enviroian

For what it's worth when I used to live in PHX (as a UA flyer) to get to LAX I would fly via SFO rather than nonstop just so I could eat the the San Francisco Soup Company.

This is partly one of the reasons I'm no longer married.

prathetkrungthep

The word guaranteed does not really work in any discussion involving New York AirTrains.

pinniped

10 years ago when I was working more in New York, I remember hearing about people who liked to walk/run/bike to LGA (from Manhattan). There was even a website/blog dedicated to it with recommendations on most pedestrian- and bike-friendly routes, coffeeshops, scenic points, and other places to take breaks.

Only about 10k from the Queensboro Bridge... From my office (back then) in midtown, about 8 miles total. Although the blog site also included lengthier routes with more waterfront and/or more interesting streets to explore.

nk15

I do this airport change occasionally on the way back from ATH or other European city. It should be a 30-minute $50 Uber ride or so, between airports. It is fairly relaxed with a 4-5 hour layover, global entry, and hand luggage only. IMO, It beats the alternative of an extra flight via CLT arriving an hour later than the LGA flight.

Unfortunately AA is weak at JFK, and the dissolution of the partnership with B6 made things worse.

On my way to ATH via JFK sometimes I do an award flight to JFK with Delta, if the price is right, on separate tickets, and a generous layover.

ramcm7

Booked an award routing for this summer the other direction - MXP-JFK//LGA-BOS. AA later changed us to MXP-JFK-BOS, a long layover to begin with, slightly longer at the rebooking, but appreciated in that we won't have to do the JFK/LGA shuffle.

Delta Hog

You're still kind of in the same general area -- PHX-SFO-LAX is not too different than STL-ORD-MEX which would have been acceptable to me.

STL-LGA-JFK-MIA-MEX? Not a mileage run?

Not gonna happen. HEY LOOK -- DFW which is a major AA hub is right in between STL and MEX.

lrdpenn

Guaranteed to charge you more than the value of the service and make you question why you’re not taking a cab, though

Delta Hog

Update because I DID book STL-LGA/JFK-ATH on the outbound which was the only routing that worked for me on date and miles. 4-hour connection so should be enough time just to Uber door to door.

But I'm really writing because of an interesting development on the return, from BCN not ATH.

BCN-ORD-STL (two pax) was 54k miles + $91.00. I only had 5k left so I bought 49k miles for $1560 thus paid 1651 for two for the O/W.

The exact same flight in lowest class for purchase is 3688/pp or 7376. It's also the least expensive option that day.

I saved $5,725 on a return flight for 2 simply by buying miles instead of purchasing tickets for the same flight? Is this a known hack? I'm certainly glad I looked at the problem this way.

guv1976

Yes, if you're talking about booking two cash one-ways instead of a cash roundtrip or open-jaw (STL-ATH//BCN-STL), buying and redeeming miles can often be a good deal. It can be an even better deal when you buy miles during one of AA's periodic sales, when the cost can get down to around 2¢/mile.

On many -- not all -- trans-Atlantic routes/carriers, the cash cost of a one-way can be as much as the cash cost of a roundtrip.

But I'm a little skeptical of the claim that $3,688 pp is the cheapest one-way fare available on any carrier on your day of travel. Did you do a search via a site like expedia.com? Or Google flights? Still, you probably did get a good deal by purchasing AAdvantage miles in this case.

Delta Hog

No, I am talking about AA only. Cheapest on aa.com.

There were some significantly cheaper on orbitz but they were all (or almost all? don't want to misstate!) on Turkish and went to Istanbul first. And ended up in a +1 or +2, not the same day. Not something I would do.

Even those were more expensive than buying the miles.

guv1976

Yep.

If you want to see an extreme example of the value of buying miles, here's one:




With miles: