alex67500

ARN isn't a oneworld hub, try via HEL if you really want to push TPs. California is best started in DUB at the moment, I doubt you'll get a HEL shuffle in there, but the prices are unbeatable.

TalkingPoint

What rates are you seeing to CA ex-DUB? I'm only seeing $1600 whereas ex-SOF is pricing in at $1400 and allows for a HEL shuffle.

LondonGlobalist

Booked SFO from DUB in June with AA/BA yesterday:
LHR - DUB (positioning flight)
DUB - PHL
PHL - SFO
SFO - LHR
LHR - DUB
DUB - LHR (positioning flight - unless I skip last leg from LHR…)

All business (D) but full TPs.. Could have gone SFO-JFK-DUB return also for same price.

£1145 via Amex

Neil Scrivener

Out of interest would adding a LAS or PHX into that route worked? Guessing it's Aer Lingus to the PHL?

LondonGlobalist

No - LAX bumped the price right up for some reason.
DUB - PHL is the AA 787-9…

vintagepilot

That would be a bit more lucrative TP-wise - 140+140 vs 140+40.

FlightDetective

I booked the same for Christmas earlier today. I had to call them because it was pricing on screen but throwing me out after the credit card payment saying it was invalid. Apparently the DUB-PHL on the day I wanted to travel was the cause.

Anyway, I ended up with DUB-LHR-JFK-SFO-JFK-LHR-DUB for €1,365 which is £1,136. Very nice over Christmas!

It also gets me the rest of the TPs I needed before 31 December to renew Gold at the lower rate, so happy days.

efincomputer

Example of what's available a few months out - I find that you sometimes get a good price if you want to start at DUB, but are combining with a SOF trip at the back end (or want to chance your arm and cancel the final leg for an FTV once you get to LHR?):

£1115 for DUB-LHR-JFK-LAX-SFO-LAX-JFK-HEL-LHR-SOF (840TPs before you factor in any positioning flights)

alex67500

Look at the fares above this post. The one great thing about the ex-DUB flights, even without the HEL shuffle, is that you can have them at short notice. I think people saw them as close as a week or two out. Sure, you're giving up on 160 TPs, but 640TPs (720 if you manage California hops) for ~£1,300 isn't bad last-minute.

eugegall

Hi all,

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Forgive me. I have no idea how to split a booking. Can someone help please? If you could post an example itinerary that would be even better

We are looking to fly anytime after 8th October but before 30th November. Ideally earlier the better for me.

- I'd love to land in NYC at lunchtime and not fly out to west coast until next day mid morning to give us one night there
- We'd like to stay in LAX/LAS for 4 nights
- Routing wise, pretty flexible.

Can someone help please?

Thanks in advance.

ISTFlyer

To book an itinerary at a more complicated routing, you could use an external tool such as ITA Matrix to force an itinerary and then call BA, use bookwithmatrix.com if you wish to book on AA stock or use a travel agency to book those routings.

It might be a challenge to find an itinerary but as you're flexible in terms of date, you would be able to find something that would fit your needs.

eugegall

Thanks for your post.

I have been using ITA but not really getting anywhere.

-I'm struggling because It looks like I need 6 segments but google flights and Expedia will only allow 5 segments.
-Looks like the cheap prices for DUB to west coast have gone overnight, annoyingly.
-Nothing allows me to choose specific flights.

Any tips for the above would be greatly appreciated.

xenole

That's one reason why it's sometimes best to jump when you see something. There isn't always time to optimise it, and I would expect lurkers here, at the very least, to be jumping on these fares.

ITA never works that well for me either. Some people get great results, I generally can't find anything, or I get a simpler routing.
Used to be better, but probably out of practice as I haven't utilised it quite the same since the Halcyon days of 16 sector LAX-SJU etc. runs for £250-£800 (i.e. something like LAX-LAS-PHX-PHL-CLT-RDU-MCO-MIA-SJU and back)

Spongthrush

For those who don't seem to be able to make this work, try this. I had trouble trying to do a multi-city version of same which suggests that something I don't profess to understand e.g. married segments? may be in play. It's unusual to find that the straightforward search works a treat. Note book by 28Feb22 and Sat night stay are the only major restrictions.


Very straightforward and tons of availability as long as you are happy with SFO. I found that by substituting BOS for JFK in the example, either one or both ways, gave more time-friendly options in DUB. MIA worked last week, not now.

If you find something that works, go to e.g. bookwithmatrix.com which will then direct you to the US aa.com website where you can book, as long as you don't try logging in (if you're UK based), just enter your address when asked as e.g. Europe 99999

ISTFlyer

The issue about married segments on ITA Matrix is that both in version 4 and version 5 ( old and new matrix at this time ), the system fails to search double married segment availability thus would sometimes offer flights with ghost availability that has availability at an individual fare bucket but not married segment availability thus Bookwithmatrix.com -> AA.com might fail. Some people also call ghost availability phantom availability as well.

Also believe me or not, point of sale matters if booking through Bookwithmatrix.com -> AA.com. As you would be directed to the AA.com USA website, you would need to choose a sales city in the USA ( New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc... ) so that you are seeing availability for the United States point of sale rather than the Irish point of sale in this case. Different point of sales might have different availability so unless you are using an Irish TA or the Irish number for BA.com, don't forget to change that when looking for a solid itinerary.