BrianWBrazil

As a family we spend Dec and Jan in the UK and this year we have taken what I hope is the very sensible decision to fly AA from GIG>JKF>LHR all in business class. On the face of things, it seems like a no-brainer (really) as the price for BA CW comes to $3300 each, whilst the price for AA Business Class (or whatever it's referred to) is $2800 each (booked via AA site). We even get a 13 hours connection in New York in which to run around, shop and see sights before we take the evening flight to LHR. We actually missed out on a trip to NYC in January as the flight was cancelled mid-flight over the Atlantic.

Another amazing benefit is that the trip will garner 560 TPs for the 4 legs, against the 280 that would be awarded on BA. Naturally, we will credit these to our BAEC account; we don't have AA Advantage in any case.

So, getting to the question: It would nice to top up the 560 points with another 40 so everyone makes BAEC Silver, but we need to make 4 eligible and relatively inexpensive flights in order to do this. Any suggestions? Has to be between December 16 and Jan 12. Thanks for your attention.

corporate-wage-slave

The cheapest way to do this will probably be some Basic fares out of LGW. The domestic services to EDI and GLA are often below Ģ40, and you may find JER, AMS not so far off. One approach is to perhaps do a back to back to EDI one evening. And then separately perhaps the Christmas Market at Nürnberg, which is also a LGW flight and was very good value last Christmas. Gingerbread and hotdogs for the kids, something a little stronger for the adults. And it may actually help you get some interesting Christmas presents too. The city benefits from being compact and with NUE airport on the S-Bahn. Other options may include LUX (from LHR), FCO and VIE. If you were keen to get it over with very quickly then you could do something like LHR-MAN-INV, the latter being a Loganair codeshare and 2 flights up to INV, 2 down. So long as it is booked as a BA service then it will count. Other cheap codeshares include Vueling services (e.g. LHR-LCG) but again you need to book via BA.com to get the codeshare. I recently visited A Coruņa and found it very interesting.

bisonrav

But make sure the booked fare class gets you 10TP per flight, often the cheap ones generate 5TP so you'd be high and dry.

WorldLux

Unless the OP's collection year ends right after the trip the OP could book the lowest class and collect the remaining TP on Latam (probably the easiest solution ex Brazil) or other OW airlines.

CWS's advice is IMO good. Look at shorter BA flights. Best to check out the current deals. A day trip to GVA is available for 25Ģ each way. There are other destinations available.

bisonrav

I agree with the advice, just to note it's not the end of the job.

BrianWBrazil

Thanks so much for all your comments. Apart from myself, the collection years end on Jan 8, and as we would be flying back to Brazil on Jan 14, we will, in fact, be pleading for the two week grace period! I love the suggestion about Nürnberg market, and GVA (I actually overlooked the fact that we have friends who live there now, and could readily drop by over the holidays.

HIDDY

Indeed...and if you like seafood there's no better place.

BrianWBrazil

I'm still tinkering with my travel plans, and there is yet another alternative route back to GIG that goes LHR>MAD>JFK on BA and IB metal.

So, can I assume that the following flights bought from the AA site would be eligible? :

AA6741 American Airlines Operated by Iberia as British Airways LHR>MAD and,
AA8647 American Airlines Operated by Iberia MAD>JFK................

Globaliser

I think that both are no.

The first is a funny one, because it is in reality an IB-operated flight. For obscure techie operational purposes at T5 it's given a BA prime flight number, but my suspicion is that this does not in any way turn it into a BA-operated flight for "eligible flights" purposes.

The second is definitely no. That's AA-marketed, IB-operated. That definitely fails the "flights marketed and operated by Iberia" test.

Note the word "and"; the crucial difference is that the corresponding word is "or" in relation to BA.