cruser1

San Jose (SJC) to San Juan (SJU) in Delta economy class for $290 roundtrip in basic economy or what we are more interested so you can earn some MQM's - $364 roundtrip in main cabin. There are several routings including routes with only one connection if you're just looking to get from Point A to Point B. The route that's going to earn you the most mileage for your money is SJC-LAX-JFK-SJU-JFK-LAX-SJC.

Availability is best in September of 2023 and January of 2024, but you can find scattered dates at the end of August through year-end.

To save money and maximize the MQM's per dollar we are looking at doing an immediate turnaround, but you can find similar fares to the ones posted if you want to stay in San Juan.

As I said before, there are a bunch of routings. Here are a few examples found in Sept 2023. The first two will get you the most for your money.

SJC-LAX-JFK-SJU-JFK-LAX-SJC
$370 with several day turnaround

Sept 11 - $430
Sept 12 - $485
Sept 18 - $445
Sept 25 - $390 (1590 miles, 9144 MQMs, $318 MQDs - Cents per MQD - 4.259)
Sept 26 - $485
Oct 2 - $445

SJC-LAX-DTW-SJU-ATL-SJC
Sept 11 - $364 (1490 miles, 8072 MQMs, $298 MQDs - Cents per MQD - 4.507 cents)
Sept 18 - $384
Sept 25 - $364

SJC-SLC-DTW-SJU-ATL-SJC
Sept 11 - $384
Sept 18 - $384
Sept 19 - $364

SJC-SLC-DTW-SJU-ATL-SJC
Sept 11 - $384
Sept 25 - $404

SJC-LAX-JFK-SJU-ATL-SJC
Sept 11 - $390
Sept 18 - $465
Sept 25 - $390

SJC-SEA-JFK-SJU-ATL-SJC
Sept 11 - $410
Sept 25 - $410

SJC-SEA-JFK-SJU-JFK-LAX-SJC
Sept 11 - $450

SJC-LAX-ATL-SJU-ATL-SJC
Sept 19 - $370

Google Flights
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...6uPvQgKxo38NN8
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...4xHsWGQTmfq5fA

This mileage run will help your MQM situation, but it won't help your MQD situation much because the flights are sold and operated by Delta. If you're looking to boost your MQD's, try a partner airline.
You could fly this five times and have almost 50k MQM's - nearly enough for Delta Gold Medallion status, but you'd only have $1590 MQD's - far short of the required $8k!




ITA Matrix Itinerary


Delta Booking

Google Flights

chronicrelief

Man this used to be low 1XX during the pandemic...

cruser1

It definitely has gone up in price!

mlbcard

Amazing how they call flying regular economy an "upgrade".

cruser1

Haha! So true! And the seats with extra legroom (Comfort+) are now "Premium Economy" (domestically).

rdrakea

I've got to learn how to search and watch for stuff like this. I'm Platinum and need 26k MQM and $1600 MQD for Diamond. The dollars shouldn't be an issue, but I'm going to have to do some hauls to earn 26k MQMs.

cruser1

Looks like a few trips to Hawaii might be in your future. From Atlanta, flights to KOA, HNL, and OGG are probably the cheapest per mile flown. You can do better as far as cents per mile flown on international flights leaving Atlanta, but for domestic Hawaii is probably best.

Atlanta to Kona - $607+ roundtrip - 9530 MQM's (6.37 cents per MQM)







Atlanta to Honolulu - $695+ roundtrip - 9453 MQM's (7.35 cents per MQM)





Atlanta to Kahului - $710+ roundtrip - 9383 MQM's (7.57 cents per MQM)