Award availability Bangkok-Athens

[JohnK]

Early planning for September 2015 but there does not appear any availability for 2 on random dates I have tried for this year and next year. I would prefer to get to SKG but I think that becomes even more difficult.

The award should cost 35,000 miles in business and I have tried a few different combinations to get to cities nearby but the award increases to 52,500 miles and as I will be looking to buy the miles I do not want to spend 17,500 miles for a short sector in business.

BKK-LHR has some availability direct and award is 35,000 miles otherwise via HKG it is 52,500 miles.

BKK-FCO has some availability via HKG or LHR but again award is 52,500 miles. I guess one possibility is to try and book HKG-FCO in business for 35,000 miles with a paid BKK-HKG and FCO-ATH.

Is my only option to find out availability to call? I would prefer to do this online if possible. I won't be ready to book until March/April next year which makes it even more difficult.

Can anyone think of alternative routings I may have missed? Air Berlin? Finnair? Both of those end up a long way from ATH and the cost of economy tickets is not cheap.

This looks like AAnother that goes in the too hard basket after trying to get SYD-ATH for mum last year.

 

[trixydoza]

52,500 is correct for Asia Zone 2 to Europe. The 35,000 BKK-LHR award you mention is in economy.

QR publishes a fare from BKK to ATH or SKG, although the latter won't work for AA purposes.

 

[docjames]

QR Fly BKK-DOH-ATH and CMB-DOH-ATH so you could try a cheapie BKK-CMB?

MH via KUL

 

[knasty]

Can check Etihad availability using Etihad Guest and if the cheapest award bucket is available you should be able to do it through AA.

 

[JohnK]

52,500 is correct for Asia Zone 2 to Europe. The 35,000 BKK-LHR award you mention is in economy.

Thanks.

Oh man I got that one totally wrong.

 

[JohnK]

Didnn't want to start another thread but still struggling to understand AA award availability.

I want to go BNE-BKK in business on 23 July 2015.

AA website offering BNE-HKG-BKK and BNE-MEL-HKG but both arrive quite late in BKK and as I need to get to Chiang Mai I don't want spend a night in BKK and pay for accommodation.

I have seen CX SYD-HKG departing ~9:55pm on QF website but AA cannot see availability. They can see availability on ~7:30am CX SYD-HKG but the latest connecting flight BNE-SYD the day before is ~1:00pm which is way too early and I lose another day of work.

This travel is ~8 months away and disappointing that availability is so poor. Any tricks I should know? Do AA agents see all available flights or do I have to prompt them with flight numbers?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Didnn't want to start another thread but still struggling to understand AA award availability.

I want to go BNE-BKK in business on 23 July 2015.

AA website offering BNE-HKG-BKK and BNE-MEL-HKG but both arrive quite late in BKK and as I need to get to Chiang Mai I don't want spend a night in BKK and pay for accommodation.

I have seen CX SYD-HKG departing ~9:55pm on QF website but AA cannot see availability. They can see availability on ~7:30am CX SYD-HKG but the latest connecting flight BNE-SYD the day before is ~1:00pm which is way too early and I lose another day of work.

This travel is ~8 months away and disappointing that availability is so poor. Any tricks I should know? Do AA agents see all available flights or do I have to prompt them with flight numbers?

They will see what's available to them. The QF/JL/BA sites all return phantom availability - and AA's internal booking system will be the most accurate at the time of your call.

With AA you can make free changes, as long as the origin and destination remain the same. So buying now and changing later is risk free. (Lock in the 1pm BNE flight now and change it as availability opens.)

Regarding your original post - did you get something suitable? Otherwise i would suggest buying a full fare on Sri Lankan for $1800 to Rome and buying an add-on from there. Probably work out much the same as the cost of an award, but you'll get points and status credits, plus complete flexibility.

 

[JohnK]

Interesting point about being able to change award.

Can I book BNE-MEL-HKG-BKK online and check down the track and if suitable BNE-SYD-HKG-BKK becomes available I can change routing but not origin and destination?

Booking online saves the AUD80 assisted fee.

Regarding your original post - did you get something suitable? Otherwise i would suggest buying a full fare on Sri Lankan for $1800 to Rome and buying an add-on from there. Probably work out much the same as the cost of an award, but you'll get points and status credits, plus complete flexibility.

Couldn't get it to work for 2 people so I gave up. There are other priorities coming up which are more important.

 

[knasty]

Interesting point about being able to change award.

Can I book BNE-MEL-HKG-BKK online and check down the track and if suitable BNE-SYD-HKG-BKK becomes available I can change routing but not origin and destination?

Booking online saves the AUD80 assisted fee.


Couldn't get it to work for 2 people so I gave up. There are other priorities coming up which are more important.

Yes so long as origin and destination remain the same you can change the routing so long as it's on a OW airline (I think it's not possible on a partner but never tried myself).

 

[grussellt]

Interesting point about being able to change award.

Can I book BNE-MEL-HKG-BKK online and check down the track and if suitable BNE-SYD-HKG-BKK becomes available I can change routing but not origin and destination?

Booking online saves the AUD80 assisted fee.


Couldn't get it to work for 2 people so I gave up. There are other priorities coming up which are more important.

The fee for phone assistance is $35 (or $25 for US travel) but they may try and sting you $80 for credit card payment for an Australian CC. If necessary place award on hold and pay online. The fee is worth it for awards you can't see online and the staff sometimes come up with routes you may not have considered.

 

[JohnK]

The fee for phone assistance is $35 (or $25 for US travel) but they may try and sting you $80 for credit card payment for an Australian CC. If necessary place award on hold and pay online. The fee is worth it for awards you can't see online and the staff sometimes come up with routes you may not have considered.

I called Sydney office. They definitely said $80 booking fee.

 

[grussellt]

Sorry I forgot to add that it's best to use the US number (and not the Australian one). You will generally get better service and a lower fee. If you use Skype or Gmail phone (and a few other services) the call is free.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Sorry I forgot to add that it's best to use the US number (and not the Australian one). You will generally get better service and a lower fee. If you use Skype or Gmail phone (and a few other services) the call is free.

so we can still put itineraries on hold and then go into the booking to pay? That would be a bonus.

 

[grussellt]

AFAIK it's still a 5-day hold.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

AFAIK it's still a 5-day hold.

the hold period is not the issue so much as the ability to pay for an itinerary on line after it has been done by the call centre. This will help by-pass the call centre ticketing fee.

 

[kezzakawasaki]

Check the OneWorld online timetable when researching any routing / options for your final destination, and you will see that you don't have to go via BKK

CX subsidiary and OneWorld affiliate Dragon Air (able to be booked using AA points, I have flown them from Hong Kong to Phnom Penh before using AA points) have one flight per day from Hong Kong to Chiang Mai direct, flight times depend on which day of week.

For 23/7/2015, QFF is showing awards in business for both QF and CX flights from BNE to HKG, but the search engine does not allow Chiang Mai as a destination choice so unable to confirm availability - you will need to call AA for this itinerary and pay the $80 processing fee to book.