Searching for the right thread here.... If you book a multi-trip exEU can you UUA online for BA from CW to F? I just booked one and there IS availability but it told me I had to call a BA office, and it couldn't be done online....?

Correct, call BA (asap!) :D

Hi All,

Sorry I started a Post on the 2018 thread, and didn't respond in time so it's not closed.

Still looking for deals for around 700 - 1000 TP's.

One question I had is when people route from say OTP to PHX via X, Y and Z - how do you 'know ' to do it.

Are these ITA options through people doing millions of searches - or is there somewhere (aside from this enormous thread) to keep an eye on for routings?

Thanks!

I can answer that! If you want to maximise TPs on a flight from the EU to the US, you will generally care about some things in the ticket conditions that limit what you can do. The full ticket conditions can be read on ITA for example, but it's usually the two following things that we pay attention to:

- Free transfers (usually 2 in Europe, 2 in North America)
- Maximum mileage (i.e. you can't just go from Europe to the west coast and back to the east coast on a cheap fare)

With that in mind, you can check out which cheap fares exist (for example, GOT-MIA, OTP-PHX, etc...) and route them better, for the modest price of a few airport fees, which aren't usually too expensive.

Let's say, for our first example we want to use the ARN-MIA fare. We know a TATL fare is 140TP, US domestic first is 40TP, and some EU segments can go up to 80TP, so we'll try to do the following: ARN-X-LHR (that's our two transfers in Europe), and then LHR-X-X-MIA (that's our two transfers in NA). The best way to get 80TP and not go too far is to add a LHR-HEL segment, so we get ARN-HEL-LHR to start (only works if Finnair has a ARN-HEL service, which they do!)

Then, for the other part we just fiddle with ITA and input X in the connections to help us. This is where we choose our favorite plane so if we want to take the 747 to Philadelphia we'll search ARN-HEL-LHR-PHL-X-MIA and ITA will tell us which cities it finds (I think in this case CLT). And here you go, bang, a 680TP return with ARN-HEL-LHR-PHL-CLT-MIA.

Now for the west coast it's a bit different, as you'll always want to do LHR-JFK-(LAX/SFO) because only JFK-LAX and JFK-SFO will give you 140TPs (and a flat bed!) so, we start the same way, but this time we're more constrained so we know we want to do search the following in ITA: OTP-HEL-LHR-JFK-(LAX/SFO)-PHX. And ITA will tell us whether going through SFO or LAX is possible, and in that case it is (at least for one of those two).

Now this can get a bit trickier if you're optimising flights to Asia but in that case you're either looking to route via SIN (which is 160TP), or use QR which is usually going to yield 4x140TP. And of course you can always read the ticket conditions on ITA.

Inv-las 880tp 1231gbp
 

Any suggestions to improve this?


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...191e2f6a7f.png

With reservations made on AA.com including flights operated by other carriers i.e. BA/AY, is there a 24-hour cancellation policy?

I can't make sense of "including American Airlines flights operated by codeshare partners".

Does that only apply if it's marketed by AA with an AA code:

Yes but you have to sacrifice the JFK to LAX flat bed but this is £1200 for 960Tps

You can play with dates etc but the below should give you the general idea

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0a51c816a1.jpg

Thanks!

By the way this fare is available through the year, but it MUST be booked today.

Dont forget if you book the HEL shuffle far enough out, chances of a time change are high - allowing you then to insert the Transcon for a nice 1040TP run ;)

Deleted

How would this work? :)

I'm struggling to find any I class availability on AA metal on pretty much any date I try for JFK-LHR, am I missing something?

Picking a random date far out:


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f3f76eccaf.png

Love the Helsinki / Vegas run above and very handy - will check that option now.

I'm in need of help from the experts on here! I'm currently gold but will not achieve the status again by the end of my earning year - March 8th - looking for circa 1200 points as I desperately need the status in 2019.

London based and happy to do a run over 5/6/7 days to get the bulk and happy to throw in a few short trips too - can travel anywhere and pretty flexible with dates. As I'm sure everyone says - I'd like to do it as quick and cheap as possible!!

HELP! (thanks in advance)

The fare does work with other west coast destinations, although LAS was the cheapest I found on my dates. I would try others however! Also bear in mind that according to the fare rules it must be booked today. No travel blackout dates however as far as you book 50 days in advance.

Wait for time change
Call AA with unhappy tones.
Ask for a reroute via LAX.
Profit :D