Other North & South America Frequent Flyer Programs - Annoying LAN fare structure

As those who fly LAN know, in order to take advantage of either automatic or certificate upgrades one must purchase a ticket with a minimum price for that route. For example, if I want to upgrade a Lim-Lax seat, my ticket must cost at least $1150. Surprise surprise, no fares for this price for direct flights, not now nor for future dates, (at least I couldn´t find any). Closest I have found is $1224. Coincidence?

btw, best strategy to beat the minimum ticket price would be to put as many flights into one ticket as possible by using end-on-end ticketing (increasing the price of the whole ticket) - e.g. if you have to fly more often and the fare conditions allow that put one LAX-LIM-LAX ticket between the LIM-LAX-LIM segments so you get an itinerary

LIM-LAX (fare1)
LAX-LIM (fare2)
LIM-LAX (fare2)
LAX-LIM (fare1)

maybe fare1 is 774$ (minimum fare not met)
then fare 2 is 900$ (minimum fare not met)

but if fare1 and fare2 are combined in one ticket the ticket price sums up and you end up with a total ticket price of 1674$ which meets the minimum ticket price. :D

It would be nice, but won´t work. Its just aggravating that they aren´t satisfied with the substantial extra revenues they earn between lowest fare tickets and the minimum upgradeable prices.

And frequently you will also see that you can get a fare just barely under $1150...not $1149 because they are not yet THAT sadistic, but close and the next higher is well above $1200 or $1300. It's no accident --- they know that they are doing this. I don't expect it to go away.

Exactly

It is really no different than airlines that have a minimum fare bucket (as opposed to minimum fare in an actual monetary amount). Look over at the UA board to find people needing to shell out an extra thousand $ or more to get to an upgradeable fare.

Until Dec, 31. LAN is alowing kms. upgrades with no minimum fare required. Are you going to use kms. or plan on using elite coupons?

I use my kilometers almost exclusively for CX flights. I get automatic upgrades due to Commodore status.

btw, best strategy to beat the minimum ticket price would be to put as many flights into one ticket as possible by using end-on-end ticketing (increasing the price of the whole ticket) - e.g. if you have to fly more often and the fare conditions allow that put one LAX-LIM-LAX ticket between the LIM-LAX-LIM segments so you get an itinerary

LIM-LAX (fare1)
LAX-LIM (fare2)
LIM-LAX (fare2)
LAX-LIM (fare1)

maybe fare1 is 774$ (minimum fare not met)
then fare 2 is 900$ (minimum fare not met)

but if fare1 and fare2 are combined in one ticket the ticket price sums up and you end up with a total ticket price of 1674$ which meets the minimum ticket price. :D

Does this really work? Tried and tested?

Does this really work? Tried and tested?
it has been reported working on people travelling on round-the-world tickets with some LA segments as the entire ticket price was more expensive than the minimum fare.

maybe my example was not the best, but almost ALL LA fares allow end-on-end-ticketing. so when you plan a south-american trip and there is a fare sale to south america, you could add your inner-south american flights on the same ticket which increases the price and the probability to meet the minimum price is higher.

i did this one time myself flying from mia. we had a sale fare MIA-LIM for approx. 380$ per person. we added two domestic flights within peru on the same ticket and the overall ticket price was 590$. we could upgrade to business class without problems.

I use my kilometers almost exclusively for CX flights. I get automatic upgrades due to Commodore status.

you get automatic upgrades on CX based on your LA status using award tickets :confused:

Until Dec, 31. LAN is alowing kms. upgrades with no minimum fare required. Are you going to use kms. or plan on using elite coupons?

does that mean the flights to be upgraded must be before dec 31 or the booking of the upgrades has to be done before dec 31?

No f0zzyNUE, sorry I wasn´t clear. The previous poster was asking about Lan flight awards, so I meant to say that for Lan flights I don´t use miles or certificates for upgrades since I get automatically upgraded as long as I pay enough for my ticket. I use all my kilometers for award travel on CX. I will be flying J in a few months (paid this time), we´ll see if I get OpUped, since the flight is usually full in J (sfo-hkg). However I imagine that the CX diamonds will probably get any available OpUp F seats.

it has been reported working on people travelling on round-the-world tickets with some LA segments as the entire ticket price was more expensive than the minimum fare.

maybe my example was not the best, but almost ALL LA fares allow end-on-end-ticketing. so when you plan a south-american trip and there is a fare sale to south america, you could add your inner-south american flights on the same ticket which increases the price and the probability to meet the minimum price is higher.

i did this one time myself flying from mia. we had a sale fare MIA-LIM for approx. 380$ per person. we added two domestic flights within peru on the same ticket and the overall ticket price was 590$. we could upgrade to business class without problems.

Actually it has worked for me on a ARN-FRA-SCL-FRA-SCL-FRA-ARN itinerary for approximately 2.000 USD.... I do get strange face when checking in, but so far I've been upgraded in all LAN segments.

Completely out of the topic, but now LA is not issuing tickets containing SK operated segments so I have to wait for the LH operated flight, adding to the flight a 4 hour layover in FRA

does that mean the flights to be upgraded must be before dec 31 or the booking of the upgrades has to be done before dec 31?

AFAIK Minimum fares are not required only when upgrading with kms, for coupons and comodoro upgrades you still need the minimums...

Apparently means upgrade before Dec 31. Just upgraded a base fare ticket May 2010 flight, no problems.

They have extended this promotion in the past BTW

does that mean the flights to be upgraded must be before dec 31 or the booking of the upgrades has to be done before dec 31?

Actually it has worked for me on a ARN-FRA-SCL-FRA-SCL-FRA-ARN itinerary for approximately 2.000 USD.... I do get strange face when checking in, but so far I've been upgraded in all LAN segments.

did you upgrade with kilometers or with coupons. where did you request the upgrade when starting the journey in ARN?

did you upgrade with kilometers or with coupons. where did you request the upgrade when starting the journey in ARN?

I requested the UPG in FRA using my COmodoro status...so no coupons or kms required....