Questions and Answers

Wondering if I can get suggestions for the best (comfort, time, reasonable taxes & usage of points) way to go from Seattle (Vancouver as second choice) to Dublin, Ireland, using points? Business class lie flat if possible? Thanks!

Have lots of Chase UR, 130k Amex points, 60k SPG, 40k Alaska. Ideally would rather use UR over the others but open to ideas.

You can transfer Chase UR points to United, connecting in either ORD, IAD or EWR. 57.5k points each way on United metal, or 70k each way if you fly on Lufthansa, connecting in Frankfurt.

You can also transfer miles to Korean Air to book, if you find award space on Delta. 80k round trip. I’m not sure what KE’s policy is on mixed partner awards but if they allow it, you can potentially use Alaska, Air France or KLM as well.

[QUOTE=”David W, post: 24928, member: 29″]You can transfer Chase UR points to United, connecting in either ORD, IAD or EWR. 57.5k points each way on United metal, or 70k each way if you fly on Lufthansa, connecting in Frankfurt.

You can also transfer miles to Korean Air to book, if you find award space on Delta. 80k round trip. I’m not sure what KE’s policy is on mixed partner awards but if they allow it, you can potentially use Alaska, Air France or KLM as well.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=”David W, post: 24928, member: 29″]You can transfer Chase UR points to United, connecting in either ORD, IAD or EWR. 57.5k points each way on United metal, or 70k each way if you fly on Lufthansa, connecting in Frankfurt.

You can also transfer miles to Korean Air to book, if you find award space on Delta. 80k round trip. I’m not sure what KE’s policy is on mixed partner awards but if they allow it, you can potentially use Alaska, Air France or KLM as well.[/QUOTE]

Thanks David W! And these point quotes are all for Business class correct? Are the seats going to be pretty much similar on all these choices? Do you know how the taxes compare between them?

Are you familiar with Aeroplan if I were to leave from Vancouver? Thanks!

Yes, business class. Seats are different depending on the airline and the aircraft and there are some pretty big differences.

If you book a UA award, they dont pass on fuel surcharges. I wouldnt expect to be paying very much on taxes and fees. If you book a KE award though, they pass on some charges so expect to pay a bit more.

With Aeroplan. select airlines have high fuel surcharges while others are pretty low. If you use Amex to transfer to Aeroplan, any Star Alliance airline can be booked, if awards are available. However, out of Seattle (or Vancouver), there are limited Star Alliance options to Europe – Only Lufthansa, Air Canada or United offer one stop options.

[QUOTE=”MMM, post: 24931, member: 1977″]Thanks David W! And these point quotes are all for Business class correct? Are the seats going to be pretty much similar on all these choices? Do you know how the taxes compare between them?

Are you familiar with Aeroplan if I were to leave from Vancouver? Thanks![/QUOTE]

Actually, not sure I how I can use Aeroplan for my situation. Don’t think Chase UR can be transferred over there.

You can transfer Amex MR points there

[QUOTE=”David W, post: 24928, member: 29″]You can transfer Chase UR points to United, connecting in either ORD, IAD or EWR. 57.5k points each way on United metal, or 70k each way if you fly on Lufthansa, connecting in Frankfurt.

You can also transfer miles to Korean Air to book, if you find award space on Delta. 80k round trip. I’m not sure what KE’s policy is on mixed partner awards but if they allow it, you can potentially use Alaska, Air France or KLM as well.[/QUOTE]

Never booked award flights for United or Delta. I can’t seem to find the 57.5k seats on United or the 40k seats for Delta? Am i searching correctly? I typed in Sea to Dub and saw only the 70k Lufthansa flights you were talking about but nothing for Biz Saver on United metal? Or am I suppose to type one leg at a time? Same thing for Delta…only found seats for ridiculous amounts of points. Sorry, new to this. Thanks!

It could very well be that United and Delta both don’t have any saver level award seats on their own metal. Searching segment by segment may help, it’s worth trying

You may find saver space on UA metal between IAD/EWR/ORD and Dublin in business class but not on the domestic leg between SEA/YVR and IAD/EWR/SFO. There might be saver economy space on the domestic leg. Call UA to have them piece it together. And call again if a domestic first class seat becomes available so that they can change your cabin class.

[QUOTE=”David W, post: 24938, member: 29″]You may find saver space on UA metal between IAD/EWR/ORD and Dublin in business class but not on the domestic leg between SEA/YVR and IAD/EWR/SFO. There might be saver economy space on the domestic leg. Call UA to have them piece it together. And call again if a domestic first class seat becomes available so that they can change your cabin class.[/QUOTE]

So piecing together separate legs will still require the same amount of total points provided I can find saver levels for all the legs? Thanks!

Correct, all three major US programs are zone/regions based so if you the ticket basically prices depending on your starting and ending region.

[QUOTE=”David W, post: 24938, member: 29″]You may find saver space on UA metal between IAD/EWR/ORD and Dublin in business class but not on the domestic leg between SEA/YVR and IAD/EWR/SFO. There might be saver economy space on the domestic leg. Call UA to have them piece it together. And call again if a domestic first class seat becomes available so that they can change your cabin class.[/QUOTE]
What about Aer Lingus. Awhile back I heard there was a nice sweet spot to use Avios for Boston to Dublin for business class seats. Is that still an option? Doesn’t seem to be talked about nowadays. Since there’s no direct non stop from Sea to Dublin anyway, I’ll have to make a stop somewhere. Thought Lufthansa was an option even if it used more points but it looks like 747-400 planes are old seats, so not even sure they are lie flat. Thanks for all your help!

Yes you can use BA Avios for Aer Lingus if you find award space.
I believe ALL of LH’s 744s have been retrofitted with their latest lie flat business class product, premium economy and economy. If you go this option, I highly recommend sitting in the upper deck or nose section business class cabins.

[QUOTE=”David W, post: 24958, member: 29″]Yes you can use BA Avios for Aer Lingus if you find award space.
I believe ALL of LH’s 744s have been retrofitted with their latest lie flat business class product, premium economy and economy. If you go this option, I highly recommend sitting in the upper deck or nose section business class cabins.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for all the info. I’m honestly feeling flustered with the all the possibilities. Having said that, I’m curious what you would do in my situation taking all we talked have into account? Seems like if I did Aer lingus, United or Delta, the Sea to my gateway city will most likely be a domestic seat, then have another 5-6 hrs to Dublin, which also isn’t much time to sleep. Lufthansa uses more points but takes me over to Europe directly in newer seats, albeit on a longer flight.

Well if paid economy is cheap I’d probably go with that. Otherwise, I’d rather redeem for Lufthansa so that it’s a long international flight and a short connecting one instead of two medium haul flights. If using Aeroplan, I’d try to get Lufthansa First since I’d be paying high taxes anyway.

[QUOTE=”David W, post: 24961, member: 29″]Well if paid economy is cheap I’d probably go with that. Otherwise, I’d rather redeem for Lufthansa so that it’s a long international flight and a short connecting one instead of two medium haul flights. If using Aeroplan, I’d try to get Lufthansa First since I’d be paying high taxes anyway.[/QUOTE]
Haha, I would love to take Lufthansa first as well! How many aeroplans points are we looking at? But do they release that in advance to partners? And 747 flights out of Sea have first class?

Aeroplan charges 55k for Business or 70k for First class one way for US/Canada to Europe 1, which is the region that Aeroplan grouped Ireland under.

If LH is using a 747-400 on the route, there is no First Class. The LH 747 that has a First Class cabin is the 747-8I

Using Aeroplan to book LH SEA-FRA-DUB in Business class is 55k miles plus $490USD in taxes and fees. Using United miles to book the same ticket is 70k UA miles plus $113 in taxes and fees