PER - YVR USDM xmas/Jan 2016 assistance please

[Glider_]

Hello brains trust,

I'm on the lookout for 2x J or F (or mixed) seats from Perth to Vancouver in the Christmas/January period next year to book before USDM merged with AA.

I've done many hours of research over the past few months using the Qantas website and found several options early on but every time I rang USDM they'd reject citing it was too early to book or they couldn't see the seats I could see. Now that I'm still looking I'm finding availability very thin on the ground for CX and routes I can find on EK will likely exceed MPM. I'm now being a blundering fool with my first go at KVS, so I hope that someone can give me a bit of a hand.

Can you help?


Specifically, PER - YVR return using USDM points, in J or F or mix of J&F. I'd love to try F if at all possible.
Ideal dates are Dec 19 - Jan 2 2016. I'm sure these are also ideal for everyone else on the planet, so I'm flexible to depart anytime after Dec 19 and return before Feb 5th, and stay in YVR between 1-2 weeks.


Thanks for your time

 

[Craigie]

It depends on the airlines you want to fly as well. I had a bit of a go. The best availability is of course Malaysian Airlines PER-KUL-LHR then BA LHR-YVR... There is Qatar availability out of and back to Perth. I almost had 6th Jan to 20th.. It might work....?

 

[Glider_]

Thanks Craigie. MrGlider isn't happy with MH so that's a door closed unfortunately.

I had wondered if going PER-YVR via the gulf/europe would well exceed MPM? And I read a thread somewhere about gulf carriers (I think it was Emirates) not allowing lounge access on partner award tickets?

 

[Craigie]

I meant to address that. You can't redeem on EK with USDM points. Only Qatar, and if MH is out then at this stage I think Qatar is it.

Going via Europe doesn't exceed MPM. MPM should be 14,700ish and both PER-KUL-LHR-YVR and PER-DOH-LHR-YVR fall under that by about 800 miles.

 

[Glider_]

Thanks again. Is there a simple way other than the Qantas website to find Qatar award seats available to partners?

 

[Craigie]

I find other than a Qatar membership it's the Avios search where I find them. You probably don't want to do this but an agent will sometimes take the time to do a whole lot of searching for you as well.
I will have another go finding Qatar/BA availability when I get home.

 

[Glider_]

Much appreciated. I'll look into Avios and Qatar membership when I get home too. Via the Qantas website I was finding the odd CX YVR-HKG-PER homeward leg in there, just nothing outbound. I hadn't considered going via the gulf but Qatar/BA combo sounds good, and if necessary a day or two stopover in LHR would be fine too.

 

[Craigie]

For 2 people?

 

[Limewood]

Possibly go on CX but into say LAX, SFO or ORD for instance.

or via NRT?.

 

[Glider_]

Craigie: yes, 2 pax please. F preferred if possible anywhere, but J fine.

Limewood: I like CX, the main issue with them seems to be the ex-PER sector.

 

[Craigie]

12/1/16 - QR901 PER-DOH J
13/1/16 - QR701 DOH-JFK J
13/1/16 - CX889 JFK-YVR J

24/1/16 - BA084 YVR-LHR F
(Overnight in london(less than 24hr))
26/1/16 - QR006 or 010 LHR-DOH F
27/1/16 - QR900 DOH-PER J


There are options.. You may find MPM issues with JFK.. But it's so close.

Found these flights with Avios and Qantas websites so obviously I can't absolutely confirm availability.

 

[Craigie]

11/1/16 - CX136 PER-HKG J
12/1/16 - CX830 HKG-JFK J
12/1/16 - CX889 JFK-YVR J

2 things I'd be worried about with this route is the large back track so you'd just hope the agent doesn't know which way they fly HKG-JFK.. I've heard it's been done before though.

And the CX availability because that's been weird lately

Hopefully this has given you some things to consider. Sounds to me like you might need to spend some time on the phone to USDM ... Painful I know, but worth it

 

[Craigie]

The other option I've just thought is to fly PER-HKG-NRT-YVR on CX and JAL
There seems to be heaps of availability NRT-YVR in January..

 

[jgm]

We had PER-HKG-JFK-YVR withCX in J & return the same way this year, but changed the outbound to PER-SYD-YVR when availability opened on QF. I found the CX flights on KVS using the JL method, and QF using the OneWorld method. We couldn't come back with QF, as we were returning in Feb, & QF only fly SYD-YVR in Jan, & there is hardly ever availability with them on any of the US flights. CX do fly YVR-HKG direct, but I couldn't find availability so that's why we had JFK in there.

 

[Limewood]

Try PER/HNL/YVR or SEA or SFO

OZ to HNL is usually good return in J

or possibly Award Booking Service no find no pay.

 

[Glider_]

Still no luck.

I was trying to avoid JFK in the middle of winter because of the major disruptions due to snowstorms that have happened over the past two years. But that may be the only option left (if at all). Limewood I looked on the QF website for OZ to HNL but it would only give me Jetstar results.

I found PER-SYD-NRT-YVR on the 12th Jan via QF and JL, but the SYD-NRT leg has since dissapeared from yesterday to today. The biggest problem was finding a way to get back, I'd tried via MEL, SYD, BNE, HKG, NRT, LAX, SFO and DFW with no luck. I also tried LHR and DOH via Award Nexus but couldn't find the J availability you did Craigie.

I did find a beautiful PER-HKG-YVR return leaving 17th Jan 2016 and returning 27 Jan 2016, but it's showing CX aviliability on the QF website and not via the BA or CX search methods on Award Nexus so I'm 80% sure it's phantom.

Any last ideas?

 

[Craigie]

As it is so late in the game (I think anatol was throwing around 3pm Brisbane time today), your ONLY hope is to get on the phone, get your nicest personality/voice on and get them to search dates for you. It seems as far as availability goes, we tend to use all the tools to get options but ultimately USDM still have a small chance of not seeing them.

I would be on the phone and coaching the agent through it, different ports, different dates and see if they can see anything. If they are slow and annoyed, consider HUACA.

 

[Glider_]

Yeah I spent another 3 hours yesterday afternoon searching and found two possible routes, the probably-phantom CX PER-HKG-YVR return, and then finally I thought I'd cracked the nut with a JL PER-SYD-NRT-YVR then using the AA search tool found SEA-HNL-BNE-PER on HA and QF. Rang USDM and got through right away, but unfortunately as suspected the CX was phantom, and although HA is an AA partner they're not a USDM partner or oneworld so that was no go. Devestated! I could find a way back from HNL on FJ, but I couldn't find a way to get to HNL from YVR or SEA.

The agent was pretty good, she did a bunch of searching for me for several sets of dates, but it seems like there just aren't a set of oneworld seats left anywhere for around where and when I want to go. I reckon if I counted up each date, airline and route search I've done it would be well over 500 individual searches, plus what the agent did for me, so I think that the well is dry and time has run out so it's time to let it go.

Thanks for your efforts all, especially Craigie. Very much appreciated.

 

[Craigie]

I'm sincerely sorry you weren't able to find something. It's really disappointing, I know.

 

[support]

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