Mileage Run Deals - AA: LAX<-DFW-(ORD)->MKE $218 a.i. RT (Merged threads; LAZ/SFO<->DFW 2x miles prom)

Finally, something good out of LAX! Takes advantage of the LASF2 promo, double EQM to/from DFW. Get a head start on next year's status :)

This routing and fare are still available for a handful of Tuesdays and Thursdays in Jan/Feb. Red-eye out of LAX, same-day turnaround from MKE so no hotel costs. Only disadvantage - you're stuck for about 7 hours in Milwaukee in January. Quicker turnarounds are available if you're willing to return MKE-DFW-LAX, though of course you miss out on about 450 EQM that way.

Good find, rjw242! Thanks for sharing. I've been trying desperately to construct a mileage run of my own for the end of the year, and have run across a few hurdles with LASF2 that may relate to this fare - so I wanted to pass them on.

The terms and conditions, below, specifically exclude "circle" trips, which I believe your multi-city proposal would be classified as if booked under one ticket number. Whether the computer system would actually catch that caveat, or whether you could talk the EXP AAngels into giving you the miles anyway, is a different matter entirely.

An additional caveat: When I called AA about the LASF2 promo, they told me it was only valid for itineraries ticketed with endpoints as LAX/SFO and DFW. You can't take advantage of the bonus if you fly *through* rather than specifically to DFW. It's unclear how this affects multi-city itineraries booked to route a specific way (if they are not already excluded by the above provision), but it seems clear that it does not include a trip connecting thru DFW (say, LAX-DFW-LGA and back). My source here is two representatives at the Gold desk - but AA's language in the terms and conditions (below) seems somewhat ambiguous in regards to this issue. Has anyone else called to check on this? What have you been told?

It does seem they're trying to make it a little more difficult to construct a MR using this promo... :-/ Thanks for sharing, and props for getting a head start on next year!

Terms and Conditions:
AAdvantage promotion is valid for round-trip travel on purchased, published fare tickets on American Airlines marketed and operated nonstop flights between DFW and Los Angeles (LAX) or San Francisco (SFO) from November 29, 2010, through February 28, 2011. A round trip is defined as two one-way trips booked in a single reservation under one ticket number. To qualify, the round trip must depart from and return to the same city or co-terminal. Open jaws and circle trips are not eligible. A maximum of one round trip is permitted per reservation. Bonus elite qualifying miles earned in conjunction with flight activity during 2010 will count towards your 2011 membership year. Bonus elite qualifying miles earned in conjunction with flight activity during 2011 will count towards your 2012 membership year. This offer does not increment the member's elite qualifying points or segments. Double elite-qualifying miles and double flight miles will be calculated at 100% of the base miles earned for the flights between DFW and Los Angeles or between DFW and San Francisco only. Promotional miles associated with this offer will be posted to the account of the traveling AAdvantage member within 6-8 weeks after qualifying activity posts to your account. Promotion does not apply to travel on mileage award tickets or fares that are ineligible for AAdvantage mileage accrual. Flights operated by our codeshare partners or oneworld alliance carriers are not eligible for this promotion. This offer cannot be combined with other AAdvantage promotions. Registration prior to travel is required. - http://www.aa.com/viewPromotionDetails.do?fN=LAXSFO_A112910.xml&_locale=en_US

to take advantage of increasing the EQM for those falling short this year, or get a headstart into next year. However, after this weekend snow storm, I don't think anyone wants to spend time in MKE or ORD for that matter. Frigid temperatures.

True; I'm considering just doing the LAX-DFW-MKE run to avoid a transfer in ORD (and minimize my time hanging out in MKE; though I've heard they have good beer :)). Bumps it to 3.1 c/EQM, still not a bad deal out of LAX.

Don't think there's any availability until January, so this would be purely insurance for 2012 status.

But they are not same day turns. I'm based in ORD, will start from MKE. MKE is great for me when I have to find low fares for a quick trip or MR, only 1hr drive for me. The way things are looking so far for 2011, I will be out of town every single weekend till 02/28, and will end up with almost 50k miles. Of the 4 LASF2 trips that I'm taking, only 1 is purely for MR purpose, as the others I actually was planning on it.

But they are not same day turns. I'm based in ORD, will start from MKE. MKE is great for me when I have to find low fares for a quick trip or MR, only 1hr drive for me. The way things are looking so far for 2011, I will be out of town every single weekend till 02/28, and will end up with almost 50k miles. Of the 4 LASF2 trips that I'm taking, only 1 is purely for MR purpose, as the others I actually was planning on it.

Nice work!

I'm tempted to do a couple of these to rev-up on AA, thanks for posting OP!

Thanks for sharing, have put a few of these on hold ^

I'm not sure what happened to my reply - I posted last night, but it seems to have disappeared :P

In any case, thanks for sharing. One word of caution about LASF2: If you read the terms and conditions (I've included them at the end of this post), you'll see that circle trips (which I believe this MR is) are specifically excluded from the promotion. In addition, I've now spoken to the Gold desk twice about whether tickets using endpoints that are not DFW and SFO/LAX will qualify for the promo on the leg to/from DFW (for example, LAX-DFW-LGA), and have been told that no, the wouldn't: the ticket must be solely between LAX/SFO and DFW as the ticketed endpoints.

Has anyone called to check on this as well? The language is clear that circle trips are not included, but the text seems vague as to the exact endpoint ticketing requirements... it seems arguable. Also, whether you can talk AA into giving you the bonus anways (especially if you have access to the EXP AAngels) is a different story entirely.

AAdvantage promotion is valid for round-trip travel on purchased, published fare tickets on American Airlines marketed and operated nonstop flights between DFW and Los Angeles (LAX) or San Francisco (SFO) from November 29, 2010, through February 28, 2011. A round trip is defined as two one-way trips booked in a single reservation under one ticket number. To qualify, the round trip must depart from and return to the same city or co-terminal. Open jaws and circle trips are not eligible. A maximum of one round trip is permitted per reservation. Bonus elite qualifying miles earned in conjunction with flight activity during 2010 will count towards your 2011 membership year. Bonus elite qualifying miles earned in conjunction with flight activity during 2011 will count towards your 2012 membership year. This offer does not increment the member's elite qualifying points or segments. Double elite-qualifying miles and double flight miles will be calculated at 100% of the base miles earned for the flights between DFW and Los Angeles or between DFW and San Francisco only. Promotional miles associated with this offer will be posted to the account of the traveling AAdvantage member within 6-8 weeks after qualifying activity posts to your account. Promotion does not apply to travel on mileage award tickets or fares that are ineligible for AAdvantage mileage accrual. Flights operated by our codeshare partners or oneworld alliance carriers are not eligible for this promotion. This offer cannot be combined with other AAdvantage promotions. Registration prior to travel is required. - from http://www.aa.com/viewPromotionDetails.do?fN=LAXSFO_A112910.xml

MKE-DFW-LAX and return = $209ai, EQM = 6626 or $0.0315

MKE-DFW-SFO and return = $209ai, EQM = 7546 or $0.0277

Includes some red-eyes back to DFW and weekends. Look for Jan/Feb for the 2xEQM DFW-SFO/LAX promo. Few more miles can be had by MKE-ORD-DFW-LAX/SFO and return.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mileage-run-deals/1159334-aa-lax-dfw-ord-mke-218-i-rt-2-9-cpeqm.html

RBP it is...

great finding!
thanks.
i may go with it.

Finally got around to actually booking one myself. :p Decided to do the long stop in MKE for maximum miles, so I'll probably go into the city for a few hours. Anything I absolutely can't miss?

Here is the question I posed and the answer I got from the EXP desk (editing out the extraneous material):

"For the LASF2 double elite qualifying miles, does the trip have to start
and end at LAX, SFO or DFW or will I qualify with a trip that has a
LAX-DWF leg each way. Specifically, I have a reservation on hold
from SD to LAX to DFW to MKE and return on the same routing on
January 11. Will I get double miles on the two legs between LAX and
DFW?"

" . . . yes, as long as you fly DFW to LAX and return through DFW, then
you will earn the bonus miles."

Hope this helps.

I've gotten the LAX-DFW-ORD-MKE and back for $219 AI RT (great find, thank you!) but when I went to hold the reservation, it repriced to $258. When I clicked "hold" again, it repriced to $219, but wouldn't let me actually hold it. I stayed on the screen, clicking and clicking. If I tried to buy the reservation, it would have gone through. Any suggestions?

I've gotten the LAX-DFW-ORD-MKE and back for $219 AI RT (great find, thank you!) but when I went to hold the reservation, it repriced to $258. When I clicked "hold" again, it repriced to $219, but wouldn't let me actually hold it. I stayed on the screen, clicking and clicking. If I tried to buy the reservation, it would have gone through. Any suggestions?

What dates are you searching? I just checked availability for Jan 12 on Orbitz; although in the search results it claimed the desired (2-stop in each direction) itinerary would be $238, when I actually clicked on the itinerary it said the price had dropped to $223.

I tried and got the $219 fare on 1/22, 1/29, 1/12. I just can't get the computer system to hold them.

I tried and got the $219 fare on 1/22, 1/29, 1/12. I just can't get the computer system to hold them.

Odd. Maybe this is an indication that they're planning to jack the price up within 24 hours. BUY BUY BUY!!! :D

when I booked my trips originally, and couldn't put the reservation on hold. Tried the next day, got the same price and purchased on the spot without problems.

Finally, something good out of LAX! Takes advantage of the LASF2 promo, double EQM to/from DFW. Get a head start on next year's status :)

This routing and fare are still available for a handful of Tuesdays and Thursdays in Jan/Feb. Red-eye out of LAX, same-day turnaround from MKE so no hotel costs. Only disadvantage - you're stuck for about 7 hours in Milwaukee in January. Quicker turnarounds are available if you're willing to return MKE-DFW-LAX, though of course you miss out on about 450 EQM that way.
But aren't you missing the double miles promo by not returning via DFW rather than ORD? Looks like double miles on the outbound but not on the return. Let me know what I'm missing.

But aren't you missing the double miles promo by not returning via DFW rather than ORD? Looks like double miles on the outbound but not on the return. Let me know what I'm missing.

If you take the shorter road back then the whole trip is LAX-DFW-ORD-MKE-DFW-LAX, so LAX-DFW-LAX is still in there.

But yeah, you do need a RT between SFO/LAX-DFW; if you instead did LAX-DFW-MKE-ORD-LAX you wouldn't get any double miles.

If you take the shorter road back then the whole trip is LAX-DFW-ORD-MKE-DFW-LAX, so LAX-DFW-LAX is still in there.

But yeah, you do need a RT between SFO/LAX-DFW; if you instead did LAX-DFW-MKE-ORD-LAX you wouldn't get any double miles.
So the OP wouldn't score any double mile benefits in the route he describes. I'm doing SAN-LAX-DFW-MKE-DFW-LAX-SAN for $260 and no hotel. I should get the double miles described in the promo. And I'm Plat so I'll get double miles on the itinerary before the promo miles are added in. I figure the cpm at .017. Right? Seems to pencil out nicely.

So the OP wouldn't score any double mile benefits in the route he describes. I'm doing SAN-LAX-DFW-MKE-DFW-LAX-SAN for $260 and no hotel. I should get the double miles described in the promo. And I'm Plat so I'll get double miles on the itinerary before the promo miles are added in. I figure the cpm at .017. Right? Seems to pencil out nicely.

No, the OP (that is to say, I :)) does get double miles on that routing. The rule is the itinerary has to include a closed, nonstop roundtrip between the eligible cities. DFW-LAX/LAX-DFW, LAX-DFW/DFW-LAX, SFO-DFW/DFW-SFO, or DFW-SFO/SFO-DFW. So DFW-LAX-SFO-DFW gets nothing. Nor does LAX-AUS-DFW-LAX. But I think your trip is fine, and so is mine.

But I get $0.020/RDM for your trip. I think your mistake was doubling the double miles on the LAX-DFW-LAX segments. You actually get 1235 base miles, plus 1235 bonus, plus 1235 PLT bonus for each one -- so it's triple RDM, not quadruple, on those segments.

Your complete itinerary, then, is LAX-DFW-ORD-MKE-ORD-DFW-LAX rather than LAX-DFW-ORD-MKE-ORD-LAX as I understood it. I'll run the numbers on my trip for the correct cpm, but thought I had it right. Thank you for taking the time for the clarification. Now I can go ahead and purchase my tickets and then go out and buy a parka.

Note: After rerunning the data, I get $0.0199 or $0.020/RDM. You are correct again, sir!!

Thanks, paseom2!

I had been searching fares to enjoy some carryover vacation days in January. With the LAX/SFO DEQM promo, I can swing more EQM for $213 than a trip overseas.

Found:
MKE-ORD-DFW-SFO / SFO-DFW-MKE for $213ai

Forcing an extra segment through ORD on the return would raise the fare by $40ish.

$84 OW fare is still good LAX-DFW-MKE. Increases cost per EQM to $0.031, which is still good. Just spoke to AA web services and they told me the three-leg fare is now $144 OW.

BTW -- there's a CRJ on the DFW-MKE segment, but it leaves a lot more time in the MKE airport.

MKE-DFW-LAX and return = $209ai, EQM = 6626 or $0.0315

MKE-DFW-SFO and return = $209ai, EQM = 7546 or $0.0277

Includes some red-eyes back to DFW and weekends. Look for Jan/Feb for the 2xEQM DFW-SFO/LAX promo. Few more miles can be had by MKE-ORD-DFW-LAX/SFO and return.

MKE-DFW-LAX fare has been merged with the similar fare to create a merged LAX<-DFW-ORD->MKE thread. :)

I'll remove the helpful posts which highlighted the already existing thread ex-LAX. Thanks for your helpful advice to the MKE- FTer.

Cheers,
BiziBB, Moderator Mileage Run