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Old Apr 22, 2024 | 12:51 pm
  #291  
steveholt
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15 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA ExPl, BA Gold, DL Gold, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Lifetime Platinum, probably some others
Posts: 4,947
Originally Posted by ironmanjt
Thanks so much for sharing your story - I feel this any many threads here often skew massively in favor of “how much can I get and how little can I pay” and often ignore the value of time and going places you actually want to go.

I just finished my (first pre-devaluation) ex-CAI DONE5 and it was a great value. I didn’t do the maths on miles earned of qualifying points but got to do lots of flights I’ve wanted to do for years - and do it for much cheaper than buying them on their own.

I had so much fun I just started a devaluation-based ex-CAI explorer yesterday. Sadly going to have to change at a minimum the dates for segments 6-16 and might also change the routing because the more I think about it 7+ days in CXI might drive me insane.

I’ve done dozens of CAI fares over the years (they’re often convenient for me too as I transit between Southern Africa and Europe) so if anyone has CAI questions feel free to ask. Just as a heads up: anything in Egypt targeted at foreigners has already been repriced for the devaluation. When I started the previous fare about 6 weeks ago I noted several prices (hotels, Ubers, meals, etc) and without exception they’re all 50%+ higher in EGP just a month later.
Of course! Everyone has different reasons for flying these fares. Some are to rack up as many miles as possible, and that's fine. Mine have mostly been about wanting to fly US-AU in J and discovering that it's not much more expensive to book an entire RTW and structure it around existing travel plans instead of using miles. I brought up the OSL example for the prior poster just to ensure that they didn't miss out on €2000 - if their time is more valuable than repositioning to OSL, it sounds like they're doing just fine!
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