Even if you’re not flying the routes covered below and on page 13, you can still use the information for itinerary planning, specifically to find connecting flights most likely to have upgrades available, flights with newer (and therefore better) seats, a free award seat—or perhaps all three.
Good Business Class Award Availability to Europe on Airberlin (oneworld Alliance)
New Business Class Seat Roll-out Update: At the beginning of this year, Airberlin introduced a flatbed Business Class seat in a 1-2-1 layout, equipped with a 15-inch monitor, and power and USB connections. As of now, Airberlin has installed the seat on five A330-200’s. Currently the A330-200s with the new seat are on Chicago and New York to Berlin and New York-Dusseldorf routes. (See link here to check for new seat route updates on Airberlin, and pay close attention to the flight numbers listed.)
A Business Class award ticket is ONLY 80,000 miles, compared to American at 100,000 and Delta soon to be at 125,000 (or 56% more). Award space can be requested online here.
You can get the Business Class seat for even less—for about the same number of miles (65,000) that most airlines charge for an economy award to Europe—by transferring Starwood Starpoints to Airberlin. With the 25% bonus, you have 80,000 miles.
You can get the Business Class seat for even less—for about the same number of miles (65,000) that most airlines charge for an economy award to Europe—by transferring Starwood Starpoints to Airberlin. With the 25% bonus, you have 80,000 miles.
Using Airberlin’s Route System: Berlin and Dusseldorf are the airline’s hubs and jumping-off points for flights to Egypt, Israel, Russia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Click here to explore Airberlin’s route map.
Airberlin’s domestic airline partner (to make a connection to its U.S. gateways) is American. Connecting-flights from all other U.S. cities cost 40,000 miles more.
Survey of Award Availability on Airberlin’s New Business Class
[table_opt style="gray-header" id="795 " width="" alignment="center" responsive="all" heading="thcenter" rows="tdcenter"]
Business and First Class Award Space Opportunity to Asia on Japan Airlines (oneworld Alliance)
New First and Business Class Seats from Chicago and Los Angeles: The newly refitted B777-300 seats are already offered on flights from New York, London, and Paris to Tokyo, and they will debut in November from Los Angeles and in January 2014 from Chicago. JAL’s new First Class Suite now has a wider bed (about 33-inches in the bed position) and a 23-inch monitor. The Business Class cabin has a new flat-bed seat. A Business Class award ticket from the U.S. costs 80,000 miles and First Class is ONLY 110,000 miles to Tokyo round-trip. See chart to the right for mileage-award inventory availability.
Getting JAL Miles: Transfer 65,000 Starpoints for Business Class (the same amount United charges for economy) or 90,000 miles for First Class (30,000 miles less than United charges for Business Class). In other words, you’re getting a Less-than-Free Upgrade (LFU).
Using JAL’s Route System: Tokyo is JAL’s hub and a good jumping-off point to Beijing, Delhi, Hong Kong, Taipei, and dozens of other cities. Click here for JAL’s route map.
JAL’s domestic airline partner (for connecting flights to JAL’s U.S. gateways) is American and the extra cost in miles varies because JAL’s partner awards are based on flight distance.
Survey of Award Availability on Japan Airlines New Premium Seats
[table_opt style="gray-header" id="796 " width="" alignment="center" responsive="all" heading="thcenter" rows="tdcenter"]