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Help needed planning trip from US to PEK

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Old Sep 12, 2014 | 5:44 am
  #1  
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Help needed planning trip from US to PEK

We are trying to plan a trip from US (TPA/ORL/MIA) to PEK in June/July 2015. At this point there isn't much availability, but we could book the trip. What are the chances more availability will open up as we move closer to that date. We have miles on BA, AA and UA, but would prefer to avoid BA due to the fuel surcharges. We know we can use BA miles to book on AA.

Thanks
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Old Sep 12, 2014 | 6:14 am
  #2  
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How have you checked availability using your AA miles? And, of course, both AA and UA offer one-way awards, so you do not need to find roundtrip award availability from a single program.
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Old Sep 12, 2014 | 6:19 am
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We have checked availability on United, AA, and through BA (looking at DragonAir, Cathay, and JAL).

There is availability outbound, but not PEK - USA

We also have Southwest points/companion passes we could use to get to a hub in the US.
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Old Sep 12, 2014 | 6:25 am
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Originally Posted by MajorFearOfFlying
We have checked availability on United, AA, and through BA (looking at DragonAir, Cathay, and JAL).

There is availability outbound, but not PEK - USA

We also have Southwest points/companion passes we could use to get to a hub in the US.
When you searched availability on ba.com for CX/JL/KA, did you search segment by segment, or did you only do an origin-(final) destination search?
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Old Sep 12, 2014 | 6:35 am
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Different segments (to MCO, MIA, ATL, LAX, SFO, ORD,TPA, YVR, YYZ) leaving from (PEK, SHA, HKG)
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Old Sep 12, 2014 | 7:19 am
  #6  
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Originally Posted by MajorFearOfFlying
Different segments (to MCO, MIA, ATL, LAX, SFO, ORD,TPA, YVR, YYZ) leaving from (PEK, SHA, HKG)
It's possible there simply isn't anything right now. You can repeat your searches routinely or engage an award-finder service.

IMHO you would do well to focus on the TPAC segment, from Asia origin to North American gateways; HKG-DFW, NRT-ORD, etc. MCO, MIA, ATL, and TPA are near-valueless as search origin/destination to oneworld/AAdvantage partner TPACs. After you find an available TPAC return segment then seek to construct the domestic segments to your destination.

Elements of effective award searches have been discussed here in detail.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...dated-349.html
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Old Sep 12, 2014 | 7:45 am
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Yeah, I guess we were wondering what the odds are for better award availability between now and then vs booking something less convenient or less optimal right now.
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Old Sep 12, 2014 | 9:40 am
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Originally Posted by MajorFearOfFlying
Yeah, I guess we were wondering what the odds are for better award availability between now and then vs booking something less convenient or less optimal right now.
Assuming you don't have a great deal of flexibility with your return date, why not book something less desirable now (though certainly not on BA; paying cash is better than that) as an insurance policy, and then switch when better flights open up?

Odds are you'll be able to get something on CA to IAH (easy redemption) or CX to LAX or NYC (ton of capacity), but you never know.
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