E55

I know you're trying to share. AA has no way of finding the one you're referring to. But neither do we ;-)

Let's share freely here.

flyingeph12

Not sure, but if ElmhurstNick is referring to a AY J fare from Canada to Asia (which books into I), those have been around for a while (i.e., before AA announced EQDs back in June). YUL-SIN, for example, can be had for ~US$2575 on select days in the next few months, which is about 8.4c/EQM and about 1.97EQD/$.

AA recently also had very good J fares to PEK and PVG from YYZ for about 5.5c/eqm (although EQD not great because of AA metal).

SpammersAreScum

I really don't understand the desire to keep this hush-hush. What people are looking for is still low-cpm flights, except that for EQD they need to be on a partner.

SpammersAreScum

And the devaluation happens July 23, not June.

CruisingAltitude47

I think the concern, rightly or wrongly, is that with certain partner airlines having pretty widespread sales on premium fares, AA could adjust the earning rate on those partners in certain fare classes to make them less lucrative. No idea how many people are actually making use of these fares for this purpose give that they're pretty global and many require positioning, but that's the concern.

SpammersAreScum

True. But the same argument applies to MRs in general, does it not? Unless AA chooses to decouple the EQD earning rates from the EQM earning rates far more than they have thus far.

Stripe

They may eventually do that. The system we have right now (EQMs based on mileage/class and an additional EQD requirement) may be only a way station to a system purely based on $ spent. Like VX is today.

PHX_Flyer

Looking for some help, and hoping this is an appropriate thread.

Trying to book a MR out of HKG. Built and priced out itinerary with ITA Matrix. My question is... what is the best way to book a complicated, multi-leg fare that will report as a AA special fare (distance based earning)?

Most "package vacations" do not work since there are many legs. AAvacations do not sell packages originating outside the USA. Am I missing an obvious solution?

SpammersAreScum

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

The AA Special Fares page lists the possibilities:
Perhaps you can get one of those to work for you. If not, there are ways that have been known to sometimes work.

You can, of course, get distance-based (but not quite as generous) by flying partner-marketed flights (presumably CX in your case), but be sure to check the CX table.

You should check out the EQD-earning thread.

SightseeMC

Also looking for help. First off, as a newbie to this stuff, I appreciate all your work. I've been trying to use Expert Flyer effectively as well as Google Flights, but I don't have the touch yet.

My situation is this: 1 good trip gets us Platinum, but a great trip gets us PP. However, the great trip would probably need to be on a partner to maximize EQD if we flew PE or J. I'll add our info per the mileage run thread:

Departure Airport: PHX (really, any place we can get to easily, like LAX, LAS, DFW, etc)
Dollars needed: long haul PE/J $1.5 EQD/$1+ if possible would get us close to PP
Miles Needed: 12K for P, anything on top is a bonus towards PP
Required Spend or Budget: $2000 or less each (wife and I) if flying PE or J, $1500< for coach
Available Travel Dates: almost any time post June. Has to be a vacation, not just a MR.

Should we be looking hard now, or are there regular sales later in the year that we can just wait for? And I respect your desire for privacy so feel free to PM if you want to help (though the public announcement of the QR sale is the only reason we have any chance for status at all ).

PHX_Flyer

Thanks for the reply Spammers and the heads up on the other thread.

I guess my question is narrowing down to.... Where can I book multi-leg MR's as a bulk fare, vacation package, or a consolidator fare? Would a regular travel agent bypass the fare reporting system? Would throwing on a rental car with a travel agent trip-up fare reporting? I'd like to stay on AA metal making this more difficult. Cheers!

SpammersAreScum

I'll happily answer to "SaS"; "Spammers", not so much

The AA page says buying a vacation or tour package does it. I think you're best off dealing with a Travel Agent or a tour company which offers a package that will work for you. I know it is possible to get a consolidated fare through a TA, but whether one is available for your itinerary I couldn't say.

ORDPLATAA

EQD's looked daunting at first but - after some careful study - my plan worked out to include one of the QR J Class fares LAX-SIN and I am about to do a YVR-CPT-ORD on BA in WT+. Between the two I will/have score(d) just shy of $9,000 EQD's. Add in my normal business travel and then a quick trip to Stockholm in Y (there are two of us going and no PE sale fares when we booked) it looks like Platinum Pro is a lock and I have an outside shot at EXP.

ENycSea

Is there anything like the mileage run deals thread for EQD runs? And specific to AA? I did some searching but didn't see anything. There are EQD threads but mostly about how EQDs will be computed for someone's upcoming flights.

I'm basically looking for the best earned EQDs versus actual dollars spent. And I suspect this would be something useful to have based on available deals now and on a continuously updating basis.

As for my specific case, my girlfriend flies NYC->SFO for work a lot but her company only pays for her to be in economy. I'd like to get her EXP this year but based on her purchased flights as of now she'll have about a 10,000 EQM deficit and around a $3,000 EQD deficit. The extra miles will probably be easily covered by future work trips but she's definitely going to be missing EQDs.

onfo

Not sure the company would like it, but she could always book a more expensive economy fare class...other than spending the money, you can't get EQDs, so not sure what you're seeking.