US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Mileage Runs - Advice from DFW




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Daniel
Jul 5, 03, 12:45 pm
I know it is early in the year, but with R&R and things tightening up from 2002, I want to do what I can to preserve status into 2004.

I am based at DFW which really only allows me to connect through CLT (937 miles) PIT (1302 miles) or PIT (1068 miles) to any destination. USairways.com doesn't seem to allow me to create a zigzag like DFW-PHL-SFO though DFW-CLT-IND is OK.

1. Obviously PHL is the best connecting point given 370 adtl miles - so round trip with R&R that comes to over 1,400 adtl tier miles....
2. Prefer to keep most round trips between 1-4 days, preferably between Fri-Mon though will consider other options.
3. I'm willing to fly R-T from lets say DFW-BOS and then take shuttles to gain miles in between.
4. Want to minimize total cost and number of legs flown, with timing being a consideration too.
5. Destinations aren't as important as cost/time factor.

I don't know of any tried and true way to search the pricing engines to find the best deals from DFW through US to any particular city on their network. If there is a way to do this I would simply check that every day a few times and pick out itineraries that work best.

I would be happy to go international, in fact I'd love to do a trip back to London if I could likely score a systemwide upgrade (last year net of taxes I did that for $383 form DFW through PHL with Wings and GOM).

I notice that discount fares are way up this year, in fact, I notice many cities that I could easy score $200/rt for are now up to almost $400. I know that e-savers are a good way to go but lately there haven't been many from DFW.

Oh, here is one more thing that might help. I have a voucher for fixed fare between zones that may be cheaper to do some of this but I don't know if fars will be better that way.

Thanks in advance for any tips. Feel free to point me toward any fare builder tools that can find this (didn't expedia have some dream fare tool or something)?


FOH
Jul 5, 03, 10:26 pm
How many miles are you looking to earn?Also, keep in mind that you can earn miles toward US Airways status by flying United so that may open up additional options out of DFW.

BillMorrow
Jul 5, 03, 11:23 pm
Daniel,

Take a look at doing two interlocking RT's through TPA:

Trip #1
Sat AM DFW-CLT-TPA
Mon PM TPA-CLT-DFW

Trip #2
Sat PM TPA-PHL-SEA
1 night in SEA
Sun PM SEA-PHL-TPA (redeye)

With the R&R bonus, this should yield 19K status miles for ~$600. A bit over 3 cents/mile.


Daniel
Jul 6, 03, 12:39 am
I like that - 19k in one weekend. What will US do policywise if there is a flight irregularity (maybe weather, maybe maintenance) which causes me to miss on the outbound or coming back. If for some reason I do take any luggage will they let me check through to actual destination? US won't care if I route this way, will they?

Daniel
Jul 6, 03, 12:42 am
Oh, my bottom line is 36k miles but that is by Dec 31 of course. If I can clear about 30k while R&R is running that would make me feel a lot better.

I realize I can fly UA but R&R only applies on US, right?

BillMorrow
Jul 6, 03, 6:35 am
On a flight irregularity, you could end up in trouble. Space the connections between the RT's as far apart as possible. In a few weeks, I'm doing something similar over 4 days: BTV-FLL-BTV and FLL-SFO-FLL. My tightest connection between the two RT's is about 3 hours in FLL on the outbound. The return connection in FLL is an overnight.

They won't let you check your baggage through the final destination of your second RT. You should be able to get by with a carry-on a 2-3 day trip.

AFAIK, the ticketing is legal.

The R&R promo is only good on US metal.

vector
Jul 6, 03, 7:42 am
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by BillMorrow:

The R&R promo is only good on US metal.</font>

If you fly US code share flights on UA, is the R&R bonus applicable? For example a LGA-ORD-DEN RT.

chrislacey
Jul 6, 03, 7:44 am
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by BillMorrow:
[b]...I'm doing something similar over 4 days: BTV-FLL-BTV and FLL-SFO-FLL. My tightest connection between the two RT's is about 3 hours in FLL on the outbound. The return connection in FLL is an overnight.

...

AFAIK, the ticketing is legal.[B]</font>

BillMorrow, did you ticket both itin's separately? So you fly 1/2 of 1 ticket, then fly the 2nd ticket r/t, then fly the second 1/2 of the first ticket?

If so, are you sure that the ticketing is legal? I would like to do something similar - but have had questions in the past about whether you can 'insert' a trip within a trip on a second ticket.

I hope that makes sense, if it doesn't - let me know.

Thanks,
Chris

chrislacey
Jul 6, 03, 7:46 am
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by vector:
If you fly US code share flights on UA, is the R&R bonus applicable? For example a LGA-ORD-DEN RT.</font>

Vector, AFAIK, you must be flying on US metal (US aircraft). A US code-share flight on UA metal will not qualify for the R&R bonus.

-Chris

planeluvr
Jul 6, 03, 11:06 am
Most of the time back to back ticketing is used to circumvent Saturday night stay requirement. What BillMorrow is doing is a nested ticket, which is ok. I use nested tickets all of the time. No problems ever.

Daniel
Jul 6, 03, 1:23 pm
So do you think a CP liason would assist me in booking a nested itinerary? Since it is not against tariff rules, couldn't I just call in, tell them what I'm trying to do, and ask them to put something together for me?

If anyone knows of any specific CP liasons that are very good at personal service like this, PLEASE PM me with any contact information. I think at this point that may save me a lot of time.

what other destinations from DFW could I potentially nest for maximizing miles in a 3 day trip (forget about cost for right now)?

Is there a site where I can check origin-destination airport codes and mileages quickly by typing in the codes?

any itinerary that goes from DFW connecting through PHL to some east coast city then R/T to SFO or some far west coast city nested back to DFW? That would work great for miles... ideally I want to connect through PHL at all times for maximizing miles... I like PHL too even though .....s is gone http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Daniel

StSebastian
Jul 6, 03, 2:39 pm
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Daniel:
Is there a site where I can check origin-destination airport codes and mileages quickly by typing in the codes?</font>

The one I see most people recommend is:

http://gc.kls2.com/

It's not exact, but pretty close. The *A people use it a lot for RTW itinerary measurements to make sure they stay under the MPM threshold for their fare ticket.



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