Work trip (conference) to AMS in October; need to figure out how to fly J & expense Y
Jul 26, 2018, 10:09 am
#32
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: YYZ
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Posts: 3,099
I recall a few years ago there was one FTer suggested s/he would purchase all the remaining Flex fares so s/he could book Latitude as the "lowest available fare", then canceling all the Flex ones within 24 hours. 
What's the exact travel policy? Lowest price, lowest price for reasonable routing, or it can be any Y ticket?
If your employer is flexible enough, perhaps redeem a flight with your AP miles and let your employer reimburse you the cost of a reasonable Y ticket somehow?
What's the exact travel policy? Lowest price, lowest price for reasonable routing, or it can be any Y ticket?
If your employer is flexible enough, perhaps redeem a flight with your AP miles and let your employer reimburse you the cost of a reasonable Y ticket somehow?
Jul 28, 2018, 12:44 pm
#33
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Bah I've been quite busy the last few days, only reading a few threads, and didn't notice this got moved into its own. Let me see if I can clarify things...
I very much doubt he company via which most bookings are made will book into something that offers a free refund. Although maybe within 24h?
The problem with this and updating of it retickets is if someone audits it and notices the discrepancy. Depends on the company here but in some that’s a fairly serious issue.
cow you mention $3 (k one assumes). I don’t see you getting a $3k return even you mean USD and are clearly open to non *A.
I know BA does a nice SFO LHR which would combine with the delight of infra Europe J for a C$5500 trip but most of my suggestions here about points, google flights and alternate locations and dates are all completely redundant in your case! And yeah BA J isn’t my carrier of choice though it beats Y.
FI is another poor J that might work with probably two stops. But a nice place to stop for a few days
The $3 was a joke, and I actually meant $3. Others on my team are likely going to be expensing $1000-$1500 USD. So if I buy a $3000 ticket, that's likely $1500-$2000 out of pocket. If I was okay with doing a simple upfare like this, I wouldn't have asked the question.
There are 14 day advance purchase Standard fares. I can't wait that long to book.
My thoughts exactly.
That could be interesting. Something like that, allowing a stopover in AMS, would work very well for me. I was looking at KL and BA. I have no particular reason to fly AC (yet most of the discussion has centered around that). I just want to fly J for the lowest out-of-pocket cost.
I can't buy up all the AC fares, because AC is already not the cheapest. I have roughly $5000 to spend on this trip (food, lodging, etc.). $1500 was the conference ticket itself. I can only expense Y. There's no hard limit, but the person approving my expense report will also be approving reports where the flight will likely not exceed $1500.
It doesn't need to be "cheapest Y", but I don't think AC is a reasonable option, because it's not cheap (unless I book Standard, which has a $1200-$1500 co-pay) or direct.
I like the option of SFO-AMS-IST fares, and that kind of thing. Route it the right way, and it looks like the return trip is just AMS-IST-AMS-SFO
I'll look more into KL for now, but those were the kind of ideas I was looking for when I asked the question. I know how AC's system works. I know how to expense Y and upfare to J. I also know that's infeasible (due to cost difference) on this trip.
I very much doubt he company via which most bookings are made will book into something that offers a free refund. Although maybe within 24h?
The problem with this and updating of it retickets is if someone audits it and notices the discrepancy. Depends on the company here but in some that’s a fairly serious issue.
cow you mention $3 (k one assumes). I don’t see you getting a $3k return even you mean USD and are clearly open to non *A.
I know BA does a nice SFO LHR which would combine with the delight of infra Europe J for a C$5500 trip but most of my suggestions here about points, google flights and alternate locations and dates are all completely redundant in your case! And yeah BA J isn’t my carrier of choice though it beats Y.
FI is another poor J that might work with probably two stops. But a nice place to stop for a few days
I recall a few years ago there was one FTer suggested s/he would purchase all the remaining Flex fares so s/he could book Latitude as the "lowest available fare", then canceling all the Flex ones within 24 hours.
What's the exact travel policy? Lowest price, lowest price for reasonable routing, or it can be any Y ticket?
If your employer is flexible enough, perhaps redeem a flight with your AP miles and let your employer reimburse you the cost of a reasonable Y ticket somehow?
What's the exact travel policy? Lowest price, lowest price for reasonable routing, or it can be any Y ticket?
If your employer is flexible enough, perhaps redeem a flight with your AP miles and let your employer reimburse you the cost of a reasonable Y ticket somehow?
It doesn't need to be "cheapest Y", but I don't think AC is a reasonable option, because it's not cheap (unless I book Standard, which has a $1200-$1500 co-pay) or direct.
I like the option of SFO-AMS-IST fares, and that kind of thing. Route it the right way, and it looks like the return trip is just AMS-IST-AMS-SFO
I'll look more into KL for now, but those were the kind of ideas I was looking for when I asked the question. I know how AC's system works. I know how to expense Y and upfare to J. I also know that's infeasible (due to cost difference) on this trip.
Jul 28, 2018, 3:42 pm
#34
Join Date: Jun 2010
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Earlier this year I flew YYZ-AMS on AF ... round-trip in PY was less than AC Flex. Soft/hard product was better than what some online trip reports suggested, and certainly better than anyone's Y cabin. It was worth the connection each way at CDG.
Hunt around Cow, you hit it on the screws when you noted you can often fly on another airline's PY for what AC charges to ride in the back. I do this all the time ... start watching fares as far in advance as you can, and be flexible in your routing. There are no shortage of deals within each of the three alliances.
Hunt around Cow, you hit it on the screws when you noted you can often fly on another airline's PY for what AC charges to ride in the back. I do this all the time ... start watching fares as far in advance as you can, and be flexible in your routing. There are no shortage of deals within each of the three alliances.
Jul 28, 2018, 4:40 pm
#35
Join Date: Nov 2012
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Aug 23, 2018, 3:45 pm
#36
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Okay. I ended up booking AC, so I thought I'd post an update here.
I booked SFO-YYZ-AMS // LYS-YUL-YYZ-SFO, in Flex V. With a 15% off coupon, this came in at a price I can justify.
I then upfared to N (and B on YUL-YYZ) for $447 USD, out of pocket. I figure that's worth it for the 25% extra AQM and way higher upgrade priority.
Why did I book LYS? There was virtually no N space out of Europe the weekend I wanted it. LHR-YUL had it, but then I couldn't get all the way to SFO. And since AMS and LHR are not *A hubs, it would require a double-connect in Europe. The *A hubs (ZRH/MUC/FRA/etc.) were all N0.
The bonus is that LYS-SFO is cheaper than AMS-SFO, so the expensed amount is lower, and my out of pocket amount is lower.
The website kept crapping out when I tried to upfare (I could select flights, then it would fail), but from dialing to receiving the new eticket receipt was about 3 minutes. The agent was awesome.
Anyway, I'm now at an acceptable cost-to-employer and cost-to-self, I'm in J (R) for YUL-YYZ, I'm in PY (N) for SFO-YYZ-AMS // LYS-YUL // YYZ-SFO, and I'm pretty sure of my chances for J on those four.
I would not have booked AC if I didn't have status, as I could have got "better" PY (i.e. nonstop KLM) for the same cost-to-employer. However, my status gives me a very good shot at J, which made the $447 USD cost-to-self worth it.
I appreciate everyone's input here, but what it really came down to was finding a non-AMS city to fly out of.
Now I just need to figure out how to get from AMS to LYS
I booked SFO-YYZ-AMS // LYS-YUL-YYZ-SFO, in Flex V. With a 15% off coupon, this came in at a price I can justify.
I then upfared to N (and B on YUL-YYZ) for $447 USD, out of pocket. I figure that's worth it for the 25% extra AQM and way higher upgrade priority.
Why did I book LYS? There was virtually no N space out of Europe the weekend I wanted it. LHR-YUL had it, but then I couldn't get all the way to SFO. And since AMS and LHR are not *A hubs, it would require a double-connect in Europe. The *A hubs (ZRH/MUC/FRA/etc.) were all N0.
The bonus is that LYS-SFO is cheaper than AMS-SFO, so the expensed amount is lower, and my out of pocket amount is lower.
The website kept crapping out when I tried to upfare (I could select flights, then it would fail), but from dialing to receiving the new eticket receipt was about 3 minutes. The agent was awesome.
Anyway, I'm now at an acceptable cost-to-employer and cost-to-self, I'm in J (R) for YUL-YYZ, I'm in PY (N) for SFO-YYZ-AMS // LYS-YUL // YYZ-SFO, and I'm pretty sure of my chances for J on those four.
I would not have booked AC if I didn't have status, as I could have got "better" PY (i.e. nonstop KLM) for the same cost-to-employer. However, my status gives me a very good shot at J, which made the $447 USD cost-to-self worth it.
I appreciate everyone's input here, but what it really came down to was finding a non-AMS city to fly out of.
Now I just need to figure out how to get from AMS to LYS
Aug 23, 2018, 4:47 pm
#39
Join Date: Apr 2016
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If you are flying Monday or Friday morning you can take Easyjet for next to nothing. High speed rail will involve changing trains and stations in Paris. It looks like 3h20m on the Thalys to Paris, and then another 2h00 to Lyons on the TGV.
Aug 23, 2018, 4:52 pm
#40
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Aug 23, 2018, 5:04 pm
#42
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ok, I'm confused
The ticket screenshots Cow posted make ir very clear they can only be picked up in a French station, and to not purchase if buyer is unable to so so.
Which French station will you be stopping at in Canada or Amsterdam?
The ticket screenshots Cow posted make ir very clear they can only be picked up in a French station, and to not purchase if buyer is unable to so so.
Which French station will you be stopping at in Canada or Amsterdam?
Aug 23, 2018, 6:06 pm
#44
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Which web page is this from?
I would guess the Fench railway. However surely one can buy a through ticket from the Dutch railway. I believe one also can buy a print-at-home ticket from SNCF.
The other thing, there are direct trains from Brussels (Bruxelles Midi) to Lyon. Connecting at Brussels means no need to take the metro from the two Paris stations which is a bit of a pain in the but. However it's not really faster. Trains going around Paris (with stop at Dysneyworld) are slow, add about an hour. If you look at Brussels-Lyon on that day, they have two trains, 16:17-20:00 and 19:17-23:40. Both 82 Eur in first class. Got this from the Belgian railway. (A bit longer than going through Paris though.)
BTW a good site to check schedules throughout Europe also also is the German railway: bahn.de. THey also show some connections through Lille, but a bit messy in Antwerp.
I might just fly as others have suggested. But once in a while a train trip is nice.
In first in Thalys trains they feed you and serve cheap wine. (Worse than AC...) Not so in French TGVs though.
I would guess the Fench railway. However surely one can buy a through ticket from the Dutch railway. I believe one also can buy a print-at-home ticket from SNCF.
The other thing, there are direct trains from Brussels (Bruxelles Midi) to Lyon. Connecting at Brussels means no need to take the metro from the two Paris stations which is a bit of a pain in the but. However it's not really faster. Trains going around Paris (with stop at Dysneyworld) are slow, add about an hour. If you look at Brussels-Lyon on that day, they have two trains, 16:17-20:00 and 19:17-23:40. Both 82 Eur in first class. Got this from the Belgian railway. (A bit longer than going through Paris though.)
BTW a good site to check schedules throughout Europe also also is the German railway: bahn.de. THey also show some connections through Lille, but a bit messy in Antwerp.
I might just fly as others have suggested. But once in a while a train trip is nice.
In first in Thalys trains they feed you and serve cheap wine. (Worse than AC...) Not so in French TGVs though.
