mgm: I, too, am looking for the cheapest method to score the 100k, but I am disappointed to see that no-one has risen to the challenge. Here's what I'm working on and with your help maybe we can do it.

I am in Boston, but this plan should work for any resident of a major city in the northeast. On the east coast, it seems the most likely combo of 5 airlines and the cheapest (or at least shortest) segments is:

AA
Canadian
British Airways
Finnair
Iberia

Since I fly AA regularly, I'm not going to worry about getting that qualifying segment, though you could integrate them into this itinerary without too much hassle. My plan was to work out an itinerary that incorporated Toronto (Canadian's hub), London (British), Helsinki (Finnair) and Madrid (Iberia). But when I called to get a fare quote on just the Euro section, I spent 20+ minutes on hold and the res agent finally said she couldn't get a quote. She gave me the locater number and suggested I call back in a few hours -- at which point the London-Helsinki-Madrid-London quote was $1800!!! When I asked what fare requirements would make the itinerary cheaper, she said she didn't know, and that I'd have to suggest a different routing! (So much for abandoning your travel agent.)

With some nosing around, I realized that I hadn't asked for any round-trips, and one-ways are usually more expensive, plus I wasn't incorporating a Sat-night stayover into two of the segments. So, my next course of action was to plot a series of round-trips (besides, there is no direct Helsinki-Madrid service).

Boston-Toronto on Canadian (and return)
Toronto-London on British (return)
London-Helsinki on Finnair (return)
London-Madrid on Iberia (return)

Because the Toronto-London segment is a Canadian/British code-share, the Boston-London portion can be bought relatively cheaply (about $450 this fall). Where I'm having trouble is getting cheap fares within Europe (not unusual). The approximately $300 round-trips to Helsinki and Madrid require Sat night stays, and I'm not sure I'll have two Saturdays to make this work. Even still, that pushes this trip to $1000 or more. I'd like to do it for less, and I'm sure it's possible.

Incidentally, the Toronto-London flight on British is a code-share with Canadian. AAdvantage tells me that this will count as my British segment, even if I buy it with a Canadian flight number, but I want to verify this. They also say the prohibition against earning AA miles on a British flight does not apply other than trans-Atlantic to/from the US.

So, suggestions as to how to snare cheapo fares (that qualify for miles) out of London?

[This message has been edited by roti (edited 09-08-1999).]