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Sticker Shock?


Flatbush Flyer
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9 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

..with CX?

Yes - food mediocre. But it was their customer service that sucked when we had to modify flights to get home from Dubai (instead of Singapore due to Covid). I ended up canceling the CX return and turned to United for, minimally, someone that answered the phone and, maximally, bent over backwards to get us back to SFO with minimal trouble (despite the fact that so many cruise ships in the Indian Ocean in early March 2020 decided to disembark to Dubai).

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30 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I saw the Hawaiian Air flights when I was looking at prices like that.  It would allow NY - HNL, then HNL to SYD, and after the cruise AKL to HNL and HNL to NY (all on Hawaiian Air).  But when I mentioned this to my TA, she said those HNL to AKL or SYD flights are new and probably temporary while other airlines have cut back.  That's too bad, because I was really looking forward to the layover at the Hilton on Waikiki Beach.

Hawaiian was running the HNL-SYD/AKL routes before covid so I would think they own those routes already (same with HNL-BNE also)

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14 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Yes - food mediocre. But it was their customer service that sucked when we had to modify flights to get home from Dubai (instead of Singapore due to Covid). I ended up canceling the CX return and turned to United for, minimally, someone that answered the phone and, maximally, bent over backwards to get us back to SFO with minimal trouble (despite the fact that so many cruise ships in the Indian Ocean in early March 2020 decided to disembark to Dubai).

 

 

Worse than United? Ouch.

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Just now, RetiredandTravel said:

 

 

Worse than United? Ouch.

Where United shines is its technological superiority in reservations including phone, web, app, email. And they treat their FFs well. 
We had to alter many air plans in 2020 and UA was just plain superior.

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31 minutes ago, AZjohn said:

Hawaiian was running the HNL-SYD/AKL routes before covid so I would think they own those routes already (same with HNL-BNE also)

Thanks.  We've been to Hawaii and wouldn't go back for an actual trip (too many places we haven't been, with New Zealand high on that list – once they get Covid under control).  The big problem in finding cruises to New Zealand is that DW has a limit on how long she will be cooped up in a plane.  JFK–LAX–AKL just makes it.  SYD-LAX is 2 hours too long.  I have been booking NZ-only cruises, but have been cancelled out twice now due to Covid and there is a much bigger selection for SYD-AKL cruises.  So when I found HNL-SYD, I saw a light at the end of the tunnel – and a hotel on Waikiki would be nicer than the LAX Hilton.  Glad to hear that those flights are long-standing on Hawaiian.  Have they also done the JFK-HNL route for a long time?

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We have taken Hawaiian there and back. 2019 Seabourn cruise start in AKL and return from SYD. I like the U S based crew on a U S airline. Going down is daylight flight but back is overnight so business class makes it ok. Not as good as Turkish or Emirates but best for this itinerary .

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3 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Where United shines is its technological superiority in reservations including phone, web, app, email. And they treat their FFs well. 
We had to alter many air plans in 2020 and UA was just plain superior.

I second that.  We fly United exclusively. We've had to cancel two trips in the last year and they refunded our money within 3 days. Looking forward to United SFO-PPT next year on a 787. 

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58 minutes ago, sunlover12 said:

I second that.  We fly United exclusively. We've had to cancel two trips in the last year and they refunded our money within 3 days. Looking forward to United SFO-PPT next year on a 787. 

If you get a chance try some of the Asian airlines (Japan, ANA, Qatar, Etihad, Emirates, Thai and especially Singapore) and see how United compares to them.

Being better than AA or even DL is a low bar.

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37 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

If you get a chance try some of the Asian airlines (Japan, ANA, Qatar, Etihad, Emirates, Thai and especially Singapore) and see how United compares to them.

Being better than AA or even DL is a low bar.

I am looking forward to flying one of the Asian carriers when I go to book our flights for a 2022 cruise. 

 

However, I will say that when I saw those Air NZ J award seats open up, I had a UA rep spend around 2 hours on the phone with me changing my award tickets.  I had a convoluted routing, the mileage for the new final domestic leg kept changing due to that dynamic pricing, and it was not something I could have changed on my own. Most likely would have lost the seats.  Was probably the best service I ever got from UA, and my award bookings go way back to the late 80s.    

 

Flew home HNL-EWR in J - service was minimal because everyone just wanted to sleep.  And we did - almost the entire flight.  That's when the J seat really matters. 

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5 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Have they also done the JFK-HNL route for a long time?

I’m thinking yes but, not 100% sure (tend to kind of focus west coast).

 

Absolutely Hawaii is a great layover 🙂

 

if our cruise is a go, we will end up in Maui for a week layover after the cruise (remember, it’s tough cruising....lol)

 

I hope we both make it!
Cheers

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6 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Thanks.  We've been to Hawaii and wouldn't go back for an actual trip (too many places we haven't been, with New Zealand high on that list – once they get Covid under control).  The big problem in finding cruises to New Zealand is that DW has a limit on how long she will be cooped up in a plane.  JFK–LAX–AKL just makes it.  SYD-LAX is 2 hours too long.  I have been booking NZ-only cruises, but have been cancelled out twice now due to Covid and there is a much bigger selection for SYD-AKL cruises.  So when I found HNL-SYD, I saw a light at the end of the tunnel – and a hotel on Waikiki would be nicer than the LAX Hilton.  Glad to hear that those flights are long-standing on Hawaiian.  Have they also done the JFK-HNL route for a long time?

There is an interesting option that may be possible for flights to NZ.  For a long time Air New Zealand had a once per week flight from LAX that stops in the Cook Islands.  We had a great time adding a week in Rarotonga on a trip to NZ a few years ago.  Very different feel from the Caribbean.  There are daily flights from RAR to AKL, and maybe occasional flights to SYD as well.  

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On 3/31/2021 at 7:17 PM, Flatbush Flyer said:

No - not the O cruise prices...

 

Usually, I can handle “sticker shock” without much upset.
But earlier this week, I did multiple ITA Matrix searches (followed by specific airlines’ searches) for a mock multi-city booking SFO-AKL and SYD-SFO for non-stop Bizclass for late 2021 since it’s too early for early 2022.
There were very few non-stop options and the “cheapest” of them was $10k+\- per per person (up to $15k pp for United Polaris, which is usually worth the extra $$). Want to use points instead? Try  360k points per person for Star Alliance members.
At this rate, I don’t think OZ/NZ need to worry about a foreigner invasion.

Bottom line of my post: Before you pull that cruise “trigger,” check the airfare parameters.

As usual you have great advice, as in check out the prices for international travel before you book a cruise. We were/are planning a cruise out of Barcelona but price of airfare has gone up to the point are you kidding me.  Thanks for the warning. 

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14 minutes ago, mexicobob said:

As usual you have great advice, as in check out the prices for international travel before you book a cruise. We were/are planning a cruise out of Barcelona but price of airfare has gone up to the point are you kidding me.  Thanks for the warning. 

We found that Barcelona was double the price and award miles than Venice.....we were thinking of adding the Barcelona to Venice to our already booked cruise until we checked air fare.....AA miles : Venice 57,500 and Barcelona 167,000 per person one way in business class.  glad we have already been to Barcelona!

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24 minutes ago, mexicobob said:

As usual you have great advice, as in check out the prices for international travel before you book a cruise. We were/are planning a cruise out of Barcelona but price of airfare has gone up to the point are you kidding me.  Thanks for the warning. 

Thanks for the kind words.

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On 4/1/2021 at 7:55 PM, Paulchili said:

If you get a chance try some of the Asian airlines (Japan, ANA, Qatar, Etihad, Emirates, Thai and especially Singapore) and see how United compares to them.

Being better than AA or even DL is a low bar.

ANA is a partner airline of United and we have flown with them. They were excellent. We earned United miles with that flight.

We always fly United for domestic travel.  Years ago, AA was our preferred airline but we switched. Never flown Delta.

My point is to choose a preferred airline, stick with them, and accumulate miles and status. We now have enough miles on United to fly First Class free to Tahiti next year.

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How are you folks planning on getting in the EU? Aren't Americans(and other countries) blocked from entry? I know that it will change in the future, but I'm not making any plans or putting any money or miles on the table for options that really don't exist yet. 

 

Please let me know if that changed. I know there was some talk about 4/1 being a date that the EU was announcing some info on this. Maybe I missed it. 

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1 hour ago, sunlover12 said:

ANA is a partner airline of United and we have flown with them. They were excellent. We earned United miles with that flight.

We always fly United for domestic travel.  Years ago, AA was our preferred airline but we switched. Never flown Delta.

My point is to choose a preferred airline, stick with them, and accumulate miles and status. We now have enough miles on United to fly First Class free to Tahiti next year.

FWIW: While Star Alliance partners can earn us United FF points, remember that those miles do not count toward United’s “million miler” status (Premier Gold perks for you and partner for  life). Those miles can only be counted on United numbered/ticketed flights on United hardware.

When you’re at 900k+ points and Covid has brought your accumulation of qualifying UA points to a screeching halt, it’s tough not to pay the often extra cost on UA code-shareable flights (e.g., UA flight # on UA hardware is higher price than code share Lufthansa flight # on UA hardware).

 

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1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

FWIW: While Star Alliance partners can earn us United FF points, remember that those miles do not count toward United’s “million miler” status (Premier Gold perks for you and partner for  life). Those miles can only be counted on United numbered/ticketed flights on United hardware.

When you’re at 900k+ points and Covid has brought your accumulation of qualifying UA points to a screeching halt, it’s tough not to pay the often extra cost on UA code-shareable flights (e.g., UA flight # on UA hardware is higher price than code share Lufthansa flight # on UA hardware).

 

We're well aware of that.  DH is at ~976k points.  We do have a couple of domestic trips planned which will get him oh, so close, to the lifetime million miler level.  We were flying non-stop MSN to LAX a couple times a year and have noticed that 2021's fares are the same, maybe slightly lower, than before Covid.

Thanks for your response. 

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On 3/31/2021 at 6:21 PM, Paulchili said:

That sounds good.

Have they relaxed their strict dress code - a deal breaker for me.

We were booked on one of their expedition cruises to Galapagos. None of that type of cruise has formal nights or anything close to. It includes RT economy, two nights hotel pre,a day room at the end, all shore excursions, air between Ecuador proper and Galapagos, butler, alcoholic beverages and I can't remember the rest. Maybe 2023.

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4 hours ago, clo said:

We were booked on one of their expedition cruises to Galapagos. None of that type of cruise has formal nights or anything close to. It includes RT economy, two nights hotel pre,a day room at the end, all shore excursions, air between Ecuador proper and Galapagos, butler, alcoholic beverages and I can't remember the rest. Maybe 2023.

SS Expeditions do not have formal nights, but their regular cruise do.

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FWIW - Today's booking experience:

We have a cruise next March departing from Singapore, ending in Tokyo in early April.

Today I used AA.com and booked 2 J tickets on Cathay Pacific JFK-HKG-SIN for 70K miles + $33.30 each ticket.   I consider this an excellent deal, esp. since our AA miles were acquired mostly for free, and the rest at very low cost.   

 

Now, I could have booked the Singapore Airlines nonstop EWR-SIN flight last month, so why didn't I? 

While I would love to take this flight, this would have required transferring Chase UR points to Singapore, and each ticket was 98K points.    But more points/miles wasn't the main consideration.

Since there is a lot of uncertainty regarding this cruise  (travel restrictions in Singapore, Japan or intervening ports,  alteration of itinerary, other possible constraints, etc.) that could cause significant changes or cause us to want to cancel, I didn't want my points to be stuck at Singapore Airlines which offer us less travel options and which expire in 3 years.   So AA offers us the flexibility we desire should we not go.

 

I have a feeling that the return flight (using either AA or UA miles) is going to require more miles, since the dates are more prime time.

 

 

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2 hours ago, the mice said:

I have a feeling that the return flight (using either AA or UA miles) is going to require more miles, since the dates are more prime time.

Agree with your choice of AA over Singapore for reasons you quoted.

I suggest you try to use AA miles for Japan Airlines immediately when bookings open. Usually you should not have trouble getting 2 J on JL (sometimes even F is available).

Alternatively, try UA miles for ANA and not for UA..

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