Booking redemption flight on Asiamiles.com

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foggy

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May 30, 2009
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Hi guys,

Trying to understand something..

I currently have 290,000 asiamiles in my account. Trying to book Business class 1 adult 2 children from SYD - HKG - PVG return which says it is 80,000 miles per ticket + 1431.00 HKD.

Then when I have chosen my flight and get to the next page, I get this message;


[h=1]Please review the following items:[/h]
  • The miles in your account are not sufficient for your selected itinerary and Asia Miles Top-Up is not available. Please select another destination by clicking on "New Search" link.[Error.IBE_USR606_CHECK_MILES_NOT_ENOUGH_MILES]
  • Any ideas as to why ?This is my first time booking on Asiamiles, I usually redeem with Krisflyer but had just calculated the flight to PVG ex SYD and I get 5.1cents per point with asiamiles whereas I only receive 3.6cents per point with SQ.
  • I am starting to think I should have just transferred it over to SQ...
 
The miles required will be something like 120k due to the connecting flight, might be better to book the syd-hkg first then pay cash for the pvg flights.
 
Yes what yohy said above is correct.

The asia miles booking system on the first page will tell you that you require 80k for but the actual miles required is 120k. This is because the first page on the booking system measures the distance between the 2 airports as being direct (i.e. SYD-PVG which is ~4800 miles). This makes it fall under the 5000 miles and hence thinks it's 80,000 miles to redeem but when you try and book the flights, it'll route you via HKG and SYD-HKG-PVG comes to 5300, which is just over that 5000 miles limit. Hence it prices it into the next tier up, which is 120k miles to redeem.

If you can find a flight directly from SYD-PVG (which won't be on CX obviously), you should be able to book this with 80k. Otherwise you'll need to end it at SYD-HKG as suggested.
 
Thank you guys for that. I had no idea there was another 40k miles on top which makes CX miles worth less than SQ. Kinda regret transferring miles to asiamiles now..

edit:: kinda hate asiamiles for doing that though. Initially when checking how many miles by making a dummy booking, you can't get to that second part without having miles in the account.

Lesson learned!!
 
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Sq would be 123k miles and a higher amount in taxes and surcharges...agree the asia miles site is misleading :(

Looks like you could get 2 Y return tickets Hkg-Pvg on top of the 3 J tickets and then pay cash for the third.
 
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Sq would be 123k miles and a higher amount in taxes and surcharges...agree the asia miles site is misleading :(

Looks like you could get 2 Y return tickets Hkg-Pvg on top of the 3 J tickets and then pay cash for the third.

Sorry I based my calculations on the cash value of purchasing the SQ ticket vs redeeming the same flight with points.. for example the flight i was looking at including taxes is $5259.63AUD for SQ. Redeeming it would cost $820.63AUD in taxes and 123250 miles making each mile worth around 3.6 cents

Same method of calculating cathay J class is including taxes AUD$4073.30. Redeeming it would be 120k miles $211.83AUD in taxes making each asiamile worth 3.39 cents.

I guess i shouldn't calculate it this way..
 
Just a heads-up that cash tickets HKG-PVG (or anywhere in China) can be very expensive on CX/KA - do the research first before buying any connecting tickets to HKG. Avios is one of the better options for the route.

With the current huge delays into/out of China from HKG, I'd be reluctant to purchase separate tickets unless over-nighting in HKG.
 
MEL and others - I have virtually zero pts in AM so cannot price this - 2 X o/w rdpt CX F LAX-HKG then J HKG-MEL - any chance some good soul can price this out for me? TIA
 
MEL and others - I have virtually zero pts in AM so cannot price this - 2 X o/w rdpt CX F LAX-HKG then J HKG-MEL - any chance some good soul can price this out for me? TIA

I don't have any experience... but the award chart is here: https://www.asiamiles.com/am/en/redeem/charts

One way LAX-HKG F would be 105K, and separate ticket one way HKG-MEL J would be 45K, so total 150K?

(If they want to price it as a single through ticket, with highest class applicable, it would be 160K, but that seems counter intuitive)
 
LAX-HKG 105,000 Asia Miles per person One Way (or 180,000 return)
HKG-MEL 45,000 Asia Miles per person One Way (or 80,000 return)
 
Thanks MEL and vantage - booked as seperate awards lounge access in HKG would be J?

When I searched I can get to here which shows availability F & J on day I selected:

image.jpg

But it with no points I can get no further to see how it prices - guess I'll just call AM morrow and check full details.
 
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Thanks MEL and vantage - booked as seperate awards lounge access in HKG would be J?

When I searched I can get to here which shows availability F & J on day I selected:

View attachment 58271

But it with no points I can get no further to see how it prices - guess I'll just call AM morrow and check full details.

Pricing as a single award (10,001+ miles) would be more expensive. Cheaper to buy two separate awards.

Arriving CX F and connecting to CX J will give you F lounge access in Hong Kong even if booked as separate awards. They will through check you for both flights, and in the event the lounge invite shows only business class, just show your inbound F boarding pass.

(CX F->CX J is a separate rule outside normal OW lounge access for connecting services which only applies for long-haul to short-haul)
 
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5 hour layover in HKG isn't ideal. If it were 6 hours I'd say to head into town for dinner!
 
5 hour layover in HKG isn't ideal. If it were 6 hours I'd say to head into town for dinner!

It's a tricky time. You'd have to allow 1 hour each way to town and back (immigration+train), and an hour before departure... so just two hours in town.

I'd be off to the cabana and a nice meal in either the Wing, or the new Pier (better than the wing, but no cabanas :()
 
Cruiser, if you don't have HKG eChannel access, it's so worthwhile getting even only for infrequent visitors.

Use your time to go through immigration, use your SQ frequent flyer card to get access to eChannel, then head back airside to the lounge.
 
OK here is the deal:

CX F LAX-MEL - 160K AM + HK$629 (Single booking LAX-HKG F / HKG-MEL J)
CX F LAX-HKG then CX J HKG-MEL 150K AM + HK$491 (2 separate bookings)

Upshot: Booked SQ R / F instead - as much as I wanted to try CX F the deciding factor was conversion rate Cit Rewards Points - CX .5:1 / SQ .66:1.
 
OK here is the deal:

CX F LAX-MEL - 160K AM + HK$629 (Single booking LAX-HKG F / HKG-MEL J)
CX F LAX-HKG then CX J HKG-MEL 150K AM + HK$491 (2 separate bookings)

Upshot: Booked SQ R / F instead - as much as I wanted to try CX F the deciding factor was conversion rate Cit Rewards Points - CX .5:1 / SQ .66:1.

SQ seems a better option, CX F isn't better.

Thanks for confirming the points required for CX. Given CX will protect its own connections (even on separate tickets), the two awards rather than one makes sense.
 
Is there a way to check taxes on Asia Miles award bookings if there are no miles in account?

BKK-SYD return in economy on QF would require 45,000 miles. Are the taxes and surcharges similar to what QF would charge?
 
Is there a way to check taxes on Asia Miles award bookings if there are no miles in account?

BKK-SYD return in economy on QF would require 45,000 miles. Are the taxes and surcharges similar to what QF would charge?

I picked a random date in August for a round-trip BKK-SYD.

The QF flight (non-stop) is 45K aisam miles (for the round-trip) and HKD2778 in fees and charges (~AUD478).

CX also offers flights via HKG, cost is the same at 45K miles but with fees and charges of HKD900 (~AUD155).

Connecting time in HKG from 2 to 4 hours depending on the flights you want to choose.

(To answer your question - I logged in to Asia miles, dunno if you can do it without logging in)
 
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