Wisest way to use points to U.S.A.?

We will be flying to the U.S.A. in late October 2008 to catch a cruise from San Diego. Which route outward and method of payment (M+M / Reward/ Upgrade ) would the more experienced of you choose, taking into account that MAN is our nearest airport ( 25 miles )The cruise returns to Fort Lauderdale so MCO would be the favourite from there unless flying with a partner airline.We have enough miles for a round trip in U.C.S.but as there are only 14 suites[?] on the LGW/MAN aircraft what would be the likelihood of getting these as Reward seats? We would also use up most of the F.C.miles doing a Reward in U.C.S. I have seen many different suggestions regarding similar situations. What would you suggest?






Thread moved to Flying Club forum by mod...............Nick
{edit by Bazz to add a "?" to the subject header}

[Nottingham Nick]

Personally, if you have enough points, I would go for UC LHR - LAX, then back on the MIA - LHR route.

You get the advantages of the LHR Clubhouse, an LHR plane and MIA is a lot closer to Lauderdale than MCO is when you sail back in.

Booking this far out, you may be lucky with availability too. I don't think there is much UC reward availability on the MAN-MCO flights at the best of times.

Nick

[Scrooge]

First of all..you lucky bugger..doing a Panama canal cruise [oo] which line?

Just to echo what Nick has said, forget MCO, it is a non-starter, if you are lucky you may be able to get a UC reward return, thats just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. You then have the issue of getting from MCO to SAN which is going to add at least another 9 hours to your trip, not good.

My advice, go from LHR to LAX, fly out the day before the cruise, stay in a hotel for the night, relax and unwind.

Do a one way car rental from LAX - SAN, drive down the coast, drop the car off and jump on the ship. Return from MIA - LHR, talk to the cruise line, they should be able to sell you a transfer from Ft Lauderdale port to MIA, if not then it is only about a 20 min cab ride.

Actually on that thought...talk to the cruise line, they may well have transfers set up from LAX to the ship. DO NOT buy transfers from SAN to the ship, it is a 5 min cab ride.

Thanks Nick and Scrooge for your replies to my questions re next year's trip.
Lucky bugger sums it up,Scrooge.We did California to Alaska and Canada last May. Brilliant and now we have the "cruise bug"
I also rang Flying Club to see what they could suggest. After the initial mix-up between San Diego and Santiago,Chile,SFO was mentioned along with LAX and MIA. I questioned doing a Reward flight from MAN with British Midland and returning with Virgin but this would have involved using "round trip" mileage for a single trip with BMI and the VS mileage for the return - expensive!
I still have some time before I can book so I will give some thought to the possibilities of which route - I still feel the draw towards the Clubhouse if we go Upper Class.

[Darren Wheeler]

Originally posted by albertlord
After the initial mix-up between San Diego and Santiago,Chile

That's worrying.[:0] Only 5500 miles between them. Perhaps that will be the new destination? [:I]

When putting my Q's to F.C. agent, I thought that I heard the word "Chile". My reaction was " It's not going to be one of those conversations,is it?" Perhaps it was my Lancashire accent so I refined this to just a more intelligent and more easily understood grunt. I then stressed that I did not wish to go to South America!What followed was a most pleasant and helpful conversation with the agent who gave me her extension number to contact her in due course.No comments! My first real experience of F.C. - everything fine eventually.

Sorry Scrooge
Forgot to mention the cruise line - It's Celebrity Cruises sailing on the Infiniti. Excellent ships - "Millenium"class. Parent company is Royal Caribbean

Deffo LHR-LAX and then MIA to LHR using miles. OK a bit of a journey to and from LHR, BUT decent clubhouse on the way out and no MCO to contend with (I HATE MCO. Loathsome place...). MIA is much, much closer to Fort Lauderdale than MCO and a great place to stay for a few (well OK, quite a few) nights in. The other benefit of flying back to LHR is Revivals.