Tips for saving on International airfare?

[FairestOfThemAll37]

Anybody have any tips on saving on international airfare (1st or business class)?

Right now I'm looking at a combination of cash and miles but it's still a hefty sum.

It's been a long time since I've travelled anywhere other than the Caribbean which is much much cheaper.

I used to buy a ticket and upgrade on points but now United has an upgrade Copay???? Which costs $600 each way. So it's 60k miles and $1200 to upgrade on top of the base economy fare which makes me angry.

At the end of the day, I can't fly 15hrs in economy, I wish I could, so I'll pay what I have to but would like to do it for as little as possible!

I'm trying to sort out my miles so I can just purchase a miles ticket but if anybody has any advice I would much appreciate it!!!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

It's a waste of miles and money to upgrade to Global First, if you are flying United. I recently used award miles to fly Global First IAD-NRT and it was nice, but BusinessFirst is fine. If you want to upgrade, you need to buy a ticket in an upgradable fare class. Here is the chart from UA explaining this:

http://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/mileageplus/awards/upgrade/default.aspx

If you are buying an award ticket, keep in mind that any flight segments on non- UA metal, ie other Star Alliance carriers, will cost more in miles than if you can stick to flying on UA.

You might want to go over to the United board on Flyertalk and browse some of the threads there.

 

[platamama]

What is your origin and destination?

I have booked a DEN-LHR ticket in business class for 50K British Airways Avios and CDG-DEN in business class for 50K American Airlines miles (all flying on British Airways) , and paid ~$900 in taxes/fees/fuel surcharges for the whole trip. Given that the round trip fare cash value is somewhere around $5,000, I'm happy with that.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

What is your origin and destination? I have booked a DEN-LHR ticket in business class for 50K British Airways Avios and CDG-DEN in business class for 50K American Airlines miles (all flying on British Airways) , and paid ~$900 in taxes/fees/fuel surcharges for the whole trip. Given that the round trip fare cash value is somewhere around $5,000, I'm happy with that.

MCO-NRT or ORD-NRT

I have family in Chicago so if I could get a direct flight from there I would stay a couple days on either end as I can get MCO-MDW free on SW.

I would actually prefer the direct from ORD as the whole changeover makes for a painfully longer trip! But the old adage for project management is true with airplane tickets-fast, cheap, good-you can get two but you can never have all three!

 

[platamama]

MCO-NRT or ORD-NRT

I have family in Chicago so if I could get a direct flight from there I would stay a couple days on either end as I can get MCO-MDW free on SW.

I would actually prefer the direct from ORD as the whole changeover makes for a painfully longer trip! But the old adage for project management is true with airplane tickets-fast, cheap, good-you can get two but you can never have all three!

I don't have any experience with looking into that route, but a quick search shows that JAL has a nonstop from ORD-NRT, and they are part of the oneworld alliance which includes AA and BA. Booking partner airline tickets takes more research than straight up redemption. I'd spend some time looking on flyertalk to see how others have done it.

 

[Angrypenguin]

How many AA miles do you have?

My wife and I just booked our trip to Japan, 1st class on JAL from LAX-NRT and business class back from KIX (Osaka) - LAX with miles.

Using AA miles on Oneworld partner airlines is where the sweet spot is; only 62k to Japan from North America in First (and vice versa), assuming you're flying on JAL. If you're flying on AA metal, it may be much more expensive and availability is tight (unless you're paying the astronomical price for an AAnytime award), plus the actual hard product itself doesn't compare to Japan Airlines or Cathay Pacific.

If you need to rack up AA miles, there are many sites and blogs dedicated to how to play the game. If you need to check award availability on Japan Airlines, use the British Airways website, as AA's website doesn't allow you to.

Good luck!

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

How many AA miles do you have? My wife and I just booked our trip to Japan, 1st class on JAL from LAX-NRT and business class back from KIX (Osaka) - LAX with miles. Using AA miles on Oneworld partner airlines is where the sweet spot is; only 62k to Japan from North America in First (and vice versa), assuming you're flying on JAL. If you're flying on AA metal, it may be much more expensive and availability is tight (unless you're paying the astronomical price for an AAnytime award), plus the actual hard product itself doesn't compare to Japan Airlines or Cathay Pacific. If you need to rack up AA miles, there are many sites and blogs dedicated to how to play the game. If you need to check award availability on Japan Airlines, use the British Airways website, as AA's website doesn't allow you to. Good luck!

Yeah the AA anytime rewards are ridiculous!! I searched high and low for saver awards. Normally I would choose my dates based on saver award availability but as I'm heading over for a wedding I don't have that much flexibility.

I just ended up going ahead and buying the cheapest ticket I could find tonight. It was just not worth the miles this go round. Thanks for the advice though!