Cw novice

So I managed to get EDI-LHR-JFK-LAX, SEA-PHL-LHR-EDI last December for travel SEP/OCT this year with 4 nights hotel in both LA and SEA.

Total price was c£3k taking the hotels at £150 per night flights about £1800. Would have given 1280 with the double TPs and gold in one trip, especially good with as I'm a September year end

Sadly AA cancelled the SEA-PHL leg on the way home so will now be returning SEA-DFW-LHR-EDI. This will give 1080tp and using £1800 this works out as £1.67 per to. Also get an extra 3,000 avios for the reroute. Also a longer flight from DFW may mean more sleep too

Means I will need to find another 45tps for gold before 31 December which won't be difficult.

Biggest thing now will be pricing and having to start in the UK for them, a lack of codeshares in J from West to East Coast in the states may be an issue too. I found mine by playing about with the Multi City holiday tool and got it to work eventually.

Post half term in October might be your best starting date now.

xenole

Well, nothing really on Sat that's that cheap. Even during the week, say 9th June, it's £228 for a LHR-NCL same morning return (suppose you could reduce that price with Avios).

A lot of places in Europe don't seem to have any BA flights on a Saturday in June.

iceandaslicegandt

Could I ask you what you have to put into ITA Matrix to get this to come up...I've tried but with no success!

MaxFlyer

Unfortunately, the £280 fare for this trip via TravelUp disappeared a week ago.

MaxFlyer

Deleted

TTmex

Hi All, wondering if you'd be kind enough to help.

Very likely I've got to go to Riyadh in October for business for 2 weeks. Approximate dates are first two weeks of Oct. Given I run the company and I'm fairly location indepedent, I'm quite flexible on going a few days (even a week) beforehand and returning a few days later too. I.e. happy to fly to Europe, stay a few nights and then head on, and the same returning.

Thus, I'm interested to know any thoughts on maximising TPs for this trip. Will be starting in Mexico City and see return fares in J approximately 5k USD to Riyadh, but I feel there could be much better value in interlocking some flights and heading to Europe first then buying a separate journey once there. Any tips on routes that may allow better ex-EU to Saudi once already positioned to Europe? Also, is it best to consider positioning to DOH or another major hub then travelling onto Saudi from there?

efincomputer

Best bet is to start out with a fairly wide set of requirements. populate a simple return in business class between your start and end point (in this case i've chosen BUD and HNL because I know there is a good fare around at the moment - thanks to FT!) Don't initially put in any routing codes (or if you do, just use LHR for both ends) and make sure you have Oneworld Alliance set in the extension codes. Then search based on calendar of lowest fares, with a duration of 0-7 night and do an initial search (at least 6 months out) to find some dates with the duration you're after and at roughly the right price.


The try adding a couple of additional routing options in (in my case, I added in LHR HEL LAX initially, and the same in reverse). ITA doesnt seem to handle more than three connections in either direction on the simple return.



Once you have another set of flights at the right dates, make a note of the dates and then change to a multi-city search. Split your journey into a couple of different flights in each direction (remember you can add routing options into each of these flights) - for example:



this then gives you some additional options and lets you optimise your routes, but the importance is to be flexible with your dates, and ensure you select the "+/-2days" option against each departure. This is the exact search that i used to get the results I posted earlier.

There's quite a few youtube videos out there and i'm sure some of our fellow FTers can provide other suggestions.

higham44

That is really helpful, many thanks, as I've been wondering how you went about adding all those stops as ITA only seems to accept a certain number of flights in a multi-city routing.

ISTFlyer

Also a reminder that the ex-BUD fare to Hawaii is also valid for other Hawaiian destinations such as Kahului - OGG, Kona - KOA, Lihue - LIH.
No need to limit searches to Honolulu unless there is a specific reason to go there.

Egbg100

Hey everyone. I’m going to be about 700 TP shy from GGL. Prob my only chance to achieve it with reduced access.

I already booked the HNL run and am doing a few double TP holidays as well as 2 LAX trips.

I keep thinking let’s wait and push for the 6 months ahead etc however I’m getting nervy - apart from another BUD HNL run does anything else spring to mind that’s a current fare.

I quite liked the HEL BKK but missed out by a day. Any help is appreciative. Travel dates are flexible

ghsbass0406

Not a bad deal: $870 or about £705 for 560TPs. This is a straight TP run, and exhausting to say the least. But it appears the fare stays the same if you wanted to reverse the route and/or stay a few days in either DC or Anchorage.

skunker

Some advice: That IAD turn will not be the same plane since it has a different flight number. You could risk missing your return if your outbound is delayed.

ISTFlyer

Yes, that's true at IAD aircraft operating to/from LAX and SEA could make switches thus the aircraft arriving from LAX might head to SEA vice-versa.

Also, upthread, it was discussed that this fare is also valid to FAI with +40TP's per direction for a similar price, if someone is seeking better TP value. Although, I am not sure if a B2B is possible.

CW2000

My year ends early June. My Gold membership has been extended until July 23. I wanted to renew for beyond that and also attain GGL at the lower threshold. I have the time and also have approx 3K in vouchers to use on BA.com. I am familiar with ITA Matrix, it's how I attained gold. However I am looking to book directly with BA so i can redeem my vouchers, which I earnt through a past promotion when I booked tickets from Jersey to LHR and took advantage of the part pay avios promo and then refunded the ticket and got the full value. At the moment I am on 140k avious. My work is flexible, so I have the time, I just need to know the best routes to book.

rum

Pppfff.... just my luck. Back to square one then I guess.

Best I can find is £500+ LHR-HEL-LHR on 'basic' business with AY which nets 160 TPs, returning the same day.