The Deal

Book flights from the West Coast, US to Hong Kong for as low as $548 from August 31 to October 25, 2014:

• San Diego-SAN: $548
  
• Las Vegas-LAS: $562
  
• Seattle-SEA: $657
• Portland-PDX: $567
  
• Sacramento-SMF: $742
• San Francisco-SFO: $548 — this is one of the few non-stops
  

While the tickets are technically issued by Malaysia Airlines, there’s no need to worry because all of the flights are code-shared and operated by Cathay Pacific.

Most of the flights are operated by their Boeing 777-300ER:

Overall, the availability is still pretty awesome with dates between August 31 to October 25, 2014:

Sample availability from SFO-HKG

How to Get It

Not all ticketing agencies have this fare available; The Flight Deal recommends using CheapTickets.com for booking. I have confirmed the fare availability on their site.

1. Head to CheapTickets.com, search for your desired dates and city pairs, searching for +/- 3 days can help display availability
2. Click to book, you’ll have a ~34 hour free cancellation window: “Book worry-free! Purchase now to lock in the price and cancel for FREE before 11:00 PM ET tomorrow.”
3. You’re all set!

BOTTOM LINE: This amazing fare offers a discount of around 50% off for travel to Hong Kong. Jump on it before it’s gone!

The post Blitz Deal: Starting at $548 Roundtrip: San Francisco / San Diego / Portland / Seattle / Las Vegas – Hong Kong first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

• Top 7: Longest domestic US flights
• Top 10: Longest Domestic Flights in the World
• Top 10: World’s longest non-stop flights
• Top 12: Longest Non-Stop Delta Flights in the World

Why Do I Care About Fifth Freedom Routes?

Simply put, fifth freedom routes are cool. They’re unique and unusual. It’s the whole idea of how small and interconnected the world is that I find the coolest. Real quick, the fifth freedom right of the sky is what enables United and Delta Airlines to fly many routes from Tokyo-NRT to a whole host of Asian cities. It allows (allowed?) Emirates Airlines, a Dubai-based carrier, to fly revenue passengers between New York-JFK and Milan, Italy-MXP, two foreign countries–this flight is on the chopping block now, it might be cancelled by Italian officials. There are other examples (many of which will come in a later post), but here are a few:  Delta flies direct from Amsterdam-AMS to Mumbai-BOM and Air China flies from Madrid-MAD to São Paulo-GRU.

Top 15 Longest Fifth Freedom Flights in the World

Update 4/21: Reader sierra3tango pointed out I missed Air New Zealand’s LHR-LAX flight, it has been added as #9. Some interesting things to watch out for:

• Boeing 777-300ER is a very popular choice for these long routes, making an appearance on the list 10 times.
• It’s interesting that some routes (#7 and #10) were tied. This means that 3 governments had to approve the route twice and were OK with even more competition to their national carriers.
• Singapore Airlines makes the list 5 times, proving just how difficult it is to reach Singapore from the Western Hemisphere.

1. The longest 5th Freedom flight currently operated in the world is New York-JFK to Osaka-KIX on China Airlines. The flight is scheduled to take 14 hrs 20 mins on a Boeing 747-400 flying westward over the Pacific and covers 6,946 miles (11,178 km). From Osaka, CI Flight #19 (CAL19) continues onward to Taipei, Taiwan-TPE. The total journey from JFK to Taipei-TPE takes 18 hr 40 mins.
2. Singapore Airlines‘ San Franciso-SFO to Hong Kong-HKG flight comes in at a close second with 6,927 miles (11,148 km) and is technically scheduled to take appx the exact same time as #1: 14 hr 20 mins. SQ #1 (SIA1) is flown on a Boeing 777-300ER and from HKG continues onward to Singapore-SIN for a total journey time of 19 hr 30 mins.
3. This seems to be one of the more obscure or unusual routes: São Paulo-GRU to Los Angeles-LAX flown by Korean Air. Operated on a Boeing 777-300ER, KE Flight #62 (KAL62) makes the 6,156 mile (9,907 km) journey in 12 hr 30 mins. From Los Angeles-LAX, the flight continues onward to Korean Air’s hub in Seoul-ICN. Including the 2 hr 00 min stop at LAX, the entire journey from São Paulo-GRU to Seoul-ICN takes a crazy 27 hr 40 mins!
4. Thai Airways’ one-and-only U.S. destination is Los Angeles-LAX, with a flight going to Seoul-ICN. TG Flight #693 (THA693) covers a distance of 5,994 miles (9,646 km) in 12 hr 35 mins on Thai’s Boeing 777-200. Naturally, the flight continues onward to Bangkok-BKK with a total journey time of 19 hr 50 mins.
5. Breaking up the streak of US cities is EVA Air‘s route from Bangkok-BKK to London-LHR, coming in at 5,958 miles (9,588 km). The 5th longest Fifth Freedom flight in the world takes 12 hr 25 mins on a Boeing 777-300ER. BR Flight #67 (EVA67) originates at the EVA Air hub in Taipei-TPE for a total flight time of 17 hr 15 mins from TPE to LHR, with the 1 hr 15 min stop in BKK.
6. Singapore Airlines Flight# SQ 62 (SIA62) carries passengers from Moscow-DME to Houston-IAH in 12 hr 15 mins. The 5,936 mile (9,553 km) flight is operated on a Boeing 777-300ER. The flight originates in Singapore-SIN and total flying time from Singapore-SIN to Houston-IAH, including the 1 hr 30 min stop in Moscow, takes right at a full day of your life: 24 hr 25 mins.
7. The Fifth Freedom flight between Bangkok-BKK and Amsterdam-AMS is a tie between China Airlines and EVA Air, both headquartered in Taiwan. At 12 hr 25 mins, technically the China Airlines route is “longer” but only because they’re slower, so not really a win there. EVA Air flies the 5,727 mile (9,217 km) route in 11 hr 55 mins on a Boeing 777-300ER (Flight# BR 75 or EVA75). China Airlines Flight # CI 65 (CAL65) uses a A340-300, which adds about half an hour. Both flights originate in Taipei-TPE. (7½) Update 4/21: We’re calling this one 7½ because reader laxjaydub pointed out that it’s not technically a 5th Freedom flight because French Polynesia is a territory of France.Next up is a flight from Paris-CDG to Los Angeles-LAX, covering a distance of 5,670 miles (9,125 km) in 12 hr 00 mins. The flight, TN Flight #7 or THT7, is operated by Air Tahiti Nui and flown on an Airbus A340-300. After a brief 1 hr 49 min stop at LAX, the Airbus continues onward to Papeete-PPT for a total travel time of 22 hr 25 mins. I’msure it’s well worth the trip!  Cool fact: I’ve added the orange route on the map to show what a non-stop flight from Paris-CDG to Papeete-PPT would look like. Direct distance = 9,765 miles, distance with a stop at LAX = 9,765–it doesn’t get more perfectly on the way than that!
8. Up for a 3rd time, Singapore Airlines‘ flight from San Francisco-SFO to Seoul-ICN has a scheduled flying time of 12 hr 25 mins and a distance of 5,658 miles (9,106 km). A Boeing 777-300ER is used for flight SQ #15 (SIA15) and takes a total of 19 hr 40 mins from SFO to Singapore-SIN.
9. Air New Zealand makes an appearance with their 11 hr 30 mins flight from London-LHR to Los Angeles-LAX on a, you guessed it, Boeing 777-300ER. The 5,456 mile (8,781 km) flight continues onward from LAX to Auckland-AKL for the (slightly longer) 13 hr 00 min segment. In total, NZ #1 (ANZ1) from LHR to AKL will have you seated for 26 hr 30 mins, including the 2 hr 00 min stop at LAX.
10. Tied for 10th place, we have Malaysian Airlines and Singapore Airlines from Los Angeles-LAX to Tokyo-NRT. Interestingly, both flights have identical scheduled flight times of 11 hr 30 mins and cover a distanced of 5,451 miles (8,773 km). Singapore’s flight SQ #11 (SIA11) is flown on an Airbus A380 whereas Malaysian’s flight MH #93 (MAS93) uses a Boeing 777-200. MH #93 continues onward to Kuala Lumpur-KUL for a total travel time of 20 hr 45 mins. SQ #11 makes it from LAX to Singapore-SIN in a total of 20 hr 15 mins.Cool fact: This is another route with a stop that is perfectly on the main flight path. Total distance LAX-KUL direct = 8,808 miles vs 8,808 miles with a stop at NRT.
11. Making it’s 5th (and final) appearance in this top list is Singapore Airline’s 5,432 miles (8,742 km) flight from Barcelona-BCN to São Paulo-GRU. SQ #68 (SIA68) uses a Boeing 777-300ER on the 11 hr 10 min flight. This is a painfully long flight time as well: Singapore-SIN to São Paulo-GRU with a 1 hr 20 min stop in Barcelona takes a whopping 26 hours!
12. EVA Air flies a route from Bangkok-BKK to Vienna-VIE on an Airbus A330-200. The trip takes 11 hr 10 min, covering a distance of 5,256 miles (8,459 km). To fly the entire Taipei-TPE–>Bangkok-BKK–>Vienna-VIE flight takes 16 hr 00 mins– not too bad. Interestingly, this is far from the quickest option if going from Taipei to Vienna: China Airlines has a 12 hr 30 min non-stop flight; Air China and Korean Air can also get you there in under 16 hrs.
13. This is another that seems more exotic to me: Air China’s 5,192 miles (8,356 km) flight from Madrid-MAD to São Paulo-GRU. The 11 hr 10 min route (CA #907 or CCA907) is aboard an Airbus A330. Originating in Beijing-PEK, the total flight time to São Paulo-GRU via a 2 hr 10 min stop in Madrid-MAD is 25 hr 40 mins. Interesting fact: This is a highly competitive route. There are already 4 non-stop flights, making the Air China route the 5th to join the party.
14. Update 4/21: This one might also be downgraded to a half-step, 13½, as reader 2travel2know2 points out that the Cook Islands are essentially a part of New Zealand. It sounds like this one could be argued either way so I’ll leave it as is until I hear a more convincing argument.Despite once being a large US World War II base in the Pacific, the only carrier with direct flights from the Cook Islands to the US is New Zealand-based Air New Zealand. The route from Los Angeles-LAX to Rarotonga-RAR takes 10 hr 00 min, covering a distance of 4,670 miles (7,516 km) on a Boeing 767-300. This route isn’t just an operational stop though, Air New Zealand has 2x non-stop flights daily from LAX to Auckland-AKL that take 13 hr 00 mins total, whereas the LAX to Rarotonga-RAR to Auckland-AKL flight takes 15 hr 45 mins.
15. Finally, at #15, we have our first Emirates Fifth Freedom flight from Sydney-SYD to Bangkok-BKK on an Boeing 777-300ER. The flight duration is 9 hr 25 mins over 4,662 miles (7,503 km). Emirates Flight EK #419 (UAE419) is actually a series of Fifth Freedom Flights: Christchurch-CHC –> Sydney-SYD, Sydney-SYD –> Bangkok-BKK and then Bangkok-BKK –> Dubai-DXB. If you ever flew this full, lengthy route, you’d be looking at a total travel time of 21 hr 50 mins.

The post Top 15: Longest Fifth Freedom Flights in the World first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Ok, so I picked an easy one for our 1^st installment: Thailand.

Thailand can be an awesome honeymoon pick for a few reasons:

1. It is home to some of the most exotic beaches and landscape in the world.
   Gallery from our trip in 2011:
   
2. You can split your time between beaches and exploring bustling Bangkok or Chiang Mai in the interior. You’ll get a good mix of beach, city and tranquil mountains.
   Gallery from our trip in 2011:
   
3. Situated in central Asia, it’s easy to  use Delta miles and do a stopover in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, Guangzhou, Taipei, or Kuala Lumpur.
4. Bangkok is a relatively cheap hub to fly into/out of.

How to Get There

Pay for Airfare

From the East Coast, this will ding you for around $1,300 to $1,700 in economy, but who wants to fly economy–especially if you’re on a honeymoon?! Departing from the West Coast should shave a few hundred off those figures.

Use Delta Skymiles

If you have at least 80k Delta Skymiles (or American Express Membership Rewards points), you can book a roundtrip ticket from North American to Thailand in economy. Booking in business will cost you 120k Skymiles and is absolutely worth the upgrade in my opinion – but, when taking into consideration you’re booking for two people, 160k Skymiles might already be a stretch so 240k for Business might be simply out of reach.

Benefits of using Delta Skymiles to consider when researching:

Booking a Delta award ticket allows you to have 1 stopover and 1 open jaw for free! This could dramatically increase the price of an out-of-pocket-cash-paid ticket, so you should absolutely plan to take advantage of it. This means your final itinerary could look something like:

Day 1: Fly New York-JFK to Shanghai-PVG on China Eastern
Day 2-4: Stopover in Shanghai
Day 5: Fly Shanghai-PVG to Bangkok-BKK on China Eastern
Day 5-7: Explore Bangkok
Day 7: Transit to Phuket on your own terms: pay for a flight, take the train, rent a car etc…
Day 7-9: Explore Phuket and nice resorts
Day 10: Fly Phuket-HKT to Kuala Lumpur-KUL and then Kuala Lumpur-KUL to Los Angeles-LAX on Malaysia Airlines and then connect to a Delta flight onward back to New York-JFK.

This example itinerary makes use of the stopover (in Shanghai) and then the open jaw (flying into Bangkok and then out of Phuket). This is how you can really maximize your Skymiles when award booking.

Using Delta miles on Delta

Getting to Thailand is a P.I.T.A. from the East Coast on Delta aircraft… I mean, the most efficient route that Delta offers is Atlanta (ATL)/New York (JFK) –> Tokyo (NRT) (both about 14-15 hour flights) and then Tokyo (NRT) -> Bangkok (BKK), a 7.5 hour flight.

Cities to Tokyo-NRT on Delta:

• New York-JFK
• Detroit-DTW
• Minneapolis St. Paul-MSP
• Los Angeles-LAX (1x a day to Tokyo-NRT and 1x a day to Tokyo-HND) 
• San Francisco-SFO
• Portland-PDX
• Seattle/Tacoma-SEA (1x a day to Tokyo-NRT and 1x a day to Tokyo-HND)
• Honolulu-HNL

As with any Delta flight, you’ll want to methodically search the most constrained segments first – this is typically the longest flight of your trip. In this case, I would suggest searching how to get from any Delta city in the US to Tokyo-NRT and then worry about how you’ll get to the hub later. You really want to know the availability of the weakest link in these scenarios.

Taking August as sample dates, I’m finding excellent availability on the JFK-NRT route:

I hone in on departing on Sunday August 6th and returning on Monday August 14th. The trip will require 70k SkyMiles in coach per person.

Now that you have the most constrained, longest leg selected as available, it’s time to search for the Tokyo-Bangkok route:

Using Delta miles on Korean Air flights

Korean Air will give you a plethora of choices to get from the US to Seoul-ICN and then you can easily connect to Bangkok-BKK.

Cities to Seoul-ICN on Korea Air

• Atlanta-ATL
• Chicago-ORD
• Dallas-Ft. Worth-DFW
• Honolulu-HNL
• Las Vegas-LAS
• Los Angeles-LAX
• Miami-MIA
• New York-JFK
• San Francisco-SFO
• Seattle-SEA
• Washington-IAD

Again, it’s all about the methodical search. I was able to piece this itinerary together on Delta.com for 120k miles in Business Class:

Korean Air offers a few direct flights from ICN-BKK daily:

The final step would be finding low-level Delta award space to position myself from Anywhere, USA to San Francisco-SFO (or the Korean Air city you found departing the US).

Using Delta miles on China Southern Airlines

China Southern’s only flight to the US is its Los Angeles-LAX to Guangzhou-CAN route.

Here’s some example availability of the route:

Ignore the First Class availability, you won’t be sitting up in the very front with Delta Skymiles…

From there, you can easily find availability on the Guangzhou-CAN to Bangkok-BKK route with 5 scheduled flights daily.

The coolest thing about flying China Southern from LAX to CAN? It’ll be on its new Airbus A380:

Business Class on the A380 (source)

Business Class on the A380 (source)

Unfortuately, you can’t book China Southern flights on Delta.com. To find award space, your best best is using the tool at Wandering Aramean Travel Tool – on this site, you should find segments with award seats available and call Delta to book. Adam from Pointmetotheplane.com offers a excellent tip here:

Important – several of the Delta agents saw no availability when searching for business class awards on LAX-CAN, I had to instruct them to manually request the space from China Southern, make sure they do this. If they don’t know how or refuse to, hang up and call back for another agent.  You can add your domestic positioning flights once you confirm the China Southern flights.  Low level business should price at 120,000 SkyMiles while low level economy is 80,000 SkyMiles.

Using Delta miles on China Airlines

China Airlines serves the following cities from their main hub in Taipei-TPE:

• Honolulu-HNL
• Los Angeles-LAX – 2x flights per day
• New York-JFK – 2x flights per day
• San Francisco-SFO

Finding award availability on China Airlines is tougher than most and its not bookable on Delta.com. To find award seats you’ll have to signup for an account at Expert Flyer and start searching dates. I found 7+ seats available in economy on most flights but very little availability in business.

Looks like I hit a gold mine on this one, flight CI 2007 operates only on Sundays and has 7+ seats in economy & 7+ seats in business! Jump on this is you need it

Hint: Use booking code “O” to search for China Airlines business class award availability on Expert Flyer

Once you’ve found flights with availability, you’ll need to call Delta to book and expect to pay a $25 phone booking fee. Make sure to have very detailed info on the flights you want i.e. dates, cities and flight numbers so you can spell out exactly what you want. And, similar to the China Southern issues outlined above, you might have to ask the Delta rep to manually request space from China Airlines.

Using Delta miles on China Eastern

China Eastern serves the following cities from their main hub in Shanghai-PVG, pretty much identical to China Airlines’ routes above:

• Honolulu-HNL
• Los Angeles-LAX
• New York-JFK
• San Francisco-SFO

To find award availability, you’ll need to use ExpertFlyer (a paid service), I found 4+ seats in business and 9+ seats in economy available on this San Francisco-SFO to Shanghai-PVG route in September 2013:

Or Wandering Aramean Travel Tool award availability tool (a free service), which is again showing plenty of availability on the New York-JFK to Shanghai-PVG route:

Once you’ve found your legs, call Delta to book.

Using Delta Skymiles on Malaysia Airlines

***DISCLAIMER***: As of Feb 1, 2013 Malaysia Airlines officially joined the Oneworld Alliance (American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific etc…) and it’s uncertain how much longer the Delta/Skyteam agreements will be in effect.

The only route from mainland US is the Los Angeles-LAX to Kuala Lumpur-KUL route:

But the good news is that it offers a Kuala Lumpur-KUL to Bangkok-BKK and to Phuket-HKT:

Also, you can find ground transportation options from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket and southern Thailand if you want to stop in Kuala Lumpur and work your way up the Malaysian coast. More details on overnight trains from Kuala Lumpur to the Phuket/Krabi areas of Thailand here: Seat61.com.

You’ll need to use ExpertFlyer to find award availability, but the service can only search on economy class availability:

To find business class availability, you should create an account with Malaysia Airlines’ Enrich program (for free):

With you flights selected, you’ll want to try and call Delta to book with Skymiles. Again, there’s no telling when they’ll stop letting you book flights on Malaysia Airlines, so don’t necessarily count on this choice working.

The post Ultimate Honeymoon: Thailand with Delta Skymiles first appeared on Weekend Blitz.