Tips wanted for booking our trip home

ProggerPete

Hi,

I'm looking at taking a 2 month holiday starting around the end of october until just before christmas. I'll be starting in London and finishing up in Brisbane, Australia.

Our plans are pretty flexible, but the basic plan is

London => New York => Las Vegas => San Francisco => Vancouver => Hawaii => Tokyo => Bejing => Vietnam => Perth => Brisbane

On Flights
My wife and I are both lowly blueplus members of bmi's diamond club with about 25k destination miles each.

I was hopeful that some of the knowledgeable types on here might be able to give tips on the best way to maximise the value we get on the trip. Whether it be having status and a healthy point balance when we get home, scoring some upgrades on the trip or just getting great value prices on the flights.

On Insurance
We want insurance on the trip, but most annual insurance will cut out if we aren't flying back to london. We're pondering upgrading our bank account to premier to get the insurance that goes with it.

Other stuff
If you've been to any of the places we're off to and have a "don't miss" recommendation I'm all ears.

Thanks in advance,
Pete

richardw

There aren't currently any Star Alliance direct flights between London and New York, until Continental joins and I'm not sure when that is.

You might be able to redeem your miles on flights between LAS Vegas and San FranciscO on United or US Airways.

Also on flights between San Fran and Vancouver and Vancouver and Hawaii.
see https://www.staralliance.com
Redeeming miles on Us flights can be good because the taxes fees and charges can be smaller.

bmi is part of the star alliance, so not sure how you would spend miles on star alliance airlines from Brisbane, perhaps Air NZ or Singapore Airlines.

than4

Sorry can't help with flights/miles but with insurance there are a couple of companies that do "one-way" policies.

Insure and Go say that all their policies can be used "one-way".
Another company are Downunder Insurance that will re-patriate you back to Australia should you need it.
If you do a google search for one-way policies a few more will probably come up as well.

Another option is just to buy a policy that expires once you reach Australia. However, if anything goes wrong, you will probably be re-patriated to the UK as for insurance purposes that is where you "live".

I would try to get to some of the National Parks around Vegas and San Francisco. Yosemite, Zion, Bryce and the Grand Canyon are all worth a visit.

Have a great trip.