lorcancoyle

Booked LAS-SJU on the same routing myself, £237.20 plus £4.50 cc fee, but am skipping town to NY on the same day (I figure a 7 hour layover will give me a taste of the old town). Didn't feel the premium fares on AA to NYC were great value, but have convinced myself that I can fly economy with an overnight at MIA even though it costs a good bit more than a direct flight with JetBlue (given NYC hotel prices are a bit nuts). For the truly mad out there (have to convince myself there's people crazier than me!) there were some funky SJU-MIA-BNA (Nashville) or RDU (Raleigh Durham)-NYC routes to squeeze out a few extra (110) TPs. Wonder what u/g offers AA has at check-in

Agree that it's a great value fare, though I was tempted by £374 to go F on a LAX-JFK leg and get a better night's sleep, flagship lounge etc. When they've got the airbus on from November (iirc) that could be worth a try.

(My overall routing is now DUB-LHR/LCY-JFK-LAS-LAX-MIA-SJU-MIA-NYC/SEA-JFK-LCY/LHR-DUB plus LAS-LAX-LAS on UA/AA and EWR-SEA on UA, and LHR-DUB-LHR RFS flights. I think I have a problem... But also 1260 TPs, some TK status miles, and the chance to catch up with friends/family in 3 different US cities)

EDIflyer

Hehe sounds good, lorcancoyle. I'm starting off in BRU for my run and going TATL on the new BA A380. A very good value LAX-SFO Avios redemption in amongst mine as well as a SouthWest flight!! (only $59 including a checked bag so pretty good value). I just hope they keep nice old two-class planes flying LAX-MIA to ensure the proper TPs post!

ab007

Wow, that's the elite of TP runs

If you don't mind me asking, presumably you're doing it because you enjoy the travelling rather than for the TPs? I mean that's not the kind of plans someone puts together if they're a few TPs short for the year!?

For example I'm going to be about 60 short of Silver through my work and one leisure trip this year. Silver gives me the benefits I value (namely seat selection and lounge) so logic would say CE return would sort me out... but with decent ex-eu fares cropping up I cant help but be tempted, but that would be for the enjoyment and experience of the trip/ flights/ seeing some places, not because I want (or need) to push for gold.

lorcancoyle

It kind of evolved!

- saw the very good fares from DUB using LCY so booked that, and decided to connect to LAS rather than LAX so I could do a trip to one of the national parks (Zions or similar)
- return from SEA worked to catch up with a friend who's based there now (not to mention the 210 TPs), couldn't do same day connect LCY-JFK-SEA unfortunately
- have family in LA, so planned on heading there for a couple of days too (Getty Villa has been on my Liston things to do for a while)
- instead of staying all the time on the west coast decided a few days in NY to catch up with friends there would make sense, but as flights from LAX in premium cabins are pretty pricey decided to go from LAS via SJU and get TPs and better seat
- getting the 7pm flight to MIA out of SJU allowed for time to actually see the old town, and didn't fancy arriving into NYC at midnight given what hotels there cost (sounds odd given the flights I've booked) so having an overnight connection works out

- means I have something like 2 nights in LAS, 2 nights in LAX, overnight on LAX-MIA, 1 night in MIA, 3 nights in NYC, 2 nights in SEA. Kind of lose a day or so from having to reposition from LAX to LAS (3pm flight, so c. 6 hrs) and EWR-SEA (fly at 6.30 pm, so still allows most of a day to be productive)

If I'd thought it through more fully instead of deciding on last day of sale fares I would probably have changed the order a bit, and just flown into NYC, then flown down to SJU and on to LAS, LAX and SEA later on. So I've landed myself with an extra LAX-LAS leg and EWR-SEA leg (plus free JFK-LAS leg) instead of a LAX-SEA leg.

Puts me at just over 3,000 TPs though for planned personal travel this year, so have got my GUF2 locked in and the option of going for GGL next year. And if work travel steps up a small bit it may mean I can get second GUF2 - which could be quite handy to have

IAN-UK

Bit out of my depth here, but the RAK trip in the sticky looked useful.

Unfortunately R fares have rocketed. ITA confirms they exist, but BA appears to employ them on only very selected dates.

Q: is there a seasonal element to R fares - and does BA juggle the availability of their avaiability over the year ?

stifle

Ah, the mysteries of revenue management!

If BA thinks it can sell them at a higher price, it will attempt to do so!

ab007

lorcancoyle thanks for the reply... interesting read, I hope you'll be putting together some sort of trip report!

Can confirm having spent a while browsing ex-eu fares last night that I'll definitely be putting something together now... what with places like DFW, MIA & SEA included I can't resist!

Blueboys999

What's the TP return from 2 AA domestic flights with the same flight number?

I'm specifically referring to AA1967 LAS-LAX-SFO which shows as 2 flight in the itinerary but retains AA1967 throughout

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

With 1 flight number it will be 1 set of tps per flight ( ie 60 for LAS-SFO). If the lflight number changed you would get 60 for each of LAS-LAX and LAX-SFO (120 in total)

Regards

TBS

stifle

Or possibly 10.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

Good point stifle^

I assumed Blueboys999 would be in F for LAS-LAX-SFO but if in Y then only 10tps would be awarded.

Regards

TBS

Blueboys999

Your assumption is spot on!

Thanks for the advice - I feared that would be the case.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

Bad luck. I think you picked the only flights LAS-LAX-SFO that do not have a flight number change at LAX ( all other flights appear to have 2 separate flight numbers so you would get 120tps for the flight)

Regards

TBS

Greyscot

We are travelling SJU-MIA-HNL. The MIA-LAX and the LAX-HNL have the same flight number. I guess we will only get 250tps rather than 460tps?

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

You are correct. Sorry about that.

Regards

TBS