Attaining AS Elite Status with Hainan Airlines?
Mar 23, 19, 2:56 pm
#1
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Attaining AS Elite Status with Hainan Airlines?
Is it just me or that flying with HU represents the fastest and probably the cheapest way to attain status with AS? There are lots of cheap economy and business class flights out of YVR to SZX, which is quite close to HKG. I'm not saying flying to SZX makes a lot of sense if timing is important and one needs to get to HKG. My question is flying with HU especially on business the cheapest and fastest way to attain MVP Gold? It requires 50,000 miles flown with an AS partner, which HU is. The cheapest business class fare is I, which gives 200%. According to GCMAP, YVR-SZX is about 12,754 miles round-trip, which with the bonus makes it 25,508 miles right? I see business class flights from about US$1900, which is pretty good. I'm mostly flying *A at the moment and I hope to attain *G with OZ very soon. I've also flown OW partners like CX recently, which I credited to BA, which I should never have and instead put it on AS. Anyways, I'm now leaning on focusing on both OZ and AS in the future. What do you guys think? CA have lots of cheap business class fares to Asia so I don't anticipate attaining *G. Assuming my understanding of AS is correct, I can attain MVP Gold with as little as 2 round-trips flying HU?
I'm not too familiar with HU. I spent a little bit of time and see where else HU flies to, but without much success finding cheap J fares that covers long distance. Any other suggestions for HU routes that are long and in the US$2k range?
I'm not too familiar with HU. I spent a little bit of time and see where else HU flies to, but without much success finding cheap J fares that covers long distance. Any other suggestions for HU routes that are long and in the US$2k range?
Mar 23, 19, 3:53 pm
#2
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: SFO
Programs: BART Platinum, AA Plat Pro
Posts: 1,150
Is it just me or that flying with HU represents the fastest and probably the cheapest way to attain status with AS? There are lots of cheap economy and business class flights out of YVR to SZX, which is quite close to HKG. I'm not saying flying to SZX makes a lot of sense if timing is important and one needs to get to HKG. My question is flying with HU especially on business the cheapest and fastest way to attain MVP Gold? It requires 50,000 miles flown with an AS partner, which HU is. The cheapest business class fare is I, which gives 200%. According to GCMAP, YVR-SZX is about 12,754 miles round-trip, which with the bonus makes it 25,508 miles right? I see business class flights from about US$1900, which is pretty good. I'm mostly flying *A at the moment and I hope to attain *G with OZ very soon. I've also flown OW partners like CX recently, which I credited to BA, which I should never have and instead put it on AS. Anyways, I'm now leaning on focusing on both OZ and AS in the future. What do you guys think? CA have lots of cheap business class fares to Asia so I don't anticipate attaining *G. Assuming my understanding of AS is correct, I can attain MVP Gold with as little as 2 round-trips flying HU?
I'm not too familiar with HU. I spent a little bit of time and see where else HU flies to, but without much success finding cheap J fares that covers long distance. Any other suggestions for HU routes that are long and in the US$2k range?
I'm not too familiar with HU. I spent a little bit of time and see where else HU flies to, but without much success finding cheap J fares that covers long distance. Any other suggestions for HU routes that are long and in the US$2k range?
Mar 23, 19, 4:04 pm
#3
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,254
Is it just me or that flying with HU represents the fastest and probably the cheapest way to attain status with AS? There are lots of cheap economy and business class flights out of YVR to SZX, which is quite close to HKG. I'm not saying flying to SZX makes a lot of sense if timing is important and one needs to get to HKG. My question is flying with HU especially on business the cheapest and fastest way to attain MVP Gold? It requires 50,000 miles flown with an AS partner, which HU is. The cheapest business class fare is I, which gives 200%. According to GCMAP, YVR-SZX is about 12,754 miles round-trip, which with the bonus makes it 25,508 miles right? I see business class flights from about US$1900, which is pretty good. I'm mostly flying *A at the moment and I hope to attain *G with OZ very soon. I've also flown OW partners like CX recently, which I credited to BA, which I should never have and instead put it on AS. Anyways, I'm now leaning on focusing on both OZ and AS in the future. What do you guys think? CA have lots of cheap business class fares to Asia so I don't anticipate attaining *G. Assuming my understanding of AS is correct, I can attain MVP Gold with as little as 2 round-trips flying HU?
I'm not too familiar with HU. I spent a little bit of time and see where else HU flies to, but without much success finding cheap J fares that covers long distance. Any other suggestions for HU routes that are long and in the US$2k range?
I'm not too familiar with HU. I spent a little bit of time and see where else HU flies to, but without much success finding cheap J fares that covers long distance. Any other suggestions for HU routes that are long and in the US$2k range?
HU does not provide a Class of Service Bonus (COS) shown in the second column of the Partner charts. If there was a COS that too would be both EQM & RDM.
You would need to fly the route 4 times to attain MVPG in the AS Mileage Plan program.
James in Phoenix.
Mar 23, 19, 4:06 pm
#4
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Only base mile and class of service bonus count towards EQM, so no, you could not attain MVPG with two RT flights in I. Sounds like youd need at least four, costing $8k-10k. There are certainly much cheaper ways to get to MVPG, so this doesnt make sense unless you were already planning to take those trips anyway.
Mar 23, 19, 4:14 pm
#5
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For AS MVPG Elite status you are correct that you need 50K AS+Partner Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM). HU only earns 100% of the distance flown in Business as EQM & RDM. The 100% additional bonus is Redeemable Miles (RDM) only! In your example you would earn 12,754 EQM & 25,508 RDM.
HU does not provide a Class of Service Bonus (COS) shown in the second column of the Partner charts. If there was a COS that too would be both EQM & RDM.
You would need to fly the route 4 times to attain MVPG in the AS Mileage Plan program.
James in Phoenix.
HU does not provide a Class of Service Bonus (COS) shown in the second column of the Partner charts. If there was a COS that too would be both EQM & RDM.
You would need to fly the route 4 times to attain MVPG in the AS Mileage Plan program.
James in Phoenix.
I looked at the link and it doesn't make it obvious what credits to EQM and RDM. Just to be clear, RDM are basically miles that I can use to redeem for flights on AS or its partners like CX?
Are you sure HU doesn't provide a class of bonus? Looking at the link, C, D, and Z fares have class of service bonus.
Mar 23, 19, 4:21 pm
#6
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
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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
Mar 23, 19, 4:27 pm
#7
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
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https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...er-overview:HU
I looked at the link and it doesn't make it obvious what credits to EQM and RDM. Just to be clear, RDM are basically miles that I can use to redeem for flights on AS or its partners like CX?
Are you sure HU doesn't provide a class of bonus? Looking at the link, C, D, and Z fares have class of service bonus.
I looked at the link and it doesn't make it obvious what credits to EQM and RDM. Just to be clear, RDM are basically miles that I can use to redeem for flights on AS or its partners like CX?
Are you sure HU doesn't provide a class of bonus? Looking at the link, C, D, and Z fares have class of service bonus.
James in Phoenix .
Mar 23, 19, 4:31 pm
#8
Join Date: Aug 2017
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Mar 23, 19, 4:34 pm
#9
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: SFO
Programs: BART Platinum, AA Plat Pro
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Again, if these flights already looked attractive to you, and you feel MVPG would be useful, then go for it. But they certainly do not represent a cheap way to get statusquite the opposite.
Last edited by milypan; Mar 23, 19 at 4:42 pm
Mar 23, 19, 4:55 pm
#10
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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
That's a bit too far in advance for me to plan at the moment, but I what happen if I only have time to do that LAX-CPT trip for one week in December 2019? How long will I have MVPG for?
I see the fares available as of now. It's roughly US$6.5k for LAX-CPT round-trip, but BA's website said the booking class is A. I'm assuming that's discounted first class fare. Will that still be enough to get me MVPG?
Are there any cheap business class fares that will do the trick too or your first class bare with BA represent the easiest and cheapest overall way to attain MVPG? I'm glad I created this thread now. I'll continue to credit my flights to OZ for the rest of this year and try to fly *A as much as possible. I haven't been to South Africa before and that's definitely on my list of places to go to!
Mar 23, 19, 4:56 pm
#11
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Mar 23, 19, 5:03 pm
#12
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: SFO
Programs: BART Platinum, AA Plat Pro
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Are there any cheap business class fares that will do the trick too or your first class bare with BA represent the easiest and cheapest overall way to attain MVPG? I'm glad I created this thread now. I'll continue to credit my flights to OZ for the rest of this year and try to fly *A as much as possible. I haven't been to South Africa before and that's definitely on my list of places to go to!
Mar 23, 19, 5:07 pm
#13
Join Date: Aug 2017
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https://www.alaskaair.com/content/tr...perience/saver
Although I would spring for the extra $ to get out of X for flexibility.
Mar 23, 19, 5:44 pm
#14
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If you're flying ex-Canada, there are cheaper ways. For example, if you position to YYC, for under $4k US you should be able to find a D fare ticket to SIN or BKK on a mixture of BA (to LHR, and ideally on to HEL too) and AY that earns around 50k EQM. It's still significantly more expensive than flying TCONs, but it's not bad.
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.
Last edited by lsquare; Mar 23, 19 at 5:50 pm
Mar 23, 19, 6:09 pm
#15
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I just spent some time looking over some fares and I would love to get some comments about it. I'm fairly new to this so please bear with me when I ask how much EQM and RDM I'll earn. FYI, I've never been to CPT/JNB before, but I've been to SIN a few times in my life. SIN is one of my favorite cities in Asia. I honestly can't wait to go back in the near future. There's lots to do there and I wouldn't mind going there as some sort of mileage run.
So the cheapest F fare books as A for YVR-LHR-CPT with BA. The lowest I can find at the moment is C$7,140.52. According to Gcmap, total round-trip distance is 21,436 miles. How much EQM and RDM will I earn?
The cheapest J fare books as I for YVR-LHR-CPT with BA. The lowest that I can find at the moment is C$4,804.52. According to Gcmap, total round-trip distance is 21,436 miles. How much EQM and RDM will I earn?
The next option will be to fly to SIN and AY doesn't have F fares. AY's website doesn't display the booking class for the flights. Not sure how AS will calculate the EQM and RDM. YVR-LHR-HEL-SIN with BA and AY is C$4441.02. According to Gcmap, total round-trip distance is 23,270 miles. How much EQM and RDM will I earn?
So the cheapest F fare books as A for YVR-LHR-CPT with BA. The lowest I can find at the moment is C$7,140.52. According to Gcmap, total round-trip distance is 21,436 miles. How much EQM and RDM will I earn?
The cheapest J fare books as I for YVR-LHR-CPT with BA. The lowest that I can find at the moment is C$4,804.52. According to Gcmap, total round-trip distance is 21,436 miles. How much EQM and RDM will I earn?
The next option will be to fly to SIN and AY doesn't have F fares. AY's website doesn't display the booking class for the flights. Not sure how AS will calculate the EQM and RDM. YVR-LHR-HEL-SIN with BA and AY is C$4441.02. According to Gcmap, total round-trip distance is 23,270 miles. How much EQM and RDM will I earn?
