Amex PTS & Companion/Upgrade offer

Just in process of planning a big trip to the Singapore GP next year. Planning on flying EK A380 F LHR-DXB and stopping over at the Burj a couple of nights then B777 F DXB-SIN stopping at Raffles with Paddock Club hospitality for the race days.

Flights should be out for dates we require in next few days (we are flexible on flight dates as long as we are in SIN for the GP) and we want to book asap as likely to be busy around these dates (and only 8 seats in F on B777).

Have contacted PTS as wished to get a quote for either their upgrade or companion fare on Emirates and also get the FHR benefits for the hotels too. They are going to get back to me in a few days as they need to get confirmation that the Emirates offer will be around for 2012 (no reason to think not) however they seem keen to get me to book an entire package inc flights, hotels and GP tickets through ITC but I was hoping to save a considerable amount of money with the Emirates flight offer once they can confirm this is still available and flights are released. Has anyone experience of booking flights through AmEx/Emirates this way and are there black out dates or limits on availabity etc? J is coming out all ball park £5k for 2 of us but F is £10k so should be a huge saving if it works.

Thanks in advance.

I have used, booked and stayed at raffles using pts to book it and it was an excellent choice, their service was excellent.
however i have found trying to book other holidays thru pts very expensive and way cheaper booking direct or way way cheaper thru expedia which would give you all the benefits anyway at a lower price.
Its hit or miss on whether the deal is right for you on the day.
I always give them a chance to quote just in the off chance.

Flights with ek from pts were pretty good in F and often quoted £3800 in total for 2 pax to dxb from lgw, so i dont see why you wouldnt get a deal flying thru to sin, would love to know how much your quotes are.
I book BA on this route as its always cheaper with MFU, however the reason i always ask pts is because they may have available the a380 from lhr which would sway me to try it, but so far in 2 years never had the dates available.

cheers

alex

In February this year, having booked months earlier, I flew EK J class LHR-KUL and on the return SIN-LHR, via DXB (for transit stops) each way. The mission I gave PTS was to secure flights so that we flew A380 ex LHR and returned back to LGW (as live close to LGW). We were flexible on dates +/- a week or so. PTS came up trumps with dates that were ideal. From memory we saved over £2K utilising the companion offer compared to the identical flights through Expedia.

I knew exactly which hotels we wanted to stay in, eg Mandarin Orientals in KL & Singapore and also booked those through PTS. We received the room upgrades as expected as well as nice welcome touches. Here are links to our outbound and inbound trip reports - enjoy

Thanks
James

Paddock Club hospitality for the race days.

Not sure why you're going all the way to SIN just to have one of the worst views of the race? Hospitality folk are usually more interested in networking and chit-chat than the spectacular event going on. Also, the cars will be flying past at 160+ mph. You'd be best off getting yourself out on the circuit on one of the slow corners, as close to the action as possible.

Many thanks for the info on PTS Alex and James. Seems that I ideally need to factor in some flexibility to benefit from the upgrade or companion offer. I will go back to them now as originally I only gave them set dates as these were my preferred dates but if the price is right and I can get the A380 on at least one of the legs then we can be flexible.

James, I read your trip report which is what actually prompted me to contact PTS as I had forgotten about the Emirates benefit.

Will update on how I get on and prices etc.

Clarkey - thanks for the info. It's difficult to get info on what's included in the various hospitality packages and what the track views etc are like. I did however realise that the Paddock Club was likely to be full of corporates etc rather than F1 fans - I'm a total fan (not DH) so the racing view is very important but this is also a complete bucket list trip so do want to be spoiled and pampered.

Originally I thought that being over the pit garages and therefore views of the garages, pit lane and start/finish straight at pretty close proximity would be very good plus liked the idea of pit lane access each day etc. They do however have other hospitality suites available (sky and club suites or green room) at turn 1, turn 3 and turns 7/8/stamford - would one of these provide better viewing?

We were at Monaco this year and had a hospitality suite on the Loews (Fairmont) hairpin at the Fairmont Hotel which was fanstatic as view was close up, at a slow corner and great service, food, wine and comfort etc. Any other recomendations gratefully received!

Thanks again

Michelle

Michelle - whilst the pit straight has it's advantages (you can see pit stops and the cars line up on the grid at the start), it's major disadvantage is that during the race you'll just see the cars whizz past flat-out.

Turn 3 would be a good place to watch, they'll be very bunched up there just after the start and there has been some good racing at that spot. It's also where the pit exit is so you'll see the cars heading back on to the track after the stops.

Turn 7 is where most of the overtaking happens, it was the end of the DRS zone this season (Lewis Hamilton hit Massa there, and Webber the year before).

You're pretty much guaranteed action if you can see those corners.

My only overseas GP so far has been China 2010, which was amazing. We bought tickets when we arrived in Shanghai because it wasn't sold out, and saved ourselves £££ in admin fees charged to foreign buyers.

Fully understand the bucket-list trip, sounds amazing and I'm very jealous as Singapore is on my 'to do list' as well!