Category Archives: Air Travel

Which Airlines Charge Fuel Surcharges

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HT:  Extra Pack of Peanuts

Another travel blogger, Extra Pack of Peanuts has a superb post on airline fuel surcharges (YQ taxes).  You definitely want to avoid these as they can really blow your budget!

If you’ve been following my strategy of joining my Top 8 Frequent Flier programs for eco-tourists, here’s the ones you need to look out for:

AA – Avoid redeeming on BA & IB, others have no YQ charged

UA – No YQ charged

US – No YQ charged

AV – No YQ as of this date.

BA & IB – I recommend transferring all Avios to BA as IB doesn’t allow one-way redemptions.  There are no YQ charges on my recommended uses on LAN, you are also safe on Aer Lingus, AA in the Americas, Air Berlin and flights within Europe.

QF – Charges YQ on most redemptions.  However if you use them for domestic or short Pacific region flights it’s not too much.  I did a sample booking for BNE-NAN and ALL taxes including Aussie taxes was $84.

VA – No YQ on VA flights and you can use points to pay for the other taxes.  I only recommend using Velocity points for domestic Australian or short-haul Pacific though they sometimes have good rates to the USA.  Nothing wrong with the airline but AA, UA and US are cheaper on this route.

SQ – No YQ on UA, US or NZ flights within the South Pacific (as of 2012 at least).

 

Philippine Airlines Monday Madness Sale

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HT:  UPGRD Blog

The Philipines has much to offer eco-tourists, especially birders and now it’s cheaper to get there.  UPGRD has the details on their blog and the fares between Australia and Manila look pretty good!  The YQ’s are a bit high but I priced out a sample and it was less than the website says.  The domestic flights look like a good deal but I was disappointed that they don’t offer Manila – Puerto Princessa (Palawan) which is home to the rare Katala Philippine Cockatoo which I got to see in Sept 2010.  They will be changing the offers every week so check back as you could get lucky next time!

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Domestic Flights Within Brazil – Azul Airlines

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Last year when we did our trip, we would have been flying on Trip Airlines if we hadn’t chosen to take the bus to certain eco-tourism hotspots such as Alta Floresta and Itaituba.  Now, Trip has merged with Azul Airlines.  It’s become much easier to book on them as they now have a foreigner’s booking mode.  The old Trip Airlines didn’t accept non-Brazilian credit cards.  Click on the US flag for an English version.  I have highlighed in yellow some airports that would be of interest to eco-tourists.  Sorry no frequent flyer program but at least the fares aren’t expensive!

Azul Airlines

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I will use Cuiaba to Alta Floresta for this example since it’s a popular way to get to the amazing Cristalino Jungle Lodge. The mid-day flight costs a bit more but the Cristalino folks will pick you up at the airport and take you straight to the lodge.  If you take the cheaper night flight, you will require an overnight stay at Floresta Amazonica Hotel which is still a really nice place and one of the easiest places to see Crimson-bellied Conures and a Harpy Eagle family.

Choose your flight and the full price with tax will appear to the right,

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Note the pop-up that tells you the English website takes only non-Brazilian credit cards.  The rest of the procedure is like any other airline.  Fill in your details, credit card, pay and you’re off!

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AviancaTaca LifeMiles Award Chart Changes

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HT:  Loyalty Lobby.  He already has charts up on his blog.  The changes mostly affect Star Alliance awards and they will upset the majority of people on FlyerTalk who have been collecting miles for this purpose.  So far the changes seem to affect Europe, Asia, South Africa, the Middle East/Africa and Others.  For eco-travelers, I have recommended collecting LifeMiles to use on intra South/Central American awards and these have not been affected.  See my main post for more about best uses of AviancaTaca Lifemiles.

Domestic Flights Within Brazil-GOL Airlines

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Brazil is a huge country and odds are that you will be needing domestic flights to get from your international gateway, perhaps Rio, Sao Paulo or Manaus to the nearest airport to your ultimate destination.  These flights can often be bought in advance for good prices or in some cases redeemed with miles in partner programs.

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GOL

This airline is a great option for international travelers because they accept payments with foreign credit cards and you don’t need a Brazilian CPF (Brazilian tax ID like a Social Security or Tax File Number).  I also recommend GOL because as you will see in the last part of this post they will step up and look after you in case of IRROPS.  In the opening screen, be sure you select the country where you have your credit card.  I had planned to paste the route map here but for some reason the links aren’t working on the GOL site so here’s the link anyways.  I have highlighted below some airports that will be of interest to eco-tourists.

GOL Destinations

GOL has their own frequent flyer program called Smiles.  When we did our trip in Sept 2012, we had booked domestic segments as part of our international flights using AAdvantage but GOL no longer partners with them.  Currently, they partner with Delta, Air France, KLM and Qatar Airways.  From these programs, the one most people would be using is Delta.  They charge 10,000 miles each way for a domestic trip in Brazil with a round-trip required.

BOOKING A FLIGHT

If you have selected the USA or OTHER as your base country, you will have an English display.  Let’s take the popular route of Sao Paulo – Cuiaba (gateway to the Pantanal) as an example.

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If you are lucky, there will be some promotional fares in the display at very attractive rates.  In this case, there is a promo for $49 but the catch is that you have to make a connection and arrive at a very inconvenient hour.  The cheapest non-stop is $63 but still an inconvenient arrival time but might be worth it if you stay near the airport.

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To continue with our example, let’s go with the cheapest non-stop.  Now we see they added the tax on and are trying to upsell you to a flexible flight.

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Scroll down, accept the rules and click continue.  In the next screen unless you want to set up an account, scroll down, click on “I want to make a purchase without registering” and fill it out with your passport number in “Laissez Passer”.  You can also add a frequent flyer number if you are in any program GOL partners with.

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I filled out some fake info for the passenger name, address and passport details to get to the next screen.  Select your seat here.

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After choosing the best seat they offer you, continue to the payment screen.  They seem to be offering only Visa and Mastercard.  I know they had Amex in the past since I used Amex for my domestic flights so they may bring that option back.

Enter your card details, click Confirm and it will give you a confirmation number.  At this point, I will X out of the tab since I am not really buying a ticket now.  If you are on a budget, keep checking back as they change the promos every week.  Be sure to read the restrictions on the promo fares and make sure they are acceptable, otherwise you may want to use a flexible fare.

GOL SERVICE

On some flights, we were given a snack free and on others they had Buy-On-Board menus.  The planes on the domestic routes are all 3 x 3 seating which is not my preference since it means couples have to sit with a stranger on a full flight but most domestic Brazilian carriers are the same.  They won’t let you sit in an exit row if you don’t speak Portuguese.

We had IRROPS (irregular operations) twice on our trip and both times GOL stepped up and made it right for us.  This is one of the most important things I look at when choosing an airline.  I like to see ground staff who are empowered to solve problems.

When we first arrived in Sao Paulo on the GOL flight from Buenos Aires, we had a 5 hour layover in the wee hours of the morning.  Not enough time to go to a hotel but long enough to be uncomfortable.  We were connecting to Vitoria where we planned to rent a car and drive to Sooretama/Linhares for birding.  The flight was routed GRU-GIG-VIX.  Terrible, I know but it was tagged onto the main international redemption so at least it was free!  The GRU-GIG flight was cancelled and they had rebooked us on another one that would have gotten us to Vitoria closer to noon and we would have missed an evening of birding by the time we drove out there.  I asked them if they could get us on any better connection.  They ended up rebooking us on a direct flight from Sao Paulo’s other airport CGH and giving us a free taxi to the other airport.  We arrived around the same time we had originally booked.

The second IRROPS was on the return flight as we had finished our visit to Brazil and were headed home.  It was a pretty bad routing because AA wouldn’t let us have more than 24 hours in GRU even if they had to tag on an extra connection.  The routing home was BEL (Belem) –  GIG (on a flight that stopped in GRU before heading onwards to GIG) – GRU-SCL.  The flight from Belem to GRU had a mechanical problem and we were forced to land in Brasilia while they got us a new plane.  We were waiting just over an hour and I was panicking over missing that ridiculous connection in GIG and having the rest of our itinerary cancelled.  I explained this to the flight crew.  They passed it on to the ground staff.  The new plane was going only to GRU with people going on to GIG given overnight accommodations and rebooked to GIG the next morning.  I explained that we really didn’t want to go to GIG and our ultimate destination with GOL was SCL where we had a connection to SYD on QF (in business class!).  The Brasilia ground staff took my printout and said they would sort it out.

Sort it out, they did!  When we landed in GRU, there were ground staff passing out hotel vouchers and new tickets to the normal GIG passengers and they were expecting us.  Since the ticket was originally issued by AA, they couldn’t change it on their own and has to call AA for permission to change it.  By the time we got there, they had cancelled the unwanted GRU-GIG-GRU and kept the GRU-SCL intact.  They also gave us a hotel voucher for the nearby Hotel Matiz with meals up to the departure time of our flight to SCL.  The hotel has its own shuttle bus.  This turned out to be a lucky chance for us as we avoided some unnecessary flights, got a free room and a place to relax and shower after visiting the Sao Paulo Zoo!  Major kudos to GOL for looking after its customer, highly recommended!

Getting To Brazil & Southern South America Using Airline Miles

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Southern South America

Most frequent flier programs divide the continent of South America into northern and southern regions.  Brazil, which is one of the best destinations for eco-tourism falls into the southern region.  I already have a blog with my recommendations for which programs to join if you are new to the world of miles and points.

The gateway cities for Brazil include Sao Paulo (GRU), Rio de Janieiro (GIG), Manaus (MAO) and Recife (REC).  Other airports in Southern South America are Santiago (SCL), Buenos Aires (EZE), La Paz (LPB) and Santa Cruz Bolivia (VVI).     Once you have been in the miles and points game for awhile, you will get a feel for which airline to use where but if you are just starting out, Wikipedia will show you a list of all airlines that fly into a given airport.

Let’s take Manaus for our first example.  So we can see that  Manaus is served by a few international airlines.  AA flies from Miami, Copa flies from Panama City which has good connection to the USA and TAM flies from Miami as well.   In most cases you will have to transit through the USA even if you are coming from Australia, Europe or Asia direct to Manaus or you could fly to one of the larger airports such as GRU or GIG and get a connecting domestic flight.  If Manaus and the Amazon region are your destination, you have two choices-One World or Star Alliance.  Sky Team can get you to GRU or GIG and then you would have to use domestic flights on GOL which is a partner of Delta.

ONE WORLD OPTIONS

From North America you can use American Airlines or  LATAM.

From South America you can use LATAM.

From Australia and New Zealand you can use Qantas or LATAM via Santiago.

From UK and Europe you can travel via the USA using BA or IB to get to the USA, then AA, LATAM to South America.

From Asia or Africa there are no direct flights so you will need to travel via the USA or Europe.

STAR ALLIANCE OPTIONS

From North America you can use United, Avianca-Taca or Copa

From South America you can use Avianca-Taca

From Australia and New Zealand, Europe, Asia and Africa there are no direct flights, you will need to travel via the USA.  Depending on which program’s miles you have, this may require one or two awards.

SKYTEAM OPTIONS

From North America you can use Aerolineas Argentinas, AeroMexico or Delta.

From Europe you can use Air Europa, Air France or KLM, or you can connect in the USA or Buenos Aires on Aerolineas Argentinas.

From Australia you can use Aerolineas Argentinas, from New Zealand possibly Qantas to Sydney and then Aerolineas Argentinas.

From Asia and Africa there are no direct flights, you will need to travel via the USA or Europe.

Delta partners with GOL which has extensive coverage of Brazil and connections to neighboring countries.

HOW MANY MILES WILL IT COST?

Every airline member of the 3 main alliances has it’s own frequent flier program.  They often have alliances with other airlines outside the program.  I have made some reference charts for the airline alliances and I strongly recommend that you check out the program of the airline in your country and the USA based partners of each program as the USA airlines tend to have the most lucrative bonuses.  Americans can get very generous credit card bonuses.  Details of credit card partners (and other partners) will be on each airline’s website, however often there are more lucrative sign up bonuses.  Details are usually posted in the Flyer Talk thread so I strongly suggest you read this thread and the Miles Buzz forum before you apply for any cards just in case a better bonus has been offered.  I don’t have any affiliate links and I recommend you do extensive research on your own when applying for airline credit cards.

USING ONE WORLD

AMERICAN AIRLINES

No matter where you live, frequent flyer programs based in the USA usually offer the best deals but it’s still a good idea to look at other members of the alliance.  Try to avoid carriers that charge a fuel surcharge.  Looking at AA’s award chart, we can see that Brazil is in South America Zone 2 except for Manaus which is in South America Zone 1.

South America Zone 2

So let’s look at the chart.  AA no longer has all zones on one convenient chart so you need to look at the website for the region you are departing from.  You will notice there are taxes and fees with certain routes and that the awards are prices as one way trips.

We can see that a South Pacific to Central/South America award will cost 45,000 miles each way (90,000 round trip) in economy, 82,500 (160,000 round trip) in business class and 112,500 each way (225,000 round trip in first class.  AA doesn’t allow you to transit the USA on this award so you must fly on the only carriers that operate between Australia and South America-Qantas and LAN.

If you are based in North America, economy will cost 30,000  each way (60,000 round trip), business class  is 57,500 each way (115,000 round trip) and first is 85,000 each way or 170,000 round trip.  You would be flying on AA or LAN.

AVIOS (BA OR IB)

Avios can be a great bargain for shorter flights.  The awards are priced by distance flown per segment rather than zone to zone.

Avios chart

Using the Great Circle Mapper, we can see that a direct flight from Miami to Manaus would cost 12,500 Avios each way, a direct flight from LAX to Sao Paulo would cost 30,000 Avios and a direct flight from NYC to GIG would cost 25,000 Avios.  If you are using credit card miles, transferring them to Avios rather than UA or AA could save you some points.  If you need a connection from elsewhere in the USA to the gateway city, you need to pay for that segment separately with the Avios cost for the distance flown.  Example OKC-MIA is 1222 miles so you need to add 10,000 Avios to the total price of the ticket.

Great Circle Mapper

QANTAS FREQUENT FLYER

For Qantas, it is easiest to use their points calculator to see how many points you need, then look for availability.  Here is an example of SYD-SCL-GRU in economy class.  For the record, business class (if you can get it) would cost 112,000 each way.

QF Award

Awards are distance based, look what happens when we quote on Perth-Rio de Janiero!  Price for economy goes up to 76,000 each way in economy!

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If you are based somewhere else, leave a comment if you don’t understand this part and I will help you out.  Meanwhile, here is a reference list for other One World carriers.

USING STAR ALLIANCE

Most people will have United or Singapore Airlines miles via credit cards or be buying Avianca Lifemiles during a 100% bonus promo.

UNITED AIRLINES

United Airlines is a USA based carrier that offers one way awards on its own flights and other Star Alliance carriers.  Due to the size of their award chart, I can’t paste it here so will link to it and give examples.  Seattle to Manaus has availability on several dates which I picked at random.  They are colour coded for economy, business/first or all three classes.

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Here is the best routing that came up.  Beware of the “mixed cabin” in business class, that means you will have to be in economy for one or more segments.

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Another random search on LAX-GRU has good availablilty for saver awards in economy but nothing in business or first on United’s own flights.

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But scroll down to the partner airline awards and suddenly there is tons of availability in business but not in economy!

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AVIANCA TACA LIFEMILES

Lifemiles has some very attractive promos to buy and share miles.  While this doesn’t give you a free trip, it can greatly reduce the cost of a trip especially if you are after business or first class awards.  You need to be an existing member of Lifemiles when they announce  a promo so join now if you haven’t already.  Use their calculator to get an idea of award costs.  This will be a range which depends on class and any promos.

Lifemiles Calculator

Click on View Availability to see the exact breakdown.

They have a Star Alliance Award chart and you can see that they divide the continent of South America into northern and southern regions.

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I have snipped the section that includes southern South America.  Australia and New Zealand are in the “Others” category.  The chart shows round trip awards but you can redeem one ways for half the price shown.  For Aussies, it’s much cheaper to use US miles while they last or United for Star Alliance awards.  I prefer to keep my Lifemiles for intra-South/Central America awards which can get pricy but are bargains using awards.

Lifemiles Awards to/from Southern South America

SINGAPORE AIRLINES

While there are no bargains here, if you are flush with Amex Membership Rewards you want to transfer to SQ, you can also book flights to South America using Krisflyer.

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For those who want to use other programs, I have made up a reference list of all the airlines with links to their websites so check them out to see if any of them are better suited to your needs. Bear in mind that the tickets are not completely free, there is usually a booking fee of $25-50 and various taxes, but you would have to pay the taxes whether you pay cash or miles for the ticket in any case.

Review Of Sriwijaya Airlines Business Class And Their Lounges in DJJ & UPG

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I am not the sort who would spend extra $$$ just to have a larger seat and better meal, but when a deal comes along that allows you to buy one business class seat and get one free making it equal to the cost of buying two economy seats at normal price I’d be a fool to pass it up!  Sriwijaya is one of the airlines you might be flying if you visit West Papua.

JAYAPURA – MANOKWARI (DJJ_MKW)

Although we booked in business class, there was an aircraft change to a plane that had only economy seats.  I suggested to the check in lady that she give us a row of 3 seats to ourselves in the front of the plane and she agreed.  She also escorted us through the airport past the departure tax desk and paid our tax, then she brought us to the business class lounge and made sure we could still get in since we only had economy boarding passes.  I have to give them top marks for customer service and making us as comfortable as possible since they changed the aircraft.

Jayapura Executive Lounge

Jayapura Executive Lounge

MANOKWARI – SORONG (MKW-SOQ)

No lounges in Manokwari.  This time it was a two class aircraft and we got our business class seats.  They were very comfortable and we even got driven to the plane in a private car as opposed to a bus.  The seats were very comfortable and we got a snack for the short flight.

Sriwijaya business class

Sriwijaya business class

Business class snack - Sriwijaya

Business class snack – Sriwijaya

SORONG – MAKASSAR – SURABAYA (SOQ-MKW-SUB)

This flight was pretty full with a dive tour group taking up most of the seats.  It was pretty amusing to see the looks on their faces when they had to walk past the grungy backpackers to their seats in economy!  Although this leg is sold as a through ticket, you actually have to change planes in Makassar aka Ujung Padang.  There is no business class lounge in Sorong but there is one in Ujung Padang.  We had the same seats as before on the plane for both legs and once again were offered a meal but I forgot to get pics.  The business class lounge in Ujung Padang is pretty nice with a well-stocked buffet of Indonesian dishes, sweets and hot pancakes.

Ujung Padang Executive Lounge

Ujung Padang Executive Lounge

Ujung Padang Executive Lounge

Ujung Padang Executive Lounge

Ujung Padang Executive Lounge

Ujung Padang Executive Lounge

Ujung Padang Executive Lounge

Ujung Padang Executive Lounge

Ujung Padang Executive Lounge

Ujung Padang Executive Lounge

Ujung Padang Executive Lounge

Ujung Padang Executive Lounge

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lion Air Passenger Plane Crashes Into Sea Off Coast Of Bali

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Since I am currently blogging about how to visit West Papua for a birding adventure, it seems appropriate to post about this Lion Air crash since Lion Air is one of the few airlines that serve the main airports in West Papua.  Full article and video.

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A plane with more than 100 people on board has overshot a runway on the island of Bali and plunged into the sea.

Despite dramatic pictures showing the Lion Air jet with a broken fuselage, officials said everyone on board had survived.

The brand new Boeing 737-800 came to rest in shallow water and bright yellow life jackets could be seen littering the shore.

Passengers spoke of screaming in terror it hit the water and “chaos” erupting amid fears they would drown before escaping.

Getting To Central Asia With Frequent Flyer Miles

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Out of the countries classified as “Central Asia”, the ones that offer the best birding are India, Sri Lanka and Nepal.  This is one area you have to carefully check how your airline’s program defines Central Asia, sometimes Sri Lanka is put into South-East Asia.   If you are married to or involved with a non-birding partner, this is a great region to plan a trip to as they will find plenty to do while you are off chasing birds.   Unfortunately, being so far from everywhere it can be very expensive to get there whether you use miles or cash.  Let’s look at a few options using the top 8 frequent flyer programs for eco-tourists.

Central Asia Map

 

ONE WORLD ALLIANCE

 

AMERICAN AADVANTAGE

For most people, joining American Airline’s AAdvantage will be the best option.  They have quite a few credit card options to quickly build your miles stash and a few partners such as E-Rewards and various hotels where you can transfer points in.  The region is called “Indian Subcontinent and Middle East” on this chart and includes Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Maldives, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan.

Please note that Sri Lanka is in South-East Asia for award purposes so you would do better to use Avios for routes between India and Sri Lanka.

Airlines which serve this area include British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas with Malaysian Airlines, Sri Lankan Airlines and Qatar Airways joining very soon.

Peru Award2

These figures are one-way so double if you want a round trip.  The nice thing about AAdvantage is the flexibility, you may choose to go one way in economy and one way in business, or do an open jaw where you fly into Kathmandu (KTM)  for example and out of Mumbai (BOM).

USA and Canada:  Each way is 45,000 economy;  67,500 business; 90,000 first.  You can use British Airways, Air Berlin, Finnair, Iberia and Etihad but there are no stopovers allowed.

UK and Europe:  Each way is 20,000 economy; 30,000 business; 40,000 first.  You can use British Airways, Etihad or (coming soon)  SriLankan Airlines; or use Finnair, Air Berlin or Iberia to get to Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong or anywhere Qantas flies.

Australia and New Zealand:  Each way is 30,000 economy; 45,000 business; 60,000 first.  You can use Qantas, Cathay Pacific and Malaysian.

QANTAS

For Aussies who have easy access to Qantas points via their employer or Everyday Rewards, it’s worth checking out QF’s awards to Central Asia.  Use their points calculator as the awards are distance based, not by country.   The awards look expensive compared to AA, UA and US but if you got your points for free, might as well enjoy them!  Here is an example of what you could expect from one way in economy from Sydney to Mumbai.

AVIOS (BRITISH AIRWAYS AND IBERIA)

Later this year, Sri Lankan Airlines will  join One World, which opens up bargain redemptions for local short routes.  In the examples below, the awards will range from 4500 Avios to 10,000 Avios.  Compare the distance traveled with the screenshot of the Avios distance chart below.

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AVIOS AWARD CHART

 

 

STAR ALLIANCE AIRLINES

 

No matter where you live, the two best programs to use in Star Alliance are United and US Airways.  Both have their pros and cons.  With United, you can book partner awards online, book one-way awards and get lots of miles via several Chase credit cards; but if you can’t get these cards it can be hard to get miles in United Mileage Plus.  With US Airways, the major drawbacks are you have to book round-trips and you can’t book online, you have to call them.   The advantage with US Airways is that they offer frequent “Buy miles, get 100% bonus free” promos and in the past, they had the wonderful Grand Slam promos where it was possible to do partner transactions and with careful planning you could get about 120,000 miles for $400-600 incremental cost.  The US Airways Grand Slam hasn’t been seen since Sept-Nov 2011, unfortunately they didn’t do it in 2012.  Depending on where you live, Avianca/Taca Lifemiles could be useful too, but it is hard to use their booking engine for complicated routings so I suggest saving them for USA-Central/South America where they offer better value and ease of booking.

US Airways Chart

US AIRWAYS (round-trip only) Region is South & Central Asia which includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Chagos, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

USA and Canada:  Economy 80,000; Business 120,000; First 160,000.  You can use United, Air Canada, Air New Zealand (hard to get) or sometimes take the “scenic route” via Asia using Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Asiana or ANA (All Nippon Airlines).  US has recently started enforcing MPM (maximum permitted miles) so some Asian routings may not be acceptable.

UK and Europe:  Economy 70,000, Business 90,000; First 110,000.  Most people try to get routings using Singapore, Thai, Lufthansa, Swiss and Turkish Airlines.  Some airlines do not give US Airways business or first class awards such as Singapore, Lufthansa and Swiss.

Australia and New Zealand:  Economy 70,000, Business 90,000; First 120,000.  You can fly on Singapore, Thai and Air New Zealand.

 

UNITED AIRLINES (can book one-way or round trip.

The award chart is too big to copy paste here so please follow this link to see the whole chart.

USA and Canada:  (each way) Economy 40,000; Business 60,000; First 80,000.  You can use United, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Turkish, LOT, Egypt Air or sometimes take the “scenic route” via Asia using Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Asiana or ANA (All Nippon Airlines).  You can easily see the routings via their online award booking engine.

UK and Europe:  (each way) Economy 30,000, Business 50,000; First 60,000.  Most people try to get routings using Singapore, Thai, Lufthansa, Swiss and Turkish Airlines.  You can easily see the routings on their online award booking engine but be careful if you are looking at business or first class awards as sometimes they offer mixed class awards and the long-haul section could be in economy with a short sector in business or first.

Australia and New Zealand:  Economy 30,000, Business 45,000; First 60,000.  You can fly on Singapore, Thai and Air New Zealand.

Here’s an example of London to Mumbai, as you can see they quote both the miles and taxes and the business class award are “mixed class” and if you hover over the fare, you can see which flight is in which class.

LHR – BOM

You can see how much cheaper it is to fly from Brussels due to the very high UK departure taxes.

 

These are just a few examples, please feel free to ask questions in the comments.

If you need ideas on how to acquire frequent flyer miles, please see the Resources tab and Miles and Points tab. which I will update with new offers for free or cheap miles.

LIST OF PARROTS IN CENTRAL ASIAN COUNTRIES

INDIA

NEPAL

SRI LANKA

Bargain Airfares In India – Focus On Kerala

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Hat tip for the Indian airfare deals goes to Live From A Lounge, a travel blogger based in India who has first hand knowledge of what’s happening there.   He has a coupon code that can be used on Clear Trip so please refer to his blog.

When I was there in Sept 2011, I used Clear Trip to make my airfare bookings as it is otherwise difficult for non-Indians to book online.  The problem I had was that they require an Indian mobile phone # which most tourists don’t have.  Over the next week I will be focusing on Kerala as a birding destination and showing you how to get there cheaply on miles and points and which eco-lodges to stay in.

India is once of my favourite places to visit, rich in both wildlife and culture!  It’s a great place to go if you have a non-birding spouse since there is so much to do and see there and it’s also pretty easy on the budget.  I’m planning a trip back there in 2015 as there are some other birding hotspots I missed the first time like Wayanand Sanctuary and SAI Sanctuary (these will be covered in more detail in a separate post).

Kochi aka Cochin (COK) is the airport you need to fly to and once you are there, it’s very easy to get to other places in Kerala.   You won’t be able to fly direct to Kochi using Star Alliance, but once Qatar and Sri Lankan are in One World, that will be an option.  So you will need to fly to one of the main international airports such as Mumbai or Delhi and get a domestic connection to Kochi.  I will cover how to get to India/Central Asia on miles tomorrow.

Kochi flights

I’ve personally flown on Spice Jet (KTM-DEL), IndiGo (BOM-COK) and Kingfisher (COK-BLR) which is unfortunately out of business.  I was happy with all three airlines I traveled on, they all gave good service and arrived on time.  There isn’t really a lot to choose between them so I would check the airfares on Clear Trip and see who has the best fare and the most convenient schedule.  Here’s a sampling on a random date next month from Mumbai to Kochi.

BOM-COK

Plan to arrive in COK before 2pm so you have time to get from the airport to the sanctuary and get settled in before dark.

 

Other posts of interest:

Getting to India on miles

Getting around in Kerala

Thattekad Sanctuary

Hornbill Camp Review (coming soon)