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

[Little Evil]

5 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

Increased transfer offers from AMEX MR to Cathay Asia Miles:

https://thepointsguy.com/news/maximize-amex-transfer-bonus-for-solid-award-redemptions-to-asia-and-europe/?utm_medium=social&utm_term=editorial&utm_campaign=100000283516778&utm_source=TWITTER

I was surprised that their required miles for LAX-HKG were so competitive with AA and United.

Why do I never get the target programs that I would actually use? Only have about 90k MR's at the moment, so this would have been great timing. 

Important to note that you should only check for this promition when you are ready to transfer (if interested). It has been reported to disappear about re-check. 

[wash747]

qatar airway have nice deals from JFK, ORD, LAX to BKK..  Around $2600 for JFK-BKK..  Not amazing deal but solid J deal if someone want to fly in flatbed all the way to swampy and snooze it off after pattaya holiday.  I'd grab one for Feb but little hesistant due to rumors of qatar leaving oneworld, which will make AA program totally worthless. 

[Luv2Phuket]

27 minutes ago, wash747 said:

qatar airway have nice deals from JFK, ORD, LAX to BKK..  Around $2600 for JFK-BKK..  Not amazing deal but solid J deal if someone want to fly in flatbed all the way to swampy and snooze it off after pattaya holiday.  I'd grab one for Feb but little hesistant due to rumors of qatar leaving oneworld, which will make AA program totally worthless. 

I flew Qatar to Azerbaijan from LAX.  Disappointing thing is that I think LAX is dead last on their list to get the Q-Suites planes.

Thought I read that ORD may be getting them (or has already gotten them)

[basket case]

I flew Qatar to Azerbaijan from LAX.  Disappointing thing is that I think LAX is dead last on their list to get the Q-Suites planes.
Thought I read that ORD may be getting them (or has already gotten them)

I think LAX is getting qsuites in April. I know my flight in May is scheduled to have them

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[Little Evil]

Hey guys--anyone have any recent tips or experience with booking CX via Alaska? I've only done it once, and it seemed to be a pain. Looking now and they're not finding any of the availability I'm finding on KVS. Read something about searching for married segments over individual legs. That didn't work either. Are they just being difficult for the sake of it? Called three times today. The first rep found only Y seats. The second hung up on me. The third couldn't even find the Y seats, leading me to think that either something is up or they generally suck at their jobs. 

[skink]

CX seems to be bad at releasing award space this year. (I also read that their mistake fare from Vietnam to the States might have taken away most of the F and J award seats we used to see).

Are any of your CX flights just after midnight? I saw this on FT:

"The AS System for finding CX award flights cannot see flights ~12:00AM when using the default search mode....This means: Tell the agent when using 'Direct Access' to chose CX, then choose 'load' then they will see a box for 'hour.'  Enter 1AM in the 'hour' box and then they will be able to see the 12:00AM flight."

Edited March 7, 2019 by skink
(add info)

[Luv2Phuket]

25 minutes ago, skink said:

CX seems to be bad at releasing award space this year. (I also read that their mistake fare from Vietnam to the States might have taken away most of the F and J award seats we used to see).

That makes sense - 99% sure all of the Vietnam mistake fares to the USA will route through HKG, so less availability than usual

[wash747]

Yeah I expect CX availability to be shitty till January 2020 because no one can book ex-Vietnam mistake fares beyond Dec 2019.  There is a chance that CX decide to say fuck you to partners for award seats (heard rumors that Cathay elites are seething at the fact how easy it is for people to use Alaska and AA miles on CX).

speak of qsuites, they updated the bird to lax so you guys can enjoy qsuites but obviously longer routing to BKK. One mile at time or expertflyer is good source to find out if your flight have qsuites 

[Little Evil]

1 hour ago, skink said:

CX seems to be bad at releasing award space this year. (I also read that their mistake fare from Vietnam to the States might have taken away most of the F and J award seats we used to see).

Are any of your CX flights just after midnight? I saw this on FT:

"The AS System for finding CX award flights cannot see flights ~12:00AM when using the default search mode....This means: Tell the agent when using 'Direct Access' to chose CX, then choose 'load' then they will see a box for 'hour.'  Enter 1AM in the 'hour' box and then they will be able to see the 12:00AM flight."

Outbound is typically 1:50am, so this might be a good trick to get them to start finding things. Thank you. Will be interesting to see if I can actually convince someone to take these instructions.

[skink]

On 06/03/2019 at 20:16, wash747 said:

qatar airway have nice deals from JFK, ORD, LAX to BKK..  Around $2600 for JFK-BKK..  Not amazing deal but solid J deal if someone want to fly in flatbed all the way to swampy and snooze it off after pattaya holiday.  I'd grab one for Feb but little hesistant due to rumors of qatar leaving oneworld, which will make AA program totally worthless. 

Just saw this one for YUL-BKK for $2200 today. I didn't realize there would be so many different options for crediting miles with them.

https://loyaltylobby.com/2019/03/08/airfare-of-the-day-qatar-airways-business-class-montreal-qc-yul-canada-to-bangkok-bkk-thailand-from-2203-round-trip

[wash747]

yeah saw YUL-BKK deal.  I decide to bite JFK-BKK QR J deal over YUL because of reposition cost and winter storm risks during Feb (it sucks to clear canadian immigration/customs instead of staying airside during transit).  Will zoom away to Land of Smile day after super bowl (give up trying to watch SB in Pattaya...  630 AM gametime sucks 555)

[Luv2Phuket]

7 minutes ago, wash747 said:

yeah saw YUL-BKK deal.  I decide to bite JFK-BKK QR J deal over YUL because of reposition cost and winter storm risks during Feb (it sucks to clear canadian immigration/customs instead of staying airside during transit).  Will zoom away to Land of Smile day after super bowl (give up trying to watch SB in Pattaya...  630 AM gametime sucks 555)

I have tried -- and failed -- at that before.  TWO big issues for me: (1) the early start time; and (2) the naked Thai girl in my bed!  55555

Thanks for the heads up that it is almost time for me to start looking into booking my annual mid-February trip!

[Luv2Phuket]

On 07/03/2019 at 06:10, Little Evil said:

Hey guys--anyone have any recent tips or experience with booking CX via Alaska? I've only done it once, and it seemed to be a pain. Looking now and they're not finding any of the availability I'm finding on KVS. Read something about searching for married segments over individual legs. That didn't work either. Are they just being difficult for the sake of it? Called three times today. The first rep found only Y seats. The second hung up on me. The third couldn't even find the Y seats, leading me to think that either something is up or they generally suck at their jobs. 

I just realized that I was napping on the job last month!  My Alaska balance is sitting at just over 92,000, which is enough for a one-way first or biz, but that's it!  No RT biz and certainly no RT first.

Their latest "buy miles" promo ended about 2 weeks ago, and I should have bumped to 140k when I had the chance.

My search tonight in Avios showed first availability, although it also is the flight where I HAD first, but was bumped back to biz because of an equipment change on the route. 

Coincidentally, the refund of those 20,000 miles is why I am at 90k instead of 70k.

Think I'm gonna see if Alaska can snag the trip over in first (biz is showing NO availability!), and roll the dice that I can find a return via AA or United (or Korean OR SQ! 555) if no Alaska mile bonus purchase offer comes along soon.

EDIT:

'Twas an exercise in futility!  Alaska is not open and looks like it won;t be for about another week or so.

[wash747]

Use awardgrabber.com then set alert on your desired booking date..  I use it all the time to keep eye on 330 day window to scoop award seats for flights to BKK 555

yeah, I woke up my barfine last year by rooting hard for philly eagles via twitter and espn feed coz its not on hotel room tv.. screw it, I’ll enjoy game then fly out. I love Valentine’s Day in pattaya, so much fun and girls tend to be in cheerful moods. 

 

[Luv2Phuket]

3 minutes ago, wash747 said:

Use awardgrabber.com then set alert on your desired booking date..  I use it all the time to keep eye on 330 day window to scoop award seats for flights to BKK 555

yeah, I woke up my barfine last year by rooting hard for philly eagles via Twitter and espn feed coz its not on hotel room tv.. screw it, I’ll enjoy game then fly out. I love Valentine’s Day in pattaya, so much fun and girls tend to be in cheerful moods. 

 

Great tip - I'll take a look at it!

Oddly, I was able to book EVA with United miles today for a flight that is 334 days out (Thurs., Feb. 6).  Maybe that's why EVA seems to fill up so fast?  in my (limited) experience, EVA always seems to be booked early, but they also seem to open up availability days before the flights. 

In fact, the more preferable flight (about a 2 hour layover) was already full in biz from TPE to BKK, so I had to take one that leaves me with a 4-hour layover at TPE.  Not a problem, as I recall EVA has a nice lounge, with showers, so I can get cleaned up before the short hop to BKK (although it's showing as a 4-hour flight?  I thought TPE-BKK was around 3 hours?)

I could have booked Thai from TPE-BKK and cut the layover to 2 hours, but I have noted above my dissatisfaction with the seemingly endless delays once boarding on Thai, and SeatGuru shows my EVA flight to BKK as 1-2-1 (as opposed to the 2-2-2 on Thai).

I HATE paying 90k for one way business class - SUCH a rip-off!  That said, I had the miles sitting there, and I can always cancel and pay the re-deposit fee if something better comes along.

BTW, this is my annual trip that overlaps with Valentine's Day, so keep me in mind if you head over -- would love to meet for a drink and a chat.

With tax season upon us, I need to start looking at cc offers that will build some different accounts for me, and I am still intrigued by EVA.  If I'm reading their award chart correctly, they would have set me back only 75k for the flight that I just dropped 90k on.

That Capital One card discussed above is still on my mind, but I need to see what else is out there.  I'm also thinking about an Alaska card to pump 40k miles into that account (need 50k more to get me back to RT first).

I don't think I qualify for the 100k Bonvoy card, because I have the SWP Business AMEX and the Chase Marriott Premier Plus Business cards.  At 60k Bonvoy for 25k miles, that bonus equates to a decent - but not great - airline mile bonus (although I could easily pair it with 20k of my existing Bonvoy points to get it to 50k miles).

Anybody else have any particular card offers that they are looking at now?

I have been waiting/hoping/praying for the Chase Sapphire Reserve card to offer an increased bonus, but it's still at only 50k.  I was ineligible due to the 5/24 rule back when it was 100k, but I should be clear of 5/24 by now.  I've actually been closing more accounts than I have been opening (including dropping some Chase cards).  Sadly, I don't think that 100k bonus will be coming back any time soon (but knowing that it was once there has me utterly refusing to get a card with that high of an annual fee for only 50k UR!  5555)

[Luv2Phuket]

For the first time since 2017, I went through and logged my current travel account totals (and account numbers) into a spreadsheet.  It's informative (it alerted me to transfer 7,000 MR to SQ to bump it to the level for a biz class ticket), and it calms my mild OCD!  5555

My overall numbers are slightly higher than they were 2 years ago (1.8 million vs about 1.75 million in 2017, and that's after I dropped 90k today on the EVA flight), but my Chase UR and AMEX MR numbers are down.  Citi TY is slightly higher, and, while I was clearing it out constantly in the past (rigid rules if you close cc account), I think I'm going to keep trying to push that up for use with EVA (Premier card now gets me 5X on airfare like AMEX + 3X on hotels). 

My overall numbers also are pushed higher by some big hotel point accounts (400k+ IHG and 200k+ Bonvoy), as well as decent numbers in some airline programs that I need to find a use for (80k+ in JetBlue and almost 65K in Avios).  Since my Platinum status looks secure, I can look to cash out some JetBlue later this year on routes where I have been buying AA.

That said, I have a boatload of AA miles (450k+), and enough for excellent one way tickets to BKK in Alaska (90k+), Korean (95k+) and Singapore (95k).

Not a bad little exercise if you're bored...and obsessed with miles/points AND numbers, like I am!  5555

[skink]

3 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

For the first time since 2017, I went through and logged my current travel account totals (and account numbers) into a spreadsheet....

I had a hard drive fail (with no backup) and lost my last spreadsheet. Instead of recreating it I was lazy and started using Awardwallet. Helps at time with airlines or hotels that I don't use very often by alerting me to points/miles that may expire soon.

[skink]

On 08/03/2019 at 20:32, wash747 said:

yeah saw YUL-BKK deal.  I decide to bite JFK-BKK QR J deal over YUL because of reposition cost and winter storm risks during Feb (it sucks to clear canadian immigration/customs instead of staying airside during transit)....

I had almost forgotten how much I usually try to avioid transiting thru Canada. Pretty much every Canadian I've met in my life has been super nice, but the immigration/customs guys at their airports are by far the biggest assholes of any country I've been to in my life.

I've never flown QR so mainly wanting to try something different. I was about to transfer 105k Amex MR points to ANA for a r/t J flight Nov-Dec. The value of those MR points plus fuel surcharge was about even to the QR deal minus the miles I could earn with CX or AA. At first positioning flights to and from YUL were going to be a lot more, plus having to stay a night there on the return. I can get to YUL easily so I've been looking at return routes through DFW, JFK, ORD or PHL (where I might 'accidentally' not make the last segment to YUL). Currently trying to decide it I want to use their stopover option in Doha on the return.

If seat maps at expert flyer are accurate I've found Qsuites on each segment. All 777-300 except one A350-1000 with less than optimal time. Also found a leg on an A350-900 without Qsuites but still a 1-2-1 layout.

[skink]

7 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

....With tax season upon us, I need to start looking at cc offers that will build some different accounts for me, and I am still intrigued by EVA.  If I'm reading their award chart correctly, they would have set me back only 75k for the flight that I just dropped 90k on.

That Capital One card discussed above is still on my mind, but I need to see what else is out there....

I've considered the Cap one too. Mainly because I'm running out of options and back when I'd get 5 or 6 new cards every 91 days I always stayed away from them because of the 3 bureau credit pulls for 1 card. 

If my math is correct on Capital One's transfer ratio to EVA it would take 100k points to get 75k EVA miles. So don't feel too bad about dropping the 90k.

[Luv2Phuket]

14 hours ago, skink said:

I've considered the Cap one too. Mainly because I'm running out of options and back when I'd get 5 or 6 new cards every 91 days I always stayed away from them because of the 3 bureau credit pulls for 1 card. 

If my math is correct on Capital One's transfer ratio to EVA it would take 100k points to get 75k EVA miles. So don't feel too bad about dropping the 90k.

I think their "hook" is that Capital One gives you 2 points per $1 spent, but the the "play" for milewhores like me is the bonus.

At 2 Capital One for 1.5 EVA miles, their current 50,000 bonus points would = 37,500 EVA miles.  The $5000 spend should net you 10,000 more Capital One points (assuming you spend just the minimum), so that bumps the total haul to 60,000 Capital One or 45,000 EVA miles.

Because you get 2 Capital One points per $1 spent, it is effectively 1:1.5 on spend, so it comes out to a better exchange rate for daily spend than Citi TY (which is 1:1 to EVA). 

....eh....I'm still not sold on it....  5555

[Luv2Phuket]

Minimum spend for Capital One Venture is only $3,000 (not $5,000) for the 50,000 bonus points.

That said, I am getting screwed up in my head on how to calculate what that all equals in EVA miles.

$3,000 spend would = 6,000 Venture Points.  Adding in 50,000 bonus takes you to 56,000 Capital One points.

2 Capital One points = 1.5 EVA miles....so 56,000 divided by 2 = 28,000 x 1.5 = 42,000 EVA Miles.  Is that right? 

Geez I am dense today!!!!!  55555

[skink]

58 minutes ago, Luv2Phuket said:

Minimum spend for Capital One Venture is only $3,000 (not $5,000) for the 50,000 bonus points.

That said, I am getting screwed up in my head on how to calculate what that all equals in EVA miles.

$3,000 spend would = 6,000 Venture Points.  Adding in 50,000 bonus takes you to 56,000 Capital One points.

2 Capital One points = 1.5 EVA miles....so 56,000 divided by 2 = 28,000 x 1.5 = 42,000 EVA Miles.  Is that right? 

Geez I am dense today!!!!!  55555

That looks correct. I also tried 56,000 x .75 and got 42,000.

[Little Evil]

On 08/03/2019 at 21:35, Luv2Phuket said:

I just realized that I was napping on the job last month!  My Alaska balance is sitting at just over 92,000, which is enough for a one-way first or biz, but that's it!  No RT biz and certainly no RT first.

Their latest "buy miles" promo ended about 2 weeks ago, and I should have bumped to 140k when I had the chance.

My search tonight in Avios showed first availability, although it also is the flight where I HAD first, but was bumped back to biz because of an equipment change on the route. 

Coincidentally, the refund of those 20,000 miles is why I am at 90k instead of 70k.

Think I'm gonna see if Alaska can snag the trip over in first (biz is showing NO availability!), and roll the dice that I can find a return via AA or United (or Korean OR SQ! 555) if no Alaska mile bonus purchase offer comes along soon.

EDIT:

'Twas an exercise in futility!  Alaska is not open and looks like it won;t be for about another week or so.

Not sure if targeted, but I just got a St. Patrick's Day "Feeling Lucky" email from Alaska for 40% off buy miles. Said it was a one week flash promotion. 

[Luv2Phuket]

3 hours ago, Little Evil said:

Not sure if targeted, but I just got a St. Patrick's Day "Feeling Lucky" email from Alaska for 40% off buy miles. Said it was a one week flash promotion. 

I gotta look for that!

A dark horse has entered the cc sweepstakes -- United Explorer Business card has 75,000 mile bonus for $5k spend.  Deal ends this week, so I need to do my taxes asap to see if that would help.  With the spend, that almost gets me back my EVA flight!  5555

EDIT:

THANKS!!!!  It was in my "deleted emails" folder, so I must have marked it as spam.

As I mentioned above, my Alaska account is at 92,500 miles, which makes no sense -- I prefer it to be at 100k (2 biz class), 120k (a biz and a first) and 140k (2 first).

The full 40% bonus once you buy 20,000 miles, so I'm thinking that may be the sweet spot for me this time - that would get me the full 40% bonus and take me to 120,500 for the lowest price ($550).  The alternative is to purchase 34,000, which nets me 47,600 after the 40% kicker and gets me to just over 140k in my account, but that'll set me back $935, and I'm trying to cur expenses right now, not run them up.

[skink]

8 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

I gotta look for that!

A dark horse has entered the cc sweepstakes -- United Explorer Business card has 75,000 mile bonus for $5k spend.  Deal ends this week, so I need to do my taxes asap to see if that would help.  With the spend, that almost gets me back my EVA flight!  5555

EDIT:

THANKS!!!!  It was in my "deleted emails" folder, so I must have marked it as spam.

As I mentioned above, my Alaska account is at 92,500 miles, which makes no sense -- I prefer it to be at 100k (2 biz class), 120k (a biz and a first) and 140k (2 first).

The full 40% bonus once you buy 20,000 miles, so I'm thinking that may be the sweet spot for me this time - that would get me the full 40% bonus and take me to 120,500 for the lowest price ($550).  The alternative is to purchase 34,000, which nets me 47,600 after the 40% kicker and gets me to just over 140k in my account, but that'll set me back $935, and I'm trying to cur expenses right now, not run them up.

I wish I could get that UA biz 75k offer but I'm way over 5/24.

I looked at buying 20k AS for $550. It seems like there was a way to avoid the additional tax recovery fee of $41 or so but I can't seem to find it now?

I'll probably try for the BoA AS Biz card for 40k soon. It doesn't seem to have their new language (against churning) but I cancelled my last one 28 days ago so might be better to wait a bit more.

Edited March 12, 2019 by skink
add business card to BoA AS