ANA redemption on United

[Yordai Dooma]

Not bad, so it seems AMEX MR goes pretty much instantly, while SPG can take time. remember its not AMEX SPG to ....  (whatever Carrier) but SPG to whatever Carrier.

 a person isnt transferring from their AMEX SPG acct but from their SPG acct. While with the reg MR accts its AMEX doing the transferring

On a separate note, CO award reservation site is acting kinda funny today. Maybe too many people trying to make reservations before the merger....

[Dan]

On a separate note, CO award reservation site is acting kinda funny today. Maybe too many people trying to make reservations before the merger....

CO.com is very flaky today.
It's definitely getting ready for the merger with UA.bomb as the horrendous United site is called.

[steve2]

On a separate note, CO award reservation site is acting kinda funny today. Maybe too many people trying to make reservations before the merger....

 Not at all. Once DL and NWA announced they were getting together it was still close to a year that the Programs operated separately from 1 another.

I wouldnt expect a merge of the programs  so fast, after all 1 can still find many a NWA plane still flying around in its old Logo and colors

[aaronj_2000]

I started with ANA (*wood to ANA is 1-1) and as far as I can tell you need to use 2 or more *A to redeem a *A award but their chart looks very good. They go according to the total mileage flown on the award trip i.e. JFK-TLV-JFK = 11,355 mi so you go to their chart and see that the 11,001～14,000mi range would be
60,000pts for Economy, (50,000 *wood)
90,000pts for Business, (75,000 *wood)
140,000pts for First  (115,000 *wood)
    The problem is that since you need to use 2 or more *A members on a *A award you cant just redeem on CO EWR-TLV-EWR non stop on business for 90,000pts or 75,000 *wood points, you would need to use CO + another *A airline. One option would be to use CO non stop one way and the other way use Swiss air with a stop?  Or maybe CO one way combined with US airways non stop to/from PHL on one of the legs (a little bit of a hassle to land at a different airport than departure)
Anyone else research this or have any info or comments on maximizing *A awards to TLV with CO esp utilizing *wood points?

(I hope I wasnt too confusing, I can clarify if anyone has any questions)

Is there anywhere that I can get a step by step on how to get to Israel? I want to travel with my wife and son in July, for three weeks, and I have about 85000 starwood points. I think you are explaining how, but it is pretty confusing. please help!

[Mikeoracle]

Not bad, so it seems AMEX MR goes pretty much instantly, while SPG can take time.

As I recently posted, on 3 seperate transfers that I did from SPG to ANA they posted over the following weekend. (2 were together in one week and one was on a Friday afternoon). This might be an indicator that they process them over the weekends.

[Yordai Dooma]

As I recently posted, on 3 seperate transfers that I did from SPG to ANA they posted over the following weekend. (2 were together in one week and one was on a Friday afternoon). This might be an indicator that they process them over the weekends.

When you did spg-ana on friday, it posted like 2 days later? or 9 days later?

[Mikeoracle]

When you did spg-ana on friday, it posted like 2 days later? or 9 days later?

I did it on Friday Chol Hamoed 4/2 and noticed the points in my account motzie Y"T 4/7 (I didnt think to check on Sunday) on ANA it showed the transaction date as 4/2 but I am not sure what that means...
then I did another 2 transfers, 1 on 4/4 and one on 4/7 and they both posted together on Monday 4/12.

[Yordai Dooma]

Update: I transferred Amex to ANA this past friday on 4/30/10 and it is in my account already this morning 5/2/10. Thats pretty quick considering it hasnt even been 1 business day...

Update 2: 2nd transfer of Amex to ANA initiated on Sunday 5/2/10 and it is in my account already today (2 days later)

[yare]

correct me if i'm wrong.... i found an itinerary on ana to from ewr fankfurt tlv using lh business on the way in and lx business on the way back tlv zurich jfk   for 90k.   now, it's not showing me what fuel charges and taxes will be, but from what ive been reading it seems it will be about $500 total.    if i call usair they'll be able to book me the same ticket for 115k miles and with their much lower fuel surcharge?  on their search engine theyre only showing me theyre highest priced business seats as available, at 120k miles each way, on the phone they'll give the me the star availability?   

[Mikeoracle]

correct me if i'm wrong.... i found an itinerary on ana to from ewr fankfurt tlv using lh business on the way in and lx business on the way back tlv zurich jfk   for 90k.   now, it's not showing me what fuel charges and taxes will be, but from what ive been reading it seems it will be about $500 total.    if i call usair they'll be able to book me the same ticket for 115k miles and with their much lower fuel surcharge?  on their search engine theyre only showing me theyre highest priced business seats as available, at 120k miles each way, on the phone they'll give the me the star availability?   

Yes, they definitely should. Make sure to have flight3's when you call so you can tell them exactly what you found/want.
I just had this with CO, when I called they told me they didnt show anything for a certain date and when i gave them the exact flight #'s to check they found them and were like "oh wow, you really do your homework"....

[Dan]

For whatever reason agents sometimes get nervous when you tell them the exact flight numbers and won't be helpful.

The best method is to tell them that "you had called in earlier and had found out and wrote down the following flight numbers that worked for award travel."

[yare]

ok, so i now have on hold these ticks through usair, for 120k rt plus 132.50 total in fees and taxes.   the question is like this.  i really want to originate my trip in miami, and on the way back i want to stop in ny for a day and then continue to miami.  the agent told me i can only take a stopover in a hub city, and obviously neither lh nor lx have ny as a hub city.  any suggestions?     and, ya, i told the agent i had looked around online and "thought" i saw a ticket...

[Yordai Dooma]

ok, so i now have on hold these ticks through usair, for 120k rt plus 132.50 total in fees and taxes.   the question is like this.  i really want to originate my trip in miami, and on the way back i want to stop in ny for a day and then continue to miami.  the agent told me i can only take a stopover in a hub city, and obviously neither lh nor lx have ny as a hub city.  any suggestions?     and, ya, i told the agent i had looked around online and "thought" i saw a ticket...

What about making the stop for less than 24 hours making it a connection and not a stopover. I just did that with ANA. My connection is exactly 23 hours

[steve2]

 would flying LH into PHL a US hub count and then train it up to NYC but it will set a person back apx $100, which might make it not worthwhile. Or take the train into Philly and pick up a Chinese bus into NYC taht would be only a few bucks each way

[Dan]

ok, so i now have on hold these ticks through usair, for 120k rt plus 132.50 total in fees and taxes.   the question is like this.  i really want to originate my trip in miami, and on the way back i want to stop in ny for a day and then continue to miami.  the agent told me i can only take a stopover in a hub city, and obviously neither lh nor lx have ny as a hub city.  any suggestions?     and, ya, i told the agent i had looked around online and "thought" i saw a ticket...

If you don't like what the agent says try again.
I made stopovers (over 24 hours) and connections (under 24 hours) on US tickets in non-hub cities even when requiring multiple connections to get to the stopover city.  It's just a matter of calling back until you find an agent to add it in for you.

(P.S. For whatever reason USAir's male agents are much more lenient and friendly than the women)

[kivabb]

Is it possible to use ANA search tool for partner airlines without mileage in the account? Assuming they show me availability that CO doesn't show me, can I play dumb and tell them I see that available on site, etc........?

[MarkS]

Sure, you just have to sign up for a ANA account, and you can search regardless of how many miles you actually have.

[kivabb]

Does the data help if I see availability on ANA and not on CO, if I have my miles on CO? Can I tell CO that I see the availability?

[MarkS]

Yes. Call them up with flight numbers from your ANA search and say a previous CO agent told you those flights are avail.
The avail will be exactly the same on CO as on ANA.

[kivabb]

Yes. Call them up with flight numbers from your ANA search and say a previous CO agent told you those flights are avail.
The avail will be exactly the same on CO as on ANA.

Thanks Mark