International Business Class with SkyMilesI travel internationally occasionally and have finally caught on to the trend - buying rewards tickets is usually pretty easy. I use Delta Skymiles, but from my experience and talking to others you can pretty much always find some a ticket to Europe or Asia from the US as long as you are flexible on dates. Last February, though, I found something I hadn't seen before - a business-class ticket for 120k Skymiles (the base ticket is usually 60k). The schedule was way better with the business class ticket, though, so everything worked out and I went to Guangzhou, China in business class. The ticket was booked with NWA and american companies almost never have three fare classes, so business class was the best cabin on the plane. This was an amazing experience - my favorite part was the seats that almost laid flat (they didn't go quite all the way back but they were close). Needless to say I was excited when planning my next trip (which is coming up in August) for the business class upgrade, as was my co-worker I was traveling with. When I went to book my trip, though, I noticed that for an August trip there were pretty much no upgraded tickets available. Disappointed, I called the airline and was assured that while business class tickets are deeply discounted during the winter, this was very rare during the busy summer travel season. They did find one schedule that would have allowed for the upgrade, but it would have added eight hours to a 19-hour trip - no thank you. So if you are looking to purchase an upgraded international ticket with SkyMiles be aware that you need to book early and be traveling during an off-season. In addition you may be required to take a less-than-ideal schedule, but if you are going to a popular destination (particularly on a non-stop), you should be able to find something that works. |
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