Getting to Japan for the Shiki-Shima trip
Given that we paid for the only big international trip we've taken this year, our points balances have been growing. When we got the good news about the Shiki Shimi lottery, our point balances totaled 1.3 million across all programs. Since the mantra is "earn and burn", it was time to blow some of these before the next round of devaluations happens.
At this point I should mention a couple of general rules about purchasing flights to Asia:
Since we love Taipei and really enjoyed our flights on EVA, I checked United.com and was really surprised to find that there were no reward options on the direct NYC-Taipei flight. Given how over-publicized the ANA/Virgin trick is, it didn't surprise me that there was zero award availability on ANA, either. Sidenote here: while ANA's First Class is amazing, the seats in Business Class are quite uncomfortable. Yes they have Ippudo ramen and Toto Washlets onboard, but ultimately the comfort of the bed is paramount.
We flew SkyTeam's China Airlines to Kalibo a few years ago and absolutely loved it. They're a Taiwan-based carrier with service and planes that rival EVA and we'd been hoping to try them out. Unfortunately we didn't find any outbound space on their direct flight, but we did see some on the return home for 85,000 SkyMiles + $33 per person. Because of item #1 above, I had to make sure I had a plan for the other leg of the trip before jumping on this.
On to OneWorld – British Airways is currently running a promo where you get a 40% bonus on transfers of Amex points so this would be a great option. I hate flying the long way round (BA really wants to put you onto their own planes, connecting New York to Asia via London), so I concentrated on Hong Kong and Tokyo (for partner rewards on Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines). With minimal poking, I found two Business Class seats on a new Cathay Pacific A350 direct flight from Newark to Hong Kong for 105,000 BA miles (75k Amex points with 40% the bonus) + $112 each. If the transfer bonus hadn't been in effect, I would have transferred 85,000 points to Cathay's own mileage program and redeemed there.
The rest of the trip has a lot more moving parts, so I'm not sure yet if we'll be flying in to/out of Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, or Hakata. We've got the long, expensive legs of the trip secured now, and this gives us the freedom to let the details of the trip develop over the coming months.
Update: We've got the short legs booked now!
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| Starting point |
Buy
My normal process is to hit up Google Flights to make sure we aren't missing a great deal. Long story short: there were no great deals, even with us being super flexible about how we got there – Manila, Seoul, Singapore, Hong Kong, or Taipei all would have been great connection points.At this point I should mention a couple of general rules about purchasing flights to Asia:
- One ways cost as much as (or more) than round-trips, so make sure you have some kind of plan for how you're getting back if you decide to buy only one leg on points.
- Direct flights always cost more. Fly to Manila through Taipei: $2500; fly that very same flight to Taipei but DON'T continue on to Manila? $4000. Yes you can try hidden-city tricks and just don't board the connecting flight, but there's no way in hell I would try that on an international itinerary. You shouldn't either.
Check the big 3 alliances
As I mentioned in the Shiki Shima post, quite a bit has changed since our last Asia trip planning. Given the breadth of our point distribution, I checked all 3 alliances for reward seats – United for Star Alliance, British Airways for OneWorld, and Delta for SkyTeam. Sadly Philippine Airlines isn't part of any alliance or points transfer program – it would have been fun to take their new direct A350 service!Since we love Taipei and really enjoyed our flights on EVA, I checked United.com and was really surprised to find that there were no reward options on the direct NYC-Taipei flight. Given how over-publicized the ANA/Virgin trick is, it didn't surprise me that there was zero award availability on ANA, either. Sidenote here: while ANA's First Class is amazing, the seats in Business Class are quite uncomfortable. Yes they have Ippudo ramen and Toto Washlets onboard, but ultimately the comfort of the bed is paramount.
We flew SkyTeam's China Airlines to Kalibo a few years ago and absolutely loved it. They're a Taiwan-based carrier with service and planes that rival EVA and we'd been hoping to try them out. Unfortunately we didn't find any outbound space on their direct flight, but we did see some on the return home for 85,000 SkyMiles + $33 per person. Because of item #1 above, I had to make sure I had a plan for the other leg of the trip before jumping on this.
On to OneWorld – British Airways is currently running a promo where you get a 40% bonus on transfers of Amex points so this would be a great option. I hate flying the long way round (BA really wants to put you onto their own planes, connecting New York to Asia via London), so I concentrated on Hong Kong and Tokyo (for partner rewards on Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines). With minimal poking, I found two Business Class seats on a new Cathay Pacific A350 direct flight from Newark to Hong Kong for 105,000 BA miles (75k Amex points with 40% the bonus) + $112 each. If the transfer bonus hadn't been in effect, I would have transferred 85,000 points to Cathay's own mileage program and redeemed there.
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| Hooray for transfer bonuses! |
Win!
I made the transfers and booked both flights, so we'll bookend the Japan trip with a long weekend in Hong Kong and a long weekend in Taipei – two places we both love going back to. Also, super excited for our first A350 flight and our first time on China Airlines long-haul.The rest of the trip has a lot more moving parts, so I'm not sure yet if we'll be flying in to/out of Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, or Hakata. We've got the long, expensive legs of the trip secured now, and this gives us the freedom to let the details of the trip develop over the coming months.
Update: We've got the short legs booked now!
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