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

[Luv2Phuket]

I ended up ditching the late October trip....BUT I went ahead and booked a November trip around the dates that I am usually there (Thanksgiving week).

I couldn't find ANYTHING on Cathay, and, since I had already transferred the UR points to United, I went ahead and booked both one-way segments using United miles (160k....OUCH!).  Taxes came to around $75 total.  I'm trying to tell myself that I "saved" 20,000 miles (since I booked pre-devaluation).

My work schedule could easily fuck it all up, but I was pretty down about not going to Pattaya this month (the photos sent via Line from two TGs contributed to that! 555), and I  found some decent flights, although I have 2 stops on both routes, which exponentially increases the odds of my bag being lost!  I DO check a bag, so God knows if/when my luggage will make it BKK!

Going in, I go late night from LAX-TPE in EVA biz class (which I know from experience is sweet); 2+ hour layover in TPE, then TPE-HKG, again in EVA biz; another 2 1/2 hour layover (hopefully lets me check out the new Centurion lounge), then HKG-BKK in Thai biz class.  I arrive in BKK around 2:30 p.m., which I like -- hopefully will get to Pattaya by 4:30 or so. 

Coming back, there was NOTHING good (i.e., late afternoon) available, so I have a 7:25 a.m. departure (UGH...but better than the 2 a.m. I was looking at!) on Thai, which goes BKK-TPE-ICN.  No change of planes, but a 1+ hour stop in TPE to drop off/pick up on the way to ICN; about a 4 hour layover in ICN, then it's back to LAX in Asiana biz class (A380 - 1-2-1 layout with lie flat seats).  Get in mid-afternoon.

I found most of the flights playing around on ExpertFlyer, then realized they were all readily viewable on United.  555!  United shows a TON of availability in November on Air China, but I'm trying to avoid them.  I need to learn to master ExpertFlyer, but the fact that it doesn't show Cathay or JAL availability really bums me out.

If work fucks things up for me (which sadly is pretty likely), I think I'm out $250 to cancel -- $125 for each booking, since I did 2 one-ways instead of a RT.  While that may have been a mistake, it gives me flexibility in case something better comes along. 

Actually saw some decent stuff on Singapore, but it's all "waitlist," and I'm not too sure how often that pans out.  

[Lammu]

Qatar Airways sale from Finland: Two seats, one great offer. Fares starting from EUR 2,189 on Business Class fares.

My friend and I just bought 2 business class tickets, HEL-DOH-BKK-DOH-HEL

and fare was 1090 euro/ticket. . Planes are A330, Boeing 787, A380 and A330.

[navidnavid]

Singapore waitlist usually opens up ~ 72 -96 hours before departure.... I'm 4/4 with SG waitlists... I love SG airlines!

 

 

[navidnavid]

On 10/12/2017 at 20:37, Lammu said:

Qatar Airways sale from Finland: Two seats, one great offer. Fares starting from EUR 2,189 on Business Class fares.

My friend and I just bought 2 business class tickets, HEL-DOH-BKK-DOH-HEL

and fare was 1090 euro/ticket. . Planes are A330, Boeing 787, A380 and A330.

Incredible deal! 

[Little Evil]

Free* MR PSA:

Amex offer for 5,000 MR's for use on a $99 Amazon Prime subscription purchase. If you're already a Prime Member, you can use this on the renewal fee. I'd be paying that renewal fee anyway (do 90% of my shopping on Amazon), so I almost consider this a freebie 5k MR's.

Catches: Might be targeted, need to actually activate it (not automatic), and have to use it before 1/31/18. My renewal happens to fall on 12/24, so I'm covered. Not sure if you can force a renewal payment early to take advantage of these nearly free points.  

 

Edited to note the most important part. This is for subscription purchase only, not an Amazon merchandise purchase. Sorry for the edit. 

Edited October 13, 2017 by Little Evil

[Luv2Phuket]

47 minutes ago, Little Evil said:

Free* MR PSA:

Amex offer for 5,000 MR's for use on a $99 Amazon Prime subscription purchase. If you're already a Prime Member, you can use this on the renewal fee. I'd be paying that renewal fee anyway (do 90% of my shopping on Amazon), so I almost consider this a freebie 5k MR's.

Catches: Might be targeted, need to actually activate it (not automatic), and have to use it before 1/31/18. My renewal happens to fall on 12/24, so I'm covered. Not sure if you can force a renewal payment early to take advantage of these nearly free points.  

 

Edited to note the most important part. This is for subscription purchase only, not an Amazon merchandise purchase. Sorry for the edit. 

This is just BAAAAD luck....my Amazon Prime is due to renew on February 2, 2018 - TWO DAYS after this deal expires!  555

Going to check to see if I can renew it early (assuming I have the same offer - vaguely recall seeing an email from AMEX about it)

[Luv2Phuket]

On 10/13/2017 at 07:51, Little Evil said:

Free* MR PSA:

Amex offer for 5,000 MR's for use on a $99 Amazon Prime subscription purchase. If you're already a Prime Member, you can use this on the renewal fee. I'd be paying that renewal fee anyway (do 90% of my shopping on Amazon), so I almost consider this a freebie 5k MR's.

So here's the question: should I cancel my existing Prime subscription and re-subscribe, simply to get 5,000 MR?

My Prime expires on Feb. 3, so, presumably, I could do it in late January and only "waste" a few weeks on my current subscription.

Like you, I do 90% of my shopping on Amazon (I try to remember to log in via JetBlue for the free miles, but forget more than I care to admit!), so the MR are effectively "free," since I am going to renew Prime any way.

[Little Evil]

13 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

So here's the question: should I cancel my existing Prime subscription and re-subscribe, simply to get 5,000 MR?

My Prime expires on Feb. 3, so, presumably, I could do it in late January and only "waste" a few weeks on my current subscription.

Like you, I do 90% of my shopping on Amazon (I try to remember to log in via JetBlue for the free miles, but forget more than I care to admit!), so the MR are effectively "free," since I am going to renew Prime any way.

 

I suppose that question depends on how utilized your Prime account is with regards to services. For instance, do you care about shopping preferences such as saved info (cards, addresses, etc), purchase history, product reviews, etc? I'd think that you would lose most, if not all that info. Also, for those who use Prime for movies, music, books, and other media, you may have difficulty transferring any paid purchases (if any) over to your new account.  All of this might be a non-issue for some people, but It would actually be a bit of a pain re-creating my account from scratch. 

Wonder if a strategic call into Amazon the last week of the promotion asking them to force the transaction would work. You could say that it has to be expensed for business now in order to keep the benefit. I'm sure they'd rather run your card early than lose a member. 

[Luv2Phuket]

Trying to figure out the optimal stay using my various hotel points and free night certificates for my November points/miles escapade:

Option 1:

 - Hopefully use my IHG Ambassador free weekend night certificate for my 1st 2 nights in Bangkok (buy one, get 2nd night free).  Just renewed and doubt my certificate will get here in time, but Ambassador desk said they can call hotel 1 week prior to arrival to see if they will accept e-certificate if mine has not arrived.  There is a chance that they will say "no," though, so fingers crossed it comes in before then.

 - Use my Citi Prestige card to book 4 nights at the InterContinental in Pattaya, getting a credit = to average rate for one of the nights under their "4th night free" benefit.

 - Use my IHG annual free night certificate for 1 of the remaining 3 nights, and then book the other 2 using IHG points (31,500/night after 10% rebate)

If it all comes together, I would end up getting 9 nights at InterContinental properties for about $750 outlay and 63,000 IHG points (and would get IHG credit for 5 of the 9 nights).

The Intercontinental in Pattaya is isolated (in Phratamnak), but I love the pools, rooms and true "resort" feel.  Plus, with Ambassador status, I get a guaranteed room upgrade, although they may downgrade me when I revert to the nights on the free night certificate and points (hopefully not!)

Option 2:

 - Ditch Bangkok altogether, book 5 nights at Hilton using Citi Prestige and a Hilton free night certificate

 - Book the last 4 nights at InterContinental using Citi Prestige (so 2 of the 8 nights free). 

That sets me back about $1,200, but I get IHG and Hilton points for 8 nights (and the Hilton is such a great location), and I save my IHG free night certificate, my Ambassador free weekend night certificate (used it last year at Venetian in Las Vegas) and the 63,000 IHG points for my next trip.

Factoring in the value/cost of IHG points (and the 63,000 used) and the additional taxi fare, the effective costs are very close - probably less than $100 apart.

It pretty much comes down to whether I want to go to Bangkok or straight to Pattaya....

Thoughts?

I was pretty solidly behind Option 1, but, as I typed this post, I started to move more and more towards Option 2!  555

[briguy]

I think it depends less on the financial and points considerations than on how much you value time in Bangkok. If you leave LOS without having stayed a few days in Bangkok, will you feel like you missed something? Also, how wiped out are you when you arrive after the flight? You may want to stay in Bangkok and get acclimated before going to Pattaya, depending on what time you arrive.

As far as the hotels in Pattaya go, are you a guy that likes to get girls to come to his room? Easier at the Hilton, I would think, unless you plan on meeting up with some old favorites.

Meanwhile, I'm about to book my first trip (yes, I dared to give a longtime LOS visitor advice)  for either January or February, just having realized that the United points needed for a biz seat goes up by 10,000 on November 1st. First time I've ever booked anything so far in advance!

[Luv2Phuket]

Good points - never really had "success" in Bangkok, so now leaning more towards going straight to Pattaya  555

I'm used to booking Cathay 331 days in advance, when it first opens up to AA/Alaska!  This is one of the rare times when I waited until barely over a month out.

 

 

[AsiaSmiles]

Only comment to offer is despite the fine luxury the Pataya ICH has to offer it is so time consuming o get to and from from the action that I would not repeat a stay there unless I had someone I wanted to impress and keep in my room long time. My past stays at the holiday inn Pattaya proved much better since the baht bus is easily accessible from beach road and in some cases when they are fully booked they may give you the executive suite upgrade since the standard rooms may be fully booked and the expensive room is likely to be available. In any event the view from the HI Pattaya upper floors are awesome. Choose the older building, not the new one.

This thread is very informative, and hats off to those of you that know how to play the points game so well. I simply don't have the time to devote to the superb research and effort put into the practice, but am grateful for the posts. Learning a lot.

Despite having a million HH points and over a quarter million ICH points, I've decided that staying at VT6 near the Hilton and paying out of pocket is a better deal than using hotel points in Pattaya.

The HI in Bankgkok Sukumvitt is not so bad, as well located and a reasonable value.

Then again, I'm no expert when it comes to using points, just travel a lot for my job and the points just accumulate, and when I find some free time, it is nice to have the option to use them. Thank you all for the posts on this thread.

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

[Luv2Phuket]

My latest "points endeavor" (pre-Thailand):

Like a moron, I forgot to use a Hilton free weekend night certificate when I was in Pattaya last November AND again in February. 

It expires next Wednesday, so, on Sunday night, I will be checking into (and checking out) the new Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills....if you gotta "waste" a free weekend weekend night certificate, you might as well do it on a room that would cost $700 (about 23,000 baht)!  555

Now I just need to find a cute young Asian girl to come "visit" me....

[HimBadMan]

Finally booked my return for my trip next month- 

LAX- HKG  On Korean Air 1st class (A380 to ICN) and F Class on KE A330 (They did equip swap from 777 to A330) Fkn KE always doing that.

HKG-HKT   KA J Class on A330

BKK-LAX-  Booked CX F for both legs  Bkk-hkg and hgk-lax..   

 

I thought long and hard if CX F is worth the extra 40K AA Miles , but I thought Why the F not..  I have the miles..    Only thing that sucks That flight is in the morning versus my typical sat night flight- so I lose about 10 hours on ground... oh well..

[Luv2Phuket]

15 hours ago, HimBadMan said:

Finally booked my return for my trip next month- 

LAX- HKG  On Korean Air 1st class (A380 to ICN) and F Class on KE A330 (They did equip swap from 777 to A330) Fkn KE always doing that.

HKG-HKT   KA J Class on A330

BKK-LAX-  Booked CX F for both legs  Bkk-hkg and hgk-lax..   

 

I thought long and hard if CX F is worth the extra 40K AA Miles , but I thought Why the F not..  I have the miles..    Only thing that sucks That flight is in the morning versus my typical sat night flight- so I lose about 10 hours on ground... oh well..

That's the issue that I face with my Nov. trip - LOVE the departing flights in the 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. range.

This time, I have a 7:30 a.m. departure, so my last night is either going to be an early one or a VERY late one (since I expect to be heading to BKK at around 4 a.m.)

I'm surprised you found Cathay availability.  My searches are returning zip.  I was hoping to use a chunk of my Alaska miles stash, as it would be 10,000 LESS Alaska miles to go First on Cathay than it is to go Biz on Thai/Asiana.

I'm going to keep checking the dates -- if I see anything open up, it's worth the $125 fee to re-deposit the United miles and jump to Cathay!

[HimBadMan]

43 minutes ago, Luv2Phuket said:

That's the issue that I face with my Nov. trip - LOVE the departing flights in the 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. range.

This time, I have a 7:30 a.m. departure, so my last night is either going to be an early one or a VERY late one (since I expect to be heading to BKK at around 4 a.m.)

I'm surprised you found Cathay availability.  My searches are returning zip.  I was hoping to use a chunk of my Alaska miles stash, as it would be 10,000 LESS Alaska miles to go First on Cathay than it is to go Biz on Thai/Asiana.

I'm going to keep checking the dates -- if I see anything open up, it's worth the $125 fee to re-deposit the United miles and jump to Cathay!

Yeah i was on KVS a few times a day...  CX has been very stingy lately.   Hope something opens up.

Will u be there same time as me?  Im Nov 21 to 12/2

[Luv2Phuket]

1 hour ago, HimBadMan said:

Yeah i was on KVS a few times a day...  CX has been very stingy lately.   Hope something opens up.

Will u be there same time as me?  Im Nov 21 to 12/2

We'll overlap for a few days - will PM you once we're both there

[Luv2Phuket]

Some potential good news - 5 more International airline added to PreCheck program, including Cathay, ANA and Korean:

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/10/tsa-adds-five-airlines-to-precheck/?utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Editorial&utm_campaign=TWITTER-100000090957289

I LOVE PreCheck (and Global Entry), but I say "potential good news" because I have never seen a TSA PreCheck lane at the Bradley Terminal at LAX, which is where all of my International flights depart.  Hopefully they will be adding a lane soon!

[Little Evil]

55 minutes ago, Luv2Phuket said:

Some potential good news - 5 more International airline added to PreCheck program, including Cathay, ANA and Korean:

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/10/tsa-adds-five-airlines-to-precheck/?utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Editorial&utm_campaign=TWITTER-100000090957289

I LOVE PreCheck (and Global Entry), but I say "potential good news" because I have never seen a TSA PreCheck lane at the Bradley Terminal at LAX, which is where all of my International flights depart.  Hopefully they will be adding a lane soon!

I'm one part psyched (CX is my go-to from my hub), but one part "meh". Last precheck experience I had was at JFK. Went from international to domestic terminals, so I had to go back through security. Jetblue had Precheck stamped on my boarding pass. Got to the line that was clearly marked precheck. Still was made to take shoes off. Went through body scanner and was waiting for my bag. TSA agent manning the Xray told me that I had to do further screening. Got the full pat down and bomb residue test on hands and bag. Had the bag tossed in the process, fucking up my freshly packed bag. Turns out, they selected me for this because I didn't take out my laptop. I politely tried to explain the precheck stamp, but they weren't hearing any of it. I didn't press the matter, but why even bother with precheck if they aren't going to abide by their own RULES?  

[SlowlyMan]

6 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

Some potential good news - 5 more International airline added to PreCheck program, including Cathay, ANA and Korean:

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/10/tsa-adds-five-airlines-to-precheck/?utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Editorial&utm_campaign=TWITTER-100000090957289

I LOVE PreCheck (and Global Entry), but I say "potential good news" because I have never seen a TSA PreCheck lane at the Bradley Terminal at LAX, which is where all of my International flights depart.  Hopefully they will be adding a lane soon!

I inquired about this at the ORD international terminal. I was told they would not be offering pre at the international terminal.

[CyberPro]

12 hours ago, Little Evil said:

I'm one part psyched (CX is my go-to from my hub), but one part "meh". Last precheck experience I had was at JFK. Went from international to domestic terminals, so I had to go back through security. Jetblue had Precheck stamped on my boarding pass. Got to the line that was clearly marked precheck. Still was made to take shoes off. Went through body scanner and was waiting for my bag. TSA agent manning the Xray told me that I had to do further screening. Got the full pat down and bomb residue test on hands and bag. Had the bag tossed in the process, fucking up my freshly packed bag. Turns out, they selected me for this because I didn't take out my laptop. I politely tried to explain the precheck stamp, but they weren't hearing any of it. I didn't press the matter, but why even bother with precheck if they aren't going to abide by their own rules?  

re "Had the bag tossed in the process". Ever watched the baggage handling crew? "Tossing" bags is routine. 

re "Precheck Stamp". Sounds like you are applying logic vs "the system", which is only as competent as the person you are dealing with that day. They have unlimited time and resources to mess with people while you/we are trying to make a flight...if understanding Precheck Stamp isn't in their mental vocabulary that day, decide whether fighting it is in one's interest. Personally, I humor officers who have the power to do me harm. Up to you. 

By the way, read on NY TImes today that JetBlue is installing Galley/Lav modules that allow more seats to be crammed into the plane (representative article follows). While modular design in aircraft is surely laudable, combining the galley and toilets doesn't SOUND too savory.  Apparently parts are breaking rendering the toilets inoperable. Be sure to go before boarding. Gotta love cheap fare-seeking #*)@!. (just messing with you...take care).

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/Broken-Toilets-Crimp-JetBlue-s-Plan-to-Add-More-12302932.php

Edited October 26, 2017 by CyberPro

[bouncewithme]

Wondering how this will work if I book through AA on CX. Would AA pass it to CX or would I need a CX account to add it?

[Little Evil]

10 hours ago, CyberPro said:

re "Had the bag tossed in the process". Ever watched the baggage handling crew? "Tossing" bags is routine. 

 

That's "tossed" as in "toss a jail cell". Means they dumped the contents of, and rummage through my bag. While I wouldn't put that past a baggage crew, I don't think that happens often on their end. 

 

[Luv2Phuket]

3 hours ago, bouncewithme said:

Wondering how this will work if I book through AA on CX. Would AA pass it to CX or would I need a CX account to add it?

Perhaps you can go into the "Manage my Reservation/Trip" tab (or whatever it is called) on the Cathay website and add it there?

[sharka]

2 hours ago, Little Evil said:

That's "tossed" as in "toss a jail cell". Means they dumped the contents of, and rummage through my bag. While I wouldn't put that past a baggage crew, I don't think that happens often on their end. 

 

No, I think he meant tossed bag is exactly that. The handlers are throwing the bags around. Ive seen this done even with the "fragile" tags/stickers on boxes or bags. Some handlers simply dont care.