seadog83

Hey,

So after roughly 4 days of searching and researching individual legs, I think I finally have an itinerary for my first ever reward.

YHZ-YYZ - AC J
YYZ-CAI - MS J
-stop-
CAI-IST - TK J
IST-SIN - TK j
-stop-
SIN-SYD - SQ J
-turnaround-
SYD-ICN - OZ J
ICN-ORD - OZ J
ORD-YYZ - AC J
YYZ-YHZ - AC J

Now, the agent says that she can validate the route, but when I give her all the flights (which she finds no problem) the system comes back with some error saying ICN is the turn around point and its not valid. Then it thinks that ORD is the turn around point. Anyways she can't specifically tell me what the problem is, or what I need to change, and went to go talk to ticketing. I've been on hold for that for about 25 mins

Just curious if any of the more experienced hands might know what the problem is, how to correct it, or what I can tell her to help her get this ticketed?

rankourabu

16600+ miles on the outbound sounds like a hell of an overage in mileage, no?

If its validated, please tell us how much the scamcharge was for the return, I m gonna guess around CAD450? (+ legit taxes)

As to fixing it, you may need to do something like CAI-KUL/BKK-SIN if you are over mileage, or even YHZ-EWR/JFK-CAI

JJonahJ

MPM for YYZ-SYD is ~15490, so it's (16606) prolly close if not over the MPM for YHZ-SYD.

Seadog, ask the rep what the MPM is for YHZ-SYD.

seadog83

Well I think "A hell of an overage" is a bit hyperbolic given that YYZ-SYD is 15540, so I figured that 16600 was probably borderline given that YHZ-YYZ is about 800 more (So ~1200 more MPM if you apply same MPM/Actual ratio) I also had flights picked out for PER if needed since that would likely be higher MPM and shorter actual, but she kept on telling me it was a valid routing.

Anyways, it finally got ticketed after 1 hr 40 mins on the phone with half of that being on hold. Very helpful lady, and she said it was just some technical glitch causing it.

Didn't think to ask the MPM, I was just happy it finally managed to go through after all the work to put it together. Safe to say its pretty close to 16600.

Total fees were 586.35 + 34.50, YQ in the itinerary they sent me was 262.20. Pretty happy with that, also with two long hauls on OZ which I read had a really nice J product. The other plus was she only charged me 160k, when probably should have been 165k given the stop in CAI.

As gratifying as it is to have actually done this, in hindsight it really makes me questioning if the program is worth it. Everything about the whole setup seems to be designed to make life difficult as possible if you actually want to pull any value here. I spent probably 20 hours researching airlines and flight schedules specific to this award, then being forced to construct itineraries manually and put them into aeroplan and write down on a sheet of paper what flights had availability. This is on top of what I would consider an above average knowledge of airlines and flights.

rankourabu

Well yeah... this is why there is some value left. When it was easy to do RTWs in F on LX and LH for 120k without scamcharges - it was obvious that that was not sustainable.

The program is designed for people to book 25,000 point awards + $200 from YYZ to MCO on rouge, or 60,000+$700 to go YYZ-LHR on crappy AC metal - not for getting "value" out of it by flying nice airlines in business class to Australia . I can totally see the reasoning behind that from AE's point of view.

Like anything, the more work you put into it, the more you get out of it, and there are amazing things to be had - your itinerary is an example of this.

Cerenity

nice!

There is definitely a good amount of research and effort that needs to be put in. I've probably spent more than 20 hours preparing our next itinerary.

I don't mind the complexity as I believe rarity allows the reward value to be higher than otherwise, and less demand means less competition for the tickets

kwflyer

You are correct YHZ-SYD MPM maxs out around 16,700. Good job on the booking though.

As others have mentioned, the walls are up so that only the determined few can get maximum value from a loyalty program.

seadog83

Yes, honestly I'm quite happy with myself that I was able to do this, but the question remains how to move forward. I have just over 110k left, and really can't see me getting to 160k any time soon, forget status. Just the fact that unless you're paying $100s extra for higher fare classes, you're getting 0-50% status miles (and paying extra so you get freebies defeats the whole purpose imho).

At the same time, getting 'deals' was always the whole point, at least in my view. When I first started the program 12 years ago with an exchange to Oz which gave me enough for an award anywhere in NA with two stop overs, I was already envisioning YHZ-LAX with a stop on each way to maximize it. It almost feels like a bait and switch, the spirit of their ads is more along the lines of 'earn points, fly anywhere free' when the reality is 'fly free if you have no job, fully open schedule, no set destination, a week to dedicate to research and an above average level of intelligence and problem solving skills'

So I have enough for a Y reward to Asia or Oz (another mini RTW with a stop in Nepal maybe?), or J to maybe SA or Europe. Or wait another decade till I have 160k again, and who knows if that will even be enough for a toaster then....

I guess my view (also with eUps) is that an empty J seat costs nothing to fill, but breeds tons of good will. If this itinerary could have been put together in 1 hour instead of 1 week, it would certainly give me a different mindset compared to 'how can salvage as much value as possible while I use my points ASAP'

My uncle is a higher up with a tech company, been to India a ton. He has like 500k points. But with a busy schedule, and corporate booking policies which requires low/no point accumulation, he isn't even *G this year and has no hope of redeeming his points for a reasonable award. Anyways.... apologies for the rant, just sort of disappointing to see a once great program devolving into what it is now with no sign of anyone tapping the brakes.

jerryhung

Awesome trip, maybe when schedule change happens you can even attempt ICN-JFK on OZ A380

As for accumulating Aeroplan, Credit cards churning (welcome bonuses) is still probably the easiest way
e.g. You only need a few AMEX cards to get you back to 150K again for another Mini-RTW in J

AMEX Gold 25K, Biz Gold 40K, Platinum 60K ($699 fee)
not to mention the self-referral you can earn between these cards

worldtraveller73

I may be mistaken on that. I based that opinion on newspaper advertising in Singapore (Straits Times) advertising the "New" Turkish Airlines. I made the assumption that this meant new service.

Although I concede that going back through my Skylife TK Inflight magazine from April 2014 that IST=SIN is in there. Either way, they are attempting to poach revenue customers from SQ.

Cerenity

hey guys

regarding changing a booked itinerary, is there any limitations on what changes are allowed? can I change the itinerary to anything?

Specifically, can I book a hard to get leg as a one way first, pay the points and fees required, then call in later to change it to a full mini RTW, and pay the difference in points/fees? One of the legs im looking for seems to be super hard to get but I'm unable to complete the mini RTW booking without a leg after it releasing.

for example lets say i wanted to do YYZ-IST-PEK-YVR-YYZ (hypothetical) could I book the PEK-YVR one way first to secure the seats, then pay the change fee and book the rest at a later date?

Admiral Ackbar

Yes, a lot of people do this.

mkl8687

is it possible to do this after you've already flown your first leg?
so basically changing a one way ticket into a round trip after you've flown the first leg.

1Newflyer

One way ticket has 1 leg, so what are trying to change. Once flown, the ticket is used up.

Pseudo Nim

A 1-way ticket does not necessarily have only 1 leg, but on the other hand, it has no stops ...... so that's probably a no-go since you'd have to make the change within the short time of the layover, and I'm not even sure whether at that point they'd permit a stop. Possibly, though, but this isn't something you should risk.