Mileage run Advice
Aug 25, 2004, 8:48 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2003
Location: London,UK
Posts: 38
Mileage run Advice
Dear All
I wonder if I might ask for youe help/assistance here - I am not a regular so bear with me! My Gold year finishes at the end of October - normally I have no problem requalifying and have been Gold for a number of years now. However, this year I am not going to make it without a mileage run. Having had a stroke in June this year, I have been off work and therefore not flying my normal routes! (Must admit I haven't missed the weekly Fokker runs to LBA!) I only need about 2800 to requalify. Can anyone advise the best and most importantly cheapest way to do this? (Not working, I am minus lots of bonus)
Thanks for your help in advance!
Regards
dcgS
I wonder if I might ask for youe help/assistance here - I am not a regular so bear with me! My Gold year finishes at the end of October - normally I have no problem requalifying and have been Gold for a number of years now. However, this year I am not going to make it without a mileage run. Having had a stroke in June this year, I have been off work and therefore not flying my normal routes! (Must admit I haven't missed the weekly Fokker runs to LBA!) I only need about 2800 to requalify. Can anyone advise the best and most importantly cheapest way to do this? (Not working, I am minus lots of bonus)
Thanks for your help in advance!
Regards
dcgS
Aug 25, 2004, 9:18 am
#2
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Anwhere ex-MAN
Programs: A3 *G, BA Silver
Posts: 2,706
Unless you have a corporate agreement, a D class flight is going to cost around 300GBP all in, which would keep your status for another year. I never look for discounted C/D domestic fkights, so I don't know what deals are about. Maybe others could help?
Otherwise, I'd investigate those carriers which have yet to have their discounted flights chopped: LOT, Austrian and SAS. A run there may be possible.
Alternatively a quick trip to the USA on UA or US may be cheap and could snag the miles. ajamieson's recent post about the Scotsman offer shows fares to the US for 289 all in from MAN - more fun that a UK run, if your health is up to it. A two day trip to Vegas can be very cheap if you don't gamble, travel midweek snag a cheap hotel deal. If you've not used them, the gold vouchers could see you with a bit more pitch in NE.
Otherwise, I'd investigate those carriers which have yet to have their discounted flights chopped: LOT, Austrian and SAS. A run there may be possible.
Alternatively a quick trip to the USA on UA or US may be cheap and could snag the miles. ajamieson's recent post about the Scotsman offer shows fares to the US for 289 all in from MAN - more fun that a UK run, if your health is up to it. A two day trip to Vegas can be very cheap if you don't gamble, travel midweek snag a cheap hotel deal. If you've not used them, the gold vouchers could see you with a bit more pitch in NE.
Aug 25, 2004, 9:33 am
#3
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: London. Edinburgh, Cornwall
Programs: BA GGL, British Midland Lifetime* Loser
Posts: 7,939
Yup, a long-haul or a cheap non-Lufthansa European break would do it. I'd go for SAS or Austrian destination that involves a connection. Helsinki via Stockholm or Copenhagen on SAS should do it, about £150incl, or Salzburg via Vienna on Austrian, about £190incl. 4x800=3200 in each case. For bonuses, you might want to remember that double destinations miles offer on UA flights until February; a cheap LHR-IAD trip would cost about £260incl and give you about 7,200 status miles and about 14,400 award miles.
Aug 25, 2004, 1:31 pm
#4
Moderator: UK and Ireland & Europe
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Biggleswade
Programs: SK*G, Lots of Blue Elsewhere
Posts: 13,611
There are some very reasonable OS fares to Central Europe via VIE, connecting on to VO (Tyrolean) props to the likes of BUD and PRG. They also seem to be pushing their new A319 service to further East and South, so have a look out for that. ebookers and onlinetravel seem to get the best fares IME. Try and get the NG-operated LHR-VIE flights for the amazing food!
It's also worth signing up to OS's 'Airmanager' reservation engine. It's a relatively poor interface, but allows to you select 'all *A' itineraries, and quite often significantly beats other *A airlines' own websites for pricing. Otherwise, virgintravelstore.com is quite handy, as it lets you specify (in advanced mode) *A itineraries as well.
Otherwise, there's actually a small benefit with the mileage changes: LO's (often very cheap) Q fares are now 1x mileage instead of 0. I've seen a lot of Qs (around £150) for LON-KRK (usually LGW-KRK, but I'm sure you could get a connection via WAW to get the miles). LO's own website lets you contruct some 'imaginative' itineraries, too, so it's worth playing about with.
For SK, you could try and get a routing via both CPH and ARN to somewhere like HEL, to get a 3-legged run. Do watch out for SK flights operated by Blue1 (not yet *A) and AirBaltic, though.
It's also worth signing up to OS's 'Airmanager' reservation engine. It's a relatively poor interface, but allows to you select 'all *A' itineraries, and quite often significantly beats other *A airlines' own websites for pricing. Otherwise, virgintravelstore.com is quite handy, as it lets you specify (in advanced mode) *A itineraries as well.
Otherwise, there's actually a small benefit with the mileage changes: LO's (often very cheap) Q fares are now 1x mileage instead of 0. I've seen a lot of Qs (around £150) for LON-KRK (usually LGW-KRK, but I'm sure you could get a connection via WAW to get the miles). LO's own website lets you contruct some 'imaginative' itineraries, too, so it's worth playing about with.
For SK, you could try and get a routing via both CPH and ARN to somewhere like HEL, to get a 3-legged run. Do watch out for SK flights operated by Blue1 (not yet *A) and AirBaltic, though.
Aug 26, 2004, 8:38 pm
#7
Join Date: May 2003
Location: BHX
Posts: 664
As mentioned earlier, there are some good fare to the US at this time of the yaer and theire are bonus promotions on both US and UA so you'll earn extra destination miles.
If you time the MR so that your outbound flight is before your renewal date and the inbound after then you'll have a good start to re-earning for next year. If your health is up to it and you have the time this is probably the best value.
If you time the MR so that your outbound flight is before your renewal date and the inbound after then you'll have a good start to re-earning for next year. If your health is up to it and you have the time this is probably the best value.
Aug 31, 2004, 6:15 pm
#8
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Near LHR
Programs: UA1P, SK S, BA B, SPG G, Hyatt G, HH G, HM Revenue & Customs Lifetime MilkCow Platinum Plus
Posts: 715
Sorry if you've just had your question answered, but if I were you I would book a weekend somewhere East Coast USA with United, in October (NY, Washington, Boston). In September you'll pay more.
Sep 9, 2004, 4:17 pm
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2003
Location: London,UK
Posts: 38
Dear All
Just wanted to say thanks very much for your advice! Especially to Stut - I signed up for the AUA Air Manager - it's a bit clunky as you say but an excellent resource! I managed to bag an SAS flight LHR-CPH-BLL-CPH-LHR for the rather amazing price of GBP 149.70 - with most of that being tax! I couldn't find anything similar anywhere else, so went for it! I went on Tuesday and had a great day. SAS are a good airline in Economy at the moment and I would thoroughly recommend them. The Dash8-400 they fly CPH-BLL is a super little aircraft although their MD80s are getting a bit long in the tooth! Anyway, I would thoroughly recommend SK ^ to one of their domestic destinations if anyone is considering a mileage run - they are much superior to LH, with whom most of my flights are taken these days.
I'll get round to posting a trip report if anyone is interested...
Thanks to you all and many thanks to stut once again. (I'm in SW9 so i owe you a drink!)
dcgS
Just wanted to say thanks very much for your advice! Especially to Stut - I signed up for the AUA Air Manager - it's a bit clunky as you say but an excellent resource! I managed to bag an SAS flight LHR-CPH-BLL-CPH-LHR for the rather amazing price of GBP 149.70 - with most of that being tax! I couldn't find anything similar anywhere else, so went for it! I went on Tuesday and had a great day. SAS are a good airline in Economy at the moment and I would thoroughly recommend them. The Dash8-400 they fly CPH-BLL is a super little aircraft although their MD80s are getting a bit long in the tooth! Anyway, I would thoroughly recommend SK ^ to one of their domestic destinations if anyone is considering a mileage run - they are much superior to LH, with whom most of my flights are taken these days.
I'll get round to posting a trip report if anyone is interested...
Thanks to you all and many thanks to stut once again. (I'm in SW9 so i owe you a drink!)
dcgS
Sep 10, 2004, 4:25 am
#10
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Cheltenham
Programs: KLM Plat for Life , BA Gold, HH Silver, (Other half Diamond), IHG Gold
Posts: 2,394
Steve
If you are only 2800 short and have been DC Gold for a few years; why dont you try explaining your situation in a letter to them. It would stike me as being very unsympathetic given you have had a CVA for DC not to help out; particualrly given all the Star Comps etc.
If you are only 2800 short and have been DC Gold for a few years; why dont you try explaining your situation in a letter to them. It would stike me as being very unsympathetic given you have had a CVA for DC not to help out; particualrly given all the Star Comps etc.
