TheBOSman

UA: BOS-SAN <$240 RT AI, as low as 3.2 cpm

Want to thank weirdlyndon for pointing this out in another thread. Best routing is BOS-IAH-SFO-SAN and same return, $235.80 AI RT. Wide open during the week using the redeye SFO-IAH on the return. One night stay required if you want that routing on the weekends. BOS-EWR-SFO-SAN with 500 mile minimums should be a good cpm as well. Dates start Septmeber 1st, nearly through February 12, 2013, with normal Thanksgiving and Christmas blocks.

AA_EXP09

Remember: Subject to availability, you can also nest these tickets!
87.44 base
G fare

pfbloom

Oooooo - where is AA on this? Hoping they will match... DL and UA seem to be much more aggressive this month on the fare discounts.

TheBOSman

AA is in on this (I've seen it for a couple of days now) but the routings aren't quite as good. AA only allows one transfer, and BOS-SAN is straight over ORD and not much better through DFW, and there wasn't much available via JFK or LAX to try for 500 mile minimum boosters. UA allows 2 transfers on a lot of fares, which is the main reason they seem to have better MR fares lately.

Yas46377

Nice find and thanks for the explanation on AA vs UA for these MR. I'll be flying LAX to BOS on a weekend, maybe I can throw in a UA MR before taking the AA return back!

Zippin Bye

can I ask what you're inputting for the search? Searched bos sfo San and got as low as 306 a/i which equates to 4.7cpm. Didn't see an option to route through IAH. Thanks for any advice

TheBOSman

If you are looking on ITA matrix, use advanced routing codes UA+ IAH SFO for BOS-SAN and UA+ SFO IAH for SAN-BOS. If you're looking on UA.bomb, multi-city BOS-IAH IAH-SFO SFO-SAN and reverse for the return, inputting the dates (and preferably the exact times) that you get from ITA matrix. Same day returns on the IAH routing aren't available on the weekends so you have to search for that during the week. BOS-EWR-SFO-SAN is not much worse a cpm if you have the elite minimums (3.3 or so), and you'll be able to use the SFO-EWR redeye return (UA has 2 SFO-EWR redeyes nightly from what I see). I'm having trouble getting a same day return through IAH to work on .bomb though. You can try booking it as two one-ways as well, that seems to work better, but make sure the times work that you have a decent amount of time at SAN between flights.

AA_EXP09

I forced the segments through the GDS.
BOS-HOU-SFO-SAN v.v works.

pfbloom

Thanks BOSman, and right you are... AA is now showing $208ai for many dates late August and September -- but only a few one-day turns.

As usual only one transfer allowed, typically ORD or DFW. Still a good fare if you can work with the stay requirements.

TheBOSman

Indeed. The $208 is same flight numbers BOS-ORD-SAN and reverse, not a bad 4.0 cpm. BOS-SAN vs. BOS-ORD-SAN is maybe 3 miles difference (I checked before on a previous BOS-SAN fare) so I'd rather save the $ and book the direct flights in this rare instance, though an upgrade is harder to get technically that way.

PDXPremier

Did the BOS-PDX fare also drop to $208??

TheBOSman

That one is still $240-ish on UA, still 3.6 cpm at best. I'm having trouble keeping all of these updated .

OskiBear

So I'm seeing a 105am arrival with a 635am return
Any ideas of what to do for 5 hours in the middle of the night at BOS? Any chance of some place to hang without getting a hotel room?

pfbloom

Sadly this is not New York -- and Boston can be pretty quiet in the wee hours. Public transit closes down from about 1:00am to 5:00am and the streets can be pretty bare.

You really should stay an extra day and enjoy Boston in the late summer/early fall. Days can be really delightful.........

OskiBear

I"d love to but the fare doesn't seem to work. My original hope was to find the Friday night red-eye that will give me all of saturday and then fly home sometime on sunday.