pbd456

maybe the trick is to book something that is not bookable on A3 website?

romans

exactly but you never know before booking

giorginho

Or to book via gotogate?
Or before even flying and seeing what gets credited ​​​​​​.

unusualtravelblog

Used G2G multiple times with non-bookable A3 routes. Always had the light fares unfortunately.
I think you have to be lucky.

Maksy

unusualtravelblog and giorginho : These non-bookable A3 routes (often overnight, but not always) that you booked with gotogate, did you search there with multi-city option and on which country-site of gotoage? I've just tried a few connections that only can be found with multi-city search. The routes showed up but in the last step (payment) it didn't work. And as an additional question: Did you on gotogate ever pay and then getting the ticket no issued? I ask because I don't like to run after the money in that case

giorginho

Maksy Just so that I don't leave you hanging, I want to clarify that despite the plethora of tickets I 've booked with OTAs pre-covid, I actually never booked one with gotogate directly (at least that I can either remember or a quick search of my e-mail inbox can turn up). There was an instance though in which a ticket I'd booked elsewhere and needed to be cancelled (due to Covid) actually had one of the e-mails regarding the refund come from a "gotogate" address (go figure... But that's off-topic anyway). My reference to that website was not "advisory" in any way but rather humorous ​​​​​​.

unusualtravelblog

I usually find them as a one-way ticket through Google Flights Search, not using any multi-city search. I have read tons of bad experiences with G2G but so far I haven't experienced any issues. Only had one instance with trip.com, where my ticket wasn't found at the airport inside the computer system...

drvb

My gold card isn't worth a whole lot to me (I only travel privately and always choose the cheapest tickets, which means mostly low-cost airline flights) so I try not to put too much money and effort into renewing it, but I think it's fun have the gold card and every once in a while I transit at an airport that has a lounge that I actually enjoy visiting. I'm based in Scandinavia and every year I go on 2 weekend trips to Athens to get my 4 Aegean segments and I quite like these trips and don't mind continue going on them. In the past, when SAS offered minimum 100% accruals for all booking classes, I used to take one longhaul flight/year to earn the rest of the necessary tier miles. When SAS stopped offering this, my strategy was to still fly an SAS longhaul flight/year, but I would upgrade to SAS Plus using Eurobonus points and that would earn me the remaining tier miles. That stopped working as of last year and now I need to find a new strategy. I haven't visited Thailand in a long time so I decided to buy a ticket to Bangkok later this year with Turkish Airlines (50% accrual) and I was lucky to find a sale from Dublin (positioning to Dublin is cheap with Ryanair) to Bogota (https://www.fly4free.com/flight-deal...ublin-to-peru/) with Air Canada (50% accrual) so these flights are going to save me for another membership year. However, next membership year I really don't know what to do, I would like to go on 2-3 trips to South America (Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, etc) but both Turkish Airlines and Air Canada are quite expensive. TAP, on the other hand, is right now having a wonderful sale to Brazil (410 Euros), but it has 0% accrual so I'm hesitant to buy it. Can anybody recommend any sweetspots Europe-South America with at least 50% accrual and where the ticket price is also very competitive (I would say maximum about 5-600 Euros or so)? I'm very flexible when it comes to dates of travel, but I need to earn about 10,400 miles between September 2023 and August 2024.

nk15

USA-Europe on SAS premium economy is $415 roundtrip, books in A, earns 150%, available up to September. There's never been a better deal.

New York to Dublin | Google Flights

SAS Premium Econ: $720-750 -- ORD to Europe -- JAN - MAR - FlyerTalk Forums

drvb

I agree, but normally I wouldn't pay extra money to travel in SAS Plus or in a higher booking class, doing so would essentially mean that I would be paying X number of hundred Euros for my gold card (which maybe gives me 5 lounge visits/year and I already have a credit card with Loungekey with unlimited visits). Also, my origin is in Europe so I would need the reverse route.

nk15

It is $400 in PE, cheaper than flying in Y. You can also book a $200 economy ticket Europe-USA to nest the PE fare in it, and you have two separate trips to the USA for $600, which is your budget. This is actually the suggestion for people who want to go the US and/or get Gold cheap. It is a good option.

You can also get it down to $350, one way PE, the other way Y.

EAPflyer

I have two mileage runs via ATH overnight in the near future. Arriving relatively late into ATH and leaving somehow early next day. Can you suggest a hotel near the airport for this? The Sofitel seems a bit too expensive but is still my preferred option right now... Many thanks for any help!

ariadgr_

Holiday Inn Athens Airport

unusualtravelblog

I usually use
A) Holiday Inn Athens Airport (incl. free shuttle to/from airport) on points
B) Avra Hotel in Rafina Port (also includes free shuttle to/from airport) at around €100 / night.

Xandrios

I usually go to the Holiday inn as long as they are reasonably priced. Typically just around the 100 euro mark; or 15K points. Back in the good old days IHG allowed booking the HI for 5K points every now and then but unfortunately that is no more.

The free shuttle that's offered is OK-ish, just be aware that if you arrive late it either only runs once an hour, or, not at all depending on the season. If you depart int he morning make sure to reserve your seat the night before as it does tend to fill up to the point that you may have to wait for the next one.

You can also take bus X95 or X93 which will both stop at the HI. Unfortunately they do charge the 5,50 euro airport fee for that ticket (even though its only a short ride).

@unusualtravelblog
Thanks for the tip on the Avra Hotel. They are a bit more affordable compared to HI. And it seems that the late bank of flight arrivals will connect pretty well with their shuttle. The hotel is a bit out of way when you are planning to travel over land the next day, but probably not too bad with only 20 min transfer time. The only downside I see is that it requires reservation for the shuttle (Direction from Airport to Hotel) which may be tricky if your flight is delayed.