Efficient ways to earn Platinum

Old Feb 14, 2019, 3:40 am
  #31  
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Programs: AY+, SK EB
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Originally Posted by OH-LGG
How You get 8800 points HEL-PVR-HEL ?
Basic fare type with Silver bonus.
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Old Feb 14, 2019, 3:45 am
  #32  
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Helsinki-Vantaa APT, Finland
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Originally Posted by Jainzar
Basic fare type with Silver bonus.
I'like to know which OTA selling AY Basic tickets 200€ cheaper than AY.
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Old Feb 14, 2019, 4:01 am
  #33  
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Helsinki
Programs: AY+ Plat basic
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Originally Posted by OH-LGG
I'like to know which OTA selling AY Basic tickets 200 cheaper than AY.
It is possible that it's just 4400 then. When I bought these, a trusted lumo dude said that it would be 8k, so I believed him. the flight's gonna be in 2 weeks so I'll let you know then. Anyway, it's not gonna ruin my platskurun.
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Old Feb 14, 2019, 4:08 am
  #34  
 
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OTA did not have any AY booking codes visible when this booking was made?
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Old Feb 14, 2019, 4:12 am
  #35  
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
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Originally Posted by OH-LGG
OTA did not have any AY booking codes visible when this booking was made?
Sorry, but if I'm lost with those airport codes, I'm even more lost with booking codes. The flight was booked via Supersaver.fi. And it was curious that many OTAs offered those substantially cheaper flights for PVR while at the same time AY was a lot more expensive. Normally the difference is only 20ish.
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Old Feb 14, 2019, 6:22 am
  #36  
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Originally Posted by kanamurva
Sorry, but if I'm lost with those airport codes, I'm even more lost with booking codes. The flight was booked via Supersaver.fi. And it was curious that many OTAs offered those substantially cheaper flights for PVR while at the same time AY was a lot more expensive. Normally the difference is only 20€ish.
You should be able to see booking code (one letter, for example Q) next to the word Economy in parentheses in manage my booking on finnair.com if you log in using your name and PNR, like this:

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Old Feb 14, 2019, 7:06 am
  #37  
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
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OT: The 1180€ ARN-HEL-MIA-HEL-ARN is exactly the type of ticket I'm looking for at the moment, for December. I guess this is a special campaign price? I get prices for 20k SEK at the moment. Not bad, but I know it can be better. Any experiences how often these campaigns appear? I'm not in a hurry to book.
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Old Feb 14, 2019, 7:32 am
  #38  
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: HEL
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Originally Posted by ffay005


Im still waiting for that direct HEL-HNL...
For that you must wait so long that you have time to take a boat ride from where you are now to Hawaii

Originally Posted by kanamurva
LOL, sorry! I have really problems with these abbreviations! So far I've properly managed to learn HEL, ARN & MIA...
Your handle suggest that you WILL NOT have any problems to track&trick codes, nicknames etc.

While on topic. Now I have 56 legs home already and the rest for 76 legs booked for within the first half of tracking period so I am done for Plat. Another half-year more for the remaining year and Lumohood lurking there, but I really don't know if I got balls or butt to stand that pain. Already now feeling pretty ....... Those 150 segments might sound easy for a heavy FTr but it is not. I have no more bookings and I will see if my pain stands after a couple of months I need to decide if go for Lumo (requires 100% loyalty then) or spend rest of flights on TK.

Last edited by NewbieRunner; Feb 21, 2019 at 9:41 am Reason: Merge consecutive posts by same member
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Old Feb 14, 2019, 9:17 am
  #39  
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
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I mainly travel for leisure (and my company policy is to fly on the cheapest flights, so they are usually scattered around OW, DY/D8, *A and SkyTeam). I don't like flying that much that I would do mileage runs, but I'm willing to choose holiday destinations which offer good mileage for a reasonable price and I might take a detour if it increases the mileage.

Last year I did 3 long haul round trips in paid J and that was quite easy with the amount of annual leave we have in Finland. One of them was to CAN (bought at 1099 e in a sale in 2017),one to BKK (1199 e) and one a cheap QR business ticket to AU (which are not around anymore). CAN was a good destination for taking an onward flight because of the vast network available from there (mainly on CZ). There my actual destination was Japan and I flew via CAN just because of the points (but on the way back it required an overnight in CAN).

If you prefer destinations in the US, then I guess the primary options of getting good mileage are business tickets ex-ARN or Value tickets ex-MSQ/LED/SVO (but from LED and SVO the Russian visa adds to the cost).

However the strategy of cheap long haul J trips doesn't work that well once you are Plat, because you have to spend your upgrade vouchers somewhere. You'll have to add at least one long haul return in Y to spend the long haul vouchers, and also a second one if you don't have use for the European vouchers.
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Old Feb 14, 2019, 10:14 am
  #40  
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Programs: AY Plat (OWE)
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Originally Posted by loimu
I checked the points earning question with the Finnair Holidays customer service last year. According to them the points accrual will be based on the fare class letter (which also will be visible at some point when making a booking) and not on the Basic/Value etc. scale. Of course there's still the possibility that the agent was wrong but he definitely seemed to understand my question and sounded like he knew what he was talking about and not guessing.
I have made FH reservation in J. During booking, it was possible to select from multiple fare classes. I am sorry I do not anymore remember whether the choices were by fare class letters or Basic/Value/Business. In The ticket says class I (B for domestic connecting flight) and fare basis ITO2FH.
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Old Feb 14, 2019, 11:25 am
  #41  
 
Join Date: May 2014
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Originally Posted by kanamurva
Buying LH value tickets is definitely a good value that surprised me when I found it. However sometimes you can find a price in semiobscure OTA that is a lot cheaper than from AY page. There you can't buy value. We are going to PVR (Puerto Vallarta) and the tickets were 550 for a short period of time. Same time AY price 750.
At least Expedia now offers upsell to Value (and Pro), at least for Finnair metal, though it might depend on the country-specific site.

200 price difference sounds like either a campaign W or aggregator A fare. Either way, that would earn 25%. Or worse, some codeshare on Finnair metal earning potentially nothing at all (notably TP, CA).
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Old Feb 14, 2019, 2:38 pm
  #42  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
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Originally Posted by FFlash
For that you must wait so long that you have time to take a boat ride from where you are now to Hawaii
How many ClubOne points does this domestic cruise require?

Originally Posted by Courmisch
200€ price difference sounds like either a campaign W or aggregator A fare. Either way, that would earn 25%. Or worse, some codeshare on Finnair metal earning potentially nothing at all (notably TP, CA).
Is there any chance that OTA could sell Aurinkomatkat flight-only flights in A bucket?

Originally Posted by kanamurva
I'm Also doing a delhi MR doesn't sound very tempting, cos I still don't like flying in Y very much. Also I consider India a shithole country that I try to avoid in every possible way.
We feel the same way about India, however, in April I will actually spend 24 hours in Delhi. Heaven help the masochist in me who booked that ticket! But a true MR to DEL doesn't include a visit to India – you stay airside and eat Makula baguette from Alepa.

Otherwise, I think you've captured the essence of "efficient ways to earn platinum status" perfectly. This is what I do, too: try to find cheap flights to destinations that I want to visit. €1180 to MIA is a great price to a great city. And €1580 to BKK is a very good price, too. ARN and TLL are easy places to start your flights, and in most cases the ticket allows an overnight transit (if not a longer stopover) at HEL, so you don't need to fly all the way in one go.

In my last qualification period, I decided it was time to burn as many points as possible, instead of buying tickets, so I made a deliberate choice to lose status in the process. Now that I'm Gold, I'm flying J MXP-HEL-NRT-HEL-FCO (for less than €2200) and J DEL-HEL-JFK-HEL-DEL (for €2500) to get back to Platinum. The DEL part is definitely a MR, but NRT (and onwards) as well as JFK are mass tourism trips.

Last edited by NewbieRunner; Feb 21, 2019 at 9:36 am Reason: Merge consecutive posts by same member
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Old Feb 14, 2019, 5:42 pm
  #43  
 
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 2,015
Originally Posted by loimu
I checked the points earning question with the Finnair Holidays customer service last year. According to them the points accrual will be based on the fare class letter (which also will be visible at some point when making a booking) and not on the Basic/Value etc. scale. Of course there's still the possibility that the agent was wrong but he definitely seemed to understand my question and sounded like he knew what he was talking about and not guessing.
I found this thread: New Finnair Holidays -more tier points available

One person was told that it books as Value while someone else claims that the fare class letter decides. I take it that customer service doesn't know the rules for these tickets and just makes things up.

Someone apparently got Value earnings for a booking: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30080657-post16.html
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Old Feb 17, 2019, 2:20 pm
  #44  
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: HEL
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To give you guys an example of the CX Core fare I found a routing that earns 43p/€
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Old Feb 17, 2019, 9:21 pm
  #45  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
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With the updated JFK schedule, JFK could be one option for same-plane-turnarounds. The plane stays on the ground from 14:40 to 19:05, giving ample time to pass through formalities. You could even have late lunch in Jamaica center if you want to experience a black Queens neighbourhood.

In Y, earnings are bad but there are sometimes good J JV campaigns. I remember booking an I fare for 1300 in July 2017.
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