ilovesalchows

Be careful with Qatar, there are at least 3 people who have posted on FlyerTalk stating they were involuntarily downgraded on partner awards. Compensation ranged from nothing to $250. If you search "involuntary Qatar downgrades" you can find the posts.

I found some good Royal Air Maroc business awards from JFK for our river cruise next summer. Of course they only released one every day. Also, the only feasible way to book BA awards now is using Avios. The fees are much less. We booked our flights home from the Olympics and for a family of 4 it only ended up costing me $600 in fees. Plus they wanted less miles than Alaska Air did. I can move into Avios from Chase UR, and the stars aligned to have a bonus for that when I needed to book.

So strangely enough I have found better AS awards closer to the date. It used to be you would jump on them as soon as the calendar opened up. On our last trip in August I had booked Iceland Air 11 months in advance and then 2 months before some AA PE flights came up so I rebooked and save hundreds of dollars in fees. I think now that there are no penalties for changes people are speculatively booking the premium awards in advance. At least it seems that way form some of the chatter I see on Flyer Talk. Just keep checking. Be creative, if you can find an AA award from ORD in PE, but not from SEA, try looking as a multi-city from SEA-ORD and then ORD-VCE or whatever. Also - are you trying Trieste? You are not going to find any awards on AS. You can book to Frankfurt on Condor and buy a flight to Trieste. (You will be on your own if you miss this connection) Take the train to Venice instead. Stay at the NH Collection Murano and take the Alilaguna boat to the airport. Note: about a year ago the BA fees went up substantially on AS bookings. It used to be something you just cringed over, now they are not worth it. (Used to be $400 now are around $1000 for J)

I flew Singapore premium economy with my family in Nov 2019 out of LAX and returning into SEA. The food was much better than any other airline I've been on, I especially remember the noodle dishes for breakfast. It was comfortable enough, we had the center row of 4 seats. While not ULTRA long haul, our routes were pretty long. I think I slept the most I have ever slept on a plane. The key for us was to take the nighttime departure from LAX instead of the morning departure from SEA so we were tired and ready to sleep. Coming home we were so tired from the trip passing out in the seat was no problem. The entertainment system was very robust. (Although my then 8 year old son watched the same Avengers movie over and over and over again) Of course, it isn't anything as comfortable as business class, but you aren't going to find many airlines whose premium economy product is as good as theirs. I suggest you watch a lot of videos and see if it is worth the extra cash.

Update - We booked Avalon. I was able to take advantage of the $1250 per person airfare credit. I needed three cabins so using air miles gave us a huge savings. Now we wait, and hope 2025 isn't a drought year in the Rhine Valley!

It's not that big of a deal to take the train from Milan to Varenna. From there you can ferry around to the other towns. It's a regional train and it can't sell out. You can even drop your bags at luggage storage at the station in Milan and run over to see the Last Supper if you time it right. We did this all in August of 2022. And then we trained back to Milan after several nights in Varenna.

I realize it is apples and oranges, but I got a better deal on an AA award ticket a month out. It seems they did indeed release more inventory. I was originally booked on FinnAir with two stops and was able to rebook on AA PE with one stop. So just keep checking. I am so glad they backtracked off of charging to award ticket changes a few years ago!

Just make sure you leave at least a day or two before your trip. I just returned from Paris for the Olympics and we had train issues on 2 separate days. One was related to sabotage and the other was because a tree was down on one of the TGV lines. Trains are susceptible to the same sort of delays as planes.

We did this last summer, although we left the ship at 7am. We were the first ones off the ship, and hit Oia when it was completely empty. By the time we left Oia the streets were just starting to fill. We made it back to the cable car before noon and maybe waited 25 minutes? We went to an amazing restaurant down by the water before boarding the tender back.

Yes, airtrain is landside, then you go through security again. Then there is the issue of if the TSA will let you enter a terminal you don't hold a ticket for. You will then do it in reverse to get back to your departing terminal.

If you plan on getting into any lounge at JFK, figure it out now. Premium economy does not come with lounge access as far as I know. If you have enough time, you can check out the TWA hotel. Make sure you leave enough time to get back through security. You can even book a couple of hours in the pool over the tarmac. Definitely an experience!

To follow up, I reached out to Avalon and they referred me to a Travel Agent. To confirm with your experience, it seems I can book it at the reduced rate without airfare. I'm not ready to pull the trigger on this, we have another Europe trip this summer and I need to get past that one first. I can't wait, I love the "I just booked a fabulous trip" euphoria.

Excellent, will check directly with Avalon and report back. Thanks!

Hey Team, question for you. I am shopping around for a Basel-Amsterdam cruise next summer and I had decided on Avalon. Then they changed their pricing by adding the airfare promotions. I don't want their airfare, so they are no longer competitive price-wise with Ama, Emerald, etc. Do they ever price out the cabins without the air promotions? For instance, the cabin I was looking at was $2899 when I first started looking, but now they are adding "free air" but have raised the price $1000. I plan on using points for all or some of my family's flights, so this is not needed. (I would also never trust a 3rd party to book international flights for me, but that's another post) Thanks in advance for your tips. I have enjoyed reading through this thread, especially when people post pics! And it has confirmed my interest in Avalon above others.

Child passports are valid for 5 years. Once they are 16 they are valid for 10. My kids are on their 3rd passports.

Definitely order ahead if it is important to you in economy. Coming home to Pdx last time they had nothing to sell by the time they got midway through the economy cabin. Or better yet, buy in the terminal and bring your own food and snacks on.

They told us to keep them if we took them, so I am not sure if they were "used" or not.

They gave them out in Virgin Upper Class last week, SEA - LHR. Only one person I noticed changed into them. Luckily those bathrooms are pretty large. The did not give them out on BA yesterday in Business.

This is where FinnAir awards come in handy.

AS almost never gets those AA rewards flights in J. I don't see any available for those dates.

I am flying the old config in Upper Class in two weeks, SEA-LHR. I made sure to grab a seat in the A row for privacy. While not the best layout, for the 100k flying blue points it was a steal.

Not sure if you are flying with it, but alcohol is very expensive in Singapore.

Thanks! I'll look into it.

Good morning! (Or afternoon if you aren't in the western US) We are planning a Classic Rhine River cruise in summer 2025 and I see a Maginot Line excursion from Strasbourg on Avalon and Gate 1. Does anyone know if any of the other cruise lines offer this excursion? We are happy to pay extra. I do like the Avalon option, but since it's summer and two of the people in our group, my dad and my teen son, would really love a plunge pool. I was hoping Emerald or AmaWaterways offered a similar excursion. Avalon only has a whirlpool. Thanks in advance!

My family of 4 flew that same route in PE in November of 2019. It was as comfortable as a 17 hour flight can be without being in business. Not sure if the flight times are the same, but we chose the LAX departure instead of the Seattle flight because it left at night, meaning we would be tired enough to sleep. I think I got about 6 hours, which is great for me. We were in the middle 4 seats and it was fine since we are family and the kids were still small. Food was great and so was the service. I would say it was the best PE experience I've ever had, but still not anywhere near business with a lie-flat seat. (Not that you asked, but Condor was the worst PE) I suggest you watch videos on YouTube so you can see what it is really like.