Book Frequent Flier Flights - One-way vs Roundtrip

[Twickenham]

I saw that. Really tempted...there's a nice Marriott 5 minutes away with shuttle service. Can walk a little bit, get over jet lag and be fresh upon arrival into prague...just unsure about Turkish airlines

 

Turkish Airlines business class is excellent. I'd grab those tickets before they're gone.

[jpalbny]

Turkish Airlines business class is excellent. I'd grab those tickets before they're gone.

 

+1 have heard good things about them as well. We flew business to/from Kayseri and it was nice. Imagine the international business class is even better.

 

If you do this, Turkish Air supposedly offers free tours of Istanbul during your layover time. I read about it in their inflight magazine this fall when we were on our above-mentioned flights. Though we didn't do it, the magazine says that you just show up at some meeting point in the airport during your layover and depending on how much time you have, they will get you on a tour. Looks like a nice perk.

[Cheekyrn1]

I went ahead and booked our reward tickets on Turkish. Business class for only 22$ and 115,000 miles. Too good to pass up. Will spend the night in the Marriott and have a relaxing evening recovering from jet lag then will be fresh for cruise the next day...now to hunt for the return ticket

[josumello]

Not necessarily. On some airlines there is no premium to purchase a one way. Virgin is one.

 

 

So is American. Lady year we did San Diego with a one week stopover in Honolulu. Then we continued on to Aukland. This was a one way mile saver FF award.

 

Sue

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Valley Girl of VA]

For our river cruise this spring, we are doing two one ways on award miles. Flying over we are flying KLM because I needed to use some amEx MR points. Didn't see anything good coming back so we are flying Brussels Airlines using my UA miles.

[Valley Girl of VA]

I went ahead and booked our reward tickets on Turkish. Business class for only 22$ and 115,000 miles. Too good to pass up. Will spend the night in the Marriott and have a relaxing evening recovering from jet lag then will be fresh for cruise the next day...now to hunt for the return ticket

 

This blog will give you good information on what you can do on your layover in Istanbul and what the airline will do for you: http://thewinglet.boardingarea.com/guide-layover-istanbul-can/

[sweetsleep]

Can you purchase miles if you are already close to the required number of FF miles so that you can take advantage of having those miles available without breaking the bank?

I have done this before and depending on how many miles you need to get the necessary amount for biz class it might help you to do it now.

Good luck

[ewizabeff]

In case anyone is curious, I successfully booked this itinerary as I had hoped I would. The return flight (which I booked this morning) was a little tricky, as United.com was not showing any award availability from Ho Chi Minh City to Chicago, but I finagled a multi-city award for the same price by researching the routes I could fly home. So, the return flight is Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok to Dubai to Toronto to Chicago, and actually gets us home faster than if we would have used the same method to fly back over the Pacific.

 

I've definitely learned a lot about booking award tickets over the last few months, and I'll be better prepared next time - we're already on our way to banking 200,000 miles with American for our next trip(s).

[didicruiser]

I'm glad it worked out well!

[ewizabeff]

Unexpected (and welcome) turn of events. With the US Airways/AA merger, I had enough points to book two business class tickets home. I'm just waiting for those to get ticketed, and then I'll cancel the return flight in economy (on a terrible itinerary) and get those points credited back to my United account (at a cost of $150). I had to be really creative by searching partner airlines for award availability, and we're transiting overnight in both Hong Kong and Narita (Tokyo) on the way home, but we're happy to do so—we haven't been to either city. AND, we're cutting our flying time in half, since we're flying back over the Pacific.

 

So, it wasn't without some beginners' missteps, but I'm going to call my first frequent flier booking a complete success. Looking forward to doing even better next time.

[jpalbny]

Glad to hear that! It seemed like a lot of work - but well worth it.

[ewizabeff]

Totally worth it. If we were to buy these tickets with cash, the total round trip cost for the two of us would have been $25,000. A figure I find absolutely unbelievable. When all is said and done, even with the cancellation fee, our out-of-pocket expense is about $500.

[jpalbny]

Looks like a fun, round-the-world itinerary! In less than 80 days... ;)

[Valley Girl of VA]

A few months ago I asked about how to survive a flight to Vietnam from the U.S., and the resounding response was to fly business class. Since then, I've been on a mission to accumulate as many frequent flier miles as I can (mainly by taking advantage of amazing credit card signup bonuses & my husband's ability to charge purchases for work & get reimbursed).

 

 

EWIZABEFF -

 

Off topic slightly, but do you know about the Target Pre-paid debit card? That's how I get lots of points? Click on my blog - I think it was March 24th that I explained it.

 

Jane

[ewizabeff]

I've read about that, but I'm not really willing to go through the hassle of loading it up with multiple transactions to pay my bills I can't pay with a credit card (mortgage, student loans)