Attaining AS Elite Status with Hainan Airlines?
Mar 23, 2019, 5:13 pm
#16
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263
What do you mean by ex-Canada?
The problem with a lot of websites including AY's website is that it doesn't show the booking class of the fare. It won't be hard for me to find a cheap flight from YVR-YYC or I can always redeem miles/points to get to YYC. So I searched YYC-LHR-HEL-SIN. The cheapest business class fares that I got are C$4151.52. Now I have never booked airfare on AY's website before, but do they actually bill me in CAD or that figure is just for informational purposes? According to GCMAP, that route covers a total of 11,284 miles or 22,568 miles round-trip. I could make a vacation out of it. How many miles will I earn in total since the fare includes BA and AY? I'm assuming I should do this in January of 2020 to maximize the amount of status time with AS?
Edit: Nevermind, flying out of YVR makes more sense. It's only about $300 more and I don't have to deal with positional flights and hotels.
The problem with a lot of websites including AY's website is that it doesn't show the booking class of the fare. It won't be hard for me to find a cheap flight from YVR-YYC or I can always redeem miles/points to get to YYC. So I searched YYC-LHR-HEL-SIN. The cheapest business class fares that I got are C$4151.52. Now I have never booked airfare on AY's website before, but do they actually bill me in CAD or that figure is just for informational purposes? According to GCMAP, that route covers a total of 11,284 miles or 22,568 miles round-trip. I could make a vacation out of it. How many miles will I earn in total since the fare includes BA and AY? I'm assuming I should do this in January of 2020 to maximize the amount of status time with AS?
Edit: Nevermind, flying out of YVR makes more sense. It's only about $300 more and I don't have to deal with positional flights and hotels.
Once you attain Elite Starus you will have it for the rest of the year in which you earn it plus the entire next calendar year through December 31st.
James at PHX.
Mar 23, 2019, 5:46 pm
#18
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Join Date: Mar 2010
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Mar 23, 2019, 5:49 pm
#19
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I am at PHX flying PHX-SEA-YLW this evening. I don't have all my tools handy but happy to look later and can show you some spreadsheets on the CPT/JNB routing with BA. You can use ita Matrix and set the currency to CAD for searching round trip, one-way and multi-city itineraries. The Matrix will show you the fare classes that you can reference on AS Partner Charts.
Once you attain Elite Starus you will have it for the rest of the year in which you earn it plus the entire next calendar year through December 31st.
James at PHX.
Once you attain Elite Starus you will have it for the rest of the year in which you earn it plus the entire next calendar year through December 31st.
James at PHX.
If the fare contains both BA and AY operated flights, how will AS determine how much miles I'll accrue? Just take the fare class for the carrier's operating route and match that to AS' chart?
Let's say I earn AS status in August 2019, does that mean I'll enjoy having status for the rest of 2019 and for all of 2020? Then I'll need to reach the requirements again to retain status for 2021?
Mar 23, 2019, 6:37 pm
#20
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Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
Thanks for taking the time to help me understand this. I know Google owns ITA Matrix, but will ITA Matrix show the lowest price like Google Flights? What's the advantage of ITA Matrix over Google Flights considering they're both owned by Google?
If the fare contains both BA and AY operated flights, how will AS determine how much miles I'll accrue? Just take the fare class for the carrier's operating route and match that to AS' chart?
Let's say I earn AS status in August 2019, does that mean I'll enjoy having status for the rest of 2019 and for all of 2020? Then I'll need to reach the requirements again to retain status for 2021?
If the fare contains both BA and AY operated flights, how will AS determine how much miles I'll accrue? Just take the fare class for the carrier's operating route and match that to AS' chart?
Let's say I earn AS status in August 2019, does that mean I'll enjoy having status for the rest of 2019 and for all of 2020? Then I'll need to reach the requirements again to retain status for 2021?
Google flights uses matrix as a backend but you can only make very simple queries and it hides a lot of critical information (eg, it doesn't show booking codes). The UI is also significantly better than matrix.
Personally, I find GF great for the map search but it's too simple of a tool to be really useful for a lot of things. Hiding the booking codes was an absolutely terrible decision that cripples the tool. In matrix, you can not only see codes, but filter by them. In cases where GF does show useful information that is not present in matrix (eg, seat details) it doesn't let you filter by that, again, crippling its usefulness. Being able to display only lie-flat flights, for example, would be VERY useful for certain routes. They have the information but don't expose it as a search feature.
Mar 23, 2019, 6:44 pm
#21
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: SEA
Programs: Hilton/Marriott Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 2,036
I know there are a number of Canadian AS elites, but just how much are you expecting to fly on AS that you want the benefits of MVP Gold? Is it really enough for a $6.5k trip to South Africa to be worth it?
Mar 23, 2019, 7:04 pm
#22
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Join Date: Oct 2014
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I do think that maintaining status is useful even if not flying AS though, for the elite bonus on partner flights. I've moved most of my domestic travel away from AS but I still want to maintain at least MVPG.
Mar 23, 2019, 7:37 pm
#23
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Getting all the miles in a single trip is only really useful if you won't be flying much or at all otherwise, making it... not that useful.
I do think that maintaining status is useful even if not flying AS though, for the elite bonus on partner flights. I've moved most of my domestic travel away from AS but I still want to maintain at least MVPG.
I do think that maintaining status is useful even if not flying AS though, for the elite bonus on partner flights. I've moved most of my domestic travel away from AS but I still want to maintain at least MVPG.
Mar 24, 2019, 3:55 am
#24
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: SEA
Programs: Alaska Airlines MVP Gold
Posts: 301
Another option is to fly a bunch of cheap Qantas fares since all economy classes earn 100% EQM/RDM. LAX-MEL-LAX is around 16k r/t and can be had for ~600$ occasionally.
Obviously less comfortable and hard to run, but a good way to run for cheap.
Obviously less comfortable and hard to run, but a good way to run for cheap.
Mar 24, 2019, 4:17 pm
#25
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: SFO
Programs: BART Platinum, AA Plat Pro
Posts: 1,158
Just keep in mind that, while the "list price" on the AS partner redemption chart tends to be good, if you're looking for premium long-haul awards, overall availability is worse than most other airlines, as AS is not part *A, ST, or OW (and thus has a smaller set of partners). Compounding the issue is the fact that AS has no long-haul flights itself, so unlike with most programs you don't have the back-up option of paying a higher price in miles to access better award availability. Bottom line is that AS miles are most useful if you have a lot of flexibility in destination and schedule, or can redeem directly on AS metal.
Mar 25, 2019, 4:47 pm
#26
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Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
Without status you could attain MVPG and 88K redeemable miles in one Itinerary with BA First from the west coast to JNB/CPT. For the last two autumns, BA has offered an LAX-LHR-JNB/CPT return in F for $6.5K. If you did that in January 2020 you would attain and maintain MVPG through December 2021; almost two years. To boot, you would have enough RDM for a North America to Australia, Middle East, Africa F award on CX or a North America to India (DEL) F award on JL.
Spread over almost two years your average is ~$3.25K per year.
If you made a vacation out of it (highly recommended CPT, I will be there in 3 weeks) and your outbound posted before your return you would be MVP and receive an additional 50% of base miles as an Elite Bonus and upon return your RDM would be 112K; more than enough for a Return J on CX to Asia.
James in Phoenix
Spread over almost two years your average is ~$3.25K per year.
If you made a vacation out of it (highly recommended CPT, I will be there in 3 weeks) and your outbound posted before your return you would be MVP and receive an additional 50% of base miles as an Elite Bonus and upon return your RDM would be 112K; more than enough for a Return J on CX to Asia.
James in Phoenix
It's business, not first, but IMO the JL J product is incredible. I just flew that NRT-BKK flight in J and the new skysuites are very good.
Personally I think that $3k is a bit much to upgrade from MVP to MVPG, but, if it's somewhere that you're interested in visiting, it's a very good deal. If you were to book this with miles it would be 130k in J or 150k in F (F only for TPAC). If you value miles at 2c each, this cash fare is about the same as the award price in miles (and actually, much much cheaper if you consider the "rebate" that you will get in the form of miles earned).
I think I might be talking myself into going back to BKK this year...
Apr 2, 2019, 12:30 pm
#27
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: Philippines
Programs: CebGo 5J, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum, Alaska 100K
Posts: 4,696
https://www.alaskaair.com/promo/qf19...prodID:MPDeals
Apr 2, 2019, 2:06 pm
#28
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263
Even cheaper now with the double miles promo on QF between the USA and Australia
https://www.alaskaair.com/promo/qf1901?int=AS_DealsMileage 20190401_MPD_QF -prodID:MPDeals
https://www.alaskaair.com/promo/qf1901?int=AS_DealsMileage 20190401_MPD_QF -prodID:MPDeals
The bonus miles are RDM only!
James on AS30
Apr 2, 2019, 2:17 pm
#29
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: NYC/PHX
Programs: IATA, Sabre, AvgeekAgent
Posts: 1,958
It's worth noting that, from a thread on the premium fare deals forum, JL is now offering JFK-NRT-BKK for under $3000 (business class; books into X). One of those will leave you within 1k miles of MVP. Two will leave you within 2k miles of Gold...
Personally I think that $3k is a bit much to upgrade from MVP to MVPG,
Personally I think that $3k is a bit much to upgrade from MVP to MVPG,
BA First LAX-DEL $4681
Apr 3, 2019, 10:28 am
#30
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: Philippines
Programs: CebGo 5J, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum, Alaska 100K
Posts: 4,696
Sure! In my world, RDM is considered as part of my cost of purchasing tickets.I factor it in every time I buy a ticket. Hence a QF trans-Pacific ticket is now even cheaper to purchase in order to attain/retain Elite Status because my CPM is lower.