delanotre

Yes, you will earn AF EQM (250%)

"If your flight number starts with an airline code from one of the Flying Blue partner airlines (e.g. AZ 0123) the accrual scheme of that specific partner (in this case Alitalia) will apply, even if the flight is operated by another Flying Blue partner airline. "

http://www.flyingblue.com/partners/airlines.html

A very good price, impossible to find (except in eco ) before you give us your precise flights...!

Concerto

Thanks. HKG is truly my destination, so I am able to attend and play at the Festival that I have been invited for, and I managed the wrangle the dates to fit in. I arrive in XMN at 10h30 (or something) and leave again at 18h45, so hope I can have a brief look at the place. There should have been a flight in the afternoon, but they seem to have pulled that from their schedules. Hopefully they won't pull the evening one as well.

I used the multicity booking option on expedia.de, which I find (along with orbitz) one of the better booking sites these days. Here's how I constructed my itinerary, given that there are only 5 flight options with the multicity booking tool. I used the general code PAR for Paris, instead of CDG:

MAD-PAR
PAR-AMS
AMS-XMN
XMN-HKG
(following day, because the flight from Amsterdam is overnight. However, stopovers seem to work)
HKG-MAD

I just checked, and it seems to still work on the dates I already booked. However, pumping in the CDG code now gives me a routing that could have avoided the route I ended up booking, with a transit from ORY-CDG. When I was making the booking on Sunday, the CDG option appeared to bring up a "normal" price of some EUR3,600. But I'm not too worried about that, because it is an Air France codeshare operated by Air Europa (Embraer 190 plane), which should be interesting (certainly, an interesting flight number to add to my bizarre collection!)

I think it is important to avoid feeding the route back through Xiamen, because then HKG becomes the destination, which obviously is a lot more expensive.

EDIT- You can also type in MAD-PAR, PAR-XMN, XMN-HKG and HKG-MAD to get it to work, no need to add the AMS sector separately, because the flight to XMN is by KL and therefore you have to pass through AMS anyway.

Remember to check which days the long haul flights operate. For that, I keep the KLM online timetable open in a separate tab.

Another major point to keep in mind is you really do need a 7 night minimum stay at the end. Well...it works with a 7 hour stay in XMN and a 7 night stay in HKG in my case, although XMN is theoretically the destination.

Also, depending where you are beginning from, certain days of flight operation are ineligible for the special price. I believe CPH was available on any operating day, but the issue with CPH is that the offer works only to XMN and back (or CTU, or WUH) and I could not get HKG to work in itinerary.

Remember, with a bit of wrangling the itinerary can work in reverse, too, i.e. to HKG first, then back through XMN, stopover or no stopover. I just couldn't get this permutation to work on my fairly limited dates in July.

Lastly, if you haven't already seen it, there is quite a bit of useful in this thread over at the Premium Fares Deals subforum:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/premi...er-thread.html

delanotre

Using "google flight" I found it on AF directly to CDG (not ORY) and a transit in HKG to XMN from AMS and back to HKG the day after...for €1203. ^

Concerto

Definitely works in reverse like you say (in terms of routing, not point of origin, obviously), but not on the specific dates I needed. I consider myself really lucky if I can make these offers work in conjunction with fixed dates. As it happens, I arrive one day late (rehearsals at the beginning, concerts are later on, fortunately) and will leave one day later.

Anyone one else had any luck booking this deal, either to one of the lesser known Chinese cities in the offer, or wrangling it sideways to a more mainstream destination as I did? On the KLM Swiss page, the offer to the Chinese cities is bookable until 28 February. For other points of origin, it can be different, I think.

ulxima

I booked the following itinerary (my TA got a shock )
- LGW-VCE (BA C)
- VCE-AMS-XMN (KL C/J)
- XMN-SHA (MU Y)
- PVG-CDG-LHR (AF A/W)

I am now keeping an eye on KL fares out of LHR for a rotation to XMN/SHA in May

Ciao
Ulxima

orbitmic

How much did it cost if I may ask?

Concerto

That's amazing, really good routing. I presume the LGW-VCE is a separate ticket as a positioning flight. The rest, then, is an open jaw beginning at VCE ending at LHR, which I didn't know was possible on this deal (although it is possible to go ex-BCN and return to MAD, and vv).

It reminds me vaguely of that AZ offer last year ex LIN /TRN to AUH, returning to LCY (via FCO both ways), which was a bit of a mistake fare I think (I paid EUR132 ai). Though obviously this current deal is not a mistake fare, just a great fare.

Andrew_G

Booked BCN-CDG-AMS-CTU-HKG-AMS-MAD in July/August for GBP864 on expedia.co.uk, with 2 nights in Chengdu (should be transit-visa free for 72 hours) and about 3 weeks in HK. Thanks for the heads-up on the deal.

Maj95m

[QUOTE=Concerto;24374644]Surely the amazing current offer fare of €999 over in the Mileage Runs forum counts as a potential mileage run:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/premi...er-thread.html

Dear Concerto, thank you for information and advice in these different threads.
I finally booked a BRU-CDG-WUH rt in August at 999 €. 17,710 EQM, 30,378 award miles .
At the time of seat picking, the plane map showed a Best and Beyond quick change 4x4 configuration in J: let us hope it will be confirmed in real.

ulxima

About €1,300

ulxima

That is correct, the flight to VCE is a positioning one on a separate ticket and it is going to happen two days earlier than the departure to XMN.
I have been lucky my TA found the possibility of the open jaw (although with the return in W) to match both MR (this will qualify me again for Platinum) and business trip.
I could not have asked for more...or maybe yes

Ulxima

Calchas

This thread may be of some interest: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/premi...90-ai-r-t.html

florin

Is there such a program where you can earn usable miles? (e.g. DL miles are useless, I looked at Miles&Less and just laughed,...)

irishguy28

BA/Avios was good, until they came along and made the programme look a lot more like Flying Blue (from late April, anyway)!

NickB

It certainly looks more like FB structurally. However, the earn/burn ratio, while significantly worse than before, remains superior to FB, imo. The one area in which FB has a clear edge is on earnings for intra-European earnings in full fare Y or in discount business. Redemption rates with BAEC, while much higher than before, remain generally well below FB. The worst aspect of the changes is the massive hike in PE to C upgrade awards, which used to be the sweet spot of the BAEC programme.

The AA programme is not bad, for European-based flyers at any rate, especially if you avoid BA/IB flights (and therefore avoid high YQ charges). In *A, Avianca's Lifemiles has some good redemption rates but can be hard-work and is not for those who do not want to get their hands dirty and expect simple redemptions with a stellar customer service. Aegean is good if you are primarily after status rather than redemption value. I struggle to find any outstanding programme within ST and it really more of a question of who is your primary carrier as the most significant factor.