beardoc

I'm a long time reader and very sporadic poster - I've traditionally been on another forum as I used to live in Australia full time. I think the last time I really posted was in regards to the overly generous Australian Amex Promo back in 2008.

I hope this is okay to ask because I couldn't see anything posted like this, but what's the fastest run (consecutive days) that anyone has done from zero to GGL?

I'm asking, because in April, I joined BAEC, and then in May and June, started a holiday that was also a run to get to GGL within 42 flights, which I did in 42 days. I've been OW Emerald with QF for quite a number of years, even when I moved to the USA, but the recent changes devaluing the QANTAS Frequent Flyer program made me decide to switch paths.

I'm not sure what the etiquette is on FT around this - do you publish your routing when you talk about these things or are you supposed to discuss that privately? It was part of a DONE5 and a few mileage runs and a few positioning flights to go visit friends in various places. Anyway, I'm now over 5000 TP and am GGL, which is nice, because the Gold Guest List Redemptions are going to come in handy next year.

Thanks again for such a fantastic forum - I hope to contribute more around here in future!

LondonElite

I think you may have set the bar!

Calchas

Yes feel free to share your route. We are not shy about such things. Some of us are ruthless.

If you also feel like sharing the price and it's a good TP/£ ratio (less than 3 ideally), you can post it in http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...er-thread.html

To my knowledge we have not seen any TP runs on DONEx or AONEx fares. You might be the first contributor!

billinghamn

Why don't you post everything about your trip from zero to GGL? What was your route? When did you start? When did you complete your rise to GGL? It will be great to see how you did it. We are always interested to see other people's experiences.

beardoc

It's actually a series of routes, but melded together it was

JNB-DUR (D, BA)
DUR-JNB-CPT (D, BA)

CPT-JNB (D, BA)
JNB-DOH-PHL (D, QR)

PHL-PHX (A, US)

PHX-DEN (Y, US)
DEN-PHX-SFO (Y, US)
SFO-PHX (Y, US)

PHX-BOS (A, US)
BOS-LAX (A, AA)
LAX-CLT (A, US)

CLT-SJU (Y, US)

SJU-MIA-LAX-HNL (I/A/A, AA)
HNL-LAX-MIA-SJU (A/A/I, AA)
SJU-MIA-LAX-HNL (I/A/A, AA)
HNL-LAX-MIA-SJU (A/A/I, AA)
SJU-MIA-LAX-HNL (I/A/A, AA)
HNL-LAX-MIA-SJU (A/A/I, AA)

SJU-CLT-DCA (Y, US)
DCA-CLT (Y, US)

CLT-PDX (A, US)
PDX-DFW (A, AA)

DFW-HKG (D, AA)

HKG-DEL (D, CX)

DEL-KUL-SYD (D, MH)

That put me at 5070 TPs.

The DONE5 is JNB-DOH-PHL-PHX-BOS-LAX-CLT-PDX-DFW-HKG-DEL-NRT-CDG-HEL-BCN-LHR-CPT - I still have sectors to fly. I think this was 2290 TPs just from the DONE5 alone.

The BA/Comair Sectors were to get the 4 eligible sectors first.

The US Y segments are just because I wanted to visit those cities, or to position in SJU for the TP runs to HNL

And then there's SJU-HNL return 3 times.

It was fun, I had a blast. The DONE5 was competitive because of the intra-US flights. Unfortunately the rule changes this month mean that flights through CLT and PHX on US that are over 2000 miles are now considered transcontinental, and so this couldn't be replicated today, sadly. It was in a short window period where US got added but they left PHX and CLT off the list of US transcon cities.

I do a DONE4 or DONE5 each year, and next year I plan to optimise for TPs again. It's not too hard - I have a plan as to how I'm going to do it, but haven't worked it out yet.

SJU-HNL-SJU flights were around US$1300-1500 each time. The DONE5 was about US$9000 but that includes the Asia/Europe/South Africa segments I haven't flown yet. All inclusive of taxes. About US$900 on the economy flights (short notice bookings). And I think it was about US$2000 for the MH DEL-SYD-DEL flights.

Any more details, just ask.

beardoc

I could publish the DONEx on the TP runs - it's just over GBP2/TP, but it's not really replicable now (with the US transcon changes), so not sure if I should do that.

But I've been optimising DONEx fares for years for QFF - it's been fun (and not that difficult) to apply them to BAEC, for a flight I was going to do anyway.

theultimateflyer

+1

I'd love to read more about this!

Edit: Well, I see you did. I guess I should've refreshed the thread first

Paralytic

Impressive stuff. What is the theoretical quickest time someone could get from zero to GGL? A few back-to-back Ex-EU trips to Hawaii? Or lots of intra-US F flights? Could it be done in a week (ignoring exhaustion consequences)?

billinghamn

Wowser - that's a heck of a trip. I'll try and do something like that one year. Keep us informed about your next trips as well, so we can see how the RTW deals work out. I will certainly be very interested to stay in touch.

Just doing the SJU-HNL trip 3 times is impressive. I've got my second BRU-HNL and a nested HNL-SJU trip planned for Nov.

I'd be interested to understand why you do a RTW trip every year - is this just for fun? Or do you plan it in around a specific line of business you are in?

paul4040

This may be worth a read: http://lonelytprunner.blogspot.co.uk...e-journey.html

Not really my idea of worthwhile, but each unto their own!

billinghamn

Interesting read. I agree - what's the point in doing a massive TP run like this just for the sake of it eh? I just don't get it.

I'd never do something as pointless as this...

themapelligroup

Impressive route, 0 to 5000 TPs in less than two months is a record! Congratulations for achieving BA highest status in so little time. I'm also curious to know wheatear this itinerary was due to work or just for fun. Now that you got GGL and CCR you should enjoy the perks!

Calchas

I took the liberty of mapping your sectors (I was having trouble following along!): http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=JNB-DUR...KG-DEL-KUL-SYD

Cymro

Now do it six more times for lifetime gold.

At that rate you could maybe try to get lifetime gold out of your first year's membership.

paul4040

I wouldn't mind doing something like a BRU-HEL-LHR>LCY-JFK-PHX-HNL run, but only once a year...

His blog reads like Morgan Spurlock's "Supersize Me" if you ever watched that: "By Day X I felt totally dead and hadn't slept more than an hour" etc etc...