JFK to Hanoi and Siem Reap to JFK
 

I need your indulgence. My son and SO would like to visit parts of Vietnam and Cambodia for about 12 days in late October.
He never seems to have the patience or time to figure these things out and I offered to help but I have no knowledge. I have read several posts about tour companies and itineraries, but am at a loss for flights.
I have only been to Bejing, China near this part of the world. My sense of geography is very bad. I am willing to work but I don't know if Siem Reap is even a very viable airport to try to fly to the US.
Is there an airport close to REP that may be more user friendly to return home?He would like to transfer miles from Amex. But you guys would know if that is even practical given the time lapse until October. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The closest airport to Siem Reap with good international connections is Bangkok.

Getting tickets with points or miles is a matter of high art or sheer luck. October is by no means high season in this part of the world, so who knows? He might be able to get tickets.

The best connection from JFK to Siem Reap is through Incheon (ICN - Seoul), via Korean Air (both legs). Easy airport, easy connection. The flights are also Delta codeshare. Note that the flights between ICN and REP operate only 4 days/wk. I have no idea how easy/difficult FF tickets might be, though I've heard nothing but discouraging info re: Delta.

I don't know whether it works for AmEx points, or for JFK, but we used United miles (can you transfer AmEx points to United?) and had no problem getting FF seats for March 2011 from San Francisco to Hanoi, through Seoul, and from Hong Kong back to SFO through Tokyo. We are flying from Siem Reap to Hong Kong on our own on Asia Air.

Oh, sorry, I meant to say that the flights we got are on Asiana and Air Nippon, not on United, even though we were using United miles.

He tells me he can use Delta or Continental. I tried to practice using their web pages to see if anything comes up but I get an error message.
Thank you for the suggestions. They want to go the latter part of October but are not fussy about the day only that they want to stay for 12 days. So the trip would actually have to be about 14 with the to and from, I think.

Continental and United are merging. If those Continental miles will convert now (they will soon in any case) he would have access to the whole Star Alliance group.

its best if you call both delta and continental directly....see if you can reserve the flights and then your son will probably have to call them to release the miles....they might not even talk to you at all....??

with delta you have to ask for a booking on korean....i used them recently with delta/northwest miles and it worked perfectly and i left from nyc also... i booked my seats 350 days in advance however...

I also did my booking by phone. Too many complications to book on-line.

Kathie typed: <i>Continental and United are merging. If those Continental miles will convert now ... he would have access to the whole Star Alliance group.</i>

Continental has been a member of Star Alliance since last year, and one has been able to use Continental miles for Star Alliance flights since last year. The merger w/United is not relevant (though if/when the merger occurs, mileage requirements may be different).

i'm sorry, i forgot i began my trip from dulles in DC, not nyc

You are right, of course, rizz, my error.

I always call and pay the extra for reward travel when I use miles but it is usually for trips to Europe.
I just thought maybe I could get an idea of availability on the internet and call so that I know about what I could get.
I don't know if they will give me the information. I have his Delta # and pin. I can ask nicely. I know they would be with Korean.

I don't have his Continental information. I recently booked a trip with miles on Continental into Krakow and out of Zagreb and it took the reservation agent about three minutes to come up with an itinerary. It was the easiest reward ticket I ever booked. Maybe if I strike out with Delta I can try Continental. But my initial look see tells me Korean Air is a very good bet from JFK.
Thanks again.

in my experience you rarely can see the partner airline availability on line.... you have to call for that....northwest had a special agent to help with those, but i don't think delta does..

rhkkmk is correct. delta and continental do not publish their partner award availability online.

do yourself a favor and call both airlines directly. you'll get a far more direct answer and save yourself a huge headache.

you will definitely have more luck redeeming award tickets to Asia on the Star Alliance network of airlines (via Continental miles.)

Asiana Airlines 5* is the way to go - best economy class in the air, IMHO, and Seoul Incheon is the perfect transit airport. Asiana is Airline of the Year 2010 (Skytrax) - you can't beat it. Next best is Korean Airlines 4*, but their service level is quite a bit less. As with Korean, I believe Asiana's service to REP is not daily. Both Korean and Asiana will supply you with a free day-use hotel room at ICN on your return flight provided you have more than an 8 hr transit. I book my Asiana flights with Vayama. I'm going myself again in Nov for the 4th time.

My opinion is that 12 days doesn't give you enough time for both - Hanoi airport is not the world's best, and REP is tiny. You'd be spending half your vacation in transit! I caution you in Hanoi to book a hotel and have them meet your flight - taxi scams at HAN are well known! I would leave Siem Reap for another trip.

Continental publishes <b>some</b> partner awards online, but definitely not all. One tool to check for more (but probably still not ALL) *A awards is the ANA Tool, though I believe you need to first sign up for its free Mileage Club:

https://aswbe-i.ana.co.jp/p_per/sky_...gin.do?LANG=en

rkkwan. I know the ANA tool trick but no dice for this itinerary.
Thanks
daawgon
It is twelve days on the ground not including transit. This is all the vacation time he has so it will have to do.
He plans to use an agent to book hotels.

The only partner award flights Continental publishes online for Asia are United flights and since the OP's son's destinations are not served by United, I thought calling made more sense.

Sher, how is the ANA tool "no dice"? If your son plans to use Continental miles, then ANA will provide a snack view of all Star Alliance flights available for reward redemption. Continental's inventory may not match up exactly, but it's usually a very good barometer.

On a side note, booking awards on Delta (via their SkyTeam partners) to Asia has been virtually impossible in my experience.