EdmFlyBoi

At Adam's suggestion, I am going to start a dedicated thread for a discussion of everyone's plan to accumulate miles in anticipation of the SQx rollover from 2021 to 2022. I have tentative plans to get to up to 75K for the 2021 year which will really kickstart 2022. Here is hoping the latter half allows a return of travel so some of us can really shoot for a high number in 2022.

Feel free to change the thread title if mods have a better one in mind.

The Lev

I have about 80,000 AQM already booked (0 flown so far) plus got almost 20,000 carryover. Only trip at risk at this point is on TAP to Portugal in June - the rest is September - December plus one domestic trip to YVR.

If there are some cheap J fares popping up this year to far off lands I may pad my total to position myself for a big number in 2022.

Adam Smith

There's already a thread discussing qualification for 2022 status:

How are you progressing towards qualifying for 2022 status?

So why don't we make this a dedicated thread for mileage runs specifically and allow the broader conversation around 2022 qualification to continue in that thread?

(Not wanting to seem like a dictatorial moderator, just trying to keep things organized so it's easier for people to find what they're looking for)

YOWgary

While it's a lot less fun than an upgradeable YYZ-HKG-SIN, I'm looking at a one-way YVR-YOW that's $154 in Flex, a pretty solid price-to-earnings ratio and without any question marks about borders or quarantine.

Adam Smith

So, about 7 cpm? Maybe knock that down a bit by adding some connections? YOW-YUL-YYZ-YVR?

Captain Canuck

I have just pulled the trigger on a *A Mileage run from NYC to GRU in December that let's me earn a portion of the legs on AC Metal. The deal is in the Premium Fare thread, but buried within another thread - not getting much love at the moment.

The route is LGA-YYZ-BCN (P class on AC with Signature Suite visit ), spend a night in BCN followed by BCN-ZUR-GRU with LX J (also P class fare) for $878 USD. According to Where to Credit, it will earn just under 10K miles (6500 of which on AC metal).

https://www.google.com/travel/flight...QABgA&curr=USD

Looking for a decent fare from GRU-YYZ but have booked an AP reward in J (Lat fare u/g) as a contingency plan for the moment.

Hoping to do at least one more in Q4 when International options should be a little more viable than now...

CC

YOWgary

Price goes way up as soon as you get off the direct. Seems to be the same with those dirt-cheap YYZ-YVR fares all summer.

On an unrelated note, The Lev mentioned in another thread finding ~$1200 Lat fares FCO/ZRH-Canada and I haven't been able to replicate. Any specifics on dates and city pairs would be appreciated.

canopus27

Not sure I understand if this is the correct thread anymore or not, so please move this if it's in the wrong home ...

But here's my current thinking, I would love to hear the community's thoughts (aka, tell me if I'm making a mistake about any of this):

• My expectation for business travel for 2021 is very low. It would not surprise me if it's zero ... I typically go to visit customers, and so that is not just a matter of my company approving travel, it has a mandatory pre-req of the customers willing to receive visitors ... so for 2021, my expectation is very low.
• Business travel is also likely to be low in 2022 - so I'm thinking that it does make sense to book some SQM this year too - and split the 2022 qualifying across two years.
• I'm only really interested in SQM and MM. Basic miles are not what I'm aiming for.
• Also, let's not deny the point, I'm desperate to travel somewhere. Anywhere . A mileage run to anywhere that's not my home will be a very welcome change.
• Given my expected lack of business travel, I expect to have eUps to burn. I don't even want to know how many expired in February, but I don't want to repeat that.
• Air Canada have helpfully lowered the eUp cost for moving to J from premium economy, so that will make the eUps I do have go further.
• Flights that are booked prior to April 30 have enhanced flexibility ... a free one-time change, and the ability to turn 100% of the cost into a credit.

Put all of that together, and I'm very motivated to book at least one (and probably more) mileage runs for the last quarter of 2021. I think the sweet spot is to book premium economy (half the price of J and still earning 1.25 SQM) and then upgrade.

As of now, I see:

• YYZ-ICN-TPE return in PY for $1600 for almost 19K SQM, or about 8.5 cpm
• YYZ-NRT-SIN return in PY is about $2300 for 23.5K SQM, or 9.8 cpm
• YYZ-HKG-SIN return in PY is about $2600 for . That's 23.5K SQM, or 11cpm
• YYZ-BOM return in PY is $2600 for 19.5K SQM, or 13.3 cpm
• YYZ-HKG return in PY is $2700 for 19.5K SQM, or 13.8 cpm
• YYZ-DOH return in PY is $2600 for 17K SQM, or 15.25 cpm

So two weekend trips (say one in October and one in November) will net me 35-40K SQM.

That's where my head is at for now. If a good PY sale appears (do they ever have Easter PY sales?), that would become very appealing.

canadiancow

Are you planning to leave the airport on either of those trips?

canopus27

Kinda depends. I'm not opposed to an immediate turn. In the past I've usually stayed a night. I do like Singapore ....

Adam Smith

What would be great for MRs is some nice YXY-YYT fares that allowed immediate turns so that one need not worry about quarantines and travel restrictions.

canadiancow

Well if you book anything, let me know. Or if there's something has reasonably priced SFO-YYZ-your trip-YYZ-SFO.

YOWgary

As Nomad can attest, you can fit YYZ-YVR-YYZ-YVR-YYZ into a single 24-hour period...

Adam Smith

AC has a nasty habit of cancelling bookings that it doesn't approve of, including flying the same route twice in one day. Hence the NRD MLL

Captain Canuck

I found these Lat fares from ZRH-YYZ but not FCO when I was looking at December. Will be booking one as an emergency chute on my Dec MR if Brazil is still a no fly zone...

CC