Thailand to Peru: Changing a trip destination a few weeks out
Last year, Courtney and I booked round-trip flights from Chicago to Thailand for an anniversary trip for next month. It was supposed to be our first trip without the kids in 2 years! We transferred 170k points to Air Canada Aeroplan from American Express and booked Business Class seats on Etihad’s A350 from Chicago - Abu Dhabi - Phuket. For the return trip, we transferred 180k points from American Express to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles for Business class seats on Finnair’s new A350 from Bangkok - Helsinki - Chicago. Thailand has been on our bucket list for years and were so excited to add a couple of airlines to our list as well, especially in these seats:
That was until we got an email from Finnair several months back informing us that they were suspending everyday service from Helsinki, and our 24.5 hour layover, that was going to give us a day to explore Helsinki, was turning into a 20-minute layover. Translation: the itinerary had to be changed or canceled.
I called Cathay Pacific customer service (when you book an award booking with a partner airline and have a concern, you contact Customer Service of the airline you booked the ticket through, not the airline you are flying.) After research from the agent, I was told there were no apparent options to keep the itinerary, but that the reservation would be escalated to confirm. A few weeks later, I received a phone call from Cathay Pacific customer service informing us that the only available option was to ask Japan Airlines (JAL) to accept a request for waitlisted availability to be opened up for Business seats from Bangkok - Tokyo - Chicago.
While we were awaiting word from Cathay Pacific on JAL’s decision, I searched for other options back from Thailand and was coming up empty. Nothing on the award availability side in Business (at least anything that this frugal traveler was willing to pay!) and the cash prices were a bit too much for my comfort. So, when we got word a few weeks later that JAL had denied our request, we went to the drawing board to figure out where we’d go instead.
As we always encourage you: follow the deal, not the destination. Although we would never go anywhere we have NO desire to go to, since our list of places we want to see in the world is so long, for most trips, we just follow the award availability. After a few hours of searching, the best business class availability we found were to the following spots:
Tahiti, Costa Rica, Peru, Chile, England and Jordan
After a bit of back and forth, Courtney and I landed on Peru! Despite some of the recent protests and harsh governmental response that has rocked the country after the ousting of their former president, all the reports we were reading were that things have calmed down considerably the last few months.
Why did we pick Peru? Here’s our main reasons why:
Weather: 80’s/90’s while we are there!
Blend of city-strolling and adventure-seeking: We’ll split our time between Lima and Cusco (+Amazon day trips.)
Similar time zone: We’ll never make a decision on a destination solely based on this, but all things considered, if we don’t have to fight jet lag, you won’t find any complaints from us!
A new continent: I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but we’ve never been to South America! I know, I know, don’t judge us. ;) This will make 5 out of 7 continents for us (Australia & Antarctica remain!)
Ability to use “orphaned” miles: In addition to the influx of Cathay Pacific and Air Canada miles that we just got from the two canceled itineraries for Thailand, we also have “orphaned” miles (a term used in the points/miles world to describe a large quantity of miles that are “stuck” with an airline from a past cancellation or sign-up bonus that has been tough to utilize) with Alaska and British Airways, which both had availability to/from Peru.
U.S. to Peru Flights
For our flights to Peru, we used 45k Alaska miles and $46 each to fly on LATAM’s updated B767 business class. An 8-hour flight in business class for only 45k miles is a STEAL, even with LATAM not being known for its exquisite hard product (planes/seats) or soft product (food/service). Also, it was only $12 more in taxes/fees to tack on the Lima - Cuzco segment to the New York - Lima itinerary, instead of close to $80 if we had purchased separately!
Peru to U.S. Flights
For our flights to Peru, we used 62k British Avios miles and $49 each to fly back in Latam Business Class (also on the B767). This was obviously more miles than our flights to Peru, but we had a surplus of British Airways Avios in our account and didn’t have enough Alaska miles to get the return flights as well. I always recommend depleting points you have in individual airline currencies, as much as possible, before you dip into your transferrable point currencies (i.e. Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, etc.)
We also booked a positioning round-trip flight from Indianapolis to New York City using our Companion certificate that we earned from our Delta Platinum card. We used the certificate and then downgraded to the no-annual-fee Delta Blue card immediately after! Sap out every ounce from a card and then let it go. :)
We’ll keep you posted in the coming weeks on our experience in LATAM business class, the current state of things in Peru, and what we loved about the trip. Stay tuned!
