Mileage Run Discussion - (FARE GONE) AM: IAD-MEX-LIM, $355 ai RT

Thanks to The Dog. November and December only. 3.9 cpm.

Mexicana is flying again?

This is on AM, aeromexico... 1 FREE STOP OVER ALLOWED (ex: MEX)

Do you know what the class code is? The mileage accrual rates for Skyteam partners will vary.

Nice way to Macchu Pichu.

Do you know what the class code is? The mileage accrual rates for Skyteam partners will vary.

I am assuming this is the same fare that was posted in the Good Deals In Economy forum, in which case it books into P - Deeply Discounted.

75% MQM for delta so ~5.6cpm :(

Of course even w high CPM, it is still a awesome fare to Lima (just not MR worthy)

Comes up as a P for me. That is only 5.2 for cpm as only 75% accrual for MQM. Still not bad to SA....

Thanks to The Dog. November and December only. 3.9 cpm.

OMG :(:(:( Where is my credit for posting this...WOW SO ANGRY @ YOU!!!

Posted last night ---> http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18420576-post580.html

/sarcasm!

Anyways enjoy, hope a lot can use this fare!

OMG :(:(:( Where is my credit for posting this...WOW SO ANGRY @ YOU!!!

Posted last night ---> http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18420576-post580.html

/sarcasm!

Anyways enjoy, hope a lot can use this fare!

Thank you for posting it last night, and I did see the post last night^

OMG :(:(:( Where is my credit for posting this...WOW SO ANGRY @ YOU!!!

Posted last night ---> http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18420576-post580.html

I never check that thread. It's too convoluted for my taste.

Availability starting this month through EOS

i can't seem to find this. Could someone help? what are the dates?

At least for departures Nov 10-Dec 8:

http://i.imgur.com/GXzG7.png

Possibly some outside of that range as well, I didn't do an exhaustive check.

Does it work from the west coast ?

Soarer

At least for departures Nov 10-Dec 8:

http://i.imgur.com/GXzG7.png

Possibly some outside of that range as well, I didn't do an exhaustive check.

Tried to book last night, fare went from $355 to $710 when clicking through on multiple sites to book. Can't find anything under $900 anymore in November using ITA.

Tried to book last night, fare went from $355 to $710 when clicking through on multiple sites to book. Can't find anything under $900 anymore in November using ITA.

yes unfortunately if you are not anywhere near IAD I don't think it's worth it. But great find anyway. I don't think ITA is working very well. The prices are never real-time.

I don't think ITA is working very well. The prices are never real-time.

Jeez, I don't think anything works too well for finding cheap fares these days. Of course, there isn't much to find. :(

Given how awful the int'l airfares are, this is a pretty good deal if you want to visit Peru. It might even be a match of a Spirit fare.

Anyone wanting to head to Machu Picchu should consider using Avios points from LIM to Cuzco. It's a short distance, but the fare for gringos is crazy expensive -- but crazy cheap with Avios.

yes unfortunately if you are not anywhere near IAD I don't think it's worth it. But great find anyway. I don't think ITA is working very well. The prices are never real-time.

Well, unless you do it for run only. Otherwise its a great price. I would do it again and use southwest miles to fly to Houston, but have too many plans for this summer.
I loved Lima. We stayed in Mira Flores, right by main square. Took tour to see penguins in Pisco, went on tours around Lima. Ate ceviche and drank some really good wine. Wonderful place to visit.
If you need to look for place to stay, look at vrbo.com make sure its Mira Flores and not Lima itself.

A group of us are heading to Lima for a long weekend in November. Thanks for posting the great deal!

Travelocity & Kayak still shows many days of the low $355. fares in November - early December from IAD-LIM P class earns 75% MQM on DL. With free stopover in MEX on way back for a few days brings the price to $409 (added taxes only)
Use the +/- 3 days to find the dates.

Any other than ex-IAD?

A group of us are heading to Lima for a long weekend in November. Thanks for posting the great deal!

Going for a few days in December to visit Machu Picchu -- will use skypesos to get to IAD to use this fare.

Wow, THANKS for this! Same price as last year's deal on AA, so it looks like I'm going to be making an annual pilgrimage to Peru for Thanksgiving! (Now let's just hope I can avoid coming back with food poisoning this year)

is it dead? I see it on ITA but can't book it anywhere

I did a quick search in December, and it is bookable on cheapoair for $358.

Thanksgiving at Machu Picchu!!!!! Woo-hoo!

Thank you OP and thank you FlyerTalk! Another great family vacation made possible by this community. With all of your help, I've been able to take my family to Italy, Barcelona, Warsaw, Amsterdam and soon to Peru for prices less than most people fly within the US . . .

It is still available leaving 11/17 and returning 11/24 for those still looking.

I booked 9/13 to 9/18 and there was plenty of availability on ITA. Oddly, I could only get the fare on Travelocity or Orbitz. I tried using the UR Travel Mall but it kept jacking the price up over $1,000.

Thanks for the find FT. Bless you people. :)

Thanksgiving at Machu Picchu!!!!! Woo-hoo!

Thank you OP and thank you FlyerTalk! Another great family vacation made possible by this community. With all of your help, I've been able to take my family to Italy, Barcelona, Warsaw, Amsterdam and soon to Peru for prices less than most people fly within the US . . .

It is still available leaving 11/17 and returning 11/24 for those still looking.

Have you booked machu Picchu trip already?
If so who did you use?

Has anybody been able to book this with a stopover in MEX? Dates and OTA would be appreciated...

Has anybody been able to book this with a stopover in MEX? Dates and OTA would be appreciated...

I booked it with a stopover in MEX, but the price was a bit higher, at $405 (taxes I assume). But I wanted to make the trip to both Peru and Mexico City, so didn't mind the extra expense. My dates:

Mon, Sept 3: IAD-MEX-LIM
Fri, Sept 14: LIM-MEX
Tue, Sept 18: MEX-IAD

This is current -- just booked a flight now, 8:30pm PT (after changing from a different itinerary). Still tons of availability throughout September (didn't check other months).

I searched on Kayak, and were given Orbitz and Cheaptickets (the latter $7 more expensive) and, of course, chose to book through Orbitz. Even weekend flights were not a problem. (I'm a student off the whole time, so it didn't matter when I flew.) There were some date combinations that didn't seem to work, but most did.

Thanks to The Dog. November and December only. 3.9 cpm.

These are the fare terms:

Travel restrictions
VALID FOR TRAVEL COMMENCING ON/AFTER 21MAY 12. ALL TRAVEL
MUST BE COMPLETED BY MIDNIGHT ON 15DEC 12.
Sales restrictions
TICKETS MUST BE ISSUED ON/BEFORE 31MAY 12.

I've found dates available before November and December. I think there may be some days in June and July, but ITA isn't very helpful so I'm not certain. But I did find August dates in time for summer vacation. :)

For example:
IAD - LIM 8/15 - 9/10
$354.94 a/i

or with a Mexico City stopover:
IAD - MEX 8/13
MEX - LIM 8/22
LIM - IAD 9/10
$404.63 a/i

Though it doesn't seem to show up on ITA, it's bookable and searchable on Orbitz.

Have you booked machu Picchu trip already?
If so who did you use?

Nothing yet - I always book first and then start researching!

These are the fare terms:

Travel restrictions
VALID FOR TRAVEL COMMENCING ON/AFTER 21MAY 12. ALL TRAVEL
MUST BE COMPLETED BY MIDNIGHT ON 15DEC 12.
Sales restrictions
TICKETS MUST BE ISSUED ON/BEFORE 31MAY 12.

I've found dates available before November and December. I think there may be some days in June and July, but ITA isn't very helpful so I'm not certain. But I did find August dates in time for summer vacation. :)

For example:
IAD - LIM 8/15 - 9/10
$354.94 a/i

or with a Mexico City stopover:
IAD - MEX 8/13
MEX - LIM 8/22
LIM - IAD 9/10
$404.63 a/i

Though it doesn't seem to show up on ITA, it's bookable and searchable on Orbitz.

can't find anything with a june departure. I tried 7/14/21/28 days stay

can't find anything with a june departure. I tried 7/14/21/28 days stay

If you do 7-14 day stay on the "length of stay" field on ITA, you will see there's departures on June 1st/2nd and returning on June 12th/13th/14th.

does anyone know what AeorMexico's same day standby policy is?

If you do 7-14 day stay on the "length of stay" field on ITA, you will see there's departures on June 1st/2nd and returning on June 12th/13th/14th.

I just looked and at first ITA shows these dates and everything around it as $730. Which is what happened earlier before I found the dates in August. Then I entered this in both advanced routing code boxes:

C:AM+

to only search flights on Aeromexico. That yielded much better results on the calendar when you do a 7-14 day search. I see some dates in July too. :)

This just hit Travelzoo. If you want it, I wouldn't wait.

gone

This just hit Travelzoo. If you want it, I wouldn't wait.

I checked ITA on 6-9 day stay for the near term and am seeing availability at $354.94 a-i for start dates of May 27 and 30 and June 3. Got it to price out on ITA and then tried booking online using FlexPerks points, but their system was barfing at anything Aeromexico for some reason (even though public T-locity was showing it, and FlexPerks uses their engine).

So I had to book it over the phone, with the FlexPerks agent putting it together segment by segment. But it priced, costing 20K FlexPoints and $0 out of pocket.

Not the most convenient flight times, with the 7 a.m. flight out of Dulles on May 30, a 13-hour layover in Mexico City (have never been there; dunno if I can get out of the airport on that), and arrival in LIM at 5:40 a.m. after a red-eye. On the way back June 8 it's a 1:20 a.m. departure from LIM :rolleyes: and another 13 hour layover in MEX, arriving back at IAD at 1:50 a.m.

But it's $0 out of pocket (would be $354.94), and because it counts as a paid ticket I get the 75% miles, EQMs, and elite-partner perks. Just have to get to IAD and back.

Supposedly May is the best month to go weather-wise and crowd-wise; am hoping at least some of that rubs off into the first week in June. Thanks to OP for posting.

...it books into P - Deeply Discounted.

75% MQM for delta so ~5.6cpm :(

Thank you for pointing this out. I had it in my head that earning on DL's airline partners (http://skymilesoffers.delta.com/airline_partners.php) was almost totally simple (especially compared to Star Alliance).

Is the fare gone?:eek: I really want to go...

Is the fare gone?:eek: I really want to go...

I'm seeing $510 RT a-i's now on AM via ITA, though with a good selection of dates starting around mid-July. The new fare code is still a P fare, and it looks like not having a YQ on it is the biggie.

Not as good as $355, admittedly, but maybe some holiday or other possibilities. I had tried to get an award trip on Spirit previously, but with so much demand and such a thin schedule into LIM it didn't look do-able.

November 9-20 IAD-MEX-LIM.

Lima is an absolute dump. Used the 50% MR to Avios bonus and booked flights LIM-CUZ-JAL-AQP-LIM for almost nothing. 4500 Avios (3000 MR) per flight. Value of the flights were $350-550 each.

Nothing beats Flyertalk.

November 9-20 IAD-MEX-LIM.

Lima is an absolute dump. Used the 50% MR to Avios bonus and booked flights LIM-CUZ-JAL-AQP-LIM for almost nothing. 4500 Avios (3000 MR) per flight. Value of the flights were $350-550 each.

Nothing beats Flyertalk.

How did you do this? 4 of us bought tickets to Lima and are now looking into flights to Cusco. Any help is much appreciated!

How did you do this? 4 of us bought tickets to Lima and are now looking into flights to Cusco. Any help is much appreciated!

Use BA miles to book it on LAN

How did you do this? 4 of us bought tickets to Lima and are now looking into flights to Cusco. Any help is much appreciated!

1. Create an Exec. Club acct w/ BA if you don't have one already.
2. Go here: http://www.britishairways.com/travel/spend-avios/public/en_gb
3. Input the itinerary one leg at a time and search; then search partner airlines
4. Find out how many Avios miles you need to book each leg.
5. Log in to Amex MR site and transfer the miles using a 1:1.5 conversion.
6. Wait 5-10 minutes for Avios points to show up in Exec Club acct.
7. Book!

20 minutes, tops.

Great trip to Peru overall on this deal, though there are certainly easier ways to get there. The IAD-MEX segments weren't that crowded, but the MEX-LIM and vv were at 97-100 percent. MEX-LIM on the outbound was particularly awful, as the aircraft was a first-gen 737-800 with knee-banging seat pitch (seriously, comparable to Spirit Airlines) and 5 hours for the DVT to set in. The 737-800 on the way back was a thinner-seatback Continental-like one and marginally more humane, but that aircraft type can't be retired soon enough.

They made you go all the way through immigration and customs on arrival in MEX in both directions (and then put the bag on the belt), which seems a bit much for connecting passengers. With about a 13-hour layover both ways, though, there was no particular hurry. The Aeromexico international lounge really helped greatly, and thankfully they'd let you through security to get to it (and you didn't have to get stamped out of the country) even if it was 11 or so hours before flight time. I thought about ditching my stuff in the lockers and going into town on the subway, but was just too comfortable with the lounge, business center, food, TVs, etc.

Ended up paying $287 RT a-i on the LIM-CUZ-LIM on Peruvian Airlines, in part because of booking just days before the travel date and also from running into the start of high season. With more advance time and less demand you can do much better with either Peruvian or StarPeru; TACA and LAN have a ridiculous $140 foreigner surcharge (but LAN could work with OneWorld miles, as others have pointed out; I didn't have those, alas). Peruvian flies older 737s and tries to be on time (missing by an hour or so both ways) and businesslike and professional.

The reward for getting out to CUZ was great weather and, unexpectedly, long parades of groups in costume doing traditional dances around the Plaza de Armas (one lasted from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). Macchu Picchu will run from moderate to expensive, with PeruRail not particularly cheap out of CUZ and the admission ticket also roughly a couple of Jacksons. The Inca trail avoids a train in one direction but comes with its own costs. Backpackers looking for the cheapest way would overnight in Ollyantambo and take the cheapest train from there to Aguas Calientes (near Macchu Picchu).

Sacred valley tours could be had for as low as $10-ish, but they also made people buy the expensive boleto touristicos, which would add $25 to $50 or so depending on ticket.

Cuzco is a really beautiful and charming city, and I'm glad I allocated 5 of the 7 days there. The altitude really did get to me, even after a few days there (e.g. getting out of breath much quicker from stair climbing or other exertions).

Lima lived up to its reputation as the gastronomic capital, and staying in Miraflores between Parque Kennedy and Larcomar was good. There was a constant overcast and fog, though, maybe a bit like Seattle in February.

In LIM I was able to jump the long Aeromexico line using SkyTeam Plus, but only after the initial flunkie (probably a contract worker) had to call over a supervisor. He apparently thought that only AM elites could get in the B-class line, not other SkyTeam elite plus (He didn't seem well-versed on how the alliances work). Also, the lady at the SUMAQ lounge (sort of a catchall VIP in LIM) said they'd only take DL cards on DL flights. YMMV.

Miles posted in several days.

Wirelessly posted (Samsung Galaxy S: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.6; en-us; SGH-T959V Build/GINGERBREAD) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

Thanks for an excellent report RustyC! As to having to go through immgration and customs, I don't like it eiher. Bit if we can't make our govt stop this nuisance, we have little reason to point fingers at Mexico.

They made you go all the way through immigration and customs on arrival in MEX in both directions (and then put the bag on the belt), which seems a bit much for connecting passengers.



I'm doing YUL-MEX-LIM next week..so good information to know not having transited MEX before. Guess it's same as the U.S. for intl to intl connections.

Great info - thanks ^TACA and LAN have a ridiculous $140 foreigner surcharge (but LAN could work with OneWorld miles, as others have pointed outIs the surcharge likely to apply to award tkts on LAN? I was going to use avios for LIM-CUZ....
Sacred valley tours could be had for as low as $10-ish, but they also made people buy the expensive boleto touristicos, which would add $25 to $50 or so depending on ticket.What is that?

Time in LIMA... I have booked seven days/nights overall (arriving in Lima). Is 1 1/2 days enough for Lima and the rest in Cusco? I haven't booked my LIM-CUZ tkt yet.

Thanks :)

Great info - thanks ^Is the surcharge likely to apply to award tkts on LAN? I was going to use avios for LIM-CUZ....

I don't have first-hand experience, but since a number of people were mentioning this I'd figure the surcharge wouldn't apply. Otherwise it'd cost about what the cheapest paid ticket on Peruvian or StarPeru would go for, which would defeat the purpose. StarPeru, BTW, flies smaller but newer planes.


What is that?

Rather than selling single-site admissions to many places around Cuzco, they make tourists buy a single, big multi-site ticket. The comprehensive one is 130 soles (about $48), while the partial one for all sites in the Sacred Valley only is about $26 (and another partial for sites around Cuzco for same price). As the Lonely Planet guide points out, most people go to only 2 or 3 of the 12 or 17 places eligible, but because admission is only via that ticket, you have to shell out. Macchu Picchu is another admission ticket entirely ($45-ish, if memory serves).

Time in LIMA... I have booked seven days/nights overall (arriving in Lima). Is 1 1/2 days enough for Lima and the rest in Cusco? I haven't booked my LIM-CUZ tkt yet.

Lima was great for food and has a number of museums I didn't see, but I'm glad I went with a 5:2 split between Cuzco and Lima. CUZ is smaller and has a lot more charm, as well as tons of possibilities for daytrips.

I booked one of these for September and last night I received an email saying my flights had been changed. The MEX-LIM segment had been pushed an hour so instead of arriving around 2300, it was now after midnight. A little inconvenient but really no big deal. The kicker was my return LIM-MEX segment (which was originally scheduled for approx 0100 on a Monday morning) had been changed to the day before at 0800!

I called and at the very least got them to change me to an afternoon flight back on Monday but when I inquired about the original, I was told it was no longer operating. Funny thing is when I checked their website... they were still selling the very same flight with the exact flight number at the exact same time. Am I being lied to?

Peruvian Airlines operates B737-200 and Star Peru operates BAe-146 (something like Swiss Intl or Brussels Airlines RJ-85)

Thanks Rusty C for a really great synopsis of your Peruvian adventure.
I've been to Lima several times but not Cuzco.Lima is an unattractive city, tremendously polarized between the rich and poor. That said, food is excellent, prices are reasonable and history and museums are top-notch. Miraflores is a good place to stay. The airport area is the worst (ugliest and far from sights) area.

I called and at the very least got them to change me to an afternoon flight back on Monday but when I inquired about the original, I was told it was no longer operating. Funny thing is when I checked their website... they were still selling the very same flight with the exact flight number at the exact same time. Am I being lied to?

I would say yes (although, at least in my case, the timing of AM19 was actually changed). I had the same issue, but when I called them they were able to switch me to the flight after midnight. I was originally scheduled for AM19 at 12:20am on Friday, Sept. 14, and then I was bumped to AM49 at 8:05am on Thursday, Sept. 13. When I called them, they told me about the afternoon alternative but also mentioned that AM19 was now scheduled for 1:20am on Sept. 14 -- and they were willing to put me on that. You may want to call them back and request the change again (provided, of course, AM19 is offered on the day you're interested in). Frankly, I don't understand why people were ever bumped off AM19 flights when they could have just been scheduled an hour later.

I just went to check my itinerary (Thanksgiving week), which I bought on Orbitz. The outbound is fine, but on the return, it looks like AM is not offering the 1am flight, and a 1pm instead. This is MUCH better for me! However, I've never received any kind of flight change notification, perhaps because I used Orbitz and they may not be on top of things. Any way to force them to let me know their options? Is it safe to call AM?

I just went to check my itinerary (Thanksgiving week), which I bought on Orbitz. The outbound is fine, but on the return, it looks like AM is not offering the 1am flight, and a 1pm instead. This is MUCH better for me! However, I've never received any kind of flight change notification, perhaps because I used Orbitz and they may not be on top of things. Any way to force them to let me know their options? Is it safe to call AM?

Well, I used Orbitz as well and they sent me a flight change notification. That being said, the reason for my call was that the flight change was a mess, with me booked on flights no longer offered and double booked (on two flights, for example, between IAD and MEX). I never spoke to an AM representative. I instead just spoke to Orbitz, who then called AM on my behalf (while they put me on hold). The Orbitz representative relayed the information about the available flights from the AM representative. (Interestingly, AM fixed the itinerary and sent me a confirmation directly from them, while the mess with Orbitz still shows up on their website.)

I don't think it matters who you call, but I think you should be fine calling Orbitz (and they should call AM if necessary). Maybe you should call whichever of the two shows the 1pm flight you like (i.e. if you see the 1pm flight on Orbitz, call them; if you checked directly with AM and it said 1pm, call them), as you'll have the starting point of the flight you prefer. I'm not sure what you mean by asking if it's "safe" to call, but I don't think you should be worried about the deal possibly being overturned; it's been months since the deal was offered and it's long been dead.

Thanks. With so many airlines lately pulling the plug on things long after ticketing, I was a bit reluctant, but I'll give AM a call.

I would highly suggest knowing what flight options exist. I had a similar experience last year with flights from Germany to Turkey, and Orbitz tried to put us on one from two connections rather than a direct flight. Orbitz kept insisting those were the only options available; however, I called United directly and found out what my options were. The United representative told me to call Orbitz back, and give them the direct Lufthansa flight I wanted. When Orbitz balked, I had her conference in "United" and the United person was kind enough to explain to the Orbitz representative that she had to personally contact Lufthansa and request the flight....something about the Orbitz person did not understand that even if the requested flight it a higher cost or a different class of service the airline has to reaccommodate. The whole experience with Orbitz was very stressful but thanks to United's intervention successful resolved!

following up on this, what has everyone been doing about flight changes?

following up on this, what has everyone been doing about flight changes?

So far, nothing - I recently got notice from Orbitz about a change, and I now have two MEX-LIM and two LIM-MEX flights, but I have not yet called. AM's site is still only showing one each.

I'll actually land in Lima at midnight on the 13th/14th. See you there!

AM changed my return flight again, this time my flight back to IAD actually leaves before I land in MEX. Sounds promising for a great travel experience so far. Just research the available flights, call AM and they will change you without hesitation. Fingers crossed for an upgrade.

AeroMexico just sent another schedule change this weekend. The AM flight IAD-MEX is now 35 minutes earlier, leaving at 6:25am. I called both AM and PL (my ticketing agent), telling them that I don't live in IAD, and this schedule change will cause me missing the connection.

I humbly asked if they could put me on the next flight out. They said it would be the next day. I said "OK, because I won't be able to catch the current one anyway." but they said "but we are unable to do it because the schedule change is less than 2 hours." I was like "but didn't you hear me? I won't be able to make my connection" and they just keep saying "no"

What should I do in this situation?