roknroll

Edit: noticed that this was moved to the AirTran forum. I posted it in Miles Buzz because it's aimed more at people who travel on all other legacy carriers, and not regular members/travelers on WN or AirTran. Since Chase UR are transferable to WN, and so many people have a large number of UR points, this opens up the possibility for everyone (regardless of airline) to use this method to build both elite and redeemable miles. People who travel primarily on AirTran or SouthWest will get less out of this than someone on AA, UA, DL, US, etc who's trying to get to the next tier.

Anyone look at this angle? Curious as to what you all think, especially people with more knowledge/experience than me. Any comments or corrections that would make this not work out?

Short Version (analysis and details follow):

1. Transfer 120k RR points to AirTran to get 100 A+ Rewards.
2. Redeem 100 A+ Rewards for travel anywhere in the world on another airline.
3. Book a trip to somewhere far away like Australia or South Africa.
4. Go on vacation and have a blast!
5. Earn 20k+ miles (elite qualifying and redeemable) for the travel

Optional Variants:
Book the most expensive ticket you can find, and then cancel it for a credit to use on the airline. Credit could be used to rebook with better routing, change the dates, or rebook into a higher fare class so that it's possible to upgrade using miles or certificates.

Disclaimer: I haven't had the chance to check out every aspect of this, however it definitely seems possible. If anyone takes it a step further, please make sure you verify the fare classes and any restrictions upon booking. Also verify change policies in regards to the booking to see if they consider it being booked directly or consider it as being booked through a 3rd party or travel agent. Finally, this won't be for everyone. It's mostly targeted for people who need extra MQM's and don't have a lot of use for lots of domestic coach tickets.


As most know, Southwest RR can now be transferred to AirTran A+ Rewards. This has been well received and most of the buzz is about how you can get a better value from your points by booking expensive domestic coach tickets (>$324) on SW by converting 19,200 RR points to a standard award (16 A+ Rewards). Chase UR are also a transfer partner, giving you 2 cents per point or more by redeeming this way.

What caught my attention was AirTran option to redeem 100 A+ Rewards for travel on another airline anywhere in world. There are a couple of rules and restrictions on the redemption, but when you redeem in this manner you are flying on a revenue ticket on the other airline and can earn MQM's and RDM's. By taking some time to search routing and fares, you could pick up a huge number of MQMs and RDM's in addition to a free trip.

Here's the Cost/Value Breakdown:

• 100 A+ Rewards will require 120,000 RR points. This can come from your RR account or can come from Chase UR transferred to WN.
• 120k RR has a direct value on WN of $2,025 in coach airfare. Those same points can also be converted to 6 standard awards with 4,800 points left over. If redeeming for more expensive domestic coach travel, that could be worth around $2,500. It's up to each individual to value them accordingly to their travel preferences and predictions.
• Based on that, you'd ideally want to book a trip that costs more than $2k-$2.5k to break even. However you should also factor in the value of the miles and mqm's that you would earn (again a personal preference). I value my RDM's at 2 cpm and MQM's around 3 cpm (a mileage run value I'd jump on if I saw it).

AirTran T&C for Redemption: http://www.aplusrewards.com/a_terms_conditions.aspx

• 100 A+ Rewards required for one free coach found trip travel anywhere in the world. Must call to book the ticket.
• No more than 2 connections each way
• Not available on routes that AirTran flies
• 7 days advance purchase required
• Saturday night stay required with no more than 30 days stay
• Use of most direct routing where qualifying fares are available
• No stopovers or open jaws
• Ticket must be the lowest Advance Purchase Excursion fare published as filed with Airline Tariff Publishing Corporation (ATPCO)
• Must agree to accept alternative airline, departure and/or return travel dates and times depending on availability of the lowest fare.
• Once tickets are delivered (via email or express delivery), AirTran will have no further responsibility for the tickets.
• Frequent flier mileage/credit may be earned on the airline serving as the carrier for your reward travel.

Potential Returns:

1. Come up with a couple of options for long routing such as CPT, JNB, AKL, SYD, SEZ, MRU, etc.
2. Pick your airline or alliance of choice.
3. Use ITA Matrix to search to find dates where your airline of choice is the lowest available fare. Remember to include a Saturday night stay and no more than 2 stops each way.
4. To be on the safe side, you might want to get dates where your airline of choice happens to be the lowest price several days before or after your dates of choice.
5. Call AirTran to book the award for you. Verify what fare class they are booking it in, and know the operating airline's rules.

Example: LGA-SYD round trip with travel dates of 1/18/13 to 1/28/13 is 20,266 miles on Delta. Delta is the least expensive carrier for several days before and after those travel dates. The trip is 20,384 miles which would be 20,384 MQM's and 40,768 RDM's for me as a DL Gold. It's an L fare ticket and priced at $2600.60. The cancel/change fee is $250, so you could potentially cancel the trip for a $2,350.60 credit. If you didn't want that routing, dates, or fare class then you could rebook with the credit.

That would give you a trip value of around $2.5k, $800 in redeemable miles, and ~$600 value in MQM's. It's almost enough MQM's to jump up to another tier, which can be huge for many people. So that's nearly $4k in value from 120k WN or Chase UR points.

traveller001

Shouldn't have been moved to the Airtran forum IMO. Should have stayed there for Chase UR. And most importantly crossposted to WN. Though I see you posted something similar but not so indepth at WN. Definately a good possibility for Chase UR and WN RR members.