alex67500

There aren't many deals exUS so that's unlikely to work. The Saturday rule is the one thing which makes these deals a bit difficult if you're bound by a weekend to weekend week. The cheap TATL flights are usually bound to Tue-Thu out and Mon-Wed back.
Edit: so there are deals from the US, see next post! In that case find another week later in the year when you can fly out and back and book your flights nested as suggested!

Pilot37

Saturday night stay is the normal requirement for 99.9% of TP runs. (Actually the normal written rule is that the return sector can’t begin until the 1st Sunday post arrival at the destination or something along those lines). There are some decent fares out of LAX to Europe with OW (well decent for U.S. starting points - approx $2K) if you wanted to nest an Ex-EU with an ex-U.S. That would allow you to go and come back mid-week if you can make the schedules work. The Premium Fares thread has more detail on the ex-LAX fares.

Pilot37

squawk

Hello everyone,

Seeking some general pointers for how best to re-qualify for silver at 450TP (or even, perhaps, pushing towards gold at 1125) after my year-end on 8th July, but before my Silver status expires at the end of August. I'd like to make a holiday out of it, rather than a pure TP-run, so ideally having at a least 5-7 days at the other end would be nice. Likely to be travelling alone; always happy to try 'interesting' routes/destinations/aircraft. Last time I did something like this was the Babybus meet up, for example.

The ex-SOF to US West Coast option seems to be the most productive for TP if you include HEL - maxed out I think that is 960TP, with stops in LHR, HEL, East Coast US and West Coast US. I'm currently in Germany, so positioning ex-EU would be not be too problematic. However, getting to/from SOF is not the most hassle-free thing, and the itineraries I've seen up-thread are often somewhat frenetic.

A couple of questions before I start playing with Matrix:
1) What are the restrictions on the fare - I vaguely recall a 6 month advance purchase, but can't remember where upthread the fare rules were posted - and is there anything I should be aware of? Any 'best' destinations in the US West Coast based on price, frequency of services, connections/Transcontinental A321s, arrival times, etc?

2) Are there any other 'good' fares around at the moment for a similar run ex-FRA/BSL/ZRH/AMS would probably be easiest? Even if there is a fare that delivers less, another possibility is nesting a TP run while in the US, e.g. the LGA-RDU one.

Thanks!

xenole

Everything I've looked at ex-EU in business for the next 2-3 months at least, is up to 3x the price of an ex-SOF run later in the year. That's why I'm sticking at present to WT+ in the £700 range. 180TP + whatever for connections Vs. £3k for CW.

DUB and BCN have the odd slightly cheaper price, but it's not as much of a difference as in the past, so positioning could eat into that heavily.

July onwards seems to have the better prices for runs. Might be wise booking sooner rather than later if you want business on the transcons (JFK-SFO being easier than LAX).

Most economy trips to the US are coming in at a good £400-£500. Nicer pre-Covid when you could get £270 HBO fares and then spen your cash on something fancy out there.....

I might spend a day or two doing a day trip run on AA when im next in the US. Wastes a day and an easy 160-240TP for the price of some CE returns.

vintagepilot

Ah, the Babybus push - seems like a lifetime ago.

Did you see this thread - perfect timing maybe DO: SOF-USA West Coast TP Run July-August 2022

I haven't followed it fully and I think there was a faff with the SOF timetable changes. I couldn't spare the time for the main push but I am kind of glancing off it on something similar to this, which was a bit less when I booked it. I think there were plans for a domestic TP run in there too but think those prices have also gone up.

Spock77

Hello. I'm looking at doing a TP run taking advantage of the deal that seems to be running for US flights out of Spain. Probably something like BCN-LON-NYC-LAX-LAS. I have a few questions, please.

1. Can anyone advise on the parameters of the sale fare (dates, conditions, how long it is likely to run, etc.)?
2. How I can find out the cheapest date to fly? I'm flexible on dates and have been fiddling about with ITA Matrix, but it's laborious to keep checking multiple dates and I'm sure there must be an easier way to find the cheapest departure date.
3. Can anyone suggest a better routing that would get me more TPs?

Many thanks in advance.

alex67500

1. The best price has an 180-day advance purchase requirement. There is a slightly more expensive (~£1,450 rtn) with 120-days. Nobody knows how long it's going to last, it's been here a while but that's no indication. Transatlantic flights will usually be Tue-Thu out and Mon-Wed back. You will need a Saturday night stateside.
2. There is a dropdown menu which by default says Search exact dates. Change it to Calendar of lowest fares. You can use ranges in the Duration bit (so 0-4 would be zero to four nights for example). That'll give you 30 days from the date you pick.
3. Start with AGP-HEL-LON if you are looking to maximise the number of TPs, but the first flight is 5 hours overnight in a short-haul plane, so not ideal. You might get an A350 on the HEL-LHR flight to catch up on some sleep though.

Spock77

Awesome! Many thanks.

Confus

Apex limits are currently long on any good TATL runs so you’d be planning well ahead for the best ones. If you want something sooner, I’d recommend hopping over to the US on the cheapest fare you can (or Avios) and doing some there. There are loads of AA DIFs available with as little as 2 or 3 weeks before departure (or longer, as in your case!), some variety in routing options, and if you’re happy to pay £30 extra on top of the bargain basement ones you can get some good destinations out of it too.

FlyerTalkUserName

What’s a DIF?

ISTFlyer

Upsell fares -> such when an airline fixes an amount for a cabin upgrade over fares.
Such as AA adding a $100 upsell over Economy fares and selling First Class without filing new First Class fares in this case.

Spock77

Okay, a follow-up on my query about the sale fares to the US out of Spain. I have figured out my itinerary and used the ITA Matrix calendar of lowest fare to find one of the better fares. For a departure on 12 August for two nights, i.e. returning on 14 August, it's giving me €1,629. When I plug the individual flights into the Airfare search, that number goes up to €1,896. Not too bad, but then when I called BA to book it, they quoted me £2,022.08 (or about €2,400). I did change the LHR-JFK and JFK-LHR flights from AA to BA when on the phone with the BA booking line, because the person told me they were in a lower fare class and would be cheaper, but I don't understand why the price is so much higher than ITA Matrix is giving me.

Any advice as to how I can book this itinerary (AGP-HEL-LHR-JFK-LAX-JFK-LHR-HEL-AGP) for closer to €1,600 than €2,400 would be much appreciated.

webstereo

here's a couple of possibilities that you might be able to tailor further.

Spock77

Thanks - that's really helpful. My problem, though, is that when I called BA to book using the same route, flights and dates they came up with a much higher price and told me they were all the lowest possible fares. Any advice on how I can avoid that happening again?

ISTFlyer

If you had AA marketed flights and if the agent has input the BA marketed version of the same flights, it might be a married segment issue.