Help: Need 2 segments (or 4k miles) to retain Gold
Dec 12, 2019, 1:26 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: London, UK
Programs: *A Gold
Posts: 22
Help: Need 2 segments (or 4k miles) to retain Gold
Greetings to the hivemind,
Due to my own stupidity (thinking that reward flights would count as segments) I'm in the unfortunate situation of needing either ~4k miles or 2 extra A3/OA segments to retain my Gold status within the next two months. My homebase is London.
I will be in Athens for a few days in February and I was considering doing a return flight to one of the islands. I was looking at ATH-MJT-ATH and wanting to do a turnaround flight. According to the schedule the plane arrives at 15:20 in MJT and departs for ATH at 15:55. Would that be sufficient time for me to deplane and get back to the same gate to fly back? Having called the Gold phone line, the agent sounded skeptical and suggested against it. I should note, I was thinking of doing it on the day of my departure back to London, with my ATH-LHR flight at 19:10. That is, if for whatever reason I fail to board the MJT-ATH flight, I would also miss my ATH-LHR flight (they would not be on the same booking).
Alternatively, I could look for some mileage run from London that would give me ~4k miles (I could do that during the second half of January). If someone wants to be really creative, I will also be in Sydney for three weeks in Dec/Jan, so any *A runs for ~4k from there would be another possibility (but as far as I know only Air New Zealand would be a possibility?).
Any opinions/thoughts/advice are welcome!
Due to my own stupidity (thinking that reward flights would count as segments) I'm in the unfortunate situation of needing either ~4k miles or 2 extra A3/OA segments to retain my Gold status within the next two months. My homebase is London.
I will be in Athens for a few days in February and I was considering doing a return flight to one of the islands. I was looking at ATH-MJT-ATH and wanting to do a turnaround flight. According to the schedule the plane arrives at 15:20 in MJT and departs for ATH at 15:55. Would that be sufficient time for me to deplane and get back to the same gate to fly back? Having called the Gold phone line, the agent sounded skeptical and suggested against it. I should note, I was thinking of doing it on the day of my departure back to London, with my ATH-LHR flight at 19:10. That is, if for whatever reason I fail to board the MJT-ATH flight, I would also miss my ATH-LHR flight (they would not be on the same booking).
Alternatively, I could look for some mileage run from London that would give me ~4k miles (I could do that during the second half of January). If someone wants to be really creative, I will also be in Sydney for three weeks in Dec/Jan, so any *A runs for ~4k from there would be another possibility (but as far as I know only Air New Zealand would be a possibility?).
Any opinions/thoughts/advice are welcome!
Dec 12, 2019, 1:45 am
#2
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: GVA
Programs: A3 *G, LX *G, AF *S
Posts: 761
I suggest you book a flight ATH - SKG (Thessaloniki) - ATH. Direct returns are possible (I did it several times already), and if there is an issue, there are flights almost every hour, so won't have a problem with your LHR return flight.
Dec 12, 2019, 6:36 am
#6
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: OTP/KRK
Programs: M&M FTL, Miles+Bonus Gold
Posts: 664
cheap flights to OTP too, good for a day trip (landing here early morning and leave back to ATH in the afternoon - OTP is OK now for B2B as well, the immingration and transfer flows were redesigned and is now easier to transfer in OTP from INT to INT flights)
Oct 15, 2023, 2:36 pm
#7
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: YHZ
Posts: 281
Greetings to the hivemind,
Due to my own stupidity (thinking that reward flights would count as segments) I'm in the unfortunate situation of needing either ~4k miles or 2 extra A3/OA segments to retain my Gold status within the next two months. My homebase is London.
I will be in Athens for a few days in February and I was considering doing a return flight to one of the islands. I was looking at ATH-MJT-ATH and wanting to do a turnaround flight. According to the schedule the plane arrives at 15:20 in MJT and departs for ATH at 15:55. Would that be sufficient time for me to deplane and get back to the same gate to fly back? Having called the Gold phone line, the agent sounded skeptical and suggested against it. I should note, I was thinking of doing it on the day of my departure back to London, with my ATH-LHR flight at 19:10. That is, if for whatever reason I fail to board the MJT-ATH flight, I would also miss my ATH-LHR flight (they would not be on the same booking).
Alternatively, I could look for some mileage run from London that would give me ~4k miles (I could do that during the second half of January). If someone wants to be really creative, I will also be in Sydney for three weeks in Dec/Jan, so any *A runs for ~4k from there would be another possibility (but as far as I know only Air New Zealand would be a possibility?).
Any opinions/thoughts/advice are welcome!
Due to my own stupidity (thinking that reward flights would count as segments) I'm in the unfortunate situation of needing either ~4k miles or 2 extra A3/OA segments to retain my Gold status within the next two months. My homebase is London.
I will be in Athens for a few days in February and I was considering doing a return flight to one of the islands. I was looking at ATH-MJT-ATH and wanting to do a turnaround flight. According to the schedule the plane arrives at 15:20 in MJT and departs for ATH at 15:55. Would that be sufficient time for me to deplane and get back to the same gate to fly back? Having called the Gold phone line, the agent sounded skeptical and suggested against it. I should note, I was thinking of doing it on the day of my departure back to London, with my ATH-LHR flight at 19:10. That is, if for whatever reason I fail to board the MJT-ATH flight, I would also miss my ATH-LHR flight (they would not be on the same booking).
Alternatively, I could look for some mileage run from London that would give me ~4k miles (I could do that during the second half of January). If someone wants to be really creative, I will also be in Sydney for three weeks in Dec/Jan, so any *A runs for ~4k from there would be another possibility (but as far as I know only Air New Zealand would be a possibility?).
Any opinions/thoughts/advice are welcome!