re: Credit Card Rewards and Points Discussion

Posted by txtiger79

Member since Oct 2007

1017 posts

Posted on 1/28/16 at 4:02 pm to AmeriKop45

What are some good routes / carriers / equipment to get to India using miles? I need to take the family (of four) for a wedding in December.

I have a boatload of United, AA and chase UR's. Unfortunately the family has all developed a taste for biz class. I have enough points in any of those buckets to redeem saver biz x4 on most award charts.

I heard Qatar was nice but can't figure out a good way to search availability. I tried using ba but it keeps showing me ba routes through lhr. Checked sin as well but only found 2 seats max on any particular flight. Other ideas or advice?

Posted by AmeriKop45

Coach, Wing Tip Seat

Member since Jan 2016

2102 posts

Posted on 1/28/16 at 4:14 pm to txtiger79

Whats wrong with AA? I see plenty of business availability to BOM in December. 67.5K one way. You wanna book this sooner rather than later because AA award chart is gonna undergo a major deval in March.

Btw - Coach tickets to India are pretty cheap. I paid $690 RT on CA this past December. Credited miles to UA.

AA doesn't fly too far east so you are going to have to connect in LHR on BA in most cases. Which means MAJOR fuel surcharges. (~$700)

If you have AS miles you could fly Emirates too. Look for Qatar awards on Qantas.com. Try ba.com too but not sure if that shows Qatar availability.

Search for UA awards segment by segment. You can fly Air India from ORD to DEL non stop. 160K RT + $80ish in J. Find connections to ORD and connect on from DEL to wherever you are going for free. Remember UA does allow stopovers and open jaws. So you could look for a flight that has a stopover somewhere cool if you wanted.

This post was edited on 1/28/16 at 4:48 pm

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Posted by GeauxTigers777

Member since Oct 2007

1593 posts

Posted on 1/28/16 at 7:23 pm to AmeriKop45

Need some help from the experts. Looking to go to Scotland next spring. Will probably fly to London (+- layover if available), and then fly/train to Scotland. Currently I have 25,000 chase points and 90,000 amex points. What cards and programs would you recommend to fly to London with minimal fuel surcharges (preferably business class)?

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Posted by txtiger79

Member since Oct 2007

1017 posts

Posted on 1/28/16 at 8:43 pm to AmeriKop45

Thanks. Does Qatar charge fuel surcharges?

Nothing wrong with AA. Was just trying to avoid the BA fuel surcharges. It may be best to use my United miles to avoid the surcharges I guess.

Posted by AmeriKop45

Coach, Wing Tip Seat

Member since Jan 2016

2102 posts

Posted on 1/28/16 at 10:19 pm to GeauxTigers777

quote:
Need some help from the experts. Looking to go to Scotland next spring. Will probably fly to London (+- layover if available), and then fly/train to Scotland. Currently I have 25,000 chase points and 90,000 amex points. What cards and programs would you recommend to fly to London with minimal fuel surcharges (preferably business class)?

Amex transfer to Aeroplan. 90k for business. May need positioning flight though. Search for awards on Air Canada website. Im not very familiar with their routing but USA to Europe 1 is 90k on biz.

If you can get to Boston then Aer Lingus business Boston to Dublin or Shannon. 50k RT on business. 1:1 transfer from Chase, 1.25:1 transfer from Amex (1.25 mr = 1 avios). So you'll need 25k UR and 37.5k Amex MR. Transfer is instantaneous. Search for non stop business saver award availability on united.com.

If you're not trying to get jipped on surcharges, stay far far away from stupid London.

This post was edited on 1/28/16 at 10:22 pm

Posted by AmeriKop45

Coach, Wing Tip Seat

Member since Jan 2016

2102 posts

Posted on 1/28/16 at 10:25 pm to txtiger79

quote:
Thanks. Does Qatar charge fuel surcharges?

Yes.

Posted by Teddy Ruxpin

Member since Oct 2006

40853 posts

Posted on 1/28/16 at 11:28 pm to AmeriKop45

quote:
May need positioning flight though. Search for awards on Air Canada website. Im not very familiar with their routing but USA to Europe 1 is 90k on biz.

Air Canada has a MSY to YYZ flight that may be useful.

Posted by txtiger79

Member since Oct 2007

1017 posts

Posted on 1/29/16 at 6:56 am to AmeriKop45

quote:
quote:
Thanks. Does Qatar charge fuel surcharges?

Yes.

Man I have gotten spoiled with United.

Posted by LSUAfro

Baton Rouge

Member since Aug 2005

12775 posts

Posted on 1/29/16 at 8:26 am to AmeriKop45

quote:
What are some good routes / carriers / equipment to get to India using miles?

quote:
AA doesn't fly too far east so you are going to have to connect in LHR on BA in most cases. Which means MAJOR fuel surcharges

AA doesn't fly these routes, but I wouldn't fly them anyways and definitely wouldn't route through LHR.

Qatar offers great business class availability from US to DOH via DFW/ORD/MIA/IAD/ATL/JFK. They generally open up 4 seats per flight.
You'll have to search via British Airways and call in to AA to book(No phone booking fee since it's unavailable on website). Fuel surcharges on QR on AA are minimal. $50-$75/way.

Royal Jordan offers ton of biz class availability from MIA or ORD(and JFK too I think) to AAM as well and you can fly Qatar from there.

This post was edited on 1/29/16 at 8:34 am

Posted by LSUAfro

Baton Rouge

Member since Aug 2005

12775 posts

Posted on 1/29/16 at 8:32 am to GeauxTigers777

quote:
90,000 amex points.

You can route through MAD via Iberia from ORD/JFK/MIA and avoid most of the fuel surcharges. It's 7,500 amex MR points from MAD to LHR.

Posted by AmeriKop45

Coach, Wing Tip Seat

Member since Jan 2016

2102 posts

Posted on 1/29/16 at 8:37 am to LSUAfro

In my experience, Iberia has always charged high YQ on their flights. Not as high as BA but still pretty high for me.

RJ has wide open availability to AMM. But RJ does not fly to India anymore. You'd be spending about the same on fuel surcharges on BA as you would buying a coach ticket getting from AMM to DEL/BOM. And I'd rather just pay the YQ and avoid the middle east completely. Never wanted to connect there due to their extreme policies. Or is there another way of getting from AMM to India?

This post was edited on 1/29/16 at 8:41 am

Posted by LSUAfro

Baton Rouge

Member since Aug 2005

12775 posts

Posted on 1/29/16 at 8:43 am to AmeriKop45

quote:
In my experience, Iberia has always charged high YQ on their flights. Not as high as BA but still pretty high for me.

$100/ticket in biz class MIA-MAD-LHR
That's pretty reasonable IMO

quote:
You'd be spending about the same on fuel surcharges on BA as you would buying a coach ticket getting from AMM to DEL/BOM. Or is there another way of getting from AMM to India?

Qatar operates flights from AMM via DOH to BOM.

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Posted by AmeriKop45

Coach, Wing Tip Seat

Member since Jan 2016

2102 posts

Posted on 1/29/16 at 8:48 am to LSUAfro

quote:
$100/ticket in biz class MIA-MAD-LHR
That's pretty reasonable IMO

Absolutely.

quote:
atar operates flights from AMM via DOH to BOM.

Good info

And good luck pieceing that award together. Should be fun

Edit: I'd try to fly Direct US to DOH. Qatar business class looks amazing.

This post was edited on 1/29/16 at 8:53 am

Posted by LSUAfro

Baton Rouge

Member since Aug 2005

12775 posts

Posted on 1/29/16 at 8:57 am to AmeriKop45

quote:
And good luck pieceing that award together. Should be fun

Edit: I'd try to fly Direct US to DOH. Qatar business class looks amazing.

Yeah. I'd only route through Jordan if no other flights fit my schedule. But, they are flying 787's now and have a decent biz class.

Qatar business is without question the way to go if it fits your schedule.

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Posted by AmeriKop45

Coach, Wing Tip Seat

Member since Jan 2016

2102 posts

Posted on 1/29/16 at 12:04 pm to LSUAfro

Stackable opportunity for those with Citi Prestige:

1) Go to citi offers for you and add Hampton Inn and Hilton Hotels and Resorts 10% cash back
2) Book a 4 night stay at any Hilton property (except Home2, Homewood and HGV) through Prestige for 4th night free.

So that would be 4th night free (~25% discount) plus another 10% on the balance upto $50. Ex: On a stay upto $500 for 4 nights you'd save 32.5%. Ofcourse 100% point earning and elite night/stay credits

This post was edited on 1/29/16 at 12:05 pm

Posted by txtiger79

Member since Oct 2007

1017 posts

Posted on 1/29/16 at 4:23 pm to LSUAfro

Cool. Thanks for the advice on the India routes. I keep getting a bunch of BA flights when I check availability on AA, but will keep at it.

I will probably book something on Air India using UA miles as a backup since it's available and I can cancel for free. Hopefully can snag something on Qatar or UA-metal if it frees up.

Posted by AmeriKop45

Coach, Wing Tip Seat

Member since Jan 2016

2102 posts

Posted on 1/29/16 at 4:36 pm to txtiger79

Qatar is semi free. Like LSUAfro said - you could look on ba.com. I personally prefer Qantas because you can switch it to calender mode and you can see what classes are available on what dates.

Obviously, it will help if you're flexible with your dates.

quote:
since it's available and I can cancel for free

Premier Platinum/1K status?

Posted by txtiger79

Member since Oct 2007

1017 posts

Posted on 1/29/16 at 5:09 pm to AmeriKop45

quote:
Premier Platinum/1K status?

Been GS since the CO merger. Thus why my fam has gotten used to Biz travel. They let GS stack GPUs on top of coach saver award flights. And they will open certain revenue fare buckets for saver award flights too. Definitely spoiled.

Took the whole family to oz recently in biz for 80k RT each (plus GPUs). Then I topped it off by using the "stopover" in my home airport and getting a one-way added on for our next domestic trip. I'd pull this number to india if it were available, but they are very stingy with the EWR/BOM routes when it comes to upgrades or mileage tix until a few weeks out.

To that end, if anyone has questions on what UA will allow from a mileage ticketing perspective, happy to help share what I know. They are pretty flexible.