Sticker Shock?

[clo]

2 hours ago, the mice said:

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 is that what would happen with Chase UR? Or do you fear that?

[the mice]

23 minutes ago, clo said:

So is that what would happen with Chase UR? Or do you fear that?

Once you transfer Chase UR, the transfer is not reversible.

[the mice]

37 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

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..

Thanks.   I will be keeping all this in mind.   Have a feeling that AA miles might be more reasonable than UA, but you never know.   And we have a big stash of AA miles but not so many for UA, so I'd rather not use my UR points if I don't have to.   I plan to start "testing the waters" about 10-14 days prior to when I want to fly to see what's what.   Not inclined to use the extra miles for F as J is just fine for us.   After all, we flew economy for years (and still fly it home from Europe).  

[Paulchili]

1 hour ago, the mice said:

I plan to start "testing the waters" about 10-14 days prior to when I want to fly to see what's what. 

FWIW - JL releases their awards exactly at T-330 6PM PST/5 PM PDT

Also, learn how to navigate JL’s award charts as they are more accurate than AA’s for availability.

Edited April 8, 2021 by Paulchili

[the mice]

8 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

FWIW - JL releases their awards exactly at T-330 6PM PST/5 PM PDL

Also, learn how to navigate JL’s award charts as they are more accurate than AA’s for availability.

Thanks for that info.  I have some articles explaining how to find JL seats bookmarked using other Oneworld carrier websites.

[Paulchili]

15 minutes ago, the mice said:

Thanks for that info.  I have some articles explaining how to find JL seats bookmarked using other Oneworld carrier websites.

You are welcome. Good luck!

[the mice]

10 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

You are welcome. Good luck!

' Well, from what I've read about JL award space, I think I'm going to need it in spades! 🤞  But I'll explore all the viable flights so I have my options lined up.   

[susiesan]

17 hours ago, Paulchili said:

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..

I second JL over CX. Over the last 20 years I flew regularly to Asia on AA award tickets in both F and J, either on Cathay to Japan Airlines. The Japanese food on JL in F is unbelievable. Be aware that most airlines are eliminating F across their fleets. I do not have anymore AA miles, I stopped accumulating them and switched to UA miles. The ANA J product, bookable with UA miles, is quite nice.

[cayman09]

Fiji Airlines has a SFO - SYD via Fiji for a lower rate than most for February. Has anyone had experience with them?

[Paulchili]

12 minutes ago, cayman09 said:

Fiji Airlines has a SFO - SYD via Fiji for a lower rate than most for February. Has anyone had experience with them?

No flat lie-down seats in business class - a deal breaker for me.

[cayman09]

7 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

No flat lie-down seats in business class - a deal breaker for me.

Thanks, that does it for me.

[clo]

1 hour ago, Paulchili said:

No flat lie-down seats in business class - a deal breaker for me.

Wow. I'm shocked. After UA Polaris J I went way past being a little spoiled 🙂

[Paulchili]

1 hour ago, clo said:

Wow. I'm shocked.

Most of their flights are much shorter in Oceania and. Australia - lie flat seats are not essential.

Edited April 8, 2021 by Paulchili

[Paulchili]

2 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Most of their flights are much shorter in Oceania and. Australia - lie flat seats are not essential.

...and Melanesia 

[cruiseaholic78]

On 4/8/2021 at 2:11 AM, Paulchili said:

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..

Sorry have to ask, as an European just gone thru thus thread again but for the life of me can’t work out the J or even F on Japan Airlines (JL). I guess it could be premium economy or business or possibly preferred seat numbers. As this seems to be quite clear for Americans, please enlighten me.

 

Rosalyn

Edited April 9, 2021 by cruiseaholic78

[Paulchili]

22 minutes ago, cruiseaholic78 said:

Sorry have to ask, as an European just gone thru thus thread again but for the life of me can’t work out the J or even F on Japan Airlines (JL). I guess it could be premium economy or business or possibly preferred seat numbers. As this seems to be quite clear for Americans, please enlighten me.

 

Rosalyn

J is one of the classification buckets for business class tickets (awards); F stands for First class.

Some airlines (UA) classify business awards as I but J is still a universal term for frequent flyers to indicate business class.

[cruiseaholic78]

Great, thanks for explaining that.

Rosalyn

[clo]

On 4/8/2021 at 11:19 PM, Paulchili said:

J is one of the classification buckets for business class tickets (awards);

Curious why you put "awards" there. J isn't limited to awards.

[Sailing12Away]

We were booked on an NCL cruise last year that went from NZ to Sydney, had bought business class air on our own through AA for around 15K total for both of us (early Covid times - out of JFK with a stop at LAX). Price kept dropping, so we were able to get a 3K credit back, with a final price of around 6K/pp. Just checked prices now with the hope we could finally take that trip on our own sans cruise, and like everyone here said - current price is back up to 10K/pp for business class. Guess we're holding off on that side of the globe until 2023.

[Paulchili]

3 hours ago, clo said:

Curious why you put "awards" there. J isn't limited to awards.

I believe that J (and U) are award categories (with AA anyway). Full fare or discounted business class tickets fall into different buckets.

Below are award ticket buckets only - not paid tickets . This is from ExpertFlyer:

https://www.expertflyer.com/sessionlessClassList.do

American Airlines (AA)	F	First - AAnytime Award (for 3-cabin flights only)
	Z	First - MileSAAver Award (for 3-cabin flights only)
	A	First - upgrade using Miles/SWU or restricted purchase of First class on 3-cabin flights only
	J	Business - AAnytime Award (Including 2-cabin Domestic First)
	U	Business - MileSAAver Award (Including 2-cabin Domestic First)
	C	Business - Upgrade from Coach using Miles/SWU. Includes 2-Cabin First domestic upgrades
	W	Premium Economy - AAnytime Award
	X	Premium Economy - MileSAAver Award
	Y	Coach - AAnytime Award
	E	Coach - Employee Travel and Confirmed Flight Changes
	T	Coach - MileSAAver Award

Edited April 10, 2021 by Paulchili

[clo]

2 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

I believe that J (and U) are award categories (with AA anyway). Full fare or discounted business class tickets fall into different buckets.

American Airlines (AA)	F	First - AAnytime Award (for 3-cabin flights only)
	Z	First - MileSAAver Award (for 3-cabin flights only)
	A	First - upgrade using Miles/SWU or restricted purchase of First class on 3-cabin flights only
	J	Business - AAnytime Award (Including 2-cabin Domestic First)
	U	Business - MileSAAver Award (Including 2-cabin Domestic First)
	C	Business - Upgrade from Coach using Miles/SWU. Includes 2-Cabin First domestic upgrades
	W	Premium Economy - AAnytime Award
	X	Premium Economy - MileSAAver Award
	Y	Coach - AAnytime Award
	E	Coach - Employee Travel and Confirmed Flight Changes
	T	Coach - MileSAAver Award

So with AA you can't pay full fare for business?  Not standard I gather.

 

Some fare classes and codes are standard across all airlines, while some are very different depending on the airline. Here are a few fare codes that are typically the same across all airlines: Y: Full-fare economy-class ticket. J: Full-fare business-class ticket. F: Full-fare first-class ticket.Dec 16, 2019

 

What airline fare classes tell you about your ticket

 

[Ride-The-Waves]

On 4/1/2021 at 2:14 PM, PaulMCO said:

been hunting for MCO -EZE for our Antarctica cruise.  Try to get a decent Biz price for last three months or use FF miles.  Was able to to books some PE space using miles but cheapest PE on UA or AA was 2K pp.  Today was on the Amex site (which uses the IATA engine) and found Biz (P class) at $2K RT with the domestic leg in ECO on the way down.  Jumped on that one. 

 

Paul -- No Silversea did not change the formal policy.  Still one night of 7 is formal.

By the way just like O the excursions are no free ride.   They did up the price comparing both with and without for Japan -- about $85 pp per port.  The Business class to Asia (with the "free economy ) is about $5248 pp.  Generally you probably can find something similarly priced -- as I will be hunting next month for our Japan cruise.

Several years ago we did MIA-EZE and then on to USH R/T for an Antarctic cruise.  Discovered that R/T Business fares were astronomical on US carriers while Aerolineas Argentinas was about half price.  Interestingly, all the flights were code share so you were buying a ticket on the same aircraft.  

[PaulMCO]

6 minutes ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Several years ago we did MIA-EZE and then on to USH R/T for an Antarctic cruise.  Discovered that R/T Business fares were astronomical on US carriers while Aerolineas Argentinas was about half price.  Interestingly, all the flights were code share so you were buying a ticket on the same aircraft.  

That was the other airline checking frequently. Also checked Delta who does the code sharing.  Price was $2600 pp

[Ride-The-Waves]

16 hours ago, PaulMCO said:

That was the other airline checking frequently. Also checked Delta who does the code sharing.  Price was $2600 pp

At one point Delta was asking $7600 R/T...  Believe we paid $2660pp R/T Business.

Edited April 11, 2021 by Ride-The-Waves

[Flatbush Flyer]

16 hours ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Several years ago we did MIA-EZE and then on to USH R/T for an Antarctic cruise.  Discovered that R/T Business fares were astronomical on US carriers while Aerolineas Argentinas was about half price.  Interestingly, all the flights were code share so you were buying a ticket on the same aircraft.  

While the price difference in code shares on the same hardware can be huge, so can the customer service difference be huge when the “poop hits the fan” related to schedule issues and rebooking needs.
Though not a regular problem, the beginning of Covid turmoil in early 2020 taught me a lot about who answers the phone and/or handles issues promptly.