bornsubl

Hey FlyerTalker -

I thought you guys might have an idea or two about this:

I have tons of points - probably 1.3m SPG, 1m Amex (with 50% rebate) 750k chase and 500k Citi but am finding it really hard to get 3 business class seats from LAX - GRU. The issue is that the only non-stop flight is on American and my options seemed limited to paying about 425,000 MR points / ticket x 3 and then getting 50% back at the end or getting a LAN/TAM flight with a short lay-over (can’t be more than 2.5-3 hours as we have an infant and a 3 year old) but I am unfamiliar with their mileage programs and whether converting SPG or other points might make sense.

Given that I can realistically use any airline I’d like and any alliance I’d like, are there any sweet spots for redemptions that might make sense to explore here? For example (I know nothing about this) but perhaps there was a partner airline of American’s like Cathay Pacific or AsiaMiles that had a sweet spot for redemptions and availability that would make it a better deal to transfer points. I really am new to the LAX - GRU route so I don’t know if there is something I can take advantage of on that codeshares with American/Lan/Tam or that might work with another airline (for example Air Canada has popped up a few times in my searches as having shortish layovers)

Any thoughts are much appreciated….

Worst case: I’m ‘stuck’ paying $2,200 a ticket x 3 by using pay with points on AMEX which isn’t the end of the world but isn’t ideal. Plus, I’m not even sure how nice the plane that flies the route is — I believe it’s a 777 and not a 787.

Thanks!

Harry

3Cforme

There are lots of ways to do this with two segments or three. In addition to AAdvantage's LATAM, Delta miles could put you on Delta, Aeromexico, or Aeromexico + Gol.

This is a good test for an award-booking service.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...e-reviews.html

DoctorORD

In this scenario, I would use this site:

http://www.awardace.com/redemptions/search

You'll find all sorts of creative options you might not have thought about -- routing through YYZ on Air Canada, for example (787's on both legs I believe?), etc. etc.

The site also tells you how to check availability, transfer, etc.

On a side note, how did you acquire so many credit card miles? Any tips or suggestions?

bornsubl

Will respond re: credit card points when I have a moment to write something up coherently. A few tips - a lot of research.

I've basically figured that I want to use SPG points to transfer into LAN points. It is 100,000 LAN round trip through Santiago all on 787s. As I need 3 tickets I want to jump on this now.

When I go to SPG to transfer it appears LAN is a 1:1.5 partner. And there's the 20,000/5,000 bonus.

However, there is a limit of 79,999/24 hours per partner. So my best guess is that to maximize the value I would:

- Transfer 60,000 / 24 hours and receive 60,000 LAN points + 3 x 5,000 extra from the SPG bonus. That gives me 75,000 LAN points.

- I would also receive the extra 50% from the 1:1.5 transfer so on a transfer of 60,000 SPG points I'd get 90,000 LAN points.

- Taken together I'd end up with 60,000 + 15,000 + 30,000 per 24 hours or 105,000 LAN points for each 60,000 of SPG I transferred.

- To get the 3 x 100,000 point tickets I would effectively have to do 3 x 60,000 SPG transfers per day (so it would take 3 days and another 48 hours or so for each to post) and I'd end up with 105,000 x 3 (315,000 LAN points)

I know I'd have an extra 15,000 LAN points at the end here -- I will deal with that in my final transfer -- but I just want to make sure that I'm doing the basics correctly here. Does this make sense?

Here's the text from the SPG site:

https://screencast.com/t/8uTqjjXL

Thanks a lot!

BTW I checked out the sites posted but was surprised to find out that there was LAN Business Class Availability -- I just had to call LAN directly and not do it through BA, AA or even Alaska.

Mwenenzi

Does LAN have 3 business class award seats available?
Awards seats are never guaranteed.
Awards are always the prime flight number of the operator. Never a codeshare flight number

bornsubl

Yeah, I mean I've gone through it on their website and searched for 3 and have found this (and other similar dates) while a few of the itineraries are not available these are:

https://gyazo.com/c5da9bd3be420c079f7172ad85bbc141

LA603 - 787 - LAX - SCL
LA750 - 787 - SCL - GRU

LA 751 - 787 - GRU - SCL
LA 602 - 787 - SCL - LAX

There's a 3-day window risk etc. but I'll take that - I just need to make sure I'm doing the SPG thing correctly.

Anyone confirm?

bd24133

I am assuming you are planning to bring your infant as a lap child? If so be careful. Most of the times its not as simple as adding a lapchild for free to an award. I have been requested to pay 10% of a refundable adult business fare to hold my infant in my lap on a business award before (so instead we booked him a seat and upgraded him, wound up being cheaper). Different programs have different rules. Let them know what you are planning to do so there are no surprises. You don't want to transfer all those points and wind up not being able to use them.

bornsubl

Wow. Fantastic save. LAN doesn't allow infants in international business class. That would have been an ugly situation.

Now I'm back to the drawing board...

JDiver

Moving this from AA forum, as it's about awards using SPG, UR, AMEX etc. and only one possibility is an AA flight. Might be leaning toward LATAM, but this will benefit from broader input than from a single airline forum.

JDiver, Moderator