First Class flights to Asia for £1000 / Business Class to USA for £900

UnitedFlyer

Have just replied to someone in another thread about looking for some cheaper flights to USA, but feel that I should share this with everyone, as it's a steal for what you get ....

US Airways is offering a 100% bonus on all purchased miles with them.

For us people in the UK, award redemptions are very good too.
For Asia, you need just 100K miles for a return FIRST CLASS flight.
That means you could fly the following routes for approx £1000:

Heathrow - Frankfurt - Tokyo - Heathrow
Heathrow - Zurich - Shanghai - Zurich - Heathrow
Heathrow - Frankfurt - Beijing - Frankfurt - Heathrow

Possibly (PM me for why!) even:
Heathrow - Paris CDG - Bangkok - Tokyo - Heathrow

For USA BUSINESS CLASS, you could route these:
Birmingham - New York - Birmingham
Heathrow - Zurich - New York - Zurich - Heathrow
Heathrow - Chicago - Las Vegas - Los Angeles - Heathrow
Birmingham - New York - San Fransisco - Heathrow

These are just a few examples of what is possible.
These examples will allow you to fly any of the Star Alliance member airlines, so for example, the Paris - Bangkok route is operated by Thai Airways, where you can fly in First Class in your own 'private suite' (complete with doors!).
You can even experience the First Class TERMINAL in Frankfurt where you get driven out to your flight in a Porsche.
Or experience Continentals/Uniteds lie flat business class seats to New York.

Considering, the cost of flights now can exceed £600 quite easily for Economy, for a few hundred more, you can fly in First!

I've done this several times in the past year, so can assure you it is 100% valid. There is no trick involved at all.

If I find people are interested in this, I'll post a more detailed (lot more detailed post) on how to buy the miles (very simple actually!), and how to redeem them, and how to search for flights.

moonrakerz

Sounds like a Travel Agent !

UnitedFlyer

I can assure you I'm not a travel agent.

I've never worked for one either.

What I am is someone, who likes to get a bargain, and enjoys good things.
£1000 for a first class flight to Asia - you tell me where you could get that from. Try going into a travel agent and asking for that - they will laugh at you.

As I see it, Economy prices to Asia are in the region of £500-£800.
For a little bit more, you can fly up front in class.

If I am a travel agent, please tell me - what do I make from it? I've given you all the information you need??
Either you want to make use of a real good offer or not!

KarenG

I'd be very interested, please

weejenny

Also very interested.

Used my miles well in the past but not as well as you.

fifeken

I fly J regularly - both paid and award - so always interested in something like this.

eslick

has to be one of the strangest threads for a while, so the story is definately out there and for those that need more info its here.

http://www.usairways.com/en-US/dividendmiles/buymiles_2011.html?cint=dmtxt_21008

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/02/16/idUK121301191720110216


however what I cant see anywhere is how this works for someone in the UK can take advantage of this as it appears to be a US promotion, unless Unitedflyer has some other info they care to share but then it would have been posted at the very beginning

" Members who did not have a United States or Puerto Rico address on file as of February 1, 2011 are not eligible to receive the 25% additional bonus regardless of address updates."

eslick

but you need a US address to get the extra mile so you are asking people to pay for the miles they wont receive. thats never moneysaving.....or prove me other wise as I would book today but oh, dont have a US address at the moment

not saying its not cheap just not possible for someone in the UK, bargain if you have a US address but most on MSE wont have.

UnitedFlyer

eslick wrote: »

but you need a US address to get the extra miles.

Thankyou for your question.
You can use a PO BOX in the US. That works fine!

Paddy2eyes

Thank you for a useful post. Using frequent flyer points, even purchased ones can certainly be quite a deal. As a fairly experienced user of miles (albeit not US) I would advise that there are some things to be aware of with using reward flights.
The most significant drawback is availability of reward tickets.

If you want to book a normal revenue ticket e.g London Heathrow - New York you can go to the airline's website or numerous other travel sites, enter your dates and destinations and you will normally be able to buy a ticket there and then.

For flight tickets paid for with miles or points, there are usually only a very small number seats made available per flight. Finding those flights can be quite difficult, but there are a couple of websites which will point the way. If you want to travel on specific dates you may be disappointed. On some routes there may be no availability for an entire month.

That said, if you can plan early and are flexible with dates and routes it is a way to experience premium class travel, which normally costs a few thousand pounds, for similar or a little more cost than an economy class ticket.
If anyone is considering this, check out the flyertalk website to learn the ropes and maximise value.

UnitedFlyer

Paddy2eyes wrote: »

Thank you for a useful post. Using frequent flyer points, even purchased ones can certainly be quite a deal. As a fairly experienced user of miles (albeit not US) I would advise that there are some things to be aware of with using reward flights.
The most significant drawback is availability of reward tickets.

If you want to book a normal revenue ticket e.g London Heathrow - New York you can go to the airline's website or numerous other travel sites, enter your dates and destinations and you will normally be able to buy a ticket there and then.

For flight tickets paid for with miles or points, there are usually only a very small number seats made available per flight. Finding those flights can be quite difficult, but there are a couple of websites which will point the way. If you want to travel on specific dates you may be disappointed. On some routes there may be no availability for an entire month.

That said, if you can plan early and are flexible with dates and routes it is a way to experience premium class travel, which normally costs a few thousand pounds, for similar or a little more cost than an economy class ticket.
If anyone is considering this, check out the flyertalk website to learn the ropes and maximise value.

Have to agree on this, but also have to say, that most routes do have award availability on them.

Most difficult I've found is Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand, but most others tend to have availability, unless you're booking only a few days/weeks out, in which case ANA and Singapore release award ticket spaces then quite well.