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Any tricks for booking first class air fare to Europe reasonably. Using cruise line w


ansoninc
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Many differences, including differences with different equipment, different carriers and more.

 

If you have a more specific type question, please post it. Vague, general questions get.....vague, general answers. Without cities, carriers and more, it's tough to provide solid information.

 

But to give you one answer to your question...first is on the other side of the curtain.

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Very few people find paying for international first class to be worth it. (It's a completely different product from domestic first class). Most generally find business class to be enough of a splurge in term of comfort and amenities. But as Flyertalker said, it would help to know what airline(s) and routing(s) you're considering, as well as what your past experience has been (i.e. what airlines and routings) in first/business. It establishes a basis for comparison.

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Very few people find paying for international first class to be worth it. (It's a completely different product from domestic first class). Most generally find business class to be enough of a splurge in term of comfort and amenities. But as Flyertalker said, it would help to know what airline(s) and routing(s) you're considering, as well as what your past experience has been (i.e. what airlines and routings) in first/business. It establishes a basis for comparison.

 

International First Class is disappearing. Very few airlines offer it especially on the North American to European market. You will only find it on some limited routes.

 

International Busienss class typically has seating that opens up to a bead of pretty close to it. Multi-course meal etc. Most airlines offer this.

 

Premium Economy is a bigger seat, upgraded meal etc. This is very similar to what "first class" would have been 30 years ago. Air Canada and many of the European airlines have this. The US airlines are starting to add this to their aircraft.

 

Economy Plus (goes by various names) is simply an economy seat with leg room. It is what Economy should be bit is not. Most of the US airlines have this to Europe.

 

Economy is the starting point of discussion. Each year the airline works on making it tighter and most economical.

 

If you want something better than Economy but don't need a seat that becomes a bed, then Premium Economy may be the trick.

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Ah yes, more information would be helpful. Around the week of Christmas and NYE I will be flying to London, not for a cruise. Probably Gatwick airport. I am hoping to use Virgin Atlantic because I have about 2k points with them. ( I doubt those points will go very far) i flew them once before to Gatwick in Premium Economy, my seat was in the "Bubble". It was ok. I just get antsy on long flights and i cannot sleep on planes. In May/ 18 I will be on NCL Epic and need to fly to Barcelona. I have been told that NCL's cruise/fly is not very good. When i cruise on Princess I use their cruise.fly plan and it is very reasonable. i live in Nevada so f i am going out of Los Angeles I use Southwest.

Thanks to everyone who has already responded.

Diana

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Ah yes, more information would be helpful. Around the week of Christmas and NYE I will be flying to London, not for a cruise. Probably Gatwick airport. I am hoping to use Virgin Atlantic because I have about 2k points with them. ( I doubt those points will go very far)

 

Yep. You need at least 20,000 for an award ticket in coach, and at least 3000 to get a reduced price on a paid ticket. Even then, it's not much. That is done in multiples of 3000, and each 3000 is worth all of 18 pounds. So I would not be booking VS with the idea of using points. Maybe not even for earning.

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If you are based in Las Vegas, there are direct flights to both Gatwich and Heathrow.

 

Sometimes 10 hours in a crappy economy seat is better than spending 19-20 hours with connections and multiple airports.

 

Unless it has changed my understanding is SouthWest does not interline with anyone. If that is the case I would avoid using them to make a connection to another airline. If it is not on the same ticket and you miss your connection you are responsible for sorting out the problem. If it is on the same ticket the airlines are responsible for getting you to where you were suppose to have been.

 

Unless it is changed both BA and Virgin had non-stop flights.

 

If you are looking for options, all the US legacy airlines (Delta, American, United) would have options out of Vegas. The Canadian airlines (Air Canada and WestJet) would have options.

 

You can have your points from a foreign airline credited to their partner US based airlines loyalty program. For example Lufthansa and Air Canada points can be credited to your United program. WestJet can go to either Delta or American. BA to American and Virgin to Delta.

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You can have your points from a foreign airline credited to their partner US based airlines loyalty program. For example Lufthansa and Air Canada points can be credited to your United program. WestJet can go to either Delta or American. BA to American and Virgin to Delta.

 

NO NO NO NO NO

 

Existing points in an airline program cannot be transfered to a "partner" except in very specific cases. Flights may credit the newly earned points to a partner program, but you can't take BA Avios and trade them for AA AAdvantage miles (for example).

 

You can take points you have and redeem on a partner, but that is done through the program in which you have the points.

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Sometimes 10 hours in a crappy economy seat is better than spending 19-20 hours with connections and multiple airports.

 

There is something to be said for this perspective. Connections are a source of problems and delays both due to aircraft and airports.

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NO NO NO NO NO

 

Existing points in an airline program cannot be transfered to a "partner" except in very specific cases. Flights may credit the newly earned points to a partner program, but you can't take BA Avios and trade them for AA AAdvantage miles (for example).

 

You can take points you have and redeem on a partner, but that is done through the program in which you have the points.

 

Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes,

 

When you book and check in you can give the operating airline the frequent flyer number of a partner airline and your frequent flyer program will be credited to the partner program.

 

It happens every day. I an in Air Canada Aeroplan and I have never had any problem getting United, Lufthansa, or ANA points credited to my Air Canada program. I have also had no problems getting Air France to credit to by Delta account. It does work.

 

The concept you discuss of transferring points between program is not something I have seen done directly, There are some very obscure theoretical ways of doing it with some airlines that involve transferring them into hotel or credit card programs and transferring them back out. However that is quite limited and more complexity than is warranted for 2,000 points.

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Em-sk....go back and read the words of your post. You wrote: " For example Lufthansa and Air Canada points can be credited to your United program."

 

I believe (and am guessing) that you were trying to say "you can fly one airline and have the miles credited to a partner program." If so, I concur.

 

However, you said "points". And the OP had been referring to using his existing Virgin Atlantic points. Once the miles go into a program, they are pretty much locked there, with some exceptions that include some hefty fees. That's what I wanted to stress - that once you credit a flight, that's what you get. You can't move miles between alliance partners. So assign them well BEFORE you fly.

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Ah yes, more information would be helpful. Around the week of Christmas and NYE I will be flying to London, not for a cruise. Probably Gatwick airport. I am hoping to use Virgin Atlantic because I have about 2k points with them. ( I doubt those points will go very far) i flew them once before to Gatwick in Premium Economy, my seat was in the "Bubble". It was ok. I just get antsy on long flights and i cannot sleep on planes. In May/ 18 I will be on NCL Epic and need to fly to Barcelona. I have been told that NCL's cruise/fly is not very good. When i cruise on Princess I use their cruise.fly plan and it is very reasonable. i live in Nevada so f i am going out of Los Angeles I use Southwest.

Thanks to everyone who has already responded.

Diana

 

2,000 points will get you nothing. If you want to fly non-stop you have would be Virgin, British Airways and Norwegian has weekly flights from LAS.

 

I am not even sure if Virgin and British offer true first class on flights from LAS. They do from LAX along with other U.S. airlines like American and even Air New Zealand.

 

A business class ticket will usually be 3x the amount of economy if not more, and even more for first class. Premium economy can be usually around 50% or double the price of economy.

 

One way to get more leg room is to pay more for an exit room seat.

 

You should also check out Norwegian airlines, they have a premium product that is decent and much cheaper than any other airline's business class product.

 

There is no special way to get cheap Business Class or First Class seats unless you have tens of thousands of frequent flyer points to use. You just need to decide how much more you are willing spend for more comfort.

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Em-sk....go back and read the words of your post. You wrote: " For example Lufthansa and Air Canada points can be credited to your United program."

 

I believe (and am guessing) that you were trying to say "you can fly one airline and have the miles credited to a partner program." If so, I concur.

 

...

 

My comments was probably ambiguous. if you read it that way, than others like also did the same.

 

Yes, once you chose the program where the miles will go into it is almost imposable to move them to another program.

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There is something to be said for this perspective. Connections are a source of problems and delays both due to aircraft and airports.

 

 

 

Per a recommendation from this group I check on. Norwegian premium flex is @ $900. Compared to 10k on Delta. NAL has had good reviews. Check it out. Thanks!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Per a recommendation from this group I check on. Norwegian premium flex is @ $900. Compared to 10k on Delta. NAL has had good reviews. Check it out. Thanks!

 

Well, for someone who started out talking about business vs first class, this is a surprise. I sure hope you know what you are getting on Norwegian in their "premium" product. To compare it to DL business class, or other international business or first is most assuredly a stretch.

 

Caveat emptor.

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Per a recommendation from this group I check on. Norwegian premium flex

 

Just realize that this will be nothing at all like the business class or international first class that you first asked about. Norwegian premium is more like premium economy. Nothing wrong with that, but it's a far cry from what you were first talking about.

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Also, you state you are flying around Christmas. Just be aware that Norwegian has no interline agreement with any other airline, and they have a limited flight schedule.

This means if there's a problem with your flight, due to weather, mechanical or something else, Norwegian won't pay to place you on another airline.

You'll have to wait for an open seat on one of their flights, and at that time of year, it could be a long wait.

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Also, you state you are flying around Christmas. Just be aware that Norwegian has no interline agreement with any other airline, and they have a limited flight schedule.

This means if there's a problem with your flight, due to weather, mechanical or something else, Norwegian won't pay to place you on another airline.

You'll have to wait for an open seat on one of their flights, and at that time of year, it could be a long wait.

 

 

 

These are all good points for me to think about. Thank you all.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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For your London flight, consider an airline that has a daytime flight. You could book LAS-IAD-LHR on UA. Fly the LAS-IAD leg the day before, and take UA #122 the next morning for IAD-LHR. This flight leaves at 8:30 am and arrives at 8:55 pm. It's just a little over seven hours. For me, this is much easier than taking a red eye, arriving at the crack of dawn and having to wait hours to check into your hotel.

 

You have to pay for a hotel at Dulles, but you can do this fairly cheaply.

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For your London flight, consider an airline that has a daytime flight. You could book LAS-IAD-LHR on UA. Fly the LAS-IAD leg the day before, and take UA #122 the next morning for IAD-LHR. This flight leaves at 8:30 am and arrives at 8:55 pm. It's just a little over seven hours. For me, this is much easier than taking a red eye, arriving at the crack of dawn and having to wait hours to check into your hotel.

 

You have to pay for a hotel at Dulles, but you can do this fairly cheaply.

 

We did that UA daytime flight recently and I agree it was much better than a redeye. We had a long wait at Customs at LHR, and because we had a 6 AM flight to get to IAD we were pretty tired by the time we got to our hotel, but it definitely was an easier flight and time adjustment.

 

And because we didn't really need to sleep on the flight, we just booked the premium economy bulkhead seats and were fine with those.

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For your London flight, consider an airline that has a daytime flight. You could book LAS-IAD-LHR on UA. Fly the LAS-IAD leg the day before, and take UA #122 the next morning for IAD-LHR. This flight leaves at 8:30 am and arrives at 8:55 pm. It's just a little over seven hours. For me, this is much easier than taking a red eye, arriving at the crack of dawn and having to wait hours to check into your hotel.

 

You have to pay for a hotel at Dulles, but you can do this fairly cheaply.

 

 

 

That is an interesting idea.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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There are morning flights to London (only city served with these flights) departing from Dulles, JFK, Newark, Chicago and Boston. Book a Priceline hotel at Heathrow (I've never paid more than $100 for a 4-star like the Sheraton Skyline, Marriott etc.) and sleep in a real bed. It really helps with jetlag, too.

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