Questions and Answers

My husband and I are planning to take a trip to Bali in September. We currently have 245,000 American airline miles and also three free nights at a Ritz Carlton and two free nights at Hyatt. We are hoping to maximize our experience in Bali and would love advice on getting there and where we should stay. We are hoping to be there for two weeks. Would you fly Qatar or Cathay? And how do you go about booking it? Thanks so much for all your help!! Happy holidays

hi Amanda, welcome! I’ve never been to Bali personally but there are a few resources here to get you started.

AA routing rules: [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/06/08/american-aadvantage-award-routing-rules/[/URL]
AA mileage requirements (Bali would fall under Asia 2): [URL]https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-program/miles/redeem/award-travel/oneworld-and-other-airline-partner-award-chart.jsp[/URL]

You’re a little short on miles for two business class tickets so I’d check to see if you can top up your miles either via cc sign up, SPG transfer or a mileage purchase.

CX and QR both have very good J products. Ben rates QR as his favorite J product overall and I think CX is solid overall so you can’t go wrong. I’d focus on what is available for your dates. You would search for availability by signing up for a free British Airways Executive Club account and searching on BA.com and then calling AA to book. Any phone booking fees should be waived since these airlines are not bookable online.

You should be able to search for space at Hyatt and RC online or by calling in. What you see and do are so dependent on your interests. Since you’re there for two weeks and have a few nights in luxury properties maybe consider wandering off the beaten path for a few nights? Travelisfree had a few interesting experiences: [URL]http://travelisfree.com//?s=bali[/URL].

Ben’s experiences are logged in the trip report section at the top of the page so you should be able to see his first hand experiences.

Good luck!