Centurion

Buying and using points for the first time can be a little daunting. But coming from someone who, much like BCworld, takes far too much enjoyment from the terribly strange hobby of frequent flying, its simply an awesome deal. But only really because of the AUD/US exchange rate.

You'll be absolutely fine in getting availability for a year in advance! Many posters here have been ticketed for this Christmas 2 months out. I myself have a London Harrods Stilton run in a few weeks courtesy of it.

jedly1

hey centurion ... i've seen you mention this before that it only really holds water because of the ex rate which i don't quite get, and it occured to me that maybe i'm looking in the wrong place for business flights normally. what you would say was a normal best average ticket cost for return to UK ... ..when i've been looking earlier in the year .. ive been faced with au$5-6k bare minimum for a bus seat ??

bcworld

It holds water because these miles are priced in US dollars and the AUD is at historical highs versus USD.

If we were back in 2001 when AUD bought about US$0.48, then this 'deal' would be about A$5000.

The prices you quote are about the bare minimum for bus class on the route when purchasing in Aus...no getting around that if paying with cash.

jedly1

lol,... yes i do tend to forget what the au$ used to be like .... i dream longingly for the day when/if it could be au$2 : £1gbp .....

long way to go then until it stops being worthwhile... just put another 400k miles away though to be on the safe side !!

mel.b

Just purchased mum's biz class tix to Europe so she can come and visit me next year

Can anyone tell me how long it took before you could view your reservation on the Thai website. The USair person gave me all the different booking numbers and I can bring it up on the US website but am unable to book the seats there, so want to look at it on the Thai website so can book the seats.

Cheers,
Mel.b

bcworld

I don't think there is any facility online to reserve seats before check in opens.

You can get seats assigned by calling up the TG office - use a site like Seat Guru or Seat Expert if you want to see seat maps. Or an Expert Flyer (would cost $5 for a month) subscription will show you the live seat map with what's available.

louiseos

Do you mind me asking what was the ball park figure for the taxes/charges on the flights? : )

mel.b

Thanks bcworld - will give the TG office a call in the am.

We booked MEL-BKK-ZRH-DUB and then ZRH-BKK-MEL and the taxes was only $193.63USD Think we were probably undercharged, as I was expecting around $400 but I'm not complaining. I deliberately avoiding flying out of the UK as the APD for biz/first class passengers is just so expensive, and we will spend around 2 weeks travelling around Italy/Switzerland etc, so departing from Zurich worked out well.

bcworld

Nice choice of flights - no 747s involved so virtually no chance of an aircraft substitution to Thai's horrible older product. Nice number on the taxes too - with that sort of figure & today's ex rates the total cost for all this must be tending towards just $2k now!

louiseos

Awesome prices on the taxes! Good idea about avoiding the UK too! If/when I go, I'll probably follow the same route as I would like to get to Ireland (ideally Cork, but I'll settle for Dublin).

I had no idea about the aircraft and which one to try fly on, nor did I know about subsitutions etc - I may need to do more homework!

I still haven't bought my miles (I know I have until the 15th). Hubby still isn't 100% sure about it all. Does anyone know if this is run regularly by USairways? I'm guessing the answer to that one is 'who knows?' right?

bcworld

'Who knows' is technically correct but I reckon this promo or some variation has been running for at least 50% of the time over the last 12 months - possibly considerably more than 50%. Make the most of it US Airways will eventually work out how to generate cash selling actual air fares!

Re Thai aircraft substitutions - they have some 747s with a very lousy business class - London, Frankfurt shouldn't get these planes but occasionally do - some routes are scheduled with it, like Bangkok - Copenhagen and should be avoided at all costs. Zurich is a good choice.

Centurion

What's there not to be sure about. Economy for 24 hours or a bed and champagne for the same money.

louiseos

As for flights, sounds like Zurich is the way to go!! Thanks for that!

LOL . . . I agree . . . you don't have to try and convince me . . . hell I'm even up for flying First Class!!

Funny thing is, we're probably going to end up going anyway, so why not just suck up the cost now and be thankful for it later! In his defence though, he's the more logical/thoughtful of the two of us, as opposed to me who is very impulsive!

freebo

OK, I've found my flights LHR-ZUR-BKK-SYD and the same in reverse 8 months later, please can I just confirm what to do from here.

1) Call USAir during American office hours(?) and book using award points, ask them to hold for 3 days, presumably telling them i've found my own routing?

2) Buy the points using our USAir FF accounts, as we will need 240,000 I buy 50k, get 50k extra, wife does the same we each buy the extra 20k at normal price.

3) We call USAir back and 'pay' for the flights using our points.

Have I missed something?

Cheers

bcworld

1) I've called out of the advertised office hours before and someone has picked up the phone and booked my flights. Yes you will be best telling them you have found flights and give them flight numbers.

2) There's a relatively high chance that a 'Share Miles' promo will start on 16th Nov, going on past performance. If you can wait a few days I'd call up to book on the 15th and see if they will hold. Then buy your 50k+50k with the current offer, then see if a new promo starts the next day and if so work out if there is a cheaper option than just buying the 2 sets of 20k. If not then go ahead and buy the 2x20k as planned.

If you're concerned about the flights disappearing i.e. you've struggled to find what you have now, then go ahead and book now.