Originally Posted by
r2d2
If you prefer destinations in the US, then I guess the primary options of getting good mileage are business tickets ex-ARN or Value tickets ex-MSQ/LED/SVO (but from LED and SVO the Russian visa adds to the cost).
From a purely MR cost prospective and excluding any holiday sentiment, HI (e.g. booking ARN-HNL return) isn't a cheap destination. You get quite eye watering hotel prices in comparison to the lower 48 at times.
Originally Posted by
ffay005
Ex-HEL, your options are basically:
(1) Fly (perhaps on same plane turnarounds) to DEL on Value tickets, €500 each, after 7 returns you will have 121 600 points. Change 90k for 30k tier points and reach Platsku for about €3500
(2) Buy J campaign tickets, sometimes available for as low as €1300 ex-HEL, mostly to Chinese secondary cities. After 4 returns you will have 139 200 points, can make a points exchange and will reach Platsku for about €5200. Not as cost-effective but more comfortable.
(3) Combine (1) and (2); one DEL/Value and three J campaign tickets would be €4400 and 120 800 points, enough to make an exchange to reach Platsku
(4) If you’re more adventurous, you could also seek out fares from India to the US, or vice versa. Fares are usually cheap and include four longhauls, so lots of points. Eg. one Value return ticket to DEL and one Business return ticket DEL-JFK would get you approx. 84 000 points and cost €3000. You would then need two DEL/Values or one J campaign ticket to reach 120 000, so the total cost would be in the €4000-€4300 range.
That's exactly a good roundup of why AY+ isn't really that good for chasing specifically OW Emerald status, unless you really are out of for AY+ FFP status specifically and you travel mostly AY. Corporate passengers out of HEL are the ones that mainly benefit of AY+ status. I'm as much as a Finn as anyone else around this subforum, but I unfortunately can't see specifically AY+ status worthwile for those of us that reach FFP status mainly or only with leisure reservations.
I don't need to travel AY for work and I certainly don't wish to limit my leisure travels to the AY network, while also trying to maintain my OW FFP status at the same time. With AY+ status chasing I'd have to travel more exclusively with AY. Yes, maintaining OW Emerald is easier, once you hit Platinum, but I'd then be stuck to mostly doing AY flights. The cost for reaching Platinum with AY+ is just on a whole another level than with BAEC. As a real case example: I will regain Gold (OW Emerald) this spring for something like 2600 € and that's going to be in excess of the 1500 tier points threshold (lost count, something like 1700-1750 TPs in total). And that's including not just BA, but AY and others as well. If I'd limit myself to flying like any of the suggested options 1-4, my travels would be too limited to my taste. Or then I'd have to do my desired trips on top of that. Sure, I can use AY codeshare through the Joint Venture for North American itineraries, but overall I'd still be more limited in my options.
That having said, my point here is that chasing Platinum with AY+ with just leisure travel isn't necessarily a well thought idea and I recommend looking at the bigger picture. I'm not a nay sayer, but I myself haven't previously been able to justify any plausible way of reaching OWE with AY+, if the status is earned with purely leisure travel and no corporate travel.
I myself justify BAEC with the easily attainable OWE and how versatile the Avios scheme is. Plus there's a similar status based award mile bonus (i.e. Avios tier bonus ) like with AY+, but it includes not just the FFP carrier itself, but also AA, IB and JL. If I'd chase for AY+ Platinum, I'd then have to have good use for the AY+ specific perks and some of it is negated as I'd have to book J tickets, unless I'd also book some longhaul Y trips. Lumo could be an interesting experience, but it'd be a bridge too far with my current travel amounts. Maybe a once in a lifetime challenge to be had some day.
