UpgradeMe

Has anyone other than me actually booked a trip to get a LatinPass bonus?

I'll be earning 500k in 28 hours on March 11 and 12.

Tino

What's the itinerary? Should us fellow FTers be waving from the sidelines like the bearer of the Olympic Torch?

Jim_B

I'm waiting to see somebody actually do the trip *and* get the bonus, before I consider it. I've talked to my wife about it, and she might actually be the one doing the travelling. Again, though, I'd like a confirmation that the bonus is for real before setting out on my own. Good luck, UpgradeMe.

Pudding Guy

I bought my tickets yesterday. Two friends and I will be taking a GUA-CCS route for the 500k bonus. I was mighty tempted to go for the full 1M, but this plan seems less expensive per mile--at least when flying full fare or business. The full Y cost for this routing is under $1,200 (plus 25k AAdvantage miles to get in & out of South America).

We've got several days planned in Bonaire at the end of the trip. That gives us some slack if some of the flights get delayed or cancelled. If all goes as planned, we'll get the 500k miles in a fairly comfortable fashion and have a nice diving vacation to boot.

I'll take a $118 SFO-LAS-SFO trip on National for the partner segments.

If the miles post in the timeframe LatinPass promised, we might use miles from the first 500k to get the last 500k for under $1,000.

billhallNY

We're still looking at it since we'll be in AUA in April anyways?

If you don't mind please post the flights and times ($$$ too) for the 28 hours and GUA to CCS. I've been spending time on Travelocity and such to see how to do this in minimal time/cost.
Thanks!

shadow

UpgradeMe...I would also like to know the details/cost of your itinerary. If you'd rather not post it here, please e-mail to me.

Thanks...

RichLond

My travel agent and I will be doing a 6 segment trip starting Mar 11th and ending the night of the 12th. If anyone is going around then feel free to e-mail me to see if we overlap. Total cost is $1200 in business class for 5 segments and full coach on 1 segment.

We could have ended in CUR for about 100 USD less, but decided that LIM would allow us to do a same day LIM-CUZ-LIM on Taca Peru if something went wrong with 1 of the flights midway through the trip.


rich

ps. has anyone investigated the locally collected taxes at various airports? Columbia I believe charges $25 to leave the country.


[This message has been edited by RichLond (edited 02-11-2000).]

BlackBerryAddict

I'm also still in the planning stage, but I am serious about it. I will combine it with a trip I have to do to Lima anyway (being based in London, UK I have to get to the Amreicas first). I am interested to see the experiences of others.

UpgradeMe

My itinerary was posted once upon a time in the really long LatinPass thread, but for those of you who really don't feel like wading through 180 posts:

Ticket #1:
3/11
TACA 514 MIA-MGA (qualifies as NICA)

Ticket #2:
3/11
TACA 514 MGA-SAL
AVIATECA 960 SAL-GUA
3/12
COPA 317 GUA-SJO (1-stop)

Ticket #3:
3/12
LACSA 691 SJO-BOG
AVIANCA 77 BOG-UIO
3/13
CO 1248 UIO-IAH
CO 1051 IAH-DFW

Not including the CO flights, this itinerary is less than $1900 in business class. (And since all of my flight coupons read either C or J, I don't have to worry about the ever-changing fare rules.)

I have to be in FLL on March 9 and 10, and in DFW on March 13, so this trip meshes perfectly with my other plans.

I know the trip can be done for less (even in business class), but I was unable to come up with a schedule that fit my needs any better than this one, in part because I will only be in Colombia for less than three hours.

I'll be in MCI for 24 hours on April 9, and I've already booked a MCI-STL r/t to cover the partner flights. Avis rentals (current President's Club member) and Marriott stays (current Marriott Rewards Gold) will not be a problem.

I may be joined on the trip by a good friend who is a well-known travel writer. So who knows, I may end up almost as famous as pudding guy.

BTW: All flights booked through TRIP.com for 3 miles per $.

Rich Lond: I'd love to see your itinerary. 5 b/c segments for $1200? Really?

doc

That is truly astounding Rich. At these prices, coupled with the MEGAmiles, one might be tempted to just "take over" the entire series of aircraft on the route, at least in C, with FTer's.

Maybe a huge mileage party run could be planned in association with an upcoming event like the NYC or Montreal get togethers. It could well be a kind of an extention of the previous highly successful UA PIP flight. The only problem might well be too limited numbers of seats on these aicraft!

RichLond

Upgrade me,

I will be on the same flights as you on 12th from SJO - BOG - UIO. Send me an e-mail and maybe we could have a drink the night before in SJO.

1 point i may not have made clear was that the 1200 dollars did not include flights to and from the US. Those are an additional 600 bucks on AA from DCA ($450 with VolumeBuy Vouchers) in coach.

The flights are as follows:

Ticket $138.99
TA220 SAL-SAP 08:30-09:15

Ticket 2 $570.00
CM311 SAP-GUA 14:15-15:00
GU911 GUA-SJO 18:25-20:00
LR691 SJO-BOG 10:40-13:45

Ticket 3 $503.80
AV77 BOG-UIO 16:15-17:40
VX521 UIO-LIM 21:35-22:45 < Coach

Total Cost: $1,212.79

rich


[This message has been edited by RichLond (edited 02-11-2000).]

UpgradeMe

Rich:

Not spending the night in SJO on 3/11, but maybe we can partake of the local custom during our 2 1/2 hour layover in BOG. (On second thought, let's skip the local custom and stick to alcohol.) Or maybe dinner in Quito during your 4 hour layover?

BTW, I don't think it's entirely coincidence that Rich and I selected many of the same flights. The trick for the cheap 500k (at least in business class) is to stick to Central America as much as possible. This is particularly true because Aces, Saeta and Aeropostal are all singles class airlines.

BTW, I selected UIO as my ending point only because CO's business class fare to DFW was hundreds of dollars less from UIO than it was from CCS, PTY or LIM. Because Avianca can get you to all of these places from BOG, it really depends how much it will cost you to return home.

MileSmiles

Hi everyone.

I was going to go this thursday, but wife will be coming with me, so, we postponed to mid March. I gave up on the one million cause Saeta (flying, not flying, then flying again.......) 500k should be ok.
I came up with something better.
MEX/GUA/SAL/MGA/SJO/BOG/CCS/MIA- about $1100. Well one need to get to MEX and back from MIA (Was thinking in using FF award), is worth it.

leroy11

I can recommend a GREAT Argentine steak house in Quito. I'll try and get the details.

Catman

I cannot speak for other Flyertalk event organizers but if anyone has any suggestions on any events tied to a F-T event could they PLEASE ASK THE EVENT COORDINATORS FIRST!!!

For my event, I want as few "main" events as possible to give everyone a chance to have free time to enjoy the sights of NYC.

If we have too many events then the whole thing will not be fun.

Thank you for your understanding.