Cheapest $/EQM Flights
Jul 22, 2019, 4:36 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,466
A few years ago I stumbled into this gem on aa.com, $1350 for the following all on the same PNR:
RDU-DFW-MIA-MAD
MAD-JFK-IND-ORD-PEK
NRT-JFK-LHR-MAD
MAD-DFW-RDU
RDU-DFW-MAD
MAD-DFW-RDU
Around 46,600 EQM, but it was during a double EQM promo (must have been 2012 I think), so netted 93k EQM for $1350.
But that was a different time and different place. In this day and age, if all you're after is EQM, cheap flights to Asia abound. Very easy to get ~20k EQM for $500 or less. Just took me 30 seconds to find a $450 roundtrip to PVG in the fall, $200 cheaper than my last trip to Pittsburgh.
RDU-DFW-MIA-MAD
MAD-JFK-IND-ORD-PEK
NRT-JFK-LHR-MAD
MAD-DFW-RDU
RDU-DFW-MAD
MAD-DFW-RDU
Around 46,600 EQM, but it was during a double EQM promo (must have been 2012 I think), so netted 93k EQM for $1350.
But that was a different time and different place. In this day and age, if all you're after is EQM, cheap flights to Asia abound. Very easy to get ~20k EQM for $500 or less. Just took me 30 seconds to find a $450 roundtrip to PVG in the fall, $200 cheaper than my last trip to Pittsburgh.
Jul 22, 2019, 7:55 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 17
A few years ago I stumbled into this gem on aa.com, $1350 for the following all on the same PNR:
RDU-DFW-MIA-MAD
MAD-JFK-IND-ORD-PEK
NRT-JFK-LHR-MAD
MAD-DFW-RDU
RDU-DFW-MAD
MAD-DFW-RDU
Around 46,600 EQM, but it was during a double EQM promo (must have been 2012 I think), so netted 93k EQM for $1350.
But that was a different time and different place. In this day and age, if all you're after is EQM, cheap flights to Asia abound. Very easy to get ~20k EQM for $500 or less. Just took me 30 seconds to find a $450 roundtrip to PVG in the fall, $200 cheaper than my last trip to Pittsburgh.
RDU-DFW-MIA-MAD
MAD-JFK-IND-ORD-PEK
NRT-JFK-LHR-MAD
MAD-DFW-RDU
RDU-DFW-MAD
MAD-DFW-RDU
Around 46,600 EQM, but it was during a double EQM promo (must have been 2012 I think), so netted 93k EQM for $1350.
But that was a different time and different place. In this day and age, if all you're after is EQM, cheap flights to Asia abound. Very easy to get ~20k EQM for $500 or less. Just took me 30 seconds to find a $450 roundtrip to PVG in the fall, $200 cheaper than my last trip to Pittsburgh.
Can you please walk me through on how you found those $450 PVG flights? Where is your outbound airport? How do you find the cheapest outbound and destination with the longest distance?
All the flights I found to PVG are more than $1k.
Please see below a screenshot of my search - https://i.imgur.com/lkJZMT9.png
Jul 22, 2019, 8:11 pm
#4
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Oh wow. Thanks for sharing! Wish I was in the game in the good old days.
Can you please walk me through on how you found those $450 PVG flights? Where is your outbound airport? How do you find the cheapest outbound and destination with the longest distance?
All the flights I found to PVG are more than $1k.
Please see below a screenshot of my search - https://i.imgur.com/lkJZMT9.png
Can you please walk me through on how you found those $450 PVG flights? Where is your outbound airport? How do you find the cheapest outbound and destination with the longest distance?
All the flights I found to PVG are more than $1k.
Please see below a screenshot of my search - https://i.imgur.com/lkJZMT9.png
Jul 22, 2019, 8:23 pm
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,398
I don't remember exactly how much I paid, but back in the good old days of YVR/LAX-PTY allowing routing on LAX-JFK TCON J, a lot of people were doing that (see: (Business) AA: LAX-MIA-PTY (Panama City) $723 RT ). I personally did:
YVR-PHX-LAX-JFK-MIA-PTY-MIA-DCA-PHX-YVR which was ~23k EQM for <800USD.
YVR-PHX-LAX-JFK-MIA-PTY-MIA-DCA-PHX-YVR which was ~23k EQM for <800USD.
Jul 22, 2019, 11:42 pm
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 17
I don't remember exactly how much I paid, but back in the good old days of YVR/LAX-PTY allowing routing on LAX-JFK TCON J, a lot of people were doing that (see: (Business) AA: LAX-MIA-PTY (Panama City) $723 RT ). I personally did:
YVR-PHX-LAX-JFK-MIA-PTY-MIA-DCA-PHX-YVR which was ~23k EQM for <800USD.
YVR-PHX-LAX-JFK-MIA-PTY-MIA-DCA-PHX-YVR which was ~23k EQM for <800USD.
Is this a good deal? It seems pretty impossible to find a MR below 3cpm for American Airline out of Chicago.
Jul 23, 2019, 7:09 am
#7
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: San Francisco
Programs: AA EXP; Marriott BonVoy Titanium Elite, Marriott LT Plat.
Posts: 1,717
Cheers!!
Jul 23, 2019, 8:59 am
#10
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: CUR
Posts: 2,170
You make it on www.gcmap.com or www.gc.kls2.com
Jul 23, 2019, 9:54 am
#12
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Raleigh, NC
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 219
I once did BCN-JFK-GRU-LAX-SEA-DFW-GRU-JFK-BCN for about $800. It gave me 31033 EQM. The kicker is the DFW-GRU plane was swapped from a 77W to 772 and they needed volunteers to take the next flight. They gave us volunteers all $1000 vouchers. So net, I made $200 off this!
Jul 23, 2019, 10:26 am
#13
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: CMI, ORD, NYC
Programs: AA Plat
Posts: 92
I once did BCN-JFK-GRU-LAX-SEA-DFW-GRU-JFK-BCN for about $800. It gave me 31033 EQM. The kicker is the DFW-GRU plane was swapped from a 77W to 772 and they needed volunteers to take the next flight. They gave us volunteers all $1000 vouchers. So net, I made $200 off this!
Jul 23, 2019, 11:26 am
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 17
I once did BCN-JFK-GRU-LAX-SEA-DFW-GRU-JFK-BCN for about $800. It gave me 31033 EQM. The kicker is the DFW-GRU plane was swapped from a 77W to 772 and they needed volunteers to take the next flight. They gave us volunteers all $1000 vouchers. So net, I made $200 off this!
Jul 23, 2019, 1:20 pm
#15
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Raleigh, NC
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 219
I believe it was June 2016. What really made it work was flights to Brazil were really cheap as they were trying to promote tourism ahead of the Olympics.