Greetings from SJU-ATL! After we land I should have hit over 120k SkyPesos. Does anyone have any tips for getting the low rate biz class tickets to SE Asia? Prayer? Sacrifices to Deltalina? Appreciate the advice, my wife should hit too, so looks like we may go to BKK this year. I'd be leaving MSY and would prefer BKK as a final destination but I'm not picky as I'd be happy to visit someplace for a few days and pay my way to BKK from there. PS - inflight wifi is the best thing since Deltalina's finger wag....
I'd say start @ http://milepoint.com/forums/threads/the-definitive-guide-to-booking-a-skymiles-award.385/ Congrats!
Ref the flip phone, LOL! I'd say be flexible in routing. Also, don't be afraid to call DL and ask an agent to play around w/various routes/cities.
ExpertFlyer will likely be your friend here, as you can check a number of the Asian partners on there. You may have the most issue with finding the domestic DL segments you need, so I'd suggest remaining open to buying something like MSY-LAX if need be. In terms of partners, KE's J class is great, but you'll need to not be travelling when DL blacks them out. Inventory can only be checked by calling DL
I had to lower my standards and booked a flight with China Eastern (MU). They don't have the best reviews and I'll find out why at the end of this month. Nevertheless, I was able to book a business ticket to BKK for 120k. They have been loading their inventory in the system at 330 days out. The inventory does show up in EF.
Try looking on A.net for flight reviews. I've heard both good and bad. I'll be interested to hear about your reactions.
Please let us know what you think of it. I just booked two tickets for friends to fly back from Singapore on MU. I've still got time wo keep an eye out for other carriers if necessary.
we flew china eastern in business class from hong kong to shanghai. nice lay-flat seats, nice service. the food was weird, though. it was either kidney or spleen, i couldn't tell which, and i'm a physician. they did have haagen-das, though.
Catering can't be scarier than future ST member SV. I had the "beef" in J (we were never given a printed menu) and it was white meat. I'm hoping it was just veal, but I can't be certain. They wound up serving camel on one or more unidentified flights around that time after having inadvertently picked up zoo-bound camel meat in CAI during the unrest there and directing it to their catering services.
The single best steak I ever had was camel in Alice Springs. Seriously. Of course, in that instance I asked for camel meat.
I've had good kangaroo in Australia, but I would not be happy if an airline tried to serve it as beef.
