Thanks a lot for all the nice help. As for the Helsinki meet up thread I saw it and I will use it the next time I am there but I thought as KIX is kinda exotic there might be people here sometimes that would like to meet up.

Today I booked my first ever flight I am only doing for getting milleage. Flying on the 28th from Kix to HND and back with 5 hour stay in Tokyo. Its about 300 USD and since I need 76 flights a year for Plat (flying to Europe 4 times a year which makes 16 in total already with AY) I need 5 more flights a month. So since the easiest way for me here is JAL Domestic I kinda spend 700 USD a month or 8400 USD a year only for mileage runs and to become Plat.

Honestly, is this crazy ?? :confused:

It depends who you ask - for some (us) it's normal and we don't understand package travelers that hang out at the same hotel every year for the same season and length.

Have you considered that you may be better off doing 150k points than segments? That would give you leeway if you are short on tier points at the end of the year.

[MENTION=54406]Remy[/MENTION]marin

I guess that is true but I feel that with my budget the 60 additional flights are easier to reach than the additional Tier points. Not sure what other good options there would be but on the other hand flying between KIX and HND is just an hour flight and I can just stay there for a couple of hours and go back. In fact the flight time is less than it takes me to go to my tax lawyer so as a family father this is very easy to do and handle without my wife being angry that i am too often gone. She already wonders a bit that I do all that for a black little plastic card :D

And as for the money, I guess with all the upgrades I get and the benefits and lounge access, its probably well spent 8400 $.

But in your intro you wrote

Maybe you can open up what sort of booking class fares you book for the European trips? Those alone should get you quite point heavy.

I usually book a cheap Eco fare. Recently i often bid for an upgrade which worked well but it does not give you additional tier points. So you fly business but you get the eco points basically.

Business ex Japan with AY costs a lot, usually around 4800 $ if there is no discounted fare.

Yes it is. For that money you could be easily Plat.

Just one idea: book 3 times AMS - KIX in business class for around 2200$ each. Set the dates so that you stay in AMS just a day so you have some buffer if something goes wrong. You still need a wraping booking KIX - AMS which can be in Economy.

I qualified for Gold on segments last year and travelling only for leisure. It was ok to have done it one time, but I'm not keen to do it again. Qualifying on points is way nicer and comfortable.

On this forum you will get answers mostly from people who love to play the FF game and like you've seen they will recommend you to join it as well :D I have a few friends outside of this forum also maintaining Plat just for the fun of it.

I haven't (at least yet) got addicted and I've tried to think rationally whether to go for Plat or not. I have decided not to go, even though some of my Plat friends have asked me to join their mileage runs (so it might be even fun sipping champagne with them).

I mainly fly for leisure and like to see new destinations, but flying itself is just a necessary evil for me to go places. Those friends doing mileage runs love sitting in the plane so it's a different story for them - and they don't have family.

I consider the benefits of AY+ to be so small that they alone don't justify mileage runs for me. It would be a different story if there would be similar upgrade benefits like with airlines based in the US with complimentary automatic upgrades. I also book non-OW airlines if they are cheaper or have better connections. The only situation where I regularly pay for getting more points is that on AY I book Value tickets instead of Light or Basic (as they give a lot more points for a relatively small price).

Doing Plat based on segments requires flying really much. The price you are willing to spend on mileage runs sounds also very high. I guess people here can give advice on finding better deals.

With AY+ Plat you can give someone a Gold card so maybe she is happy when she receives a golden little plastic card? :D

Absolutely it's crazy. 8400$ for Platinum....no way.

After 2000€ I start to think is that card worth of it and 2500€ is my limit. But I'm that Ö-class Platinum.

$8400 is ca. 7500€ these days - way too much for Plat if flying on own dime.

While I don't know fares ex-Asia, but what I'd do would be to take a very good look at e.g ICN-HEL-BUD/WAW/PRG in business class, with a cheap JL feeder KIX-ICN.
One such would yield 40k points (+whatever the JL feeder would earn) and my (wild) guess is that it should cost about 1600€. Three of these would set you back ca 5000€ and take you to ca 130k points. Change 60k of those to tier points and you're Plat. Next year is even easier, one such return to Europe is 50k (++) points ca. 3500€ should suffice. For the 4000€ that is left over, buy her something pretty to make her more undertanding :)

Having said that - you say you're flying to Europe 4-5 times a year. Consider spending a bit more for Value tickets, the difference the Light/Basic should be minuscule, but earnings are 100%. That should take you to gold and exchanging points should get you to plat.

Sadly AY flights to/from Japan don't have Value tickets because of the joint venture. All reasonably priced economy tickets give only 50% points. A detour via ICN might be a cost-effective way to get more points because then Value tickets would be available. However, on the way to HEL it would probably require spending a night in Seoul.

I guess holding Plat as a hobby is like having an expensive car: it makes absolutely no sense but for many people it's so much fun they still want to do it :D

Ah, I forgot the JV.

ICN seems to be the second cheapest Asian destination after BKK (true, I haven't looked seriously at the different CN cities). Going to TPE this month via ICN was rather cheaper than via the usual HKG route. Also vry useful, if one wants to use the 72/144 hrs Chinese TWOV opportunities.

Wow....so many valuable info here for me, you are all awesome.

With the JV you mean the codeshare with JAL, right ? I was always wondering why prices ex Japan are so high. I paid 1000 $ for the cheapest eco ticket 2 weeks ago which earned me only a total of 10.000 points for KIX to HAM vis HEL and back. I upgraded for each 500 Euro (I placed a bid) and in fact I paid nearly 2000 Euro but only got the miles and points for cheap eco :eek:

So flying this route ex KIX or ex ICN/BKK to HAM in Germany and back will bring me how many miles/tier points then ? Cause If I am spending 4 to 5 times a year 1000 $ for eco at least then I might as well just spend the 8400 $ a year I was planning on "waisting" for JAL eco milleage runs extra for business ex other asian destinations.

I mean there are from time to time deals ex KIX when business costs as much as form ICN (currently around 2200 $) but its rarely the case.

PS: just checked Finnair website and if I am not wrong then in any business fare from any asian destination I will earn 40.000 in total to HAM via HEL. 16.000 one way from asia plus 4000 in Europe to HAM. 4 flights already earn me 160.000 then, more than I need for plat.....interesting interesting......I am feeling so addicted right now ^^

16+2+2 k is for base members. When you are Silver it's already +10%, Gold is 15% (?) and Plat is 25% - so for a plat member an Asia-Europe (or vv) return is 50k points!

As you're KIX base, ICN (or PEK) might be more convenient than BKK for the same amount earned.

For the 2k € or so you paid for your ticket+upgrade you could very well have bought an ICN-HEL-HAM in C.

Going the opposite direction, I consistently pay sub-2k€ Eur-ICN/BKK in C.

I have a question kinda related to this thread, I've been looking at an other OW program in addition to AA, it looks like I would probably get enough points to make Platinum and EXP both. But my question is how easy is it to use the upgrade certificates? the AA SWU's are now pretty useless for somebody who will not fly in Y since they most of the time will not clear until very late. Can the finnair ones be used immediately at booking? Can they be shared for family members on the same flight?