Advice Regarding Booking First Business Class Flights

[FlyerTalker]

8 hours ago, Zach1213 said:

As CC's resident (and possibly only) Namibian, please do check us out! 

 

Was there at the end of last year.  Definitely a great place to see - and have a Windhoek beer while there.

[GeezerCouple]

On 2/19/2023 at 10:53 AM, lackcreativity said:

Actually, I never expected to be able to travel to Asia at all, for this very reason. This Viking itinerary from Bangkok to Mumbai is very appealing, but if it never happens for us, I will still be most grateful for all the places we have seen.

 

On 2/21/2023 at 3:26 PM, Dobby36 said:

I'd pick a couple Asian carriers known for their business class seats and work backwards from there - (think Singapore, Cathay Pacific and JAL) depending on your destinations.  Alaska Airlines has a strong network of relationships beyond just OneWorld in Asia, and offers both a personal and business co-branded card through Bank of America.

 

By all means start looking into awards travel, and start accumulating points asap!  With the bonus points, it doesn't take forever.  We started with a ton of points that DH had accumulated because he had had significant work travel and was allowed to charge all the hotel and restaurant bills to our personal card and get reimbursed.  (That was when he became a "million miler" on one airline program, but it was ALL from spending, and hardly any from actual travel miles.  He was among the last to do that before they changed the program so that only "travel miles/points" counted.)

So when we started our "real" travel, we could spend those points a bit recklessly, like Monopoly Money, sort of. 😉 

We went to Japan First Class on JAL, then to Hong Kong, and home First Class on Cathay Pacific.  Did we ever get spoiled!

 

So we started the bonus point game.  First, we focus on two airline networks:  American Airlines (AAdvantage) and their airline partners, and also American Express's Membership Rewards, which has another network of airline partners.  There is minimal overlap in those two networks; between the two of them, almost all airlines of interest to us are included (not all, but most).

We wait for "big bonus" offers, such as 100k miles to sign up.  I did that , and then got 20k more miles to "refer" DH.  By then the 100k offer was over (not fast enough - drat!), but he snagged 60k plus my 20k.  Not bad at all.  So every year or two, we sign up for new cards.  We'll get those that have low annual fees, such as $95/year.  A year or two of that, and we either cancel (Note caution below) or drop to a freebie level card.  IF we are going to cancel, we only do that if we can transfer the points to another card or airline, so we do not lose those points.

 

Next hint:  We use an "awards service" to help us get the actual awards tickets.  There are lists on FrequentFlyer.com; read the reviews carefully; they are *not* all the same.

We are able to be flexible with our actual travel dates, and if it's not for a cruise, then there is even more flexibility.  We don't mind spending an extra night or two in a new town at the beginning or end of a trip!

 

Right now, Chase is, I think, the only card/awards program that will allow spouses to combine points, so that made it easier to drop one of the cards, of course.

 

When we flew home from HK on Cathay First, I would have been *delighted* to stay on the plane and go back and forth again!  Yes, really.  Those seats/beds are almost as wide as a regular twin bed!  And we were pampered like crazy... when we were awake!

Traveling ultra-long-haul on Singapore, the time literally disappeared.  And the food!  They have a "Book The Cook".  I had something like braised short ribs, and I would have been pleased with that at the best restaurant in town, it was soooo good.  My "lunch" was a second dinner (what I selected), and that was *excellent* as well.  And then... we slept.  And ate.  And slept.  And arrived so rested, it was amazing.

 

But the Business class (shorthand "J", although there are other letters for "business") on the top international carriers is more than "fine", too!  F is getting harder and harder to get with awards, but J is getting closer and closer to what F was not too long ago anyway.

 

So start collecting those points.  Time flies!  (No pun intended, argh!)  Get those bonus points.

The bonus points usually require spending $X,000 within the first 3, 4, or 6 months, etc., so we wait until there is a big bill coming up:  home insurance, tuition, a hotel bill, etc., and get the best use of that.  (We *never* buy something "just to get the points"; that defeats the entire purpose.  If we ever had to, we could top off the points needed by purchasing points, if, say, we were just barely short for a trip, but we haven't needed to do that yet.  It would be worth a few hundred dollars if that what stood between us and a luxurious trip around the globe...)

 

It may seem overwhelming at first.  Start now/soon by getting those points started.  Try to charge *everything* on one card or another.  It really adds up.  AND get those bonus points.  Sooner than you might expect, you'll have enough points for a wonderful trip.  (We'd NEVER use points for domestic travel.  The best "value" is with top international airlines on long-haul trips.)

The airlines are not equal.  Read up on FT (also here on CC) for tips about the best airlines and also specific aircraft.

 

Enjoy!

 

GC

[sorry to have run so long! I ended up with memories of lots of trips! 🙂 ]

[vegasdriven]

Gardyloo- hope you’re still monitoring this thread. What a fantastic bit of information! I had no idea you could do something like this. I will definitely try this for coming years. In the meantime we have a cruise in Tahiti late Jan 24, and we want business class, and we’re willing to put out the almost 10 grand (can$) ea.

However, I happened to notice a few months ago United had flights out of SFO for around 6000 can. Now I can’t find those flights at all.

In any case I have taken a look at Star alliance row, as we could possibly want to do a repositioning cruise Cape Town to Rio the following early Jan. Before I drive myself nuts trying to figure out if this is possible, I thought I would ask if you think it could be done?

[6rugrats]

UA still shows RT, SFO-PPT  departure 23 Jan, return 01 Feb for $5371 in Polaris.  I just chose random dates.  I see many other date combinations for the same price.  They don't show this routing on Mondays, at least not right now.  But, Jan 2024 is a long time away.

[Gardyloo]

1 hour ago, 6rugrats said:

UA still shows RT, SFO-PPT  departure 23 Jan, return 01 Feb for $5371 in Polaris.  I just chose random dates.  I see many other date combinations for the same price.  They don't show this routing on Mondays, at least not right now.  But, Jan 2024 is a long time away.

 

Actually, according to ITA, YVR-xSFO-PPT and return on the same United planes is coming in at US$4482 for most days in January '24, so $900 less than originating in SFO.

 

22 hours ago, vegasdriven said:

Gardyloo- hope you’re still monitoring this thread. What a fantastic bit of information! I had no idea you could do something like this. I will definitely try this for coming years. In the meantime we have a cruise in Tahiti late Jan 24, and we want business class, and we’re willing to put out the almost 10 grand (can$) ea.

However, I happened to notice a few months ago United had flights out of SFO for around 6000 can. Now I can’t find those flights at all.

In any case I have taken a look at Star alliance row, as we could possibly want to do a repositioning cruise Cape Town to Rio the following early Jan. Before I drive myself nuts trying to figure out if this is possible, I thought I would ask if you think it could be done?

It COULD be done, but some technicalities of RTW tickets would really get in the way.  

 

The main problem is that the trip has to end in the same country where it started, and since starting in North America is generally a lot more expensive than starting someplace in Europe or Asia, you'd be in trouble because after the transatlantic cruise you'd be in South America, far from either.  And because you can't cross oceans twice and have to cross both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in the same direction, you'd likely be forced to buy a commercial ticket one-way in order to "resume" the RTW in, say, South Africa, where you broke it off in order to cruise to Brazil.   Now that's doable, but when you add the cost of the "non-RTW" tickets to the RTW itself, chances are that the total will be higher, potentially a lot higher, than just buying ordinary tickets in the first place.  For example, using January 2024 prices (2025 won't be available for another year) two one-way tickets, Vancouver - Cape Town (Turkish) and Rio - Vancouver (Air Canada or Delta) both in business class come to a total of around $4000.  Add that to $4500 (above) for Vancouver - Tahiti and return, and you're less than US$9K for both trips.  Not cheap, but less than the cost of two separate RTWs.  Hope I haven't lost you in this.

 

It's all in the numbers.  In general, the most cost-effective business class RTWs are structured like this, if you want to leverage a couple (or three or more) trips out of the same ticket.  

 

1.  Start someplace overseas where the RTW price is good AND it's someplace you can access affordably in order to start the RTW there and get home after it's over.  Make sure the cost of the RTW ticket PLUS the "positioning" costs are less than just starting at home.

 

2.  Get to the "start point" and travel around a bit before actually starting the RTW.

 

3.  Use the RTW to get to someplace on your wish list - maybe more than one - then use it to fly home.  Home in this case is a "stopover" in the RTW.

 

4.  Use the RTW to travel around your home country or continent, consistent with the rules governing the RTW.

 

5.  Then use it to cross the next ocean and visit one or more additional countries on your wish list.  

 

6.  End up back in the country where you started.  

 

7.  If you want, use some of the many thousands of frequent flyer miles you've acquired to fly home.

 

This is why I recommend having a multi-year travel plan, or something of a bucket list to which you've applied a calendar.  What if, on your list, there was a cruise in SE Asia or around the Indian Ocean that you could swap for the Cape Town - Rio one (just a delay, not dropping it?)  Maybe that would work with an RTW that includes the Tahiti trip while avoiding expensive one-way or backtracking tickets in order to satisfy the RTW rules.  Put on your thinking caps, pull out a map of the world, and go crazy.  

 

I know, all potentially confusing and leading to brain pain, but also kinda fun, isn't it?

 

[vegasdriven]

Yes, it opens up a world of possibilities. Thanks for the info, I figured I was looking at it in too simplified a manner. 
I love the research planning part of travel, my only issue is DH expects everything to go according to plan, which as we all know is not a given😀