MarkY

Hi All:
I've searched and I'm continuing to search but this forum is a tad overwhelming for the new comer.

Anyway, my wife and I would like to fly from Phoenix to Hungary late summer / early fall and would like to redeem some Starwood points to get there.

We currently have 110,000 and if we redeem them at 20k a pop, Starwood will add another 5k per transaction. That would give us about 135,000 miles if we redeem at a 1:1 ratio.

I think I'm still a member of BA Executive club but I can't seem to get logged in. I still get their statement saying I have about 3k miles.

Is it possible to get to Europe from Phoenix with this many miles?
Is there a better and more advantagous way to redeem these points?

Thanks for help the newbie out, I'm off to continue searching.

writetorich

MarkY

It will just be my wife and I travelling and we don't have an aversion to coach. She has a friend that has a home in Hungary and he has offered his home to us for a base. We probably wouldn't spend more than a few "overnights" in hotels. Prague, etc.

We need to get from Phoenix to Buddapest and would like to use our points instead of cash. But if this isn't the best idea, we're open for suggestions.

We are somewhat open to dates, but would like to leave late August / early September for about 2 weeks.

Kagehitokiri

there are tons of airline options with starwood, and it only requires 50K for between USA and Europe per ticket for economy class. so youll have 35K leftover.

if you wanted 2 business class, theyre usually 80K, so youre 25K short.

if you fly British Airways, then its only 1 stop in London

otherwise, any other airline you fly will have 2 stops

BA economy PHX-LHR-BUD
Alaska Airlines - 65K x 2 = 130K
British Airways - 60K x 2 = 120K
Cathay Pacific - 60K x 2 = 120K
Japan Airlines - 40K x 2 = 80K offpeak (best) / 60K x 2 = 120K peak (May 16-Oct 14)
LAN - 47.5K i THINK x 2 = 92K (best)
Qantas - 42K x 2 = 84K (best)

what you do is check with the airline, and then transfer the points if they have availability. so check with the 3 lower cost ones first, and if they don't have availability go with one of the higher/regular cost ones.

gleff

I know this is kind of nuts, but if it were me I'd transfer 50k SPG points -> 60k Cathay Pacific miles. (Do it once a day for two days. I haven't looked at transfer limits for CX but with many carriers it's 99k/day.)

60,000 CX miles buys a business class roundtrip on BA.

Now, that doesn't get you all the way PHX-BUD as the award is limited to 5000 miles each way. But it would get you from any BA station East of PHX to Lodnon. You'd still have to get yourself to the international gateway and from London to Budapest. But you'd have the transatlantic flight in business.

Kagehitokiri

nice thought gleff ^^

options for 60K (using CX miles) BA business XXX-LHR-BUD >
-Baltimore
-Boston
-Chicago
-Detroit
-New York
-Newark
-Philadelphia
-Washington DC

whichever has cheapest PHX-XXX

or he can always go with the 40K economy tickets if necessary

upgrader

There's also a BA nonstop from MCO (Orlando) to London and a lot of the MCO fares from other US airports are comparatively inexpensive. It's worth a look, IMHO. Good luck.

Kagehitokiri

PHX,MCO,ATL etc are all over 5K miles

the 8 cities i mentioned are under 5000 for XXX-LHR-BUD, so only the domestic US PHX-XXX is needed, not LHR-BUD

MarkY

Thanks for all the help everyone. Let me see if I understand some of these posts....with questions:

I could transfer my Starwood points to Cathay Pacific for miles. I could transfer 120k points which would allow be to purchase 2 business class tickets from XXX-LHR-BUD. Is this correct? 60k miles / bus class ticket?

I would then need to PURCHASE a ticket from PHX to XXX. Correct?

So the bottom line is that I could fly business class from xxx to Buddapest (via London) for the cost of a PHX - XXX ticket?

Even though BA flies from PHX, I take it that isn't an option?

Also, there isn't anyway to fly business from PHX - LHR, and I'll pay from LHR - BUD?

Thanks all for the great answers.

Kagehitokiri

60K for a business class ticket on BA is a great deal. ^

you can do that with CX (Cathay Pacific)

but you have to fly from one of the 8 cities i listed for it to cost 60K, otherwise it costs 80K. (like PHX-LHR-BUD business class would be 80K)

so instead, gleff suggested that you buy the tickets from PHX-XXX (one of those 8 cities, for a fairly low amount) and then get the business class ticketd for XXX (one of the cities) - LHR - BUD

MarkY

I think it would be a no brainer to go ahead and purchase a ticket from PHX - XXX and then fly Business Class the rest of the way.

I was looking at the Cathay Pacific site. I assume I would have to become a member of the Marco Polo club in order to transfer? It costs $50 to join so I want to check here before signing up.

Since I'll be travelling in the August/Sept time frame, how soon should I start this process? Anyone know what kind of $$$ I'm looking at in taxes?

Thanks again for all the help.

Kagehitokiri

you need to sign up for Asiamiles, http://www.asiamiles.com NOT marco polo club, no need to pay that fee.

then call Asiamiles and ask if they have availability for a BA award for your dates. ASAP.

after checking availability, that's when you transfer from starwood to asiamiles and book the ticket, and then buy the ticket for PHX-XXX for whichever route is cheapest.

gleff

Bear in mind that transfers from SPG to AsiaMiles seem to be taking 9 to 14 days, though they can theoretically take longer.

This strategy is best, obviously, if there's either lots of availability on BA (which I've found to be pretty good ex-North America) or if you have plenty of flexibility on travel dates.

Don't buy the PHX-XXX segments until you've secured your award. Do know what those segments will cost, though, as it may help you decide which BA gateway city to use. Of course, availability may dry up out of one but still be available out of another, which is why I suggested to wait on the paid tickets until the award is handled.

As mentioned above, no need to sign up for Marco Polo club... just Asia Miles.

Also bear in mind that taxes on (especially premium class) awards to and through LHR are quite high, so be prepared for that. But worth it IMHO.

MarkY

I hope to have my ducks in a row by the middle of next month. Then I'll start the transfer process, which should give me enough time.

I'll make sure I have my award before purchasing. I'll check fare prices though.

What are we talking here, a couple hundred per ticket?

Thanks for the help.

redshift27

Perhaps up to three hunded dollars. Depends.