topic Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package in Credit Cards

Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

red259 — Wed, 03 May 2017 01:05:23 GMT

So i'm trying to plan another trip to asia and had been looking at dumping an absurd number of points into krisflyer and flying roundtrip nyc to sin in either J or F. I just came across another option that I am curious about. There are these marriott hotel/flight packages. Has anyone used these? I saw one posting that talked about doing some package with Marriott where for 270k marriott points I can do 7 nights in cat1-5 and get 120k alaska airline miles which can be used to redeem an award on cathay pacific first class one way and business the other. Apparently I can work this so I can go to vietnam and have stopovers in hong kong on the way there and back I currently have 120k marriott points and 47k starwood points so if I combine both accounts I would have 261k marriott points and I could top it off with some Chase URs.

Has anyone used one of these packages? How hard is it to book on to CX at the last minute. I did it a few years ago but I was using AA miles and had to call in not really sure what the deal with alaskan is. Can the seven nights be spread out across different properties? I'm basically interested in exploring vietnam with maybe a quick hop over to thailand for a few days and maybe check out the phillipines. I could switch it up a bit and head into mainland china as well since I still have my chinese visa. Any thoughts or advice on using these packages or if you think its not a good use of points let me know. I believe there are some nice cat 5 resorts in SE asia.

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

Anonymous — Wed, 03 May 2017 03:58:11 GMT

@red259 wrote:
So i'm trying to plan another trip to asia and had been looking at dumping an absurd number of points into krisflyer and flying roundtrip nyc to sin in either J or F. I just came across another option that I am curious about. There are these marriott hotel/flight packages. Has anyone used these? I saw one posting that talked about doing some package with Marriott where for 270k marriott points I can do 7 nights in cat1-5 and get 120k alaska airline miles which can be used to redeem an award on cathay pacific first class one way and business the other. Apparently I can work this so I can go to vietnam and have stopovers in hong kong on the way there and back I currently have 120k marriott points and 47k starwood points so if I combine both accounts I would have 261k marriott points and I could top it off with some Chase URs.

Has anyone used one of these packages? How hard is it to book on to CX at the last minute. I did it a few years ago but I was using AA miles and had to call in not really sure what the deal with alaskan is. Can the seven nights be spread out across different properties? I'm basically interested in exploring vietnam with maybe a quick hop over to thailand for a few days and maybe check out the phillipines. I could switch it up a bit and head into mainland china as well since I still have my chinese visa. Any thoughts or advice on using these packages or if you think its not a good use of points let me know. I believe there are some nice cat 5 resorts in SE asia.

There are these marriott hotel/flight packages. Has anyone used these? I saw one posting that talked about doing some package with Marriott where for 270k marriott points I can do 7 nights in cat1-5 and get 120k alaska airline miles which can be used to redeem an award on cathay pacific first class one way and business the other.

Yes you can do that, i transfered my SPG points to Marriott (3x1) and got enough for the 7 days package cat1-5 and get 120K for my SW companion pass (extented to Dec 2018) but yes if Alaska Airline is patner with cathay definatelly you can.

Note: there is a Alaska Airlines 30K Miles + $100 Statement Credit + Free Companion Pass Offer that you can use, i got the offer but i declined, don't fly Alaska and already have 3 CC with BOFA, this will be another option to add 30K miles to your trip, $1000 in 3 months is nothing, that is a monthly rent for many of us lol but up to you.

Has anyone used one of these packages?

I'm working on building more points to upgrate my Marriott cat1-5 package to 8, there is a Hotel i want to stay but its cat8, every cat after 5 you need 25K to 6, 50K to 7 and 75K to 8 so i haven't use it yet.

Can the seven nights be spread out across different properties?

When i called Marriott to deal with my transfer i asked and i was told that i can't but im really not sure of this, will be nice if you can do it.

I'm not familiar with Asia so i can't help you there but for sure someone will jump and will provide you with more info.

Hope this help

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

red259 — Wed, 03 May 2017 04:10:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@red259 wrote:
So i'm trying to plan another trip to asia and had been looking at dumping an absurd number of points into krisflyer and flying roundtrip nyc to sin in either J or F. I just came across another option that I am curious about. There are these marriott hotel/flight packages. Has anyone used these? I saw one posting that talked about doing some package with Marriott where for 270k marriott points I can do 7 nights in cat1-5 and get 120k alaska airline miles which can be used to redeem an award on cathay pacific first class one way and business the other. Apparently I can work this so I can go to vietnam and have stopovers in hong kong on the way there and back I currently have 120k marriott points and 47k starwood points so if I combine both accounts I would have 261k marriott points and I could top it off with some Chase URs.

Has anyone used one of these packages? How hard is it to book on to CX at the last minute. I did it a few years ago but I was using AA miles and had to call in not really sure what the deal with alaskan is. Can the seven nights be spread out across different properties? I'm basically interested in exploring vietnam with maybe a quick hop over to thailand for a few days and maybe check out the phillipines. I could switch it up a bit and head into mainland china as well since I still have my chinese visa. Any thoughts or advice on using these packages or if you think its not a good use of points let me know. I believe there are some nice cat 5 resorts in SE asia.
There are these marriott hotel/flight packages. Has anyone used these? I saw one posting that talked about doing some package with Marriott where for 270k marriott points I can do 7 nights in cat1-5 and get 120k alaska airline miles which can be used to redeem an award on cathay pacific first class one way and business the other.

Yes you can do that, i transfered my SPG points to Marriott (3x1) and got enough for the 7 days package cat1-5 and get 120K for my SW companion pass (extented to Dec 2018) but yes if Alaska Airline is patner with cathay definatelly you can.

Note: there is a Alaska Airlines 30K Miles + $100 Statement Credit + Free Companion Pass Offer that you can use, i got the offer but i declined, don't fly Alaska and already have 3 CC with BOFA, this will be another option to add 30K miles to your trip, $1000 in 3 months is nothing, that is a monthly rent for many of us lol but up to you.

Has anyone used one of these packages?

I'm working on building more points to upgrate my Marriott cat1-5 package to 8, there is a Hotel i want to stay but its cat8, every cat after 5 you need 25K to 6, 50K to 7 and 75K to 8 so i haven't use it yet.

Can the seven nights be spread out across different properties?

When i called Marriott to deal with my transfer i asked and i was told that i can't but im really not sure of this, will be nice if you can do it.

I'm not familiar with Asia so i can't help you there but for sure someone will jump and will provide you with more info.

Hope this help

I've been reading up on it some more and apparently the 7 nights can only be used at the same property and it has to be the same stay. Now if there aren't 7 nights in a row available for an award booking you can pay for the nights that are not available for an award and book the award the day after the paid stay etc and it will all count as the same stay. Apparently a lot of people don't use the full 7 days. I would likely use only four nights of the seven because I like to move around and I don't want to stay anywhere more than four nights. Doing the math even if you don't redeem any of the nights you still come out a bit ahead with the airfare. I also found out that you can book ojn JAL with Alaska airlines to get to asia with a stopover in Tokyo. The downside of this is it is 5k more expensive than CX and I have no way of earning additional alaska airline points. So I actually started looking at the alaska airline card with the 30k signup because that would allow me to go first class both directions. I do not have a BoA card and I am in the garden but it may be worth it to top off the account. Does anyone know how quickly the signup bonus would post for the alaska airlines card once the initial spend is met? I'm on a tight schedule so there may not be time if I have to wait for a statemnt cut or two for the bonus to be applied.

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

red259 — Wed, 10 May 2017 20:27:00 GMT

I bought a marriott package on Friday morning with the miles going to Alaska Airlines. They expedited it which is supposed to take three business days. It is Wednesday and no miles in my Alaska account and now I am starting to get really nervous. Anyone do this same transfer in the past and what was the timeline before they got the miles in their account?

Update: The miles just showed around 4pm, so if anyone needs a point of reference for timing on future transfers.

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

mongstradamus — Wed, 10 May 2017 21:48:00 GMT

I know this probably won't help you very much but last year i did a last minute upgrade on CX from business to first, but that was also with AA miles. I am not really sure how alaskan works like is there a way to check availability easily. With AA miles i know BA was an easy way to check availibility.

On a side note I am trying to figure out my trip to Thialand for Jan 2018, I am having major struggles with how to handle SQ waitlist. I just want to get everything figured out.Are you already waitlisted on SQ or were you just thinking of doing that?

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

red259 — Wed, 10 May 2017 22:01:11 GMT

@mongstradamus wrote:
I know this probably won't help you very much but last year i did a last minute upgrade on CX from business to first, but that was also with AA miles. I am not really sure how alaskan works like is there a way to check availability easily. With AA miles i know BA was an easy way to check availibility.

On a side note I am trying to figure out my trip to Thialand for Jan 2018, I am having major struggles with how to handle SQ waitlist. I just want to get everything figured out.Are you already waitlisted on SQ or were you just thinking of doing that?

I had considered wait listing into SQ but to get suites it would have taken a ton of points. I have flown suites on LAX-NRt roundtrip and NYC-FRA roundtrip so I am familiar with it. There was not a lot of availability with SQ when I was looking at it and sometimes you will not know when you are leaving until the list clears a few days before. you have to be flexible. Best thing to do is if you want to go away for like two weeks then block off a three and a half week period. Then waitlist all the flights you can during that time period. Also waitlist J seats if there is no F/Suites. Chances are some of the awards will pop. You may not get ideal dates to start but its better to have something booked than nothing. Then once you are closer in and the other seats start popping you can switch to the dates/classes of service you want. Its a real pain because you can't make firm plans until the dates are locked in and you just don't know.

With CX if I work it right I will be able to snag first class roundtrip for less points than SQ will require. Of course, I can't do that with Amex MRs so if you don't have the right point balances its a no go. You could look into the whole Amex MR transfer to ANA and see what is possible. I was considering doing that but availibility seemed pretty tight for my schedule I did CX two years ago NYC-HKG in F using AA miles and I just remember spendings hours on the phone with AA trying to get it all lines up. I mean it got really painful, because AA is absolute garbage to deal with multi-hour waits at the time etc. I am hoping Alaska is easier.

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

mongstradamus — Wed, 10 May 2017 22:07:18 GMT

@red259 wrote:
@mongstradamus wrote:
I know this probably won't help you very much but last year i did a last minute upgrade on CX from business to first, but that was also with AA miles. I am not really sure how alaskan works like is there a way to check availability easily. With AA miles i know BA was an easy way to check availibility.

On a side note I am trying to figure out my trip to Thialand for Jan 2018, I am having major struggles with how to handle SQ waitlist. I just want to get everything figured out.Are you already waitlisted on SQ or were you just thinking of doing that?
I had considered wait listing into SQ but to get suites it would have taken a ton of points. I have flown suites on LAX-NRt roundtrip and NYC-FRA roundtrip so I am familiar with it. There was not a lot of availability with SQ when I was looking at it and sometimes you will not know when you are leaving until the list clears a few days before. you have to be flexible. Best thing to do is if you want to go away for like two weeks then block off a three and a half week period. Then waitlist all the flights you can during that time period. Also waitlist J seats if there is no F/Suites. Chances are some of the awards will pop. You may not get ideal dates to start but its better to have something booked than nothing. Then once you are closer in and the other seats start popping you can switch to the dates/classes of service you want. Its a real pain because you can't make firm plans until the dates are locked in and you just don't know.

With CX if I work it right I will be able to snag first class roundtrip for less points than SQ will require. Of course, I can't do that with Amex MRs so if you don't have the right point balances its a no go. You could look into the whole Amex MR transfer to ANA and see what is possible. I was considering doing that but availibility seemed pretty tight for my schedule I did CX two years ago NYC-HKG in F using AA miles and I just remember spendings hours on the phone with AA trying to get it all lines up. I mean it got really painful, because AA is absolute garbage to deal with multi-hour waits at the time etc. I am hoping Alaska is easier.

AA was actually not bad for me when i did it I already had business booked for Bkk-HKG-JFK so few days before my flight home, i would just check BA site every so often and when it opened i got it and was able to do it same day. It was a very interesting experience and man is HKG airport really nice compared to JFK or any US based airport.

Right now I am waitlisted just got off phone with SQ they will try and push it through , I am thinking for contigency plan i may set up a star alliance partner award flight while i am on wait list with sq, so just in case if I can't get sq business i still can probably fly EVA business which isn't too shabby. The reason want to get this done is beacause i want to get dates set so i can set up my return flight from BKK, which will probably be EVA via United Miles. I stupidly transferred miles already to UAL. I say stupidly because if availilbity isn't the greatest i could have just used UR to do BKK-ICN-JFK via Korean Air miles.

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

red259 — Wed, 10 May 2017 22:33:14 GMT

@mongstradamus wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@mongstradamus wrote:
I know this probably won't help you very much but last year i did a last minute upgrade on CX from business to first, but that was also with AA miles. I am not really sure how alaskan works like is there a way to check availability easily. With AA miles i know BA was an easy way to check availibility.

On a side note I am trying to figure out my trip to Thialand for Jan 2018, I am having major struggles with how to handle SQ waitlist. I just want to get everything figured out.Are you already waitlisted on SQ or were you just thinking of doing that?
I had considered wait listing into SQ but to get suites it would have taken a ton of points. I have flown suites on LAX-NRt roundtrip and NYC-FRA roundtrip so I am familiar with it. There was not a lot of availability with SQ when I was looking at it and sometimes you will not know when you are leaving until the list clears a few days before. you have to be flexible. Best thing to do is if you want to go away for like two weeks then block off a three and a half week period. Then waitlist all the flights you can during that time period. Also waitlist J seats if there is no F/Suites. Chances are some of the awards will pop. You may not get ideal dates to start but its better to have something booked than nothing. Then once you are closer in and the other seats start popping you can switch to the dates/classes of service you want. Its a real pain because you can't make firm plans until the dates are locked in and you just don't know.

With CX if I work it right I will be able to snag first class roundtrip for less points than SQ will require. Of course, I can't do that with Amex MRs so if you don't have the right point balances its a no go. You could look into the whole Amex MR transfer to ANA and see what is possible. I was considering doing that but availibility seemed pretty tight for my schedule I did CX two years ago NYC-HKG in F using AA miles and I just remember spendings hours on the phone with AA trying to get it all lines up. I mean it got really painful, because AA is absolute garbage to deal with multi-hour waits at the time etc. I am hoping Alaska is easier.
AA was actually not bad for me when i did it I already had business booked for Bkk-HKG-JFK so few days before my flight home, i would just check BA site every so often and when it opened i got it and was able to do it same day. It was a very interesting experience and man is HKG airport really nice compared to JFK or any US based airport.

Right now I am waitlisted just got off phone with SQ they will try and push it through , I am thinking for contigency plan i may set up a star alliance partner award flight while i am on wait list with sq, so just in case if I can't get sq business i still can probably fly EVA business which isn't too shabby. The reason want to get this done is beacause i want to get dates set so i can set up my return flight from BKK, which will probably be EVA via United Miles. I stupidly transferred miles already to UAL. I say stupidly because if availilbity isn't the greatest i could have just used UR to do BKK-ICN-JFK via Korean Air miles.

Yea since I just got the miles in I need to look tonight to see what I can book. I will probably book F one way and J the other. So that way i have flights both ways. Then once my bonus posts off my Alasaka card I will try to upgrade my departure. It gets more complicated because I need to book my intra-asia segments as well and I have not decided the order I will visit cities. thinking about doing SIN, KUL, BKK, SGN (up to hanoi), MNL (other destinations in phillipines). I need to figure out the best order to go in and the most cost effective. I'm leaning towards flying in to SIN and following the trail laid out above. Still trying to sort out how to do the intra-asia flights. May top off my alaska airlines account by buying 14k miles and then book all my intra asia flights except one for a total of 25k. Another option is to transfer URs to Avios

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

red259 — Wed, 10 May 2017 23:52:01 GMT

Bah I did all that to get these Alaska miles and given the time it took to transfer all the openings were taken. Its questionable again whether or not this trip will happen. I really don't understand with modern technology why it takes soo **bleep** long to transfer miles. I could have booked all this off and been set.

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

mongstradamus — Thu, 11 May 2017 01:41:49 GMT

I think its safest to have a J class ticket that you can upgrade to F just in case. F opening up isn't always a guarantee , becuase it would suck if you weren't able to fly J or F back for such a long flight.

As far as intra asia flights go you can fly low cost airlines that fly to various parts of SE asia, and also SQ has a low cost airline Silk that you can probably use to fly various parts of asia

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

red259 — Thu, 11 May 2017 02:16:57 GMT

@mongstradamus wrote:
I think its safest to have a J class ticket that you can upgrade to F just in case. F opening up isn't always a guarantee , becuase it would suck if you weren't able to fly J or F back for such a long flight.

As far as intra asia flights go you can fly low cost airlines that fly to various parts of SE asia, and also SQ has a low cost airline Silk that you can probably use to fly various parts of asia

Any idea if I can just book the intra-asia flights once I am on the ground over there and still get a good price? Would be nice to be able to pick and choose when I am going to move vs being on a set schedule the entire trip.

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

mongstradamus — Thu, 11 May 2017 02:22:28 GMT

@red259 wrote:
@mongstradamus wrote:
I think its safest to have a J class ticket that you can upgrade to F just in case. F opening up isn't always a guarantee , becuase it would suck if you weren't able to fly J or F back for such a long flight.

As far as intra asia flights go you can fly low cost airlines that fly to various parts of SE asia, and also SQ has a low cost airline Silk that you can probably use to fly various parts of asia
Any idea if I can just book the intra-asia flights once I am on the ground over there and still get a good price? Would be nice to be able to pick and choose when I am going to move vs being on a set schedule the entire trip.

last few times i was in thailand and booked flights to chiang mai and chiang rai i just used "cash" to pay for the flights I think thats probably the best way. You can buy day of the flight, since when we were flying to chiang mai they had like 8 flights that day or something. I would just make a plan where in asia i would want to go and then you can buy tickets a day or so before. THe only exception would be Burma/Myanmar I think you need visa for that if you are u.s citizen.

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

Revelate — Thu, 11 May 2017 06:18:53 GMT

@red259 wrote:
@mongstradamus wrote:
I think its safest to have a J class ticket that you can upgrade to F just in case. F opening up isn't always a guarantee , becuase it would suck if you weren't able to fly J or F back for such a long flight.

As far as intra asia flights go you can fly low cost airlines that fly to various parts of SE asia, and also SQ has a low cost airline Silk that you can probably use to fly various parts of asia
Any idea if I can just book the intra-asia flights once I am on the ground over there and still get a good price? Would be nice to be able to pick and choose when I am going to move vs being on a set schedule the entire trip.

Yeah.

The flights are so short I'd also recommend taking budget trips and pay directly; save miles for where they matter like long haul flights. Flight + 2 nights hotel in Thailand last minute at an expensive time was something like 200 SGD off Expedia though I'd spend 300 if I had to do it again for a nicer and more convenient hotel, silly cheap in comparison to elsewhere.

That said I needed to park my bags in Singapore as most of the regional carriers charge for baggage which would've upped the cost by ~20%, but if you're doing a few days at a time, hubbing out of Singapore isn't a bad choice for TH, KL, VN, etc.

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

red259 — Thu, 11 May 2017 06:52:11 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@mongstradamus wrote:
I think its safest to have a J class ticket that you can upgrade to F just in case. F opening up isn't always a guarantee , becuase it would suck if you weren't able to fly J or F back for such a long flight.

As far as intra asia flights go you can fly low cost airlines that fly to various parts of SE asia, and also SQ has a low cost airline Silk that you can probably use to fly various parts of asia
Any idea if I can just book the intra-asia flights once I am on the ground over there and still get a good price? Would be nice to be able to pick and choose when I am going to move vs being on a set schedule the entire trip.
Yeah.

The flights are so short I'd also recommend taking budget trips and pay directly; save miles for where they matter like long haul flights. Flight + 2 nights hotel in Thailand last minute at an expensive time was something like 200 SGD off Expedia though I'd spend 300 if I had to do it again for a nicer and more convenient hotel, silly cheap in comparison to elsewhere.

That said I needed to park my bags in Singapore as most of the regional carriers charge for baggage which would've upped the cost by ~20%, but if you're doing a few days at a time, hubbing out of Singapore isn't a bad choice for TH, KL, VN, etc.

Right now I see an option to fly JAL first class To BKK with a 3 night layover in Tokyo. I'd rather only two nights in Tokyo, but I may book this on my way in and skip Singapore all together. I'm probably not going to double back anywhere so I will have to take the baggage with me which is one bag and one carry on. For american standards my luugage is carry on size but I don't know how they will handle that with some of these low cost se asia carriers. So in a nutshell I think I will book NYC-Tokyo (3 nights there) then BKK. Spend like 3 or 4 nights in Bangkok and maybe a night in the surrounding area, then cheap flight to Saigon. work my way up to Hanoi then a cheap flight to Manila (or wherever is good in the phillipines and explore the Phillipines before catching a CX fliht from manila to HKG. 2 or 3 day layover in HKG and then back to NYC in CX first. Right now there is not HKG-NYC availability on my return dates but I am hoping stuff starts opening up close in and in any event I won't have the rest of the points to complete that booking until mid june. Would be flying back around 7/10 or a couple days prior. I think this plan makes sense. If things go to hell for some reason I could refund the JAL flight ($125 fee) and rebook a CX first class there and business back, but right now there is nothing available for that.

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

mongstradamus — Thu, 11 May 2017 13:21:27 GMT

@red259 wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@mongstradamus wrote:
I think its safest to have a J class ticket that you can upgrade to F just in case. F opening up isn't always a guarantee , becuase it would suck if you weren't able to fly J or F back for such a long flight.

As far as intra asia flights go you can fly low cost airlines that fly to various parts of SE asia, and also SQ has a low cost airline Silk that you can probably use to fly various parts of asia
Any idea if I can just book the intra-asia flights once I am on the ground over there and still get a good price? Would be nice to be able to pick and choose when I am going to move vs being on a set schedule the entire trip.
Yeah.

The flights are so short I'd also recommend taking budget trips and pay directly; save miles for where they matter like long haul flights. Flight + 2 nights hotel in Thailand last minute at an expensive time was something like 200 SGD off Expedia though I'd spend 300 if I had to do it again for a nicer and more convenient hotel, silly cheap in comparison to elsewhere.

That said I needed to park my bags in Singapore as most of the regional carriers charge for baggage which would've upped the cost by ~20%, but if you're doing a few days at a time, hubbing out of Singapore isn't a bad choice for TH, KL, VN, etc.
Right now I see an option to fly JAL first class To BKK with a 3 night layover in Tokyo. I'd rather only two nights in Tokyo, but I may book this on my way in and skip Singapore all together. I'm probably not going to double back anywhere so I will have to take the baggage with me which is one bag and one carry on. For american standards my luugage is carry on size but I don't know how they will handle that with some of these low cost se asia carriers. So in a nutshell I think I will book NYC-Tokyo (3 nights there) then BKK. Spend like 3 or 4 nights in Bangkok and maybe a night in the surrounding area, then cheap flight to Saigon. work my way up to Hanoi then a cheap flight to Manila (or wherever is good in the phillipines and explore the Phillipines before catching a CX fliht from manila to HKG. 2 or 3 day layover in HKG and then back to NYC in CX first. Right now there is not HKG-NYC availability on my return dates but I am hoping stuff starts opening up close in and in any event I won't have the rest of the points to complete that booking until mid june. Would be flying back around 7/10 or a couple days prior. I think this plan makes sense. If things go to hell for some reason I could refund the JAL flight ($125 fee) and rebook a CX first class there and business back, but right now there is nothing available for that.

man my memory is pretty bad I forgot if the low cost domestic carriers in thailand charged for carry on i don't think they did I know they charged for check in like how most us carriers do. Have you been to singapore before I actually like singapore but its very small and a bit on the expensive side compared to other cities in SE asia.

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

red259 — Thu, 11 May 2017 23:48:11 GMT

@mongstradamus wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@mongstradamus wrote:
I think its safest to have a J class ticket that you can upgrade to F just in case. F opening up isn't always a guarantee , becuase it would suck if you weren't able to fly J or F back for such a long flight.

As far as intra asia flights go you can fly low cost airlines that fly to various parts of SE asia, and also SQ has a low cost airline Silk that you can probably use to fly various parts of asia
Any idea if I can just book the intra-asia flights once I am on the ground over there and still get a good price? Would be nice to be able to pick and choose when I am going to move vs being on a set schedule the entire trip.
Yeah.

The flights are so short I'd also recommend taking budget trips and pay directly; save miles for where they matter like long haul flights. Flight + 2 nights hotel in Thailand last minute at an expensive time was something like 200 SGD off Expedia though I'd spend 300 if I had to do it again for a nicer and more convenient hotel, silly cheap in comparison to elsewhere.

That said I needed to park my bags in Singapore as most of the regional carriers charge for baggage which would've upped the cost by ~20%, but if you're doing a few days at a time, hubbing out of Singapore isn't a bad choice for TH, KL, VN, etc.
Right now I see an option to fly JAL first class To BKK with a 3 night layover in Tokyo. I'd rather only two nights in Tokyo, but I may book this on my way in and skip Singapore all together. I'm probably not going to double back anywhere so I will have to take the baggage with me which is one bag and one carry on. For american standards my luugage is carry on size but I don't know how they will handle that with some of these low cost se asia carriers. So in a nutshell I think I will book NYC-Tokyo (3 nights there) then BKK. Spend like 3 or 4 nights in Bangkok and maybe a night in the surrounding area, then cheap flight to Saigon. work my way up to Hanoi then a cheap flight to Manila (or wherever is good in the phillipines and explore the Phillipines before catching a CX fliht from manila to HKG. 2 or 3 day layover in HKG and then back to NYC in CX first. Right now there is not HKG-NYC availability on my return dates but I am hoping stuff starts opening up close in and in any event I won't have the rest of the points to complete that booking until mid june. Would be flying back around 7/10 or a couple days prior. I think this plan makes sense. If things go to hell for some reason I could refund the JAL flight ($125 fee) and rebook a CX first class there and business back, but right now there is nothing available for that.
man my memory is pretty bad I forgot if the low cost domestic carriers in thailand charged for carry on i don't think they did I know they charged for check in like how most us carriers do. Have you been to singapore before I actually like singapore but its very small and a bit on the expensive side compared to other cities in SE asia.

No I haven't been to Singapore before. It just seems kinda out of the way compared to areas I am interested in. If I could get SQ suites back I'd consider doing that, but right now when I go to the SQ website it doesn't even show the ability to waitlist on flights from SIN-JGK in July. Maybe it opens up closer in and allows people to waitlist at that point? I would use my Amex MRs on the redemption. Otherwise I will need to wait for my alaska miles to post and wait for CX to open up in which case I will build in a layover in HKG.

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

red259 — Fri, 12 May 2017 03:29:03 GMT

Anyone use aeroplan, united or SQ to redeem on NH. Aeroplan and SQ will take my Amex MRs and I am trying to book a one way SE Asia to NYC. I was all excited because I found availibility and was going to use virgin atlantic due to the amex transfer bonus, but I forgot that had to be a roundtrip and there was no availbility. I'm looking to avoid fuel surcharges and I am not sure which program does what. I think United would require Chase URs so I'd like to avoid going that route if possible.

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

Revelate — Fri, 12 May 2017 05:51:06 GMT

@mongstradamus wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@mongstradamus wrote:
I think its safest to have a J class ticket that you can upgrade to F just in case. F opening up isn't always a guarantee , becuase it would suck if you weren't able to fly J or F back for such a long flight.

As far as intra asia flights go you can fly low cost airlines that fly to various parts of SE asia, and also SQ has a low cost airline Silk that you can probably use to fly various parts of asia
Any idea if I can just book the intra-asia flights once I am on the ground over there and still get a good price? Would be nice to be able to pick and choose when I am going to move vs being on a set schedule the entire trip.
Yeah.

The flights are so short I'd also recommend taking budget trips and pay directly; save miles for where they matter like long haul flights. Flight + 2 nights hotel in Thailand last minute at an expensive time was something like 200 SGD off Expedia though I'd spend 300 if I had to do it again for a nicer and more convenient hotel, silly cheap in comparison to elsewhere.

That said I needed to park my bags in Singapore as most of the regional carriers charge for baggage which would've upped the cost by ~20%, but if you're doing a few days at a time, hubbing out of Singapore isn't a bad choice for TH, KL, VN, etc.
Right now I see an option to fly JAL first class To BKK with a 3 night layover in Tokyo. I'd rather only two nights in Tokyo, but I may book this on my way in and skip Singapore all together. I'm probably not going to double back anywhere so I will have to take the baggage with me which is one bag and one carry on. For american standards my luugage is carry on size but I don't know how they will handle that with some of these low cost se asia carriers. So in a nutshell I think I will book NYC-Tokyo (3 nights there) then BKK. Spend like 3 or 4 nights in Bangkok and maybe a night in the surrounding area, then cheap flight to Saigon. work my way up to Hanoi then a cheap flight to Manila (or wherever is good in the phillipines and explore the Phillipines before catching a CX fliht from manila to HKG. 2 or 3 day layover in HKG and then back to NYC in CX first. Right now there is not HKG-NYC availability on my return dates but I am hoping stuff starts opening up close in and in any event I won't have the rest of the points to complete that booking until mid june. Would be flying back around 7/10 or a couple days prior. I think this plan makes sense. If things go to hell for some reason I could refund the JAL flight ($125 fee) and rebook a CX first class there and business back, but right now there is nothing available for that.
man my memory is pretty bad I forgot if the low cost domestic carriers in thailand charged for carry on i don't think they did I know they charged for check in like how most us carriers do. Have you been to singapore before I actually like singapore but its very small and a bit on the expensive side compared to other cities in SE asia.

Jetstar and the other budget carriers do charge for checked bags: $35 SGD for them in particular so I just tossed two change of clothes in a backpack and went. That was an easier option for me since my return CX flight was out of Singapore anyway.

I'm actually strongly considering moving to Singapore I liked it that much heh, though for tourist destinations some of the surrounding countries are likely more interesting.

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

mongstradamus — Fri, 12 May 2017 13:12:18 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
@mongstradamus wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@mongstradamus wrote:
I think its safest to have a J class ticket that you can upgrade to F just in case. F opening up isn't always a guarantee , becuase it would suck if you weren't able to fly J or F back for such a long flight.

As far as intra asia flights go you can fly low cost airlines that fly to various parts of SE asia, and also SQ has a low cost airline Silk that you can probably use to fly various parts of asia
Any idea if I can just book the intra-asia flights once I am on the ground over there and still get a good price? Would be nice to be able to pick and choose when I am going to move vs being on a set schedule the entire trip.
Yeah.

The flights are so short I'd also recommend taking budget trips and pay directly; save miles for where they matter like long haul flights. Flight + 2 nights hotel in Thailand last minute at an expensive time was something like 200 SGD off Expedia though I'd spend 300 if I had to do it again for a nicer and more convenient hotel, silly cheap in comparison to elsewhere.

That said I needed to park my bags in Singapore as most of the regional carriers charge for baggage which would've upped the cost by ~20%, but if you're doing a few days at a time, hubbing out of Singapore isn't a bad choice for TH, KL, VN, etc.
Right now I see an option to fly JAL first class To BKK with a 3 night layover in Tokyo. I'd rather only two nights in Tokyo, but I may book this on my way in and skip Singapore all together. I'm probably not going to double back anywhere so I will have to take the baggage with me which is one bag and one carry on. For american standards my luugage is carry on size but I don't know how they will handle that with some of these low cost se asia carriers. So in a nutshell I think I will book NYC-Tokyo (3 nights there) then BKK. Spend like 3 or 4 nights in Bangkok and maybe a night in the surrounding area, then cheap flight to Saigon. work my way up to Hanoi then a cheap flight to Manila (or wherever is good in the phillipines and explore the Phillipines before catching a CX fliht from manila to HKG. 2 or 3 day layover in HKG and then back to NYC in CX first. Right now there is not HKG-NYC availability on my return dates but I am hoping stuff starts opening up close in and in any event I won't have the rest of the points to complete that booking until mid june. Would be flying back around 7/10 or a couple days prior. I think this plan makes sense. If things go to hell for some reason I could refund the JAL flight ($125 fee) and rebook a CX first class there and business back, but right now there is nothing available for that.
man my memory is pretty bad I forgot if the low cost domestic carriers in thailand charged for carry on i don't think they did I know they charged for check in like how most us carriers do. Have you been to singapore before I actually like singapore but its very small and a bit on the expensive side compared to other cities in SE asia.
Jetstar and the other budget carriers do charge for checked bags: $35 SGD for them in particular so I just tossed two change of clothes in a backpack and went. That was an easier option for me since my return CX flight was out of Singapore anyway.

I'm actually strongly considering moving to Singapore I liked it that much heh, though for tourist destinations some of the surrounding countries are likely more interesting.

my opinion of singapore is a really nice place to visit but I am not sure i would want to live there, Its very expensive, and ciy is kind of fake because its an island and all also I am not really too keen on such a restirctive government.

BTW i checked when i flew in thailand you are allowed one carry one that weights 15 LB I would assume anything over that weight you would get charged a fee.

Re: Trying to get to Asia via credit card points & marriott package

mongstradamus — Fri, 12 May 2017 13:14:10 GMT

@red259 wrote:
Anyone use aeroplan, united or SQ to redeem on NH. Aeroplan and SQ will take my Amex MRs and I am trying to book a one way SE Asia to NYC. I was all excited because I found availibility and was going to use virgin atlantic due to the amex transfer bonus, but I forgot that had to be a roundtrip and there was no availbility. I'm looking to avoid fuel surcharges and I am not sure which program does what. I think United would require Chase URs so I'd like to avoid going that route if possible.

I have never tried redeeming on NH before but when i checked ealier int he year with United there wasn't much availbility for J, btw have you ever thought of using Virgin atlantic fo fly NH I heard thats a popular option it didn't quite work out for me but maybe you can look at that option as well.