Efficient ways to earn Platinum

Old Feb 19, 2019, 8:06 am
  #61  
 
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I made my first two Plats with CX and it was nice. My only worry would be that if you change your mind and want to run for Lumo you will need to start almost from the beginning.
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Old Feb 19, 2019, 11:33 am
  #62  
 
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I also made my first two Plats with CX and AA. Now I'm not sure if I revalidate my platsku or should I stay in gold. Of course I need this platsku thing but everyday life is getting more and more disturbing my hobby.
Btw, good way to earn points is J rt ticket DEL-YYZ for btw 1800 - 1900 . If you are already Plat and add for example value STO-DEL rt here you can earn over 100k pts in one trip easily under 2500
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Old Feb 19, 2019, 2:19 pm
  #63  
 
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What's happening with DEL flights? Searched for DEL-JFK flights in J and after 31st of March nothing. At least seems that DEL-HEL is changing to 4x week? But how does it affect on not selling DEL-JFK tickets?

edit: You can still find the flights using multi-city.

Last edited by aama; Feb 19, 2019 at 2:34 pm
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Old Feb 19, 2019, 2:45 pm
  #64  
 
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Originally Posted by Reissuruuna
Btw, good way to earn points is J rt ticket DEL-YYZ for btw 1800 - 1900 .
Basically same points as DEL-JFK but 500 EUR cheaper, thanks for the tip.

Btw, is there any way to search for specifically AY Value tickets in the Matrix (or any way to make sure the tickets found give 100% points)? It seems that confusingly enough Basic and Value has fare codes that overlap?
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Old Feb 19, 2019, 4:34 pm
  #65  
 
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Originally Posted by AlgoRhythmic
Btw, is there any way to search for specifically AY Value tickets in the Matrix (or any way to make sure the tickets found give 100% points)? It seems that confusingly enough Basic and Value has fare codes that overlap?
Try "F ..-VA" as extension.
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Old Feb 20, 2019, 5:38 am
  #66  
 
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It worked, thanks a lot!
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Old Feb 20, 2019, 7:36 am
  #67  
 
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Originally Posted by r2d2
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).
From a purely MR cost prospective and excluding any holiday sentiment, HI (e.g. booking ARN-HNL return) isn't a cheap destination. You get quite eye watering hotel prices in comparison to the lower 48 at times.

Originally Posted by ffay005
Ex-HEL, your options are basically:
(1) Fly (perhaps on same plane turnarounds) to DEL on Value tickets, €500 each, after 7 returns you will have 121 600 points. Change 90k for 30k tier points and reach Platsku for about €3500
(2) Buy J campaign tickets, sometimes available for as low as €1300 ex-HEL, mostly to Chinese secondary cities. After 4 returns you will have 139 200 points, can make a points exchange and will reach Platsku for about €5200. Not as cost-effective but more comfortable.
(3) Combine (1) and (2); one DEL/Value and three J campaign tickets would be €4400 and 120 800 points, enough to make an exchange to reach Platsku
(4) If you’re more adventurous, you could also seek out fares from India to the US, or vice versa. Fares are usually cheap and include four longhauls, so lots of points. Eg. one Value return ticket to DEL and one Business return ticket DEL-JFK would get you approx. 84 000 points and cost €3000. You would then need two DEL/Values or one J campaign ticket to reach 120 000, so the total cost would be in the €4000-€4300 range.
That's exactly a good roundup of why AY+ isn't really that good for chasing specifically OW Emerald status, unless you really are out of for AY+ FFP status specifically and you travel mostly AY. Corporate passengers out of HEL are the ones that mainly benefit of AY+ status. I'm as much as a Finn as anyone else around this subforum, but I unfortunately can't see specifically AY+ status worthwile for those of us that reach FFP status mainly or only with leisure reservations.

I don't need to travel AY for work and I certainly don't wish to limit my leisure travels to the AY network, while also trying to maintain my OW FFP status at the same time. With AY+ status chasing I'd have to travel more exclusively with AY. Yes, maintaining OW Emerald is easier, once you hit Platinum, but I'd then be stuck to mostly doing AY flights. The cost for reaching Platinum with AY+ is just on a whole another level than with BAEC. As a real case example: I will regain Gold (OW Emerald) this spring for something like 2600 € and that's going to be in excess of the 1500 tier points threshold (lost count, something like 1700-1750 TPs in total). And that's including not just BA, but AY and others as well. If I'd limit myself to flying like any of the suggested options 1-4, my travels would be too limited to my taste. Or then I'd have to do my desired trips on top of that. Sure, I can use AY codeshare through the Joint Venture for North American itineraries, but overall I'd still be more limited in my options.

That having said, my point here is that chasing Platinum with AY+ with just leisure travel isn't necessarily a well thought idea and I recommend looking at the bigger picture. I'm not a nay sayer, but I myself haven't previously been able to justify any plausible way of reaching OWE with AY+, if the status is earned with purely leisure travel and no corporate travel. I myself justify BAEC with the easily attainable OWE and how versatile the Avios scheme is. Plus there's a similar status based award mile bonus (i.e. Avios tier bonus ) like with AY+, but it includes not just the FFP carrier itself, but also AA, IB and JL. If I'd chase for AY+ Platinum, I'd then have to have good use for the AY+ specific perks and some of it is negated as I'd have to book J tickets, unless I'd also book some longhaul Y trips. Lumo could be an interesting experience, but it'd be a bridge too far with my current travel amounts. Maybe a once in a lifetime challenge to be had some day.
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Last edited by Flying Yazata; Feb 20, 2019 at 7:45 am
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Old Feb 20, 2019, 7:51 am
  #68  
 
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For me, the most valuable perk in AY+ is upgrades. Be it with points or vouchers. If I was OWE with another carrier, I'd lose that perk and I'd need to buy J tickets each time I fly longhaul.

What benefits does OWE with BA bring you, except the privilege to book tickets that cost several hundred euros but don't earn any points?
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Old Feb 20, 2019, 8:23 am
  #69  
 
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Originally Posted by ffay005
What benefits does OWE with BA bring you, except the privilege to book tickets that cost several hundred euros but don't earn any points?
Free seat selection is probably my favourite in terms of level benefits, but overall the fact that Avios redemptions are cheap within Europe (the exact fare redemption table, which has an official name I can't now remember) and you can do Avios cabin upgrades. Furthermore I can at any time switch to IB+, would Brexit cause any major overhaul of BAEC. With AY+ the only great thing would be the AY specific upgrade coupons. As for earning award miles in Finland: the AY co-branded credit cards from MC.
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Old Feb 20, 2019, 12:29 pm
  #70  
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Originally Posted by Flying Yazata
...
That's exactly a good roundup of why AY+ isn't really that good for chasing specifically OW Emerald status, unless you really are out of for AY+ FFP status specifically and you travel mostly AY.
... but I unfortunately can't see specifically AY+ status worthwile for those of us that reach FFP status mainly or only with leisure reservations.

I don't need to travel AY for work and I certainly don't wish to limit my leisure travels to the AY network, while also trying to maintain my OW FFP status at the same time. With AY+ status chasing I'd have to travel more exclusively with AY. Yes, maintaining OW Emerald is easier, once you hit Platinum, but I'd then be stuck to mostly doing AY flights. The cost for reaching Platinum with AY+ is just on a whole another level than with BAEC. As a real case example: I will regain Gold (OW Emerald) this spring for something like 2600 and that's going to be in excess of the 1500 tier points threshold (lost count, something like 1700-1750 TPs in total). And that's including not just BA, but AY and others as well. If I'd limit myself to flying like any of the suggested options 1-4, my travels would be too limited to my taste. Or then I'd have to do my desired trips on top of that. Sure, I can use AY codeshare through the Joint Venture for North American itineraries, but overall I'd still be more limited in my options.

That having said, my point here is that chasing Platinum with AY+ with just leisure travel isn't necessarily a well thought idea and I recommend looking at the bigger picture. I'm not a nay sayer, but I myself haven't previously been able to justify any plausible way of reaching OWE with AY+, if the status is earned with purely leisure travel and no corporate travel. I myself justify BAEC with the easily attainable OWE and how versatile the Avios scheme is. Plus there's a similar status based award mile bonus (i.e. Avios tier bonus ) like with AY+, but it includes not just the FFP carrier itself, but also AA, IB and JL. If I'd chase for AY+ Platinum, I'd then have to have good use for the AY+ specific perks and some of it is negated as I'd have to book J tickets, unless I'd also book some longhaul Y trips. Lumo could be an interesting experience, but it'd be a bridge too far with my current travel amounts. Maybe a once in a lifetime challenge to be had some day.
Interesting post and I do see the points.

I've been that person using AY+ and qualifying plat for many years as a personal choice.

The limited choice within AY is a good point and for me personally that problem has been growing on me a few years now. First the japan joint venture (which only meant higher prices and longer layovers so Japan destinations on AY are now a no-go for me ) and then the "one new destination every year" promise (not sure they even delivered on that) where not one single destination has been announced to my liking.
So despite the growing fleet, the AY network feels more limited to me now than ever before!

My problem with BAEC is that I don't particularly want to fly BA. The network is great, but if you can't see yourself flying BA, what would be the point?
One could do (as many does) fly QR and credit to BA. Because of zoning, there are some routes that earns very well.
But a BA gold is worth little when flying QR. I guess most people who do this, does it on top of their BA flights to get to one of the supertiers.

AA also seems pointless to me as I never fly westwards.

I held QR Gold besides the AY plat for a while, but at that time I would not make QR plat and stayed with the familiar AY. QR status on QR flights is good though, it has landed me op-up to First.

And there-in lies the problem for me, I guess. AY+ offers almost nothing for a revenue J flyer. It basically just takes all the normal J perks and hand them to the Y flyers. If you're already in J cabin, tier doesn't matter much. If there was a F cabin, a real F lounge, a dedicated top-notch CS, well then there would be a case.
But the pinnacle of AY top tier treatment is a 2 minute ride in a Mercedes on the tarmac of Sjskog flygstation. That is quite telling. I'd much rather walk down the jetbridgde to a F cabin once in a while.
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Old Feb 20, 2019, 2:27 pm
  #71  
 
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Originally Posted by intuition
The limited choice within AY is a good point and for me personally that problem has been growing on me a few years now. First the japan joint venture (which only meant higher prices and longer layovers so Japan destinations on AY are now a no-go for me ) and then the "one new destination every year" promise (not sure they even delivered on that) where not one single destination has been announced to my liking. So despite the growing fleet, the AY network feels more limited to me now than ever before!
I personally have the same issue as I mentioned elsewhere here in 2016 - the network just means my trips would be way too Asia centric and more specifically Sino centric. I do get the strategy AY has chosen and it's a fine one for their business, but it's hard to do anything else in terms on longhaul expansion then - not just talking about FT'ers chasing status. For instance AY has a quite lackluster approach to North America. Well, at least the A350-900 will be doing LAX/SFO. Then we have destinations such as HAV that are operated as the fleet permits. I just see a strategy that has one strength and the rest is a mixture of some randomness. From the prospective of attaining OW FFP status, it means your status attaining choices are quite limited to destinations based on the Asian strategy of AY. If I want to do e.g. South America or Africa for my status chasing leisure trips (holiday combined with raking in status flights), then AY+ isn't just a good option. I do get credits from the OW flights, but it's not optimal without the AY bonus.

Originally Posted by intuition
My problem with BAEC is that I don't particularly want to fly BA. The network is great, but if you can't see yourself flying BA, what would be the point?
Indeed, if one wants to avoid BA, but also IB flights count as the four status qualifying flights.

Originally Posted by intuition
And there-in lies the problem for me, I guess. AY+ offers almost nothing for a revenue J flyer. It basically just takes all the normal J perks and hand them to the Y flyers. If you're already in J cabin, tier doesn't matter much. If there was a F cabin, a real F lounge, a dedicated top-notch CS, well then there would be a case. But the pinnacle of AY top tier treatment is a 2 minute ride in a Mercedes on the tarmac of Sjskog flygstation. That is quite telling. I'd much rather walk down the jetbridgde to a F cabin once in a while.
You actually get to my old gripe with AY+ and status recognition for their own premium tiers. Pretty much underlines why I feel any OWE status will do the trick for me with any of my AY flights. IMO Platinum and Lumo are quite lacklusters compared to LATAM Black and Black Signature or Iberia Plus Infinita and Infinita Prime. It's just Finnish mediocrity written all over it. Like or hate my choice of wording, but like I've said in the past, AY could do immensely better with just emphasizing things such as personal approach (heck, even BA is better at that).

Restating my opinion from 2016: you could politely offer PDBs, magazines and what not. Is that SOP with AY for premium tiers? Seems like it isn't. Should it be? Well, if you want to grow from being just a HEL centric national flag carrier and actually be something (more than using Marimekko stuff on a global scale), then you need to amp up your service. I don't think AY needs a three class service to match the competition, but do something else than just cater the corporate wage slaves that have Platinum status and use their hard earned (i.e. corporate policy dictates flights in Y) freebie vouchers for the occasional J upgrades. It's all fine and dandy with those vouchers and I have no problem with them, but it doesn't stand up to the competition in the long run, if that's the real perk being Platinum. Sure, it probably works for the Finnish market until hell freezes, but there's those other markets as well and there you have competitors. I'd be interested in experiencing a year of Lumo (some wierd perversion of mine? ) as it's now executed and see does it really make any true difference for one.

BAEC Gold is nice, because you do get a dedicated level based phone number to call. Those with GGL get even better service than that. I know BA isn't superb in terms of BAEC or as a carrier, but their network is on a whole different level than AY and with the possibility of using Avios for AA and IB upgrades, there's a lot more one can do with Avios than AY's status miles (or should I say kilometres).

Last edited by Flying Yazata; Feb 20, 2019 at 2:33 pm
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Old Feb 20, 2019, 2:40 pm
  #72  
 
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Originally Posted by Flying Yazata
I don't think AY needs a three class service to match the competition, but do something else than just cater the corporate wage slaves that have Platinum status and use their hard earned (i.e. corporate policy dictates flights in Y) for the occasional J upgrades. It's all fine and dandy with those vouchers and I have no problem with them, but it doesn't stand up to the competition in the long run, if that's the real perk being Platinum. Sure, it probably works for the Finnish market until hell freezes, but there's those other markets as well and there you have competitors. I'd be interested in experiencing a year of Lumo (some wierd perversion of mine? ) as it's now executed and see does it really make any true difference for one.

BAEC Gold is nice, because you do get a dedicated level based phone number to call. Those with GGL get even better service than that. I know BA isn't superb in terms of BAEC or as a carrier, but their network is on a whole different level than AY and with the possibility of using Avios for AA and IB upgrades, there's a lot more one can do with Avios than AY's status miles (or should I say kilometres).
There are many things in this posts I fail to understand. AY will offer a three class service starting from 2021, which I don't think is needed, but will be there anyway. The upgrade vouchers have been chosen to be the most valuable perk for multiple years in a row, which I truly agree on. Longhaul vouchers are worth around 400 euros each, and SH vouchers around 80 euros. That's already over a 1000 EUR worth of vouchers for Plats. It indeed is a valuable perk, which I believe no other airline offers for their frequent flyers. They are worth it for corporate flyers going on their holiday but even more so with us leisurely flyers, in my opinion.

I have trouble following your reasoning: you consider upgrade vouchers to be a poor benefit, but consider a dedicated phone number (which AY offers to their Golds, Plats, and Lumos, respectively) and complimentary seat selection (which AY similarly offers to their Golds, Plats and Lumos) to be valuable benefits?

If 4 BA flights are hard enough to do, why would a Northern European route their flights via IB hubs? BAEC perks are pretty much only offered if you fly BA, and otherwise you will get the same benefits with AY Plat. I understand that one's situation might be different if most of the flights are to the US but for Asian flights AY route network and AY+ benefits are great. I don't really think any frequent flyer program offers any amazing or imaginative perks to their frequent flyers that would be more than the "mediocre" benefits offered on AY+.
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Old Feb 20, 2019, 2:59 pm
  #73  
 
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Yes, the vouchers are a nice perk, but as Flying Yazata points out, the AY route network is very limited. Thus the vouchers are worthless, if you want to go to South America, Africa or somewhere else where AY doesn't serve. Imagine you would live in an outstation (e.g. TYO). You could only use that voucher to go to HEL.
I think people might not understand the value of Avios. Avios are far from perfect, but they're infinitely more useful on a global scale than Finnair Plus points. An example redemption that I recently did - DOH-BKK in QR Y or J:
  • AA: 25 or 40k (includes a feeder in the middle east if necessary)
  • AY: 75 or 154k (ay.com was broken, this is what the phone agent told me)
  • BA: 30 or 60k
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Old Feb 20, 2019, 3:36 pm
  #74  
 
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Originally Posted by remymartin
Imagine you would live in an outstation (e.g. TYO). You could only use that voucher to go to HEL.
I think that it is usually better to use the FFP of the airline you use the most. If you live in Tokyo, this probably means JL. AY would only make sense if you make lots of trips to Europe as you could then use the vouchers on the NRT-HEL flights and, if applicable, on any connecting AY short-haul flights.
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Old Feb 20, 2019, 4:14 pm
  #75  
 
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Originally Posted by Flying Yazata
Well, at least the A350-900 will be doing LAX/SFO. Then we have destinations such as HAV that are operated as the fleet permits. .
What is amazing with A359? And SFO is A333 destination.

HAV pure holiday flights and frequency follows holidaymakers.
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