nikitab

I have to take a couple of business trips later this year, and I'm behind on my EQMs, so I spent some time reading this forum and trying to figure out whether I can get to keep my EXP status. I live not far from STL, so I tried to put together itineraries out of there to take advantage of the DEQM deal. Here is what I have come up so far; any advice for this first-time mileage runner?

Trip 1:
Melbourne in November

Routing:
STL-ORD-MKE-DFW-LAX-MEL (last leg on codeshare with QF)
MEL-LAX-DFW-AUS-ORD-STL (ditto for first leg)

3088 EQM (STL-LAX) * 2 = 6176
15842 EQM (LAX-MEL r/t)
3213 EQM (LAX-STL) * 2 = 6426

I'm not totally happy with the MKE leg, since it's on cramped ERJ's, but I couldn't find anything much better. I can go through ATL for about $50 more but with a tight 40m connection, which makes me worried.

Trip 2:
Singapore in December:

Routing:
STL-ORD-DFW-NRT on AA 7729*2 EQM
NRT-HKG-SIN-HKG-NRT on CX 6860 EQM
NRT-DFW-RDU-DCA-MIA-STL on AA 9976*2 EQM
(My budget allows to buy the CX fare in business, and I'm hoping to use my SWUs on the DFW-NRT flights.)

If my calculations are correct, the whole thing comes out to 70K EQM, which leaves me within spitting distance of EXP.

Do you think I'm risking too much to do the crazy routings ahead of an transpacific flight? Am I ever going to see my luggage again? Are there any improvements I should look for? My budget is a little flexible, but my time is limited.

Thanks!

Romelle

I'm sure others will weigh in here and you'll get more good advice (and probably some not-so).

Any way you could do the run with just carry-on luggage? Checked luggage is a major No-No on a mileage run. In other threads you will find lots of discussion about just what is minimally required for comfort and convenience.

Roller bags are nice for not having to carry the weight, but a backpack lets you bring more "stuff". You aren't carrying the roughly 7 pounds of the roller bag and the cubic capacity isn't taken up with the roller structure.

And ORD and MKE can have miserable weather in Nov and Dec. An early snow storm/sleet/?? will mess up the schedules. At worst, make sure you are on a single ticket so the airline will have more responsibility for helping you rebook.

ATL is one of the better airports for a 40 minute connection IMHO. Still dicey though, and it would make me nervous.

tfjim

Helping you is nearly impossible without more information; such as how much each proposed ticket would currently cost, total miles you really need, etc...

nikitab

Romelle, thanks for the thoughts. I fly through ORD all the time, so unfortunately I know how bad it can get, but I'm hoping that having a single ticket will leave me enough opportunities to reroute if things are getting bad. And I think I can manage to avoid checking things in.

I'm sorry I didn't post enough details. Here is some more info:

STL-MEL: Oct 30 (arrive Nov 1)
MEL-STL: Nov 4
$2020.80

STL-NRT: Dec 3 (arrive Dec 4)
NRT-STL: Dec 12
$1438.80

I have a fair amount of price flexibility on the STL-NRT leg; for the STL-MEL I'm thinking of leaving Oct 29th to hedge the possibility of missing the flight entirely and to enjoy a day in Melbourne if things go well. (Plus the LAX-MEL flight is an A380 on the 29th!)

I'm currently really low on EQM's, only 19,333. I don't think I can get to EXP with just these two trips (currently, I'm looking at getting up to 90K), but I figure I might have to take another short trip or a mileage run to round things out. Of course, it would be great to get even closer to 100K on these.

Thanks again for any advice!

masonp123

Are you aware that some QF fare classes only earn 50% EQM's/EQP's? Refer to this page: http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/pa...tasAirways.jsp

tfjim

Ok, that helps a lot. If your goal is another year of EXP I think you can do that easily with these two trips and close to that budget.

Your first trip seems very painful to me. All those short flights for a few miles. I suggest to maximise the DEQM that you fly through Asia to get to MEL. I did a bit of searching around and you would be looking at US-Asia on AA $1,100 and then Asia to MEL for another $1,000. You would earn in the neighborhood of 15,000 miles EQM just on the US-Asia flights which would then double. You would then hope for CX or QF for the flights to MEL. If you are very courageous you can route PVG through LAX and ORD which would net you ~40,000 miles. But flying from there to MEL is a bit more expensive. Remember however that with the triple RDM you would net a boatload of miles which you could redeem on your next trip...

I would certainly recommend you do that above itinerary for the SIN trip and it's certainly within your budget. Two 40,000 mile trips will get you right to EXP...

nikitab

Thanks for the warning! I'm buying the QF flight as a codeshare with AA, which is slightly more expensive but gets me full EQMs.

nikitab

I tried looking. Going through PVG or PEK, I can't find a OW airline within my budget and since it's a business trip, I can't use the "lots of miles" justification. I can fly through NRT and then take CX to Melbourne, but then I have to overnight either in NRT or HKG on the way there and lose a day in MEL. But I guess I'm looking at a day of travel for a MR at another time anyway. Maybe I can use some of my SPG miles to upgrade the CX flights.

Anyway, thanks, I would have never thought of this myself!

PS. I was able to replace the five-hop NRT-STL run with NRT-DFW-JFK-MIA-STL, for the same mileage, and avoiding ERJ's entirely.

nikitab

Oh drat! The Cathay website actually shows me better flights than that, but they all end up in M or K class, which doesn't earn AAdvantage miles. And H class is back up to $1800 r/t.

belfordrocks

You can go STL-ORD-NRT-SYD for about $1300ai on the Australian AA website, then it's easy to get a quick SYD-MEL rt on QF etc.

tfjim

Wow!

nikitab

Any more info on how to find these fares? All my searches turn up something 2-3x more expensive.

njfan07

Rather than stl-nrt, did you look at going through pvg?

I booked stl-ord-ewr-lax-ord-pvg-lax-dfw-ewr-ord-stl for $1402 AI RT. Traveling in mid-Nov. 45,572 EQM. SWUs cleared immediately.

The ewr flight is evening, red-eye to ord, and return lax-dfw is also red-eye.

tfjim

Ouch! I'm not sure why you want to stuff all those extra segments in there. The basic STL-LAX-ORD-PVG-ORD-LAX-STL gets you 20,786 miles, only 1,500 less than your long itinerary for about $300 less. So then just take that $300 and buy a domestic roundtrip to LAX via ORD on a weekend and get another 4,000 miles. Much easier.

njfan07

Timing and actually less cost for me. Had to be in STL earlier. Also less days missed from work. EWR/PHL/JFK are home and I took a week off between STL-EWR and EWR-STL. The point of my post was that there were more cost effective routings than going through NRT.