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Alaska Air miles reward to Brisbane, Australia?
I have been saving AK miles for years trying to secure business or first class awards to BNE.
I usually end up buying a seat and hoping I can get an upgrade to business from premium economy. Any ideas on what I can do differently?
I almost had business through ICN but the tickets were gone before I could make the purchase. I had a routing through HKG but the dates were not quite right.
I just started looking in earnest today. How long can I wait and keep looking before I need to lock in something to be sure I have reservations? My time in Australia is between 09/01/2017 and departing 09/17/2017. I am flexible before and after those dates.
Thanks.
As you’ve found, premium cabin award space to Australia is extremely difficult to come by. The only thing I know to tell you to do is to keep monitoring space every day until you find what you want. However with less than 5 months to go I don’t know how much more space will be made available. When I was looking for space a few years ago I was searching right as the Qantas schedule opened up so I could jump on the ticket using Avios. A friend who was using AA miles had to wait a little later and maybe 2-3 months later Qantas made some business class seats available on a different flight. But both of those time frames are further out than yours is.
Since you’re using AS miles, hopefully being able to route via Asia will offer more choices. If you can set alerts in Expert Flyer that will help. But persistence is the key.
Adding to my post; how crazy would it be to use miles on Emirates? I have plenty of AK miles. If I do, what are the logistics when transiting through a country if there is an over night layover? Thanks.
[QUOTE=”MidSouth Skier, post: 29603, member: 184″]As you’ve found, premium cabin award space to Australia is extremely difficult to come by. The only thing I know to tell you to do is to keep monitoring space every day until you find what you want. However with less than 5 months to go I don’t know how much more space will be made available. When I was looking for space a few years ago I was searching right as the Qantas schedule opened up so I could jump on the ticket using Avios. A friend who was using AA miles had to wait a little later and maybe 2-3 months later Qantas made some business class seats available on a different flight. But both of those time frames are further out than yours is.
Since you’re using AS miles, hopefully being able to route via Asia will offer more choices. If you can set alerts in Expert Flyer that will help. But persistence is the key.[/QUOTE]
Yes, I just signed up for Expert Flyer, thanks for that suggestion.
I will keep at it and see how it goes.
[QUOTE=”AK Traveler, post: 29608, member: 697″]Adding to my post; how crazy would it be to use miles on Emirates? I have plenty of AK miles. If I do, what are the logistics when transiting through a country if there is an over night layover? Thanks.[/QUOTE]
Well, AS charges a ton of miles for travel on Emirates but if you’re happy with it, go for it. Overnight layovers are fine and you shouldn’t have any issues. You might need to collect your bag and recheck it in the morning though they may also keep your bag overnight. I flew LGW-DXB-JFK and had an overnight layover in Dubai. I booked a night at the Hyatt Regency
I did book the EK reward and got F on all international segments. May be the only time I ever do this, but I’m signed up. I think I will just stay at the hotel in the airport, since it is a short layover. Now I have to work on the return flight.
Thanks.
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