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

[wdogg]

It amazes me how terrible all Award Searches are !! Every airline website Award search is shit

 

I purchase KVStool. Amazing site to help me look for award space and timetables.

 

I flyer Korean Air once on their awesome a380. But did not get their 1st class. Looking forward to your flight info

 

United is pretty much the only website that has all of their world ticket availability right there in the website search.  their tickets cost more miles than the competition though although the star alliance lounge at lax is one of the better ones for sure. 

 

i just got the chase sapphire reserve and the 100k miles bonus.  tickets seem cheaper on ultimate rewards if you book through their internal search engine.  

Edited October 27, 2016 by wdogg

[Luv2Phuket]

How often do they resend offers?.  

 

Alaska offers mile purchase bonuses every couple of months

[HimBadMan]

United is pretty much the only website that has all of their world ticket availability right there in the website search. their tickets cost more miles than the competition though although the star alliance lounge at lax is one of the better ones for sure.

 

i just got the chase sapphire reserve and the 100k miles bonus. tickets seem cheaper on ultimate rewards if you book through their internal search engine.

Wdogg. I agree that the TBIT star alliance lounge is nice but the one world Qantas 1st class lounge at TBIT is much better and the best in the US with food. I think star alliance and OW biz lounges on par accept I love the outside terrace that the star alliance has

 

Also. I also just rcvd CSR. One downside I noticed so far : If you book through ultimate rewards you don' have an option for premium economy and you do. It get the 150% points for biz or economy. So looks like I will buy coach and upgrade with my AA SWu. But AA only goes to HK

Edited October 28, 2016 by get0ffdanutzz

[stealth96]

Has this happened to anyone before?last March I booked business class on Cathay Pacific using American airline miles for this January and early February. I just got a email saying they changed my return flight to come home nine days earlier. What the hell? My 2 1/2 week holiday just got shortened to five days. Total bullshit! anyway I was just wondering if this happened to anyone before and what they did about it.

[mike1878]

I had that happen to me once on CR trip with United.  I just called them to complain and talked to one of managers.  They re did my booking to leave 12hrs later from my original itinerary.  Usually happens when they cancel a flight and computer just sticks you in next open rewards seat. 

 

I got my CSR card and using miles to fly first class on asiana this week LAX to ICN.  Have stop in ICN and HKK, have to see someone in HKK for a day. But I get to fly on Thai 380 first class to BKK from HKK.  So excited to see these two 380's.    On return taking Etihad, taking their 380 first class in that huge apartment to JFK.    Be interesting see how it feels to shower on a plane. 

 

For those of you who travel often to BKK.  Have you notice it is a lot cheaper sometimes to start the round trip from BKK than from USA?  I am planning my trips in late March/April and Late May/June. 

[HimBadMan]

I had that happen to me once on CR trip with United. I just called them to complain and talked to one of managers. They re did my booking to leave 12hrs later from my original itinerary. Usually happens when they cancel a flight and computer just sticks you in next open rewards seat.

 

I got my CSR card and using miles to fly first class on asiana this week LAX to ICN. Have stop in ICN and HKK, have to see someone in HKK for a day. But I get to fly on Thai 380 first class to BKK from HKK. So excited to see these two 380's. On return taking Etihad, taking their 380 first class in that huge apartment to JFK. Be interesting see how it feels to shower on a plane.

 

For those of you who travel often to BKK. Have you notice it is a lot cheaper sometimes to start the round trip from BKK than from USA? I am planning my trips in late March/April and Late May/June.

 

Yes you can find great biz class deals departing from Asia... always keep this in mind when booking. Hope you share a trip report and pics on your air travel

[Little Evil]

Has this happened to anyone before?last March I booked business class on Cathay Pacific using American airline miles for this January and early February. I just got a email saying they changed my return flight to come home nine days earlier. What the hell? My 2 1/2 week holiday just got shortened to five days. Total bullshit! anyway I was just wondering if this happened to anyone before and what they did about it.

 

CX did this to me once when they had an equipment change, but not nearly that crazy of an itinerary change that you're getting. They swapped out the 747 on my HKG to BKK leg, which sucked because I was in F for that leg on the 747, but the 777 only had J. I also wanted one last hurrah on the 747 before the retiring. Timing wise, I was only put out 1 hour or so from my prior itinerary. I would call CX's CSR and calmly explain that you had booked lodging based on your prior itinerary and can not change. 

[Short]

AA does this to me all the time to the point that now I expect it and use that to get better flights than originally offered.

[Jack Frost]

Yesterday clocked Turkish Business class to Bangkok from several regionals & London for £1250

 

Top flying times & great minimum connections.

 

Flights were for Out November & back early December.

 

I did not book it but would of only due to some concerns with private life & work commitments.

 

 

     

[stealth96]

AA does this to me all the time to the point that now I expect it and use that to get better flights than originally offered.

What do you mean by better flights than originally offered? Maybe a upgrade to first? That would be sweet!!

[Methos]

What do you mean by better flights than originally offered? Maybe a upgrade to first? That would be sweet!!

 

I didn't post that - but I'll tell you what my answer would be to that question. I primarily use aeroplan points, and they collect fuel surcharges on about 1/2 the available airlines so I my flight options are limited if I want to keep costs down. If I book something and it's affected by a major schedule change like that, they have to put me on flights that get me back on schedule if I push them about it. A few times I've been put on better flights and they eat the fuel surcharges.

 

A couple of years ago that's how I ended up on a Thai A380 from BKK-CDG. That segment alone would have been several hundred $ in surcharges (TG seems lower now, not sure why). Recently a friend of mine had a schedule change and was moved from ANA J to UA F, but he found flights he preferred and was able to switch to them instead (J). Not sure if UA F is an upgrade from ANA J though?  

 

A few days ago I had a schedule change for my  upcoming return in Feb and since I found availability on EVA I asked them to switch me and they did without the normal change fee. I was planning on doing this anyway if EVA opened up, but the schedule change from AI allowed me to do it for free! 

[Short]

What do you mean by better flights than originally offered? Maybe a upgrade to first? That would be sweet!!

 

 

In my latest booking I was able to move my return legs from Japan Air with an overnight layover in Narita to Cathay Pacific due to AA flight change times.

 

Right now I have two domestic legs in first class that I'm try to get AA to change to a coach class single leg.  It would save me 8 hours.   AA isn't budging.

[Luv2Phuket]

Some decent news for anyone who -- like me -- has taken advantage of Alaska's mileage purchase offers: in addition to Cathay, you now can book JAL using Alaska miles.

 

Details here:  http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2016/12/06/redeem-alaska-miles-jal/

 

USA to/from Thailand will set you back 65,000 miles each way for business and only 75,000 miles each way for JAL first class (both far less than the using AA miles thru oneworld)

 

Now for the downsides: availability may be limited and I was only able to find a couple of JAL flights from LAX-BKK (and the times were not great).

 

Still....it's always good to have options!

[Short]

In my latest booking I was able to move my return legs from Japan Air with an overnight layover in Narita to Cathay Pacific due to AA flight change times.

 

Right now I have two domestic legs in first class that I'm try to get AA to change to a coach class single leg.  It would save me 8 hours.   AA isn't budging.

 

When I called again today, they let me swap the domestic 1st class legs for the much shorter coach class single leg.  Took calling them about 5 separate times.

[Short]

I didn't post that - but I'll tell you what my answer would be to that question. I primarily use aeroplan points, and they collect fuel surcharges on about 1/2 the available airlines so I my flight options are limited if I want to keep costs down. If I book something and it's affected by a major schedule change like that, they have to put me on flights that get me back on schedule if I push them about it. A few times I've been put on better flights and they eat the fuel surcharges.

 

A couple of years ago that's how I ended up on a Thai A380 from BKK-CDG. That segment alone would have been several hundred $ in surcharges (TG seems lower now, not sure why). Recently a friend of mine had a schedule change and was moved from ANA J to UA F, but he found flights he preferred and was able to switch to them instead (J). Not sure if UA F is an upgrade from ANA J though?  

 

A few days ago I had a schedule change for my  upcoming return in Feb and since I found availability on EVA I asked them to switch me and they did without the normal change fee. I was planning on doing this anyway if EVA opened up, but the schedule change from AI allowed me to do it for free! 

 

 

Spot on!!

[Luv2Phuket]

Although it's almost a year old, I saw a link to this informative post about business class options to Asia today on Twitter:

 

http://thepointsguy.com/2016/02/top-8-ways-fly-to-asia-in-business/

[HimBadMan]

Has anyone booked with Ultimate Rewards yet? Hearing mixed reviews showing some of their fares are bulk. I need to maintain ExP with AA for 2018 so I don't want to xfer my UR to partners I would rather book via their portal and get 1.5%. The problem is if it's a bulk fare I won't get the normal EQDs and EQMs. I want to utilize my system wide upgrades too, and bulk fares would not qualify.

[Little Evil]

Has anyone booked with Ultimate Rewards yet? Hearing mixed reviews showing some of their fares are bulk. I need to maintain ExP with AA for 2018 so I don't want to xfer my UR to partners I would rather book via their portal and get 1.5%. The problem is if it's a bulk fare I won't get the normal EQDs and EQMs. I want to utilize my system wide upgrades too, and bulk fares would not qualify.

 

No personal experience with the UR portal for booking yet other than transferring, but as far as I understand it, Chase's UR portal does allow you to view fare RULES and restrictions when searching, so at least you can tell if it will earn EQ's or not. 

Edited December 12, 2016 by Little Evil

[Little Evil]

Hey, any of you guys on this thread get the Chase Sapphire Reserve after already having the Preferred? I've had my Preferred for a year or so. Looking to either transfer the credit to another Chase program or merge it with my Reserve. Not sure which makes more sense, so looking for advise.  Either way, I just don't feel paying Preferred annual fee when my main card now is the Reserve. Probably have to make a decision before new year so I don't roll into another annual fee.  

[wanderir]

Yes, I got the preferred when it came out and as soon as the reserve came out I got that and downgraded the reserve. It's how I earned enough points for a round trip business class flight for this trip. In 3 months.

 

My secondary chase card gets 1.5 points for everything and I transfer all those point to the Preferred. It's a great card with great benefits.

 

You want to apply for the select and downgrade the preferred. Easy.

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited December 12, 2016 by wanderir

[bgtp]

Hey, any of you guys on this thread get the Chase Sapphire Reserve after already having the Preferred? I've had my Preferred for a year or so. Looking to either transfer the credit to another Chase program or merge it with my Reserve. Not sure which makes more sense, so looking for advise.  Either way, I just don't feel paying Preferred annual fee when my main card now is the Reserve. Probably have to make a decision before new year so I don't roll into another annual fee.  

 

Funny, I just cancelled my Preferred this past weekend since the annual fee is coming up next month and I got the Reserve back in October. It  was my second time with the Preferred. I didn't bother transferring the credit line since Chase always gives me more than I need. In fact, I had them reduce the credit lines on my Preferred and Explorer before applying for the Reserve since I was afraid I already had too much credit with them. 

 

It's great that the $300 annual travel credit goes by the calendar year. I was able to get the $300 in 2016 and I'll get the $300 in 2017 well before my first year is up. So, if I cancel before my next annual fee, that means I got $600 in travel credit, Global Entry application fee paid and 100K UR points all for $450. Can't beat that.

[SlowlyMan]

Yes, I got the preferred when it came out and as soon as the reserve came out I got that and downgraded the reserve. It's how I earned enough points for a round trip business class flight for this trip. In 3 months.

 

My secondary chase card gets 1.5 points for everything and I transfer all those point to the Preferred. It's a great card with great benefits.

 

You want to apply for the select and downgrade the preferred. Easy.

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

What do you mean by down grading the reserve card

[wanderir]

What do you mean by down grading the reserve card

The best strategy for getting chase points is to have multiple purposes. And then use the reserve card to redeem them for the highest value.

 

You won't get the signing bonus if you upgrade your select card, so apply for the reserve card and call

Chase once you are approved to downgrade your card to one that does not have a fee and the earns points for different categories of purchases than the select.

 

I downgraded to a card that gets 1.5 points for all purchases. And I buy all non travel and dining with it.

 

For a better explanation check out the points Guy site.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Little Evil]

The best strategy for getting chase points is to have multiple purposes. And then use the reserve card to redeem them for the highest value.

 

You won't get the signing bonus if you upgrade your select card, so apply for the reserve card and call

Chase once you are approved to downgrade your card to one that does not have a fee and the earns points for different categories of purchases than the select.

 

I downgraded to a card that gets 1.5 points for all purchases. And I buy all non travel and dining with it.

 

For a better explanation check out the points Guy site.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

So, you got approved for the Reserve and then immediately downgraded it for a card that gets 1.5x on everything? That could make sense for some people. And you still got the 100k sign up and Reserve perks? I figured they would want to only give those to people paying the high annual fee.  With my current spending pattern (mainly dining and travel on this card), I typically get 2-3x on the majority of my spend, so I think I'm going to keep the Reserve and try to downgrade the Preferred to the Unlimited card. The only other logical alternative was to take the Preferred credit and merge it with the Reserve. My personal take is that you can never have too much credit, as it always offsets your maximum monthly spend to lower utilization. 

[Short]

For so many years people have been told to avoid credit cards that now they can't get past that hang up to fully utilize the system.