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Good Deal Premium Fares 2014

Old Jan 4, 2014, 10:43 pm
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Note: There is a known miscoding on ITA and elsewhere, where fares on EI (Aer Lingus) are showing as being in first class. This is not correct, as Aer Lingus does not offer first class. If you see this fare, please ignore it and do not post it here as it is completely unbookable in every sense of the term. The mods are summarily deleting these posts in order to unclutter the thread.

Note: There is a known miscoding on ITA and elsewhere, where Z fares on EY (Etihad) are showing as being in first class. This is not correct, as Z fares are discount business on EY. These fares will not receive chaffeur service. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/etihad-airways-etihad-guest/1622229-removal-chauffeur-service-some-business-class-passengers.html

List of known, active deals:

JNB-DXB-SFO in EK F, $4k-ish one-way
MLE-HKG-US (various) in C, $1400 +/- available only on CX's website.
CMB-MIA, other US cities, for about $4400 in F, round-trip/return

BA AARP $400 discount for J/F bookings is now valid again for booking until 31 Oct 2014 but departure to EOS seems to get the discount. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1435816-ba-fare-discounts-aarp-4.html
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Good Deal Premium Fares 2014

Old Dec 19, 2014, 9:40 am
  #3316  
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Originally Posted by SFO777
It all depends on your perspective. Any F fare in the $3K-$4K range for that distance and on that airline is a bargain, regardless of what the J fare is.
If you make millions, sure. Then $4K is "a bargain".
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Old Dec 19, 2014, 9:53 am
  #3317  
 
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To each their own. I don't make millions, or have millions, but have flown paid F on BA and I thought that was a bargain (about $7.5K for a family of 4, $2K in bonus miles). I'd do it again in a heartbeat in the same financial situation.

Last edited by bmchris; Dec 19, 2014 at 10:15 am
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Old Dec 19, 2014, 9:57 am
  #3318  
 
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Originally Posted by TheBOSman
Probably anything less than USD150 per hour of long haul F flight time, would be good with EK, to put a semi-random number on it.
I've been able to get $100/hr or less when buying miles flying CX and EK F. I don't travel enough to have availability be an issue. I've been lucky the last few years buying miles and one awesome ex-CMB fare (RIP). Unless you're working on status, don't underestimate buying miles for redemptions.
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Old Dec 19, 2014, 9:58 am
  #3319  
 
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Or I could just buy a nice dinner in the city I live in and not travel at all? Talk about apples and oranges, what does a hotel and dinner have to do with the comfort and experience of the flight to get there and home?

BTW, I've been to Sri Lanka dozens of times for the past decade and enjoy it both as a destination itself and a point of return from central and south asia for what have been historically cheap(er) tickets.

My point was that if I am going to fly half way around the world for a vacation (wherever that may be), I'd like the to and from portion to be in F.

Originally Posted by bmchris
Why not just spend $1,000 on a high end hotel and killer meal? Isn't that a better experience for less money? It doesn't seem like you want to go to CMB specifically. Am I missing something?
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Old Dec 19, 2014, 10:02 am
  #3320  
 
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So it looks like with the current AS sale, EK is about $1800+ or so for F in each direction. And AA looks like about $1700+
Are those the best miles based deals?

Originally Posted by nemme99
I've been able to get $100/hr or less when buying miles flying CX and EK F. I don't travel enough to have availability be an issue. I've been lucky the last few years buying miles and one awesome ex-CMB fare (RIP). Unless you're working on status, don't underestimate buying miles for redemptions.
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Old Dec 19, 2014, 10:07 am
  #3321  
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Originally Posted by dieuwer2
If you make millions, sure. Then $4K is "a bargain".
The point was that past/typical pricing allows us to determine whether or not a fare represents a relative bargain for a particular combination of airline and route, regardless of whether we find that fare attractive or affordable.

There are places on the internet even sadder than FT , where you can find people arguing that the McDouble and Sausage Biscuit represents a terrific deal now that the Bacon Cheddar McChicken has increased in price. The fact that I'm not remotely interested in trying either 'meal' doesn't make those people wrong.
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Old Dec 19, 2014, 10:37 am
  #3322  
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Originally Posted by NA-Flyer
Where do you deposit the miles when flying EK?
Either KE or AS.
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Old Dec 19, 2014, 10:58 am
  #3323  
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Originally Posted by stephem
So it looks like with the current AS sale, EK is about $1800+ or so for F in each direction. And AA looks like about $1700+
Are those the best miles based deals?
US is probably cheaper depending on exact routing, but of course you would have to fly round trip with them, and it would depend where you want to go.

LM is probably cheapest, but you can't mix F and J with them, so almost nothing would work out of CMB or really most places. They also can't book LH F, and of course no LX F.
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Old Dec 19, 2014, 4:13 pm
  #3324  
 
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Thx, some past experience with LM, it was kinda like the old BMI days in terms of getting things booked right.

Just realized I have enough EY miles to upgrade J-F, but with the lowest business class fare of $1200 ex-cmb, that really only shaves about six hundred off the cost of buying the miles outright from either AA or AS.

I am traveling end of Jan and there is plenty of F award space on both EY and EK if I act now, so thanks again for the heads up on that option.

Originally Posted by TheBOSman
US is probably cheaper depending on exact routing, but of course you would have to fly round trip with them, and it would depend where you want to go.

LM is probably cheapest, but you can't mix F and J with them, so almost nothing would work out of CMB or really most places. They also can't book LH F, and of course no LX F.
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Old Dec 19, 2014, 7:58 pm
  #3325  
 
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Originally Posted by stephem
Thx, some past experience with LM, it was kinda like the old BMI days in terms of getting things booked right.

Just realized I have enough EY miles to upgrade J-F, but with the lowest business class fare of $1200 ex-cmb, that really only shaves about six hundred off the cost of buying the miles outright from either AA or AS.

I am traveling end of Jan and there is plenty of F award space on both EY and EK if I act now, so thanks again for the heads up on that option.
Have fun! I've done EK trips twice - well, one completed and one in about a month - using bought AS miles, and I've done CX F a couple of times, once on AA miles and another on AS miles. While a little more expensive buying AS miles, you get a stopover in HKG and it's the same miles to go many other places, like BOM in my case.

Don't forget that with AS miles on EK it's only an extra 10,000 miles for Asia. Sri Lanka is indeed a nice place to visit, but you could start in other asian spots (if you can find availability. SIN is tough in F which is why I changed my plans when I found a combo that worked.)
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Old Dec 23, 2014, 5:04 am
  #3326  
 
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Originally Posted by IMH
There are places on the internet even sadder than FT , where you can find people arguing that the McDouble and Sausage Biscuit represents a terrific deal now that the Bacon Cheddar McChicken has increased in price. The fact that I'm not remotely interested in trying either 'meal' doesn't make those people wrong.
It's gotta be a little wrong, but point well taken And yes AS miles used for EK F is what I'm saving those up for!
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Old Jan 15, 2015, 12:16 pm
  #3327  
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Originally Posted by The Mileage Millionaire
UA: SFO-ATL r/t $798 (P) nonstop most days through March 2015.

Fare rules allow routing through ORD and IAD, so hopefully can utilize SDC to add connection(s) on day of departure. If you can SDC to SFO-IAD-ATL-IAD-SFO, works out to 8,856 EQM for $798, or 9.02 cpEQM. Not bad for F.
Originally Posted by SanDiego1K
Great tip. I checked SAN and found $645 RT certain days of the week. I have to route via SFO to get this price. Oh, and this is April 2015.
Tripit sent me a notification that the price had dropped on my itinerary. Sure enough, the route I bought for $645 is now $573. My ticket is in April.
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Old Jan 17, 2015, 6:57 pm
  #3328  
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