Honeymoon Advice - Sydney to New York

[Matt Brown]

Hi,

I’m completely new to this game and am looking for some help/advice for my upcoming honeymoon.

In June 19 we plan to travel to New York from Sydney for 10 days. We’re not hugely flexible on dates as we have a family member looking after our son (amazingly genorous) who would prefer if we travel at the start or end of June.

We’ve only accumulate 250k velocity points, and very little status, so I believe we have two options based on the availability I can find:
- fly to LAX on virgin economy reward seats and then pay from LAX to NYC
- bite the bullet and pay for business class to NYC (not ideal but it would be a great surprise for the fiancé!)

Does anyone know of any cheap business class deals to NYC? I see Qantas has some offers earlier in FY19 which, while we’ll have to change our plans, are all I can find at this stage. Is it worth holding out for a sale?

Completely open to suggestion here and hope I haven’t gone completely off piest for this forum.

And thanks for being such a great resource!

Matt

 

[rock86]

Hi,

I’m completely new to this game and am looking for some help/advice for my upcoming honeymoon.

In June 19 we plan to travel to New York from Sydney for 10 days. We’re not hugely flexible on dates as we have a family member looking after our son (amazingly genorous) who would prefer if we travel at the start or end of June.

We’ve only accumulate 250k velocity points, and very little status, so I believe we have two options based on the availability I can find:
- fly to LAX on virgin economy reward seats and then pay from LAX to NYC
- bite the bullet and pay for business class to NYC (not ideal but it would be a great surprise for the fiancé!)

Does anyone know of any cheap business class deals to NYC? I see Qantas has some offers earlier in FY19 which, while we’ll have to change our plans, are all I can find at this stage. Is it worth holding out for a sale?

Completely open to suggestion here and hope I haven’t gone completely off piest for this forum.

And thanks for being such a great resource!

Matt

I'm not across Velocity much, but it looks like you could get SQ business awards from/to NYC for 139,000 points - so you'd need another ~30,000 points which shouldn't be difficult to obtain. And from what I've read, the new SIN-JFK direct flights has some pretty good J availability.

For the paid sector, I always see that China Airlines & Philippines Airlines have constant sales for cheap business class tickets which are a lot less then fares published by QF, but some people shy away from those airlines (I'm not one).

 

[Quickstatus]

Welcome MB!! And congratulations!!

Depending on your budget, Finnair (AY) does business Round the world for $5.8k per person And mid June is ideal for Finnair specials

You can go either east or westerly direction
Of course if you travelled in easterly direction you get the US 2x32 pc luggage allowance for the entire RTW I believe

There is the very valid view: fly cheap splurge at the other end
And then the old chestnut of the 6 ribbons song (Jon English)

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome to AFF MB .

To open up a whole new world for you, have you heard about buying miles through airlines such as Avianca or Alaskan? Basically you can buy enough miles/points for cash on the credit card and then use them for award flights on a whole range of airlines - any Star Alliance airline in the case of Avianca or a range of airlines, in the case of Alaskan, and it costs about half the cost of buying a J ticket! Don't put the obscurity of the airlines put you off - these are widespread strategies done by many here. Its one of the great tips you get from AFF. BUT two things about this. 1) the best value of these are when they offer bonuses - and they only come along now and then and 2) then there has to be an award seat available when you want it. if this is a possible strategy for you, ask here again.

Other than that:
Remembering that June is peak season in USA, any points seats might be hard to come by, especially if you aren't that flexible on dates. But using rock86's figures, you might want to see if there is a credit card sign-up where you can harvest the points shortfall pretty easily. if you aren't aware of those, come back and ask. But they usually take 2-3 months for the bonus points to post after you have achieved the minimum spend. So you'd be looking to book in Nov-Dec which might be a bit late.

@rock86 are your SQ figures before or after the discount on SQ miles when you convert from velocity?

As for cheap J to NYC. Finnair J is good - go to their web site and sign up to be advised about sales and deals.

Also look at the gulf carriers - Qatar (oneWorld member), Emirates or Etihad - and see if you can go west, via their Gulf hubs and then direct onto NYC. Longer, but they can be priced well and the product is pretty good. I recommend Qatar especially, and their new business QSuites.

Alternatives for going across the Pacific - Fiji Airways via Suva and onto LAX is usually suggested, then I'm not sure if there is a tie-up with AA onto NYC you could use.

 

[Matt Brown]

Thanks @rock86 !

Is the idea convert the 250K to Kris flyer (~185K) and book SQ flights @ 139K one way? Securing 1 return business flight (with a few more points) and buying the other? Sorry if I've got that all backwards.

Also, when I search SQ I'm only seeing business saver @ 239K 1 way, is there a trick here?

@Quickstatus thank you for the well wishes! The Finnair sounds like a good option, I'm looking into this now.

I'll keep you both posted! (a little excited here

 

[rock86]

Welcome to AFF MB .

To open up a whole new world for you, have you heard about buying miles through airlines such as Avianca or Alaskan? Basically you can buy enough miles/points for cash on the credit card and then use them for award flights on a whole range of airlines - any Star Alliance airline in the case of Avianca or a range of airlines, in the case of Alaskan, and it costs about half the cost of buying a J ticket! Don't put the obscurity of the airlines put you off - these are widespread strategies done by many here. Its one of the great tips you get from AFF. BUT two things about this. 1) the best value of these are when they offer bonuses - and they only come along now and then and 2) then there has to be an award seat available when you want it. if this is a possible strategy for you, ask here again.

Other than that:
Remembering that June is peak season in USA, any points seats might be hard to come by, especially if you aren't that flexible on dates. But using rock86's figures, you might want to see if there is a credit card sign-up where you can harvest the points shortfall pretty easily. if you aren't aware of those, come back and ask. But they usually take 2-3 months for the bonus points to post after you have achieved the minimum spend. So you'd be looking to book in Nov-Dec which might be a bit late.

@rock86 are your SQ figures before or after the discount on SQ miles when you convert from velocity?

As for cheap J to NYC. Finnair J is good - go to their web site and sign up to be advised about sales and deals.

Also look at the gulf carriers - Qatar (oneWorld member), Emirates or Etihad - and see if you can go west, via their Gulf hubs and then direct onto NYC. Longer, but they can be priced well and the product is pretty good. I recommend Qatar especially, and their new business QSuites.

Alternatives for going across the Pacific - Fiji Airways via Suva and onto LAX is usually suggested, then I'm not sure if there is a tie-up with AA onto NYC you could use.

I didn't even think about the conversion to Krisflyer I purely just looked at VA partner award chart and whether you could get a seat on SQ through VA partner redemption, so as @RooFlyer has pointed out with it being school holidays it may be very hard to find a seat.

Also as Rooflyer pointed out keep the Gulf carriers in mind, which usually have cheap fares flying out of Asia ports. You will need a positioning flight, but a lot of the times it still works out a whole lot cheaper then travelling from Aus all the way in J (or you may be able to use your Velocity points for ).

And buying miles is another great option which has pointed out above also.

 

[Matt Brown]

@RooFlyer mind blown. Purchasing points through Avianca or Alaskan definitely sounds like its worth a review... I'll jump on that now.

Re the cards I secured 120K of the 250K points with a velocity virgin money CC, however then was rejected by Westpac card. I've looked at my credit score and it has plummeted to ~280. Any advice on rectifying that score? I have a high salary and 1 settled default back from 2015 (I moved home and they couldn't contact me about an old gas bill.... grrrr). I'm keen to get back into the game, picking up as many cards as possible, but am nervous about adding to my credit woes.

 

[RooFlyer]

@RooFlyer mind blown. Purchasing points through Avianca or Alaskan definitely sounds like its worth a review... I'll jump on that now.

Re the cards I secured 120K of the 250K points with a velocity virgin money CC, however then was rejected by Westpac card. I've looked at my credit score and it has plummeted to ~280. Any advice on rectifying that score? I have a high salary and 1 settled default back from 2015 (I moved home and they couldn't contact me about an old gas bill.... grrrr). I'm keen to get back into the game, picking up as many cards as possible, but am nervous about adding to my credit woes.

There are threads on Avianca and Alaskan. I've done Alaskan a lot and am just starting Avianca. Some old Avianca hands hold out for the max bonus, but if the cost of the miles you need is OK from whatever you can get now, I wouldn't wait. Just be aware that for Alaskan, the availability of CX flights seems to have dried up recently, but for them, a redemption on AA would be your best bet - but note Fiji is in there . Both of those i think you redeem on-line, so you could check availability (for CX you have to call up and book). I think for either Alaskan or Avianca you have to be a member of their FF program for about 10 days before you can buy.

rock86 mentions a positioning flight - which is another option for either an award or a paid J seat. Airfares out of Australia are expensive. Look at the costs of buying or redeeming points for round-trip seats to New York out of Hong Kong or Singapore, or even Bangkok. Then, as rock86 says, use your velocity points to get to the 'departure' port and back. Just make sure you have a wide connection, to allow for possible delays, as with separate tickets you have no 'protection' if your inbound is late and you miss the outbound. Its a honeymoon - spend a fancy night in one of those cities each way

No idea on credit core, sorry. Put that one over to either the relevant card thread or maybe better your questions thread.

 

[rock86]

There are threads on Avianca and Alaskan. I've done Alaskan a lot and am just starting Avianca. Some old Avianca hands hold out for the max bonus, but if the cost of the miles you need is OK from whatever you can get now, I wouldn't wait. Just be aware that for Alaskan, the availability of CX flights seems to have dried up recently, but for them, a redemption on AA would be your best bet - but note Fiji is in there . Both of those i think you redeem on-line, so you could check availability (for CX you have to call up and book). I think for either Alaskan or Avianca you have to be a member of their FF program for about 10 days before you can buy.

rock86 mentions a positioning flight - which is another option for either an award or a paid J seat. Airfares out of Australia are expensive. Look at the costs of buying or redeeming points for round-trip seats to New York out of Hong Kong or Singapore, or even Bangkok. Then, as rock86 says, use your velocity points to get to the 'departure' port and back. Just make sure you have a wide connection, to allow for possible delays, as with separate tickets you have no 'protection' if your inbound is late and you miss the outbound. Its a honeymoon - spend a fancy night in one of those cities each way

No idea on credit core, sorry. Put that one over to either the relevant card thread or maybe better your questions thread.

I haven't been in the points game long either @Matt Brown, so even if what @RooFlyer seems foreign to you it doesn't take long to learn if you put the effort in - and the benefits are certainly worth it!!

 

[Mattg]

You’re not far off having enough points to fly VA premium economy to/from LAX. You’d then just have to pay for LAX-JFK.

But as others have said, buying Alaska Airlines miles could be a good option if you want business class. You can redeem Alaskan miles to fly Korean Air and availabilty is good. (You can also use Alaskan miles to fly Qantas and Amercian Airlines but availability is not so good.) And Alaskan has a sale on at the moment, although it may only be available to existing Mileage Plan members.

 

[rock86]

You’re not far off having enough points to fly VA premium economy to/from LAX. You’d then just have to pay for LAX-JFK.

But as others have said, buying Alaska Airlines miles could be a good option if you want business class. You can redeem Alaskan miles to fly Korean Air and availabilty is good. (You can also use Alaskan miles to fly Qantas and Amercian Airlines but availability is not so good.) And Alaskan has a sale on at the moment, although it may only be available to existing Mileage Plan members.

Alaska accounts need to be at least 10 days old I'm pretty sure before purchasing miles, so still a bit of time left for the current offer.

Korean Air is a great option as @Mattg pointed out.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Qantas currently has a Fly Away Sale on eg Sydney/Honolulu return in Business Class is AUD2,600.00 pp incl taxes. The random dates I selected were Wed 19 Jun SYD/HNL QF3 1915/0900 returning Sat 29 Jun HNL/SYD QF4 1030/1710+1.

You could then use your VA Velocity points to redeem on Hawaiian in Business Class Honolulu/New York return. You just need to call VA for HA availability as it's not available or bookable on the VA website.

At least you won't lose 33% of your Velocity miles if transferring them to SQ's Kris Flyer program.

We're off to NYC in two days so I can give you some tips when we get back!

 

[Mattg]

Qantas currently has a Fly Away Sale on eg Sydney/Honolulu return in Business Class is AUD2,600.00 pp incl taxes. The random dates I selected were Wed 19 Jun SYD/HNL QF3 1915/0900 returning Sat 29 Jun HNL/SYD QF4 1030/1710+1.

You could then use your VA Velocity points to redeem on Hawaiian in Business Class Honolulu/New York return. You just need to call VA for HA availability as it's not available or bookable on the VA website.

At least you won't lose 33% of your Velocity miles if transferring them to SQ's Kris Flyer program.

We're off to NYC in two days so I can give you some tips when we get back!

Good thinking but FWIW it’s not that easy to find HNL-JFK award availability. More likely to find something with a stop on the west coast with a connection on DL.

 

[Matt Brown]

Hi All,

I just wanted to round back and thank everyone for their advice. I ended up asking Matt from the Award Flight Assist team to help me through the many options!

We ended up using our point on the return leg, flying Singapore Airlines Business on a A380 NY to Singapore via Frankfurt, two day stop over and then home BC on a 777 .

We debated many options for the flight over an ultimately went with a a cheap economy flight via Hawaii. We've extended our trip to allow for a couple of nights there as well.

Pumped.

Thanks again all!
Matt

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Glad you've got it sorted. Don't forget to pre-allocate your seating on all the flights so you can cherry pick the best ones.

What dates are you in each city? I'll go through my previous trips to HNL & NYC for some ideas. Have you booked your hotel in NYC yet?

 

[Matt Brown]

That would be amazing!

We’re yet to book a hotel, we’ve been chatting about a boutique hotel experience but completely open to any suggestion!

Our dates are:

• 1-4 sep in Honolulu
• 5-11 sep in NYC
• 12-14 sep in Singapore

Cheers!
Matt

 

[Quickstatus]

Next time I go I will avoid:
times Square
marina bay sands

 

[get me outta here]

In NYC it doesn’t matter much where you stay as you’ll be going to various places that will require a subway or taxi ride. I agree, Times Square is not somewhere to stay, maybe just walk through it once is more than enough. It is just a mess of cheek by jowl tourists.

Think about which shows you’d like to see, and maybe book a hotel a 10 - 15 mins walk from the theatres. I stay near Bryant Park. On TripAdvisor there are destination hotel experts. If you go to the TA New York forum and ask for recommendations giving them your specific dates, needs and budget in USD they will make good recommendations. New York City Forum, Travel Discussion for New York City, New York - TripAdvisor

 

[get me outta here]

There’s a good thread here on things to do in NY. Answered - New York New York [Any "less mainstream" experiences?]

 

[get me outta here]

Maybe have a look at this to see if it suits you : THE BRYANT PARK HOTEL: 2019 Prices & Reviews (New York City) - Photos of Hotel - TripAdvisor