Flight advice - re US West Coast, Christmas 2009

I'm after some hints and advice....

A group of us will be travelling to the US West Coast next December fr my mother in laws birthday. There is likely to be quite a few of us, but a core group of 6 or 8 of us.

We need to be in Las Vegas for the 4th January 2010 but were thinking that flying to perhaps San Francisco for Christmas would be a good idea spend a few days there, then go on to Vegas, via somewhere else? I've done LA and in no real rush to go back there.

The other thing, which is more important to me perhaps is I would love to use this as an opportunity to fly UC or at least PE. It is all for a special birthday and I'm after any advice for the best/cheapest way to book this. Myself and my wife have a good few miles between us and I have the usual AmEx rewards sitting in my account, but not sure what would be the best time to book (UC sale for next Christmas?). UC for us all will depend on costs, but PE would be the fallback as the rest of the party have onl flown economy before.

Any ideas/suggestions and info, greatly appreciated.

G.

We did a similar trip to the West Coast (L.A/ Vegas/San Francisco) for my brothers 40th back in August so I'll try and help as best I can (there were six of us travelling in our party).
Roughly how many miles do you have to use and how many companion/upgrade vouchers? Are you willing to use LAX as an entry/exit hub (usually greater reward availability)? Do you all need/want to be in the same cabin?
DL

Hi DL,

Thanks a lot for the quick reply. I'm open to the idea of a flight to LA if that works out much better for availability, I guess we could stop off for one night so those in the party who have never been can take a look around or just move on to San Francisco.

In terms of miles/rewards, I have ~150k and my wife has ~25k, I have 2 x econ>PE upgrades and 1 x companion reward.

G.

[Bazz]

Graham, LAX (currently) has two flights per day where SFO only has the one so availability may be better if you go out via LAX. You could try to use Virgin America (VX) for your internals, it won't earn you VS miles but the TRs have been pretty good.

Personally I would do UC on the inbound leg if you can, whether it be from SFO or LAS. SFO has the world renown Clubhouse (and the lovely Claire) and is worth a visit if schedule and bucks permit.

As you have a group travelling I would book in advance to ensure availability, if you leave things hoping for a sale it may break up your party.

Hope all goes well!

Barry.

There are a huge number of different variables for using some/all of what you've got but these will be dependent on what's available on a reward basis (particularly at a peak time ie Christmas).I like using L fares and then upgrading with miles to UC (as a G) or using the full mileage for a G, but the problem is often finding the elusive G (you can also use the companion voucher with an L fare providing there is T availability).You might consider buying a S class PE fare and using the companion voucher with this (you could then upgrade the person on the S fare to UC (G) if there's availability) but there has to be reward avaiability in PE as a U in order for the companion to travel.Using miles and then the upgrade vouchers are also an option but there has to be availabilty in economy (as a T) and then in PE (as a U) to do this.
To add to the variables it's sometimes a better deal to travel on a revenue fare (particularly as an S fare can cost twice as much as a K fare in PE).
Confused?? I drive Mr DL to distraction with my witterings of fare classes and different permetations of travel using miles/cash/ companion and upgrade vouchers.
When we travelled in August Mr DL, Dragonbaby and myself sat up the front whilst my 'careful' parents and brother chose to sit down the back (which meant they gained access to the CH and checked in with us).Funnily enough they upgraded to PE for the return trip from SFO.
As Bazz has said the SFO CH is lovely (particularly if the fabulous Claire is on duty) and I'd recommend using VX between LAS and SFO ,LAX and SFO (see my trip report).If you are looking to travel all together in the same cabin your opportunities on reward fares will be more limited than if you are simply purchasing revenue fares.
Just shout if you want any more advice.We're doing it all over again in June.
DL

DL,

This all sounds great - thank you. I'm getting tempted with the idea of PE outbound for us all to LAX, then internal to SFO with Virgin America and then get from SFO to LAS somehow then fly back either from LAS or SFO in UC, LAS would make more sense as we will be there, but the CH at SFO sounds worth returning there for.

Flights are not available yet for that time of year, so I will have to have a wait I guess to check some pricings and availability. When can I look for availability for then?

thanks a lot,
G.

you are very unlikely to get many G's back from LAS as it is one of the hardest routes to get availability.

You can do Virgin America SFO->LAS->SFO very easily

quote:Originally posted by GrahamN
DL,

This all sounds great - thank you. I'm getting tempted with the idea of PE outbound for us all to LAX, then internal to SFO with Virgin America and then get from SFO to LAS somehow then fly back either from LAS or SFO in UC, LAS would make more sense as we will be there, but the CH at SFO sounds worth returning there for.

Flights are not available yet for that time of year, so I will have to have a wait I guess to check some pricings and availability. When can I look for availability for then?



I think PE to LAS provided you're upstairs on the 744 and UC back from SFO or LAX is a great combo. Availability is released I think 336 days in advance of travel, so you may want to start planning on when to check. As others said, getting more than 1 (or is it zero) G's from LAS will be difficult. LAX is easier with 2 flights per day, SFO no unheard of at all!

Great trip to plan for, I recommend PE out and Y back with L fare and upgrade with miles for those who can or PE plus companion for others ...

When you've established the reward avaiability in each cabin for the dates you're looking at (by doing a dummy booking) and the cost of revenue fares you can decide how best to proceed.My advice is to start looking as soon as the flights become available.
No good to you I know, but there have been several dates for Jan 09 that have had availability for 3+Gs to/from LAS (possibly because of an aircraft change to a LHR config). As slink has said reward fares to/from LAS are like hens teeth whilst LAX has two flights a day (with bigger UC cabin, so greater award availability).
Keep us posted as to how the plan is formulating.
DL