Originally Posted by Concerto

I'm trying to work out a strategy for the rest of the year, because if all goes well I will be 8XP short of Platinum by mid October. I don't want to hit Platinum too quickly, but ideally by the end of the year, as my Gold status goes up to the end of the year. I think with the antics I got up to earlier this year (30 segments for Gold before the end of March) that would mean that my requalification year would normally start on 1st of January. I figure if I cross the 300XP threshold sometime in December, following advice received here on this forum, my requalification year will still start on 1st January.

So what I would be looking for is a business class run on Alitalia, somewhere in Europe, or any other carrier that offers the most reasonable price possible in business. I could do the outbound before the end of the year, and the inbound sometime in January. Starting point is not too much of a worry, although I spend much of my time in Germany and Switzerland, and I recall reading that there were some good fares out of Germany (to MAD for example, but I couldn't find any evidence of them). Are there any updates on the good European business fares front?

Obviously, I don't need a business fare in reality (any trip to DUS on AF or KL with a transfer in CDG or AMS would yield the 8XPs necessary in the form of 10XPs), but a cheap business run would give me a head start on keeping Platinum next year, as the XPs will be carried over. Oh, and I haven't written about my adventures in Jeju, South Korea, yet ... which is all part of my Plat run (although I was very much there for work!!).