Air Canada From Vancouver to SYD - Buy Business upfront or buy economy & Upgrade?
Dec 4, 2018, 11:35 am
#16
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: YQB
Programs: AC SE
Posts: 2,139
Not sure what status you have with AC or what other flying you will do next year (and the year after) but you are going to earn 150% AQM here and a good chunk of AQD. I would try and leverage this to ensure I made SE, ideally with early recognition. That would help justify the $$ spend.
Dec 4, 2018, 12:35 pm
#17
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 7,156
I see that on March 19th Air Canada has YVR-BNE at saver levels in J. I bet you could purchase a BNE-SYD flight cheap.
I also see that on March 28th Hawaiin Airlines has SYD-HNL on their new lie-flat seats at saver J levels. They partner with Amex I'm sure you could then add on a nonstop HNL-YVR on AC. There's also some paid one-way flights thru Asia home for $3k and under.
If it was me I'd probably leg this using miles and probably cash for the add on flights. But I'm cheap and $8k is more than I'm willing to spend. I'm guessing that $k for the ease and convinces of nonstops is worth it to the OP. If not, then hopefully you are within the 24 hour cancel period (if AC has one).
I also see that on March 28th Hawaiin Airlines has SYD-HNL on their new lie-flat seats at saver J levels. They partner with Amex I'm sure you could then add on a nonstop HNL-YVR on AC. There's also some paid one-way flights thru Asia home for $3k and under.
If it was me I'd probably leg this using miles and probably cash for the add on flights. But I'm cheap and $8k is more than I'm willing to spend. I'm guessing that $k for the ease and convinces of nonstops is worth it to the OP. If not, then hopefully you are within the 24 hour cancel period (if AC has one).
Buying AC business at C$8,000 or C$3,500 in PE and hoping to do a bid upgrade or LMU does not appear to make a lot of sense.
Dec 4, 2018, 12:40 pm
#18
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Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,018
Dec 4, 2018, 12:42 pm
#19
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: AC E35K, NEXUS
Posts: 4,368
Not sure what status you have with AC or what other flying you will do next year (and the year after) but you are going to earn 150% AQM here and a good chunk of AQD. I would try and leverage this to ensure I made SE, ideally with early recognition. That would help justify the $$ spend.
Dec 4, 2018, 3:29 pm
#20
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 495
Yes, I thought the OP had paid the premium to book J. If only PY then the case for SE is much less compelling, but I would still want to ensure some status from it. Years ago when I realised I wouldn't make status in one calendar year I did a LHR-SYD run in J (there used to be some good fares through CAN) in Feb, around 40K, status for two years. This was when there was either E or SE only.
Dec 5, 2018, 1:17 am
#22
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 5
Not sure what status you have with AC or what other flying you will do next year (and the year after) but you are going to earn 150% AQM here and a good chunk of AQD. I would try and leverage this to ensure I made SE, ideally with early recognition. That would help justify the $$ spend..
Dec 5, 2018, 8:00 am
#23
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 7,156
Um, Yeah, unfortunately. I looked at a lot of other options. Driving to Seattle, flying out through Calgary, Flying through China or Korea and the best price was $5500 with long layovers Via China Air or $6000 with short layovers but much longer flights (Korea). It was 15.5 hours Vs 22 - 26 hours to save $2k so i just said its not worth it. If i wasn't doing a flight to Athens two days later i'd have been more willing to jump through the hoops on this one.
Good deal if Aeroplan points and Attitude status are unimportant to you. Admittedly, this is not a direct non-stop from YVR to SYD.
I gave up on AC status a few years ago because I could almost always find cheaper (premium class) fares on other airlines, sometimes code share operated by AC!
There are also other a little more expensive but cheaper than AC Signature/business class fare on other airlines such as UA and NZ around the dates that you wanted.
Dec 5, 2018, 8:43 am
#25
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: YYZ
Programs: FOTSG Tangerine Ex E35k (AC)
Posts: 5,612
While P25k wasn’t somethig you could early qualify before 2019 one assumes it’ll work the same as it has done for all other levels. Shortly (normally 1-3 days) after you hit 25k you’ll get an email and option to select your benefits.
Which will all be valid until Feb 2021. And you’ll get to repick options Dec 19-Feb 20.
Given J you’ll be about 1700 miles short. Do you have any other *A travel booked in 2019? For example, NZ travel out of SYD would qualify.
Edit - Make sure you new AP numbers are associated with the booking. You can do it at OLCI but might be easier to do it now. Certainly easier than having to try and claim it afterwards.
Dec 5, 2018, 10:55 pm
#26
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 5
Just earn the extra AQM to get you to 25,000 AQM. AQD won’t be an issue for you.
While P25k wasn’t somethig you could early qualify before 2019 one assumes it’ll work the same as it has done for all other levels. Shortly (normally 1-3 days) after you hit 25k you’ll get an email and option to select your benefits.
Which will all be valid until Feb 2021. And you’ll get to repick options Dec 19-Feb 20.
Given J you’ll be about 1700 miles short. Do you have any other *A travel booked in 2019? For example, NZ travel out of SYD would qualify.
Edit - Make sure you new AP numbers are associated with the booking. You can do it at OLCI but might be easier to do it now. Certainly easier than having to try and claim it afterwards.
So there is there a way to get the staus before the Syndey flight is actually taken as the next flight is the day after I get back. It would be nice to be able to book that with status.
Dec 5, 2018, 11:51 pm
#27
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,324
If you're flying paid J, S100K status would give you a potentially marginal benefit, but no lower tier is going to make much difference.
Mar 22, 2019, 3:35 pm
#28
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: DL, OZ, AC, AS, AA, BA, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG
Posts: 19,900
Did you consider Virgin Australia? YVR-LAX (Code share AC) thence LAX direct non-stop SYD. All for under C$5,500 all-in on the dates that you wanted.
Good deal if Aeroplan points and Attitude status are unimportant to you. Admittedly, this is not a direct non-stop from YVR to SYD.
I gave up on AC status a few years ago because I could almost always find cheaper (premium class) fares on other airlines, sometimes code share operated by AC!
There are also other a little more expensive but cheaper than AC Signature/business class fare on other airlines such as UA and NZ around the dates that you wanted.
Good deal if Aeroplan points and Attitude status are unimportant to you. Admittedly, this is not a direct non-stop from YVR to SYD.
I gave up on AC status a few years ago because I could almost always find cheaper (premium class) fares on other airlines, sometimes code share operated by AC!
There are also other a little more expensive but cheaper than AC Signature/business class fare on other airlines such as UA and NZ around the dates that you wanted.