always use the Qantas Lounge. Food's better and they've got showers. If you walk out the CX door, turn L, & it's 75m down on the opposite side.

[wackyjacky]

There's $2600 fares out there JFK-DEL-BKK  on Air India in Biz if you want to roll the dice. They're the 4th most dangerous airline in the world. Compared to CX, it's probably like going from a Rolls to an Oxcart. Might be worth checking out on Skytrax & Seat Guru though.

[Little Evil]

If you're flying Cathay first class out of Bangkok (as I am in February), are there any other lounge options made available by the ticket?

 

Wackyjacky is probably on the money with that Qantas lounge call. It was in the back of my head that I should have been able to use another lounge, but I couldn't recall which one and didn't feel like taking a shot in the dark. Cathay really gets the shaft in Bangkok though. Your typical American carrier has better lounges than that tiny shack in G. The only consolation is that because the bathroom is outside of the lounge, you can come/go as you wish. Some lounges don't allow for leaving/coming back. There was supposedly a second Cathy lounge in the D concourse at BKK, but I didn't feel like checking. 

 

If you have Priority Pass from Amex Plat, Visa Black, or various other cards, you can use any of the Louis Tavern CIP lounges for 2 hours.

[Little Evil]

I just read that air India comment. Had me laughing! I imagine the airplane from Eddie Murhpy's Golden Child.

 

Looks like I'll have 140k to book with by next week. No first class this next trip. I'm going to shoot for CX again. Anyone know if they are still using the older coffin business class seats, and if so, how to identify the old/new by plane codes (ie 77w)? Would like to avoid those. Probably book myself after the experience I had with Pointpros last time.

[duke main]

Did you have a negative experience with PP? You probably posted about it and I forgot. My experience with them was very good; as a newb I needed a lot of help. Enjoy your trip!

[Luv2Phuket]

I just read that air India comment. Had me laughing! I imagine the airplane from Eddie Murhpy's Golden Child.

 

Looks like I'll have 140k to book with by next week. No first class this next trip. I'm going to shoot for CX again. Anyone know if they are still using the older coffin business class seats, and if so, how to identify the old/new by plane codes (ie 77w)? Would like to avoid those. Probably book myself after the experience I had with Pointpros last time.

 

I don't think the coffin seats are used for long haul to/from LAX anymore.

 

Out of LAX, I haven't gotten the old "coffin seats," although I did get them from HKG to BKK on one leg, but that was less than a 3 hour flight and it was better than what I have gotten before on that leg.

[wackyjacky]

http://downloads.cathaypacific.com/cx/press/cxw/pdf/New%20Business%20Class%20backgrounder.pdf

[Little Evil]

Did you have a negative experience with PP? You probably posted about it and I forgot. My experience with them was very good; as a newb I needed a lot of help. Enjoy your trip!

 

I had a booking mishap, where the itinerary that I selected didn't actually have the final return destination that I wanted and thought I was booked on. He showed me BOS as the final on the return, and that's what I ordered and he reconfirmed in his emailed itinerary, but booked me to JFK. Long story short--shame on me for not cross referencing his emailed itinerary or even checking into my US Airways booking receipt to make sure all was well (I never even opened up the email). In one view, I'm equally to blame for not catching it. On the other hand, this is a service that you pay for. If they sell you on an itinerary, you put in a good amount of faith that what you selected is what you get. If you just trust the system works without actually checking like me, you might end up 400+ miles short of your final destination. I got home, but on my own bookings, burning some spare United credits, and without having the advantage of first class. PP did offer a next day flight from NYC to BOS on their points, but not only did I have to be home that day, I didn't feel like dropping $250-300 on an 8 hour stay in NYC.

 

PP charges $200 now for a booking. At $200, this type of error is inexcusable. Yes, I am an idiot for not checking. I'll own up to that, but I figured $200 bought me the confidence in being able to rest assured that I got exactly what was offered. I'm just going to do my own homework and book myself next trip. I figure I'll just take a portion of the $200 and invest in a KVS subscription.  

[Luv2Phuket]

I had a booking mishap, where the itinerary that I selected didn't actually have the final return destination that I wanted and thought I was booked on. He showed me BOS as the final on the return, and that's what I ordered and he reconfirmed in his emailed itinerary, but booked me to JFK. Long story short--shame on me for not cross referencing his emailed itinerary or even checking into my US Airways booking receipt to make sure all was well (I never even opened up the email). In one view, I'm equally to blame for not catching it. On the other hand, this is a service that you pay for. If they sell you on an itinerary, you put in a good amount of faith that what you selected is what you get. If you just trust the system works without actually checking like me, you might end up 400+ miles short of your final destination. I got home, but on my own bookings, burning some spare United credits, and without having the advantage of first class. PP did offer a next day flight from NYC to BOS on their points, but not only did I have to be home that day, I didn't feel like dropping $250-300 on an 8 hour stay in NYC.

 

PP charges $200 now for a booking. At $200, this type of error is inexcusable. Yes, I am an idiot for not checking. I'll own up to that, but I figured $200 bought me the confidence in being able to rest assured that I got exactly what was offered. I'm just going to do my own homework and book myself next trip. I figure I'll just take a portion of the $200 and invest in a KVS subscription.  

 

sorry about the negative experience with them and thanks for the "heads up" on things to look out for!

 

I refer people to them, but will be sure to add that caveat from now on.

 

What is KVS?

[Little Evil]

To be fair, all my headaches could have been avoided if I spent 5 minutes fact checking before pulling the trigger. Was just too caught up in the idea of CX-F to Pattaya and got ahead of myself. If on just the two bookings before this one, I'd definitely give them a thumbs up.

 

KVS Tool is subscription based airline network software. Never used it before, but I hear good things. I'm going to give it a go before the end of the month, so I'll let y'all know how it goes.

[bgtp]

Little Evil, not sure when your next trip is, but have you heard CX is starting a BOS-HKG non-stop in May. I hope to try that one out next year.

[wackyjacky]

To be fair, all my headaches could have been avoided if I spent 5 minutes fact checking before pulling the trigger. Was just too caught up in the idea of CX-F to Pattaya and got ahead of myself. If on just the two bookings before this one, I'd definitely give them a thumbs up.

 

KVS Tool is subscription based airline network software. Never used it before, but I hear good things. I'm going to give it a go before the end of the month, so I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Not 100% positive but I think you need to buy a yearly subscription to use KVS.

[Little Evil]

I downloaded the tool without a subscription. Looks like there are options for 1, 3, 6 months subscription, and the year too. Still unsure of how it works. Wondering if 1 month is 1 month worth of searches or if that means you can only search availability from 1 month of subscription.

 

Saw a thread on the CX BOS to HKG on Flyer talk. Kick ass! Can't wait to not have to shoot over to JFK before hitting the long haul. Thanks for pointing out nonetheless, bgtp. First flights are May though. Trying to fly out Feb. Found JAL already BOS to NRT to BKK. Route is awesome, but JAL on 787 business is less than ideal. New plane, but angle beds with possible step-over configuration.

[wackyjacky]

Evil, you beat me to it. Here's the link for other guys: http://www.kvstool.com/MembershipLevels.php

Edited September 16, 2014 by wackyjacky

[navidnavid]

Just booked United award, 40K points + $40...Lufthansa from LAX-Frankfurt, then Thai airways FKT-BKK. economy.

 

                                                                          Cathay Pacific back, BKK-LAX, ~42800 British  Airways Avios + ~$188. economy

 

Sadly I will be travelling economy, my last three trips to Asia have been in a first class cabin, so this will not be as comfortable or entertaining; regardless, with 80K miles and around $250 I got a round trip ticket to Bangkok from LAX. We call that "winning" in the navy. 

 

edit: http://www.kayak.com/flights/LAX-BKK/2014-11-19/2014-11-30

 

Pretty good deal on round trip ticket from LAX-BKK Nov 19th and returning Nov 30th. 

 

Korean Air $850 fares. 

Edited September 16, 2014 by navidnavid

[Little Evil]

Just booked United award, 40K points + $40...Lufthansa from LAX-Frankfurt, then Thai airways FKT-BKK. economy.

 

                                                                          Cathay Pacific back, BKK-LAX, ~42800 British  Airways Avios + ~$188. economy

 

Sadly I will be travelling economy, my last three trips to Asia have been in a first class cabin, so this will not be as comfortable or entertaining; regardless, with 80K miles and around $250 I got a round trip ticket to Bangkok from LAX. We call that "winning" in the navy. 

 

edit: http://www.kayak.com/flights/LAX-BKK/2014-11-19/2014-11-30

 

Pretty good deal on round trip ticket from LAX-BKK Nov 19th and returning Nov 30th. 

 

Korean Air $850 fares. 

 

Good job on the award flights. Wish I could leave from LAX or SFO instead of having to cross the entire continent before getting on the real longhaul. 

 

Just a quick update--went ahead and threw caution to the wind (or $45. to be exact) on a 6 month diamond KVS Tool membership. Essentially, you're getting a consolidated award search engine with the best of BA and Qantas' search engines for One World, but it also includes Skyteam and Star Alliance search. Also, much more detailed for all you control freaks out there. Haven't found what I wanted yet, but the power and control is intoxicating. Definitely not easy to use with lots of industry abbreviations and coding, so consider that before investing.

[Luv2Phuket]

Good job on the award flights. Wish I could leave from LAX or SFO instead of having to cross the entire continent before getting on the real longhaul. 

 

Just a quick update--went ahead and threw caution to the wind (or $45. to be exact) on a 6 month diamond KVS Tool membership. Essentially, you're getting a consolidated award search engine with the best of BA and Qantas' search engines for One World, but it also includes Skyteam and Star Alliance search. Also, much more detailed for all you control freaks out there. Haven't found what I wanted yet, but the power and control is intoxicating. Definitely not easy to use with lots of industry abbreviations and coding, so consider that before investing.

 

VERY curious to hear what you think of it -- I am strongly considering it just based on the description!

 

I have had quite a bit of success with BA's website, but have yet to find an acceptable way to search Star Alliance (or maybe there just weren't flights available! 5555555)

 

Did a trial run with Expert Flyer, but it doesn't have access to too many of the airlines that I want to search. 

[Little Evil]

VERY curious to hear what you think of it -- I am strongly considering it just based on the description!

 

I have had quite a bit of success with BA's website, but have yet to find an acceptable way to search Star Alliance (or maybe there just weren't flights available! 5555555)

 

Did a trial run with Expert Flyer, but it doesn't have access to too many of the airlines that I want to search. 

 

Still a bit early to tell in terms of actual results, as I've only had a few minutes to play with it on my lunch break today at work. However, the information seems well detailed and I've seen a good spread of results on One World regarding multiple carrier options, which is always promising. Thing is, this tool is definitely more complex than the Expert Flyer options. That might be a good thing in the long run as it seems to be very customization and that also might translate to a more powerful tool. I'm just not sure I'm using it right, as I still can't get anything in February except for JAL on BOS-NRT-BKK. Again, that itinerary looks awesome on paper with only one stop, but I'm hesitant about JAL's 787 business class hard product. I think I'm just in the worst period for CX right now. 6 months out might be CX's deadzone for availability. Feel free to PM me with an itinerary if you want to see what I come up with just to play around.

[navidnavid]

Cathay Pacific is infamous for releasing premium cabin award space a week out. 

 

I always like to make a booking with Cathay thru American using AA miles. As long as the airports are the same you will not be charged a fee to change dates. 

 

I usually like to book a month out, and then I call everyday until desired departure to get desired dates. 

 

YMMV, but this method usually works for me, and has been proven efficient with Star alliance too.  A little risky, in particular if your dates aren't flexible. 

[joeaf]

...

I always like to make a booking with Cathay thru American using AA miles. As long as the airports are the same you will not be charged a fee to change dates. ...

 

I usually like to book a month out, and then I call everyday until desired departure to get desired dates. 

AA will now charge a change fee and recalculate taxes. I booked +330 days out on AA/CX via DCA-JFK-HKG-HKT using AA miles.  On 7/6/14 (100 days out), I tried to change the time only by 90 minutes on the same day for AA DCA-JFK flight segment, no changes to the CX segments.  AA wanted $32.50 more ($17.50 transportation tax and $15.50 Departure tax).  According to AA, CX implemented a change fee prior to July 2014 and if you change anything all domestic taxes get recalculated. Since you are booking +30 days out, the domestic taxes may not change, but in my case the taxes did change.

[Daddee]

Chase United Visa is doing a "refer a friend" promo, cannot link here but if you go to my facebook page you can click on it there...  Get the card and spend 1K in the first 3 months, get 30K miles...  if anyone clicks through from my page and gets a card, I get 5K miles, so help a poor monger out here!!!

 

 https://www.facebook.com/dana.daddee

 

I have flown to Thailand free 3 times now on this card... well, third trip coming right up...

[Luv2Phuket]

Chase United Visa is doing a "refer a friend" promo, cannot link here but if you go to my facebook page you can click on it there...  Get the card and spend 1K in the first 3 months, get 30K miles...  if anyone clicks through from my page and gets a card, I get 5K miles, so help a poor monger out here!!!

 

 https://www.facebook.com/dana.daddee

 

I have flown to Thailand free 3 times now on this card... well, third trip coming right up...

 

I am planning on emailing the link they sent me to everyone I know! 5555555

 

Believe it is limited to 10 referrals, though

[Little Evil]

Just a quick update: That KVS Tool is awesome. Well worth a short diamond subscription. So, it isn't going to do miracles like find hidden seats, but having all searches unified in one search tool is damn convenient. It is all text based code, which might confuse a few, but for vets who can easily read "the matrix", it actually clears the clutter and gets right down to the hard data. Also, you can export search strings and even click through to various seating websites (seatexpert, seatguru, etc) to confirm each plane. Just booked for late January with US Airways phone reservations. Had all flight code legs and only took about 10 minutes over the phone. Saved $155 after the difference in buying the KVS subscription over a booking agent. Also have the tool for another 6 months. CX-J (or CS for saver award) for $50 ticketing, $45 taxes and 120k DM's! 

 

One odd note though: Did a blanket One World search with a few dates. Mainly brought by CX, but also saw JL (JAL), UL (SriLankan), and EK (Emirates?) legs. Emirates isn't part of any alliance, right? They were shown for a BKK-HKG leg under One World. Wondering if this is some JAL codeshare thing. Weird part was that those legs were grouped with CX longhaul, not JL. Would have loved to have tapped EK for a leg in their business class, but the timing didn't work out. Can anyone confirm EK bookings through One World?

[Luv2Phuket]

Just a quick update: That KVS Tool is awesome. Well worth a short diamond subscription. So, it isn't going to do miracles like find hidden seats, but having all searches unified in one search tool is damn convenient. It is all text based code, which might confuse a few, but for vets who can easily read "the matrix", it actually clears the clutter and gets right down to the hard data. Also, you can export search strings and even click through to various seating websites (seatexpert, seatguru, etc) to confirm each plane. Just booked for late January with US Airways phone reservations. Had all flight code legs and only took about 10 minutes over the phone. Saved $155 after the difference in buying the KVS subscription over a booking agent. Also have the tool for another 6 months. CX-J (or CS for saver award) for $50 ticketing, $45 taxes and 120k DM's! 

 

One odd note though: Did a blanket One World search with a few dates. Mainly brought by CX, but also saw JL (JAL), UL (SriLankan), and EK (Emirates?) legs. Emirates isn't part of any alliance, right? They were shown for a BKK-HKG leg under One World. Wondering if this is some JAL codeshare thing. Weird part was that those legs were grouped with CX longhaul, not JL. Would have loved to have tapped EK for a leg in their business class, but the timing didn't work out. Can anyone confirm EK bookings through One World?

 

I can tell that I'm gonna have to subscribe to this and play with it for hours upon end...

 

BTW, according to Lucky, you can't book Emirates using US Air miles:  

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/03/31/us-airways-oneworld-award-routing-rules/

See his answers to the comments

Edited September 19, 2014 by footypjman

[navidnavid]

Just a quick update: That KVS Tool is awesome. Well worth a short diamond subscription. So, it isn't going to do miracles like find hidden seats, but having all searches unified in one search tool is damn convenient. It is all text based code, which might confuse a few, but for vets who can easily read "the matrix", it actually clears the clutter and gets right down to the hard data. Also, you can export search strings and even click through to various seating websites (seatexpert, seatguru, etc) to confirm each plane. Just booked for late January with US Airways phone reservations. Had all flight code legs and only took about 10 minutes over the phone. Saved $155 after the difference in buying the KVS subscription over a booking agent. Also have the tool for another 6 months. CX-J (or CS for saver award) for $50 ticketing, $45 taxes and 120k DM's! 

 

One odd note though: Did a blanket One World search with a few dates. Mainly brought by CX, but also saw JL (JAL), UL (SriLankan), and EK (Emirates?) legs. Emirates isn't part of any alliance, right? They were shown for a BKK-HKG leg under One World. Wondering if this is some JAL codeshare thing. Weird part was that those legs were grouped with CX longhaul, not JL. Would have loved to have tapped EK for a leg in their business class, but the timing didn't work out. Can anyone confirm EK bookings through One World?

 

very interesting- thanks for sharing w us