JordanYVR

I'm trying to plan a trip to New Orleans (MSY) from YVR and qualify for E50K for next year at the same time. My wife and I plan to travel from Dec 26 to Jan 3 or 4, and want to stay for 5-6 nights (including NYE) in MSY and are willing to go anywhere else interesting along the way.

I currently have 44,096 AQM (and have met the AC minimums) and need 5,904 to hit E50K. I prefer P fares if the price is reasonable but so far have been struggling. This is the best I can find with a stop in San Diego:-

DEC 26 - YVR - DEN - MSY (UA)
JAN 1 - MSY - IAH - SAN (UA)
JAN 4 - SAN - SFO - YVR (UA)

https://www.google.ca/flights/#searc...=STAR_ALLIANCE

$2394 per person seems steep and I'd still need to MR the remaining miles in December. Does anyone have any other suggestions how to do this, preferably using AC after Jan 1? I'm out of eUps for next year and so it's either Flex or P at this point.

KenHamer

Huh?

Are you trying to earn status before December 31, 2015 so you will have status in 2016? If so, you'll need to fly that 5904 on or before December 31.

If you are planning on earning 50K status in 2016 for status through the end of 2017 (and early 2018) then you need to spend at least $6000 (before taxes and fees) with Air Canada, as well as flying 50K miles.

Spot planes

Save the MR money, get an American Express Platinum card instead. Similar benefit as E50K.

For MR you can get 1080 miles YVR-LAX for $240 Tango same day return Dec 7-12, any day. YVR-MSP is 2170 miles.

phbl

how much domestic and how much us and how much intl flying are you planning for 2016? is aeroplan really your best option? agreed with last post that buying an amex plat would be more efficient.

Lights_a_blur

You may be able to find a P fare that is YVR-LAX-EWR-MSY on UA. That would in the range of 6000 AQM. That is pretty much your only hope to qualify for 2016 with your schedule as you have laid it out.

JordanYVR

I'm trying to hit 50K before end of 2015 so that it is in effect for 2016. I expect my business travel to increase next year and so *G would be helpful. Most of my flying is on AC with the exception of this trip and a few other US ones.

The return trip from MSY was ideally to be on AC so that at least the return impacts 2016.


I don't think the $6000 AQD minimum will be a problem next year.

I'm not sure how I would search for that? All of the routings I've found appear to be in the same direction, i.e. YVR-DEN-MSY, YVR-IAH-MSY, YVR-ORD-MSY.

One option is to do a cheaper fare to MSY and then a same day turn YVR-SFO-SLC in P for $600 CAD, but that cost is comparable to a CC. The LAX turns sound good too if I can get closer to 5000 AQM en route to MSY.

flyquiet

Do a multi-city route. I thought of YVR-HNL-MSY (would connect in LAX or something), and you could stop in HNL for a bit. That's more miles than you need, but hey, HNL.

YOWgary

Get to LAX, then do a $100 hot lap LAX-ORD on United.

drvannostren

There was a good fare on UA recently, not sure what the dates were, you could route as SEA-EWR/IAD-MSY, but yea I'm not sure what the question really is.

flyquiet

I read two different questions (1) how to get 5904 AQM by Dec 31, and (2) how to get home to YVR from MSY in Jan 2016 in a way that earns AQD. My 2c is that those are separate puzzles and it is easier to treat as two one-way trips because they have different objectives. No penalty on one-way fares in N. Amer, right?

JordanYVR

Yes, that's exactly it The original post wasn't clear.

For the remaining 5904 AQM it can be either

a) creative routing to MSY to earn 5904+ AQM or
b) less creative routing and a reasonably priced MR

The HNL stop is certainly appealing but I don't see any routings that price out well. I have no objection to an MR. Yes, a CC can get a lot of the *G benefits but I enjoy flying and have some nagging desire to "earn it".

If the return flight in January is not on AC I will still be fine, it is simply preferred.

Thanks for the help so far

Lights_a_blur

The point is that any flights after Dec 31 won't contribute toward your goal of E50K status for 2016. Whether or not they are AC is irrelevant, no flights on any airline after the stroke of midnight for the New Year will count.

Adam Smith

Here you go. This is a YVR-SFO-IAD-MSY P fare that will earn you 6260 PQM, according to the UA website, which should be the same for AC AQM. $1110, as of the time I'm writing this. Note that you'd be stuck in Y on this routing on the SFO-IAD. If you want that in J, you can pay about $2200 and get in J on a different SFO-IAD flight. Up to you how you value that experience!

If you have trouble getting this to come up in the search results on the UA website (Google Flights couldn't get this to work), you can use the filters on the left-hand side. Uncheck the boxes for flights through Canadian airports and US ones like LAS and PHX. Use the sort function to sort by departure time, then scroll through the list of 6AM departures and you'll find this one.

Vancouver, BC, CA (YVR) to San Francisco, CA, US (SFO)
6:00 am - 8:24 am (2h 24m)
UA 5278 | Embraer ERJ-175 | Operated By SKYWEST DBA UNITED EXPRESS.
United Business (P)
2h 16m connection

San Francisco, CA, US (SFO) to Washington, DC, US (IAD - Dulles)
10:40 am - 6:49 pm (5h 9m)
UA 309 | Boeing 737-900
United Economy (Y)
3h 21m connection

Washington, DC, US (IAD - Dulles) to New Orleans, LA, US (MSY)
10:10 pm - 12:05 am (2h 55m)
UA 3953 | Canadair Regional Jet 700 | Operated By MESA AIRLINES DBA UNITED EXPRESS.
United First (A)

As for your return, book it separately, the price is the same. Check out the options on one-way bookings, it's much easier. If you feel the need to do *A, you're stuck with UA on MSY-SAN, but there are other, cheaper options. But even if you do it all on UA, it's about $700 per person for MSY-IAH-SAN on the 1st then SAN-XXX-YVR on the 4th. That's about $600 less per person, with the $1100 MR on the way to MSY ($1800 total), than what you had above.

But if you want to manage costs, could you send the wife on different flights to MSY? She might appreciate not getting dragged back and forth across the continent, and you could send her on a one-stop through DEN for $525 in Y or $800 in J. (Although I know she may not want to travel separately, it's an option if costs are an issue).

canadiancow

I wonder if you could get put on the upgrade list, at the top, for SFO-IAD, because it's a revenue business class fare, but with that segment confirmed in economy? Probably better asked on the UA forum.

JordanYVR

Good find, thanks! It prices out to $1380 CAD, the $1110 fare appears to be USD.

The SFO-IAD leg books into Y class. According to the Aeroplan chart, that would earn 125% mileage, while the rest would be 150%:-

2416 x 1.25 = 3020
800 x 1.5 = 1200
955 x 1.5 = 1432

That gets me to 5652 miles, unless the SFO-IAD leg earns 150%? I don't mind Y for that leg given the cost savings. As for sending the wife on a different routing, I think she may prefer that to bouncing around the country.

The missing miles above wouldn't be a problem if an earlier YVR-SFO flight booked in Flex with one leg on a UA codeshare did not earn 50% mileage...