FlyerTalk Forums - LAS-SJU trip report

Sorry mods if this is in the wrong place
Las Vegas to San Juan Tier Points Run not so Live Trip Report

Intro
We are leisure travellers and so achieving status is harder that corporate travellers.
After many years flying with Virgin Atlantic once or twice a year and never getting above sliver status coupled with the decline of service we decided to fly the flag so we went to Rome on a BA holiday in ET and Jersey in ET both were good Holidays. This is our third trip with BA first LH and we are traveling WT+ ( we were upgraded at the lounge to club :-))))) )after picking up so much useful information from FT we decided to go on a TPR to SJU at £612.50 so at less than £1 per tier point we are going over the weekend when Las Vegas fills up with weekenders.
Itinerary

22nd March

Las-Mia in F MIA-SJU business overnighting at SJU

23 March

Sju-Mia business Mia-Mco-Lax-Las in F

This should net us 620 tier points plus as we go through Bronze it will also increase our Avios haul. And if all goes well we will be Silver on our return flight to UK

We'll here we go! Left the hotel at 05:00 local and took a taxi to Mccarran T1 checked in at the First Class desk we went to the priority lane and then joined the main security line but we were through in about 10 mins then a shuttle ride to the gates. We took advantage of the Centurion lounge close to D1 and I must say it is in a class of its own compared to the AA lounge visited some time ago. The first flight of the day is AA 2239 to MIA departing 07:15 I must say that the flight attendants were superb and we arrived on time. Food was pre ordered egg and cheese quesadilla Which was very tasty, and into the zoo called MIA. We tried to get into the Admrials Club but we're denied we couldn't wait to fly on to SJU and left dead on time AA2442. The flight was 2hrs 15mins this time pasta was the ordered meal… not good. Again outstanding crew both flights we're 757's clean but not in the first flush of youth but did the job. We arrived at SJU at 20:30 and stayed at the Airport hotel just steps from the arrivals and departures. The hotel it's self was fine fairly basic but for overnighting fine. The alarm didn't need to ring as mrs Thejohn and I were up and about at 04:15 even after a few drinks in the bar on level 2. We used the Business checking so we were ticketed through for our four flights that day so we had tickets to chase up tier points if they don't get posted. Thanks to you FTers as this is our first we would have no doubt missed out and had a hard time proving flights. They have a TSA pre check lane at SJU and and a priority lane that saves a fair bit of time. We gained access to the Admrials club with my CX MP gold card no problem… this time we were on a 737 with the sky interior in the new colour scheme AA1254 cereal for breakfast this time on time departure and arrival at MIA. We tried the Admrials club again this time we were admitted and the agent even said " oh you want to keep your BA FF number don't you I'll let you you guys in this time as you are on as status run" time passed better in the club. The next flight was AA1218 MIA-MCO this was by far the oldest of the aircraft we travelled on with wide tan leather seats but yet again the crew couldn't be faulted for service and attention. We had 2 hrs on the ground at MCO so we spent it walking around the terminal as we were getting tired of sitting around. The next was the transcontinental flight AA 244 this is getting boring but the crew deserve yet another mention, food was good shrimps with pineapple, salad followed by a very good fillet steak with sweet potato mash. We arrived dead on time and only had a hour before the last flight of this tier point run the AA1226 LAX -LAS as we were taxing we caught a glimpse of the BA 269 a A380 just arriving. This was the only flight of the trip we were slightly delayed by 10 minutes but arrived at LAS on time as with the MIA - MCO this was a drinks only service and this crew were on par with most other airlines for service so average but the other 5 crews were outstanding.

Summary

We really enjoyed the whole Tier point run and the concerns of time delays security issues getting lost and missing connections were all unfounded. Time went quickly and we never felt rushed or pressured. Overall AA did their selves proud and should be proud of their crews and product. Value was outstanding. Would we do it again absolutely... Even Mrs thejohn who was not a great flyer really enjoyed the whole trip. John