LX/MM: Need a quick 30k MR (<8.5cpm) in Sep/Oct
Sep 13, 2016, 4:05 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: ZRH/VLC/MIA/SFO/SIN
Programs: LX HON
Posts: 64
LX/MM: Need a quick 30k MR (<8.5cpm) in Sep/Oct
Anyone has a good idea how I could get a roughly 30+k MR (<8.5cpm acceptable on short run) to complete the SEN status with LX/MM, flying as few legs as possible out of Europe, preferably ZRH and at least business? Willing to use some 30+k miles for upgrades into next class.
Tried g/flights, kayak, hipmunk, etc... to no avail. flightfox does not offer anymore the option to tell them a story and they find the best flights for you.
Travel dates: 18/9 - 21/9 (this week), cw42, cw44, preferably Thursdays to Mondays. Have multiple passports, so destination is almost irrelevant with regard to visa. Carry-on is sufficient if RTT <= four days.
Background: started with MM again after many years of Sky and AA due to relocation this February. Got 80 s-haul legs so far for work, 55%/45% eco/business ratio, so clearly missing status miles. Will probably do another 15-20 s-haul legs this year with same ratio, so from that I probably get another 10-15k miles, which would leave me with roughly 30k to go. Never went from zilch to Gold with almost exclusively s-haul, so challenge is on.
Tried g/flights, kayak, hipmunk, etc... to no avail. flightfox does not offer anymore the option to tell them a story and they find the best flights for you.
Travel dates: 18/9 - 21/9 (this week), cw42, cw44, preferably Thursdays to Mondays. Have multiple passports, so destination is almost irrelevant with regard to visa. Carry-on is sufficient if RTT <= four days.
Background: started with MM again after many years of Sky and AA due to relocation this February. Got 80 s-haul legs so far for work, 55%/45% eco/business ratio, so clearly missing status miles. Will probably do another 15-20 s-haul legs this year with same ratio, so from that I probably get another 10-15k miles, which would leave me with roughly 30k to go. Never went from zilch to Gold with almost exclusively s-haul, so challenge is on.
Sep 13, 2016, 4:25 pm
#2
Join Date: Jun 2016
Programs: LH Sen, AA Platinum (Pro?), UA Silver - SPG Platinum, Marriott Platinum, HHonors Gold
Posts: 4
BTW - you need 100k status miles...
http://www.miles-and-more.com/online...d=2547184&l=en
Might make your life easier.
http://www.miles-and-more.com/online...d=2547184&l=en
Might make your life easier.
Sep 13, 2016, 4:57 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: ZRH/VLC/MIA/SFO/SIN
Programs: LX HON
Posts: 64
Maybe my request was not clear: I will already have 60k by the end of this week, will certainly get another 15k from s-hauls this year and opt to ingress the remaining 25k to 30k through a l-haul business/first flight of two-four legs.
Sep 14, 2016, 4:03 am
#4
Join Date: Apr 2016
Programs: UA Mileage Plus Delta SkyMiles
Posts: 424
I booked on EgyptAir to Bangkok for 1100 EUR return in Biz... there was more availability - see if something works for you.
It was 23K miles r.t. could doctor it up a bit with a flight to Male or something...
It was 23K miles r.t. could doctor it up a bit with a flight to Male or something...
Sep 14, 2016, 10:00 am
#5
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: SIN / FRA
Programs: UA MP - 1K
Posts: 666
CAI-DXB-SIN-NRT/HND on SQ biz
How about doing CAI-DXB-SIN-NRT/HND on SQ biz?
Easy to position to CAI via Swiss. Fare books into D class, earns 1.5 for a total of approx. EQM 25k. Cost about USD 1800-1900, depending on the week of travel, so between 7.1 to 7.5 cpm not including the ZRH-CAI segments.
Together with the two ZRH-CAI segments you would hit the desired amount of EQM.
That's about the only route I can come up with were you could hit your EQM goal in one shot.
For more options you could fly Turkish biz class (J fare), should be plenty of route options available from VNO or CAI (BKK for example), but you wouldn't get the EQM in one trip though.
Easy to position to CAI via Swiss. Fare books into D class, earns 1.5 for a total of approx. EQM 25k. Cost about USD 1800-1900, depending on the week of travel, so between 7.1 to 7.5 cpm not including the ZRH-CAI segments.
Together with the two ZRH-CAI segments you would hit the desired amount of EQM.
That's about the only route I can come up with were you could hit your EQM goal in one shot.
For more options you could fly Turkish biz class (J fare), should be plenty of route options available from VNO or CAI (BKK for example), but you wouldn't get the EQM in one trip though.
Sep 15, 2016, 8:54 am
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: ZRH/VLC/MIA/SFO/SIN
Programs: LX HON
Posts: 64
tnkngn: brilliant suggestion, thanks! Positioning to CAI is actually trickier/more expensive than I thought it would be.
I'll do ZRH->CAI->ZRH->SIN->ZRH-CAI->ZRH on a 54hrs MR with LX instead of SQ (due to HON miles) on roughly 8.5cpm for 25EQM in cw42 thanks to your suggestion. First and last legs are eco E/H, rest is biz C/D on LX. Got 12 legs totalling 15k EQM coming up in the next two weeks, which then settles the score for LX/MM SEN by the end of October.
I'll do ZRH->CAI->ZRH->SIN->ZRH-CAI->ZRH on a 54hrs MR with LX instead of SQ (due to HON miles) on roughly 8.5cpm for 25EQM in cw42 thanks to your suggestion. First and last legs are eco E/H, rest is biz C/D on LX. Got 12 legs totalling 15k EQM coming up in the next two weeks, which then settles the score for LX/MM SEN by the end of October.
Sep 16, 2016, 6:27 am
#7
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: SIN / FRA
Programs: UA MP - 1K
Posts: 666
tnkngn: brilliant suggestion, thanks! Positioning to CAI is actually trickier/more expensive than I thought it would be.
I'll do ZRH->CAI->ZRH->SIN->ZRH-CAI->ZRH on a 54hrs MR with LX instead of SQ (due to HON miles) on roughly 8.5cpm for 25EQM in cw42 thanks to your suggestion. First and last legs are eco E/H, rest is biz C/D on LX. Got 12 legs totalling 15k EQM coming up in the next two weeks, which then settles the score for LX/MM SEN by the end of October.
I'll do ZRH->CAI->ZRH->SIN->ZRH-CAI->ZRH on a 54hrs MR with LX instead of SQ (due to HON miles) on roughly 8.5cpm for 25EQM in cw42 thanks to your suggestion. First and last legs are eco E/H, rest is biz C/D on LX. Got 12 legs totalling 15k EQM coming up in the next two weeks, which then settles the score for LX/MM SEN by the end of October.
Actually, I had already typed the post about taking the LX flight from CAI to SIN/BKK/HKG when I realized it would only earn 1.0x for P fare, compared to 1.5 x EQM for SQ. That's when I changed the post.
Any chance you are on the new Boeing 777 on one of the ZRH-SIN-ZRH legs?
Been looking at doing this trip myself to max. out EQM on my frequent trips from Germany to Singapore, but as you suggested, positioning to CAI isn't the easiest and cannot really be done cheaply.
Will do it at some point in the future with an Egypt stopover, as I haven't seen Cairo or the Pyramids yet.
Sep 16, 2016, 8:43 am
#8
Join Date: Apr 2016
Programs: UA Mileage Plus Delta SkyMiles
Posts: 424
Great to hear I was able to help out!
Actually, I had already typed the post about taking the LX flight from CAI to SIN/BKK/HKG when I realized it would only earn 1.0x for P fare, compared to 1.5 x EQM for SQ. That's when I changed the post.
Any chance you are on the new Boeing 777 on one of the ZRH-SIN-ZRH legs?
Been looking at doing this trip myself to max. out EQM on my frequent trips from Germany to Singapore, but as you suggested, positioning to CAI isn't the easiest and cannot really be done with an Egypt stopover, as I haven't seen Cairo or the Pyramids yet.
Actually, I had already typed the post about taking the LX flight from CAI to SIN/BKK/HKG when I realized it would only earn 1.0x for P fare, compared to 1.5 x EQM for SQ. That's when I changed the post.
Any chance you are on the new Boeing 777 on one of the ZRH-SIN-ZRH legs?
Been looking at doing this trip myself to max. out EQM on my frequent trips from Germany to Singapore, but as you suggested, positioning to CAI isn't the easiest and cannot really be done with an Egypt stopover, as I haven't seen Cairo or the Pyramids yet.
Oct 23, 2016, 3:01 pm
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: ZRH/VLC/MIA/SFO/SIN
Programs: LX HON
Posts: 64
Great to hear I was able to help out!
Actually, I had already typed the post about taking the LX flight from CAI to SIN/BKK/HKG when I realized it would only earn 1.0x for P fare, compared to 1.5 x EQM for SQ. That's when I changed the post.
Any chance you are on the new Boeing 777 on one of the ZRH-SIN-ZRH legs?
Been looking at doing this trip myself to max. out EQM on my frequent trips from Germany to Singapore, but as you suggested, positioning to CAI isn't the easiest and cannot really be done cheaply.
Will do it at some point in the future with an Egypt stopover, as I haven't seen Cairo or the Pyramids yet.
Actually, I had already typed the post about taking the LX flight from CAI to SIN/BKK/HKG when I realized it would only earn 1.0x for P fare, compared to 1.5 x EQM for SQ. That's when I changed the post.
Any chance you are on the new Boeing 777 on one of the ZRH-SIN-ZRH legs?
Been looking at doing this trip myself to max. out EQM on my frequent trips from Germany to Singapore, but as you suggested, positioning to CAI isn't the easiest and cannot really be done cheaply.
Will do it at some point in the future with an Egypt stopover, as I haven't seen Cairo or the Pyramids yet.
Upgrade bidding offers ahead of the actual flight by Swiss are a joke, since they offset the base price to at least 5-50 times the cpm of the booked fare (base offset of 2700$ for D -> F upgrade is ridiculous); not sure why people would pay for such an upgrade. For my last leg, I went to transfer in terminal E and got the agent to call the central booking office to override an F-type fare upgrade (class E -> Z) from waiting to confirmed for 12cpm on CAIZRH. Unfortunately, since early 2016 Zurich airport received new booking systems, which do not allow the old routing tricks anymore on-site.
Last but not least, due to my work related very frequent flying this year, I wouldn't even have needed the MR. Started with 0M in February and after 140 short-hauls and probably 15-20 more remaining this year, I would have had enough miles for the SEN status.
Oct 23, 2016, 3:42 pm
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: ZRH/VLC/MIA/SFO/SIN
Programs: LX HON
Posts: 64
The fare I got was 1,100 EUR AMS-CAI-BKK-CAI-AMS in Biz, then added on a flight from Thai to Phuket - only prob is, Egypt Air Biz only credits 100% and that gives you a total of 25K miles. I wasn't doing a MR, but am going an a proper hol-i-day with the fam to scuba dive...